Rosato And Associates: Accused Part 16

"We understand that you dated Fiona in high school, is that correct?"

"Yes." Gage blinked, his mouth falling into a sad line. "We dated for two years, we were boyfriend and girlfriend, you'd say."

"So you knew her well?"

"Yes, absolutely."

"Can you tell me what she was like?" Judy kept her tone light, and Mary knew that she was trying to ease him into the questioning, and it was working because Gage's expression softened.

"Sure, Fiona was a great girl. She was funny and smart and really lively. She was just fun, fun to be around. Everybody adored Fiona."

"Who were her closest girlfriends, do you know?"

"Sure, who doesn't? Sue Winston, Mary Weiss, Honor Jason, and Hannah Wicker."

Judy wrote down the names. "Why did you say, 'who doesn't?' Were you close to them, because you dated her?"

Gage frowned. "Oh, you don't know. Three of those girls were killed in a car crash, a few months after Fiona was murdered."

Judy gasped. "Really? How horrible."

"Yes, it was. It is." Gage sighed, barely audibly. "It was on a stretch of Route 1 near Chadds Ford, and people get killed there all the time. The paper said that drinking was involved, but you should understand it wasn't a coincidence."

"What do you mean?"

"Fiona wasn't a big partier, and she was a civilizing influence for her friends. You know, the field hockey team could get rowdy, but not when Fiona was around. You can imagine how hard they took her death, and once they lost her, they acted out, got wilder." Gage pursed his lips. "She was the center of that group, and as they say, the center couldn't hold, once she was gone."

"That's such a shame," Judy said, and Mary could tell the revelation derailed her line of questioning, so she jumped in.

"Tim, you said that three of the girls were killed. Which one wasn't?"

"Hannah Wicker. She survived the crash, the only survivor."

"Do you know where she is, these days?"

"No idea."

Mary nodded to Judy to take over, and Judy asked, "Do you know if any of those girls were at the party, the night Fiona was killed?"

"I don't know for sure, but I believe they were. They were like a pack, they did everything together. It was basically the forward line of the hockey team. Fiona was the center, in more ways than one."

"So I take it you weren't there, the night she was murdered?"

"No." Gage shook his head. "We had broken up about two weeks earlier, so I was out of the picture."

"Where were you that night?"

"Home."

Mary wished she had a way to check his alibi, but Judy didn't bat an eye.

"Did the police contact you at all, in connection with her death?"

"No." Gage scoffed. "Why would they?"

"Just checking on their procedure. Did they contact her friends?"

"I don't know."

"Also, can I ask, why did you break up? Or, who broke up with whom?"

"Yes, of course you can ask. High school was a long time ago, and whenever I think of Fiona, the sad part isn't that we broke up, but that she was murdered."

"So did you break up with her, or the other way around?" Judy asked again, and Mary made a mental note that she had to ask him twice.

"She broke up with me."

"Do you know why? Did she say?"

"Not really, but I could tell she lost interest in me."

Judy made a note. "When you say lost interest, what do you mean?"

"You know, she was more distant, not as available. Didn't return calls or texts. She used to do office work for her father, filing and such, and all of a sudden, there seemed to be a lot more of that, even on the weekend."

"Did she work at home or in town?"

"At home. With practice, games, and homework, she didn't have time to go into the city. They have a home office complex at their farm. They call it the cottage."

Judy nodded. "Yes, we've seen it."

"Right, well, she used to help out on some project with her father and uncle, and I got the idea that she wasn't that into me anymore." Gage managed a rueful smile. "She had to spell it out, though. I was slow on the uptake."

"You were hurt."

"Yes," Gage admitted, with the slightest of winces. "Puppy love, all that."

Judy nodded. "By the way, which uncle was the project for?"

"Edward, he was a nice one. He was the youngest of the three brothers. The other one, Richard, was a little stiffer."

"Did she break up with you because she became interested in someone else?"

"No, she didn't say, and she didn't start dating anyone afterwards." Gage frowned. "I'm not the jealous type, and this was high school. I mean, really."

"How would you know if she dated anyone or not?"

"We went to the same school. She stayed single, until she was murdered."

"Right." Judy smiled, and Mary knew they were both thinking that maybe Fiona had broken up with Gage for Lonnie, and if that were so, Gage would have no way of knowing it. Judy continued, "This is going to sound off-the-wall, but is there anyone you think would've had a motive to murder Fiona?"

Gage recoiled. "No, not at all. Fiona was just a nice, cute girl. She wasn't nasty or mean, and she didn't have an enemy in the world. As far as I'm concerned, they got the right guy in jail, whoever he is. I heard it was one of the waiters."

Judy hesitated. "Let me ask you something else, off-the-wall. What do you know about Allegra?"

Mary didn't know why Judy was asking him, but kept her own counsel.

"Allegra Gardner, girl genius? Look, I know she's your client, but she is one weird kid."

"Did you ever know Fiona to babysit for Allegra?"

Gage c.o.c.ked his head, thinking. "You mean like babysit for Allegra when her parents went out?"

"Yes, or any other time. When you were dating Fiona, did she ever babysit for Allegra?"

"No, not at all."

Mary didn't say anything, dismayed.

Judy asked, "You never went over to visit Fiona when she was babysitting for Allegra?"

"No, I never did. I don't remember her babysitting for Allegra, and they had a housekeeper, so I a.s.sume she'd do it, if Allegra needed to be babysat."

Mary remembered Allegra had mentioned that. "What's the housekeeper's name?"

"Janet Wolsey. She still works for them."

Judy slid her pad into her leather satchel. "That's all the questions we have." She looked over at Mary. "Unless you have anything else."

"No," Mary said, rising. "Thank you for your time."

Tim stood, brushing down his jeans. "You're welcome, it was a pleasure to meet you both. I'll walk you out."

"Great, thanks," Judy said, and they walked with Gage to the door, where they bade him good-bye again, then left and stood blinking in the sun on Locust Walk, which was more crowded, now that the school and work day was over. Judy turned to Mary, squinting against the sun. "Is he crossed off the suspect list? I say yes."

"Yes, but I wish we could check out his alibi. He said she broke up with him, and you had to ask him twice."

"There's only one friend left to go see. It's so sad about that crash, isn't it?"

"Yes, and as far as Hannah Wicker, we'll have to find out where she lives." Mary eyed Judy. "I can't help but wonder if it's connected, can you?"

"Don't know how, or why, except that Fiona was the leader and they were all a little lost without her."

"We'll see, I guess." Mary slid her BlackBerry from her pocket to see if Allegra had emailed her back, but she hadn't. "Still no email from our girl. Let's call her."

"Okay."

Mary made a beeline for the nearest bench, where they sat down, and she called Allegra on her secret cell phone. The call was answered in the middle of the first ring, but Allegra sounded hysterical.

"Mary? Mary, thank G.o.d, is that you?"

"What's the matter?" Mary felt fear going through her like an electrical bolt.

"My parents! They're taking me to a hospital! They're going to commit me! Mary? Mary!"

"Allegra!" Mary shouted in anguish, as the line went dead.

Chapter Twenty.

"Do you believe the Gardners?" Mary asked Judy, as they hustled toward Walnut Street. The crowd flowed around them, students heading for the Quad, runners in red-and-blue singlets jogging toward Franklin Field, and Penn and Drexel employees burdened with briefcases and messenger bags, heading for trains and buses out of the city. "They'd commit their own daughter? The poor kid! She sounded so scared."

"Not going to lie, I didn't see this coming." Judy raised her hand to hail a cab before they'd even reached the curb, and the few in the congested lanes of traffic all looked full. "d.a.m.n."

"What do we even do?" Mary pumped her hand wildly, even though she knew it was useless. She felt overwhelmed with guilt, and not even the funny kind. "We go out there, right? We see where they took her and why?"

"Not yet."

"Why not?" Mary looked at her, surprised. Her heart was pounding under her blouse, and she'd broken a sweat. "Don't you want to see what's going on?"

"Of course, but we have to stay calm, and by we, I mean you." Judy frowned at the traffic, keeping her hand in the air.

"There's a cab!" Mary waved to the driver, and they both hustled toward the Yellow cab as it pulled over.

"Right behind you," Judy said, and the women flung open the door, jumped inside, and yanked their purses and bags onto their laps. Judy leaned forward and said to the driver, "1815 Locust Street, please."

"You really want to go back to the office?" Mary frowned as the cab lurched off, then stopped again in traffic. The backseat smelled like Marlboros and Armor-All, which was par for Philly. "Why don't we just go get my car?"

"I want to know the law, I'm not sure I can figure it out on the fly."

"The law? The law is clear, isn't it? Allegra has const.i.tutional rights, doesn't she?" Mary was trying to control her outrage, but it wasn't easy. "You just can't take somebody and put them in a mental hospital because you disagree with what they're doing."

"Maybe you can, if she's a minor."

"If that's true, then this is one of the times that the law is an a.s.s."

"Mare, chill." Judy raised a palm. "These are her parents, and they love her. They think they're doing the right thing for their kid, who has a history of depression."

"But committing her? That's kind of extreme."

"If she needs the help, it isn't. We don't have all the facts."

"Then ask yourself this-why now? She's been home for almost a month, but now they decided to put her away?" Mary felt a new wave of anger. The cab wasn't making forward progress, which didn't help, and she heard honking behind them. "We didn't drop the case, so they pulled out the trump card. It's like a chess game, and they just took the queen."