Southern Lights - A Novel Part 13

"Sometimes terrible circ.u.mstances come together, being in the wrong place at the wrong time, people making it look as though you did something you didn't. It looks like you've done something awful, but you haven't. All the stars and circ.u.mstances and bad luck conspire against you, and you're blamed for something you didn't do."

She looked at each of them intently, from one face to another. "Luke Quentin did not not commit those murders. He did commit those murders. He did not not rape or kill those women. And we will prove that to you, beyond a reasonable doubt. If you believe us, or have any doubt whatsoever that Luke Quentin committed these crimes, then we are asking for an acquittal. Don't punish an rape or kill those women. And we will prove that to you, beyond a reasonable doubt. If you believe us, or have any doubt whatsoever that Luke Quentin committed these crimes, then we are asking for an acquittal. Don't punish an innocent innocent man, no matter how terrible these crimes." And with that, she went back to her seat. The judge called a twenty-minute recess immediately after. man, no matter how terrible these crimes." And with that, she went back to her seat. The judge called a twenty-minute recess immediately after.

Both Jack and Sam congratulated Alexa on her opening statement and its impact on the jury.

"Judy's wasn't bad either," she said fairly. She didn't have much to work with, and would have even less as the days wore on, but at least she had raised a question in their minds. Alexa knew it was the best she could do.

They went to get coffee out of the machine, drank it quickly, and were back at the prosecution table when Judge Lieberman rapped his gavel and brought the court to order again. He told Alexa to call her first witness.

She called Jason Yu from the forensics lab because he was personable and would make the DNA tests easier for the jury to understand. Afterward she would call experts, whose information would be harder to digest. With Alexa questioning him, he explained the DNA tests that had first linked Quentin to the bodies in New York. She had him on the stand for close to an hour, and then the judge called a recess for lunch. Jason Yu had done well, and she thanked him. Judy was going to cross-examine him after lunch.

Sam, Jack, and Alexa went out to lunch, but Alexa was too nervous to eat. She was running on adrenaline and spent most of the lunch hour making notes and jotting down additional questions. The two men chatted about sports while she worked, and then they went back to the courtroom.

The public defender's cross-examination of Jason Yu was weak. She tried to confuse him, unsuccessfully, and make his information and tests sound unreliable and inconclusive, but each time he explained his material more precisely and more clearly. She was starting to look foolish and dismissed him, and said she had no further questions. Neither did Alexa.

Alexa called one of her expert witnesses after that, and his testimony was long, drawn out, and potentially confusing. But there was nothing she could do. The evidence he presented was important to their case. She knew there would be many witnesses like that from several states. And she was afraid it would bore the jury, but they each had something important to contribute.

On the whole, the first day went well, and so did the first week. Despite the heinousness of the crimes, there was little emotional testimony in the case. It was all very technical. There were no eyewitnesses, the parents had no testimony to give.

The most emotional factor in the courtroom was the enormous section of seats cordoned off for the relatives of the victims. There were a hundred and nine people in those seats, watching the proceedings intently and many of them crying. Instinctively, the jury knew who they were and looked at them often. Alexa had referred to them once, so they'd know, and Judy had objected. But by then the jury knew, and it was too late. Charlie sat among them with his family, who had come to see justice done.

Mostly the case involved the presentation of technical forensic data that systematically linked Luke Quentin to each victim and her death. Cross-examination involved refuting that evidence, and the public defender didn't have the skills or evidence to do it. It was a hard case to beat. Alexa and Sam met with Judy on Friday afternoon after court was recessed for the weekend.

"I just wanted to suggest to you again," Alexa said calmly, "that you get your client to plead. We're all wasting our time here."

"I don't think we are," Judy Dunning said stubbornly. "People make mistakes in DNA tests. Sometimes all they do is exclude one group of people without accurately pinpointing others. I think the cops in every state pinned every unsolved murder they had on Luke. If there was one mistake made, just one, if one of those cases was wrong, or poorly handled, it will raise a reasonable doubt that could overturn all the others." It was a long shot, but the only one she had. And investigation teams in nine states and the FBI had seen to it that there were no mistakes. Alexa thought she was being foolish and committing legal suicide for her client in open court. "He has nothing to lose and he has a right to a trial," Judy said darkly, as though she were watching an innocent man be crucified, instead of a merciless killer being brought to justice. She still believed in her client's innocence, that much was clear. She wasn't just doing a job, she was leading a crusade, for a lost cause. Judy seemed painfully naive to Alexa.

"He has a lot to lose," Alexa pointed out to her. "The judge is going to be much tougher on him if he wastes everyone's time. No one is going to be sympathetic to him, or give him a break. He'd be a lot better off if he strikes a deal now, before we go through weeks of trial. The judge is going to get p.i.s.sed," Alexa warned her, and Jack agreed with her completely, and felt that a good attorney would have forced Luke to plead. Judy was too weak to do it, and too enthralled by Luke. "If I were his attorney," Alexa said quietly, "I would make him plead." The judge might give him concurrent sentences instead of consecutive, which could extend far beyond Luke's lifetime. Concurrent sentencing was the best he could hope for.

"Then he's lucky you aren't his attorney," Judy said firmly and stood up, looking huffy. "I'm his lawyer, counselor, and he's not pleading." Alexa nodded, thanked her, and she and Jack left the room without comment.

"See you Monday," she said as she left him in the hall.

Four policemen helped her down the courthouse steps into a waiting police car, and two stood outside her apartment all weekend. They were back in court on Monday.

The technical testimony went on for three weeks, and was impressively conclusive, beyond a reasonable doubt, Alexa thought. Again it was less emotional than she would have liked. And the photographs of the victims were absolutely awful, because most of them had been found later and the bodies had been badly decomposed. The jury had been warned that they would have to view them. They looked sick when they did, but the photographs were evidence in the trial, and part of the State's case.

After three weeks of testimony, the prosecution rested and turned the case over to the defense. Alexa had produced volumes of expert testimony and DNA testing that couldn't be refuted. All Judy could do was try to confuse it, which she attempted, without much success. And the most d.a.m.ning element in her case was that Luke wasn't going to take the stand in his own defense, because of his previous convictions and criminal record. He could have, but it would have been foolish in the extreme. Even Judy wouldn't risk it, so he said nothing in his own defense, which spoke volumes. Instead he sat in the courtroom for three weeks looking arrogant and without remorse, as the victims' families cried.

The case for the defense took less than a week, and then the public defender rested her case. Alexa called only two defense witnesses for reb.u.t.tal and made hash of them. They were incompetent, and it showed. And then Judy made an emotional closing statement, begging the jury not to convict an innocent man, and hoping that she had convinced them he was. The jury looked stone-faced as they watched her.

Alexa's closing argument summed up the evidence for them, reminded them of each case and instance when Luke Quentin had been linked conclusively to one of the women, as their murderer. She went down the list of proofs, both simple and complicated, that should convince them that the defendant was guilty of all of these crimes. She then made a brief emotional speech reminding them of their responsibility as jurors to bring criminals like Luke Quentin to justice and convict, not an innocent man, but a man who had been proven proven to have raped and killed eighteen women. She thanked them for their attention during the long trial. to have raped and killed eighteen women. She thanked them for their attention during the long trial.

The judge then instructed the jury for their deliberations. The foreman had already requested charts and evidence that had been presented during the trial. Throughout the trial the judge had warned the jury that they were not to read anything in the press about the proceedings, but he had not sequestered them.

They would be taken to a hotel that night, however, if they had not reached a verdict, and for as many nights as it took. The jury left the courtroom, and Alexa let out a long sigh. Her job was done. Sam and Jack looked at her with admiration.

"You did a h.e.l.l of a job," Sam said, somewhat in awe of her strength and precision. Watching Alexa in court was like watching ballet. She had an amazing way of making complicated information sound simple and reasonable to the jury, as she questioned witnesses and asked them to explain in simple terms what they'd said before. It was a very clever way of not confusing a jury with overly technical details.

As she stood up, Luke Quentin was led away in handcuffs by the four deputies who had been with him throughout the trial. He looked at her in open hatred this time. He knew too that it hadn't gone well. He said nothing to Alexa and moved on, but if he could have murdered her with a look, she would have been dead on the spot. She was more than ever grateful that she had sent Savannah away. Until he was behind bars in a maximum security prison for life, she didn't feel safe.

Sam, Jack, and Alexa had to stay near the courtroom but not in it while they waited for the jury to deliberate. They were all available on their cell phones, and decided to go back to Alexa's office. It was hard to believe it was almost over. Alexa hoped they'd convict, and it was difficult to imagine they wouldn't. But juries were unpredictable and quixotic. If they had a "reasonable doubt," even if they had been too confused to a.s.similate the information, he'd go free. They had all seen it happen.

Sam sprawled out on the couch in Alexa's office, while Jack relaxed in a chair, and Alexa sat down with her feet on the desk. She was excited, but exhausted, and had been running on adrenaline and fumes for almost five weeks, since jury selection. It was the first of June. Savannah was graduating in Charleston in ten days. Life would be normal again by then. The DA had promised her a week's vacation as soon as the verdict came in. He stuck his head into her office as she sat there and said he had seen her closing argument and it had been excellent. He had been in the courtroom frequently during the trial, as had several senior members of the FBI.

There was no call from the court that afternoon, and little conversation in her office. They were too tired and anxious to speak.

Finally, the judge's clerk called, and told them to go home. The jury was going to a hotel for the night, and would reconvene to deliberate in the morning. Alexa reported it to Jack and Sam, and they both groaned. They were hoping the verdict had come in, although it was early for that. They invited her to dinner, but she said she was too tired. She went home and sat on the couch and stared at the TV mindlessly. It had been an incredibly grueling five weeks. Alexa fell asleep on the couch, in her clothes, without dinner and with the TV on, and didn't wake up until seven a.m. the next day. She looked at her watch as she woke with a start. She had to shower and dress. The jury was reconvening in two hours.

Chapter 17.

Sam, Jack, Alexa, the judge, the public defender, and the families of the victims waited through another long day, while the jury deliberated, with no results. They were all about to leave so the jury could be sent to a hotel for another night, when the foreman sounded the buzzer in the judge's chambers that announced they had reached a verdict.

Court was immediately reconvened, and the defendant was brought in.

The elderly man who was the foreman of the jury stood up and looked at the judge.

"Have you reached a verdict, Mr. Foreman?" the judge said formally, as the man nodded.

"Yes, we have, Your Honor. The jury has reached a unanimous verdict." Alexa heaved a small sigh of relief. No hung jury. No retrial. Whatever it was, it was over. They had all done their jobs, the jury as well.

The judge instructed the defendant to stand at the defense table and then turned to the foreman again.

"And how do you find the defendant on eighteen charges of rape, Mr. Foreman?"

"Guilty, Your Honor," he said clearly, as Alexa glanced at Sam. They hadn't won yet, but they were halfway there. There was an intake of breath in the courtroom.

"And how do you find the defendant on eighteen charges of murder in the first degree?"

"Guilty, Your Honor," the foreman said, looking at the judge, but not at Luke. Guilty on all counts.

There were shouts and screams and crying in the courtroom from where the family members sat, and a moderate amount of pandemonium, as the judge rapped his gavel and called everyone to order. Alexa noticed Charlie and his mother hugging and crying as the judge thanked the jury for their hard work and civic responsibility, and many weeks of their time, and they were led from the room immediately, as was Luke, this time in both handcuffs and leg irons, which they had ready for him. She couldn't help herself, Alexa watched him go. He turned toward her as they led him away and in the most venomous tone he could muster, looking like the killer he was, he spat "f.u.c.k you!" at her, and was gone. Judy had tried to comfort him before he left, and he had pushed her away, and she was sitting in her seat, stunned. Alexa went across the aisle to her to shake her hand.

"You couldn't win this one, Judy. You never had a chance. The case was just too tight. He should have pleaded." She looked up at Alexa with sad eyes.

"I don't think he did it. That's the awful part," she said as Alexa looked at her in silent disbelief. The awful part was that she believed a man who was a stone-cold killer and a sociopath. Alexa said as gently as she could, "I think he did." She hoped Judy would never see him again after the sentencing. She was sorry she had to see him again then herself.

The judge rapped the gavel again then and said that sentencing in this matter would be held on July 10th, and both prosecution and defense were expected to be present, and the defendant. And then he thanked everyone, dismissed the court, and disappeared into his chambers. It was seven-thirty at night, and he wanted to go home. And so did Alexa. All she wanted was to see Savannah now. She hadn't seen her in a month.

It took ten cops to get her through the wall of photographers on the steps this time. They were pushing and grabbing and wanted comments from her and interviews, and she just smiled at them and hurried down the steps to the patrol car as they ran after her.

"What do you have to say? How does it feel?" They were calling her name, and she turned to them just before she got in the car and smiled. "Justice has been served. That's all that matters. The murderer of eighteen women was convicted. That's what we're here for. That's our job," she said, and the police drove her away.

Savannah called her on her cell phone before she got home. She had just heard the news, and what her mother said.

"I'm so proud of you, Mom."

"I'm proud of you, sweetheart. I'm sorry it took so long."

"Everyone thinks you're a hero, and you are to me."

"You're my hero," Alexa said, relaxing for the first time in months. She was going to enjoy every minute she could with Savannah over the summer, to make up for lost time. "I'll fly down tomorrow, sweetheart. Are you ready to come home?"

"Right after graduation, Mom. It's just another week."

"I know." Alexa had already agreed to it. "And then you graduate here. I have to be at the sentencing in July, but I thought we could go to Europe then for a few weeks. I need a vacation!" She laughed.

They chatted for a few minutes, and Alexa promised to be there the next day. She was a free woman. It was over. Luke Quentin would be in prison forever. She still had two detectives protecting her for the next month, but life could become normal again. And Savannah could come home at last. She was smiling broadly to herself when she let herself into her apartment. She had done her job. And it was a great feeling knowing she had done it well. She was flying.

Chapter 18.

As promised, Alexa was on the plane to Charleston at noon the next day. Savannah had taken time off from school, and was going to meet her mother at the airport, and they could hardly wait to see each other.

Alexa had spoken to her mother the night before, while she was packing. Her mother had congratulated her profusely on the case. Stanley had called her too and done the same. He had slipped into the courtroom a couple of times to watch her, and said she had handled the prosecution brilliantly and with poise. She had never tried to turn it into a circus and had relied on facts and forensic evidence, which he thought was the way to go, and had won the case.

Sam had called that morning before she left for the airport and said he would miss her. He was based in Washington, D.C., normally and was going back, although he was in New York often and suggested they have lunch in the fall. Jack had called to congratulate her, as had Joe McCarthy the day before. There was an atmosphere of victory and celebration, and now she could bring her daughter home, which was even better. There had never been another letter. Quentin had hinted recently to one of the guards in jail that he had played a "little game" to scare Alexa, and Jack had told her about it. Quentin had been toying with her by having a friend drop off the letters to Savannah. Quentin thought it was funny, and it had made Alexa even more pleased with her decision to send Savannah away. The letters had stopped as soon as his friend reported Savannah gone, and Quentin lost interest in the "game." It hadn't been a game to Alexa. It had been pure terror, worrying about Savannah and the letters.

And Alexa was willing to concede that the time in Charleston may have done Savannah good. It had established a real bond with her father, which meant a lot to her, even if it had angered his wife. And Alexa's mother reminded her again that it was nice for Savannah to know something about her father's family too, and to meet a grandmother who was very old and wouldn't be around forever. The timing had been right, and it had been a blessing for them all. Even for Alexa, she had put old ghosts to rest, and was no longer as bitter as she had been for so long. When she looked at Tom now, she saw a weak man who had paid a high price for his betrayal of her. She didn't see a man she loved, or even hated. She felt freer than she had in years.

Savannah was waiting for her when she got off the plane, and they hugged each other and held tight. Savannah drove her to the hotel in the little car her father had loaned her, and she went back to school, and promised to come back later.

Tom called her while she was unpacking, and congratulated her too. He had seen her on television the night before when she left the courthouse, and as always, had been impressed by how humble she was when she said justice had been served and let it go at that. She wanted no glory, just the conviction, and she had done it.

"You must be exhausted," he said sympathetically, and she admitted she was.

"But it was worth it, for the conviction."

"Are you staying for Savannah's graduation next week?" he asked hopefully.

"No, I have to get back. I only have a week off, and I'll be at the one in New York." She was still grateful to him for keeping Savannah for four months. It had worked out perfectly for her too, and gave her the time she needed to prepare for the trial without worrying about Savannah.

"I'm going to be very sad when she leaves," he admitted to her. "And so will Daisy. I hope you're planning to come down at the end of June for Travis's wedding." She didn't know if he was being honest or polite and just southern. It was hard to tell.

"It was sweet of them to ask me, but I think it would be awkward for your wife." He was disappointed when she said it. He had hoped she'd be there.

"With eight hundred guests, you could bring a bear in a hula skirt and no one would notice."

"But maybe not an ex-wife," she said honestly. "I'm sure Luisa doesn't want me." This was her turf, not Alexa's. She was respectful of that, although Luisa hadn't been of hers.

"It's not up to Luisa, it's up to Travis and Scarlette. And I know they'd like you to come. Savannah wants to come down too."

"She can do that if she wants to. I'll talk to her about it. She's a big girl, she could come alone."

"I hope you come, Alexa," he said softly, and she ignored it. The softness in his voice was too familiar and bittersweet, and much too late.

"We'll see," she said noncommittally, which they both knew meant no.

"I'll see you sometime this week, before you go."

"I'm just going to take it easy and spend time with Savannah, and get over the trial. I'm beat," she said honestly, and she sounded it, but happy too.

Savannah was back by six o'clock, and they wandered the cobblestone streets together. The weather was hot now, the flowers lush and fragrant. It was Charleston at its most beautiful and romantic. Alexa spent her days wandering around when Savannah was in school, and went to visit one of the old plantations and took a tour. She and Savannah went to the beach that weekend, and Turner joined them. And Alexa took Savannah and a dozen of her friends out to dinner for a pre-graduation celebration. They were all in high spirits, and Alexa was too.

The week in Charleston flew by, with no problems or unpleasant moments, or even encounters with Luisa. She was ignoring Savannah completely these days, which seemed to work well.

Savannah waited until the last night to ask her mother about Travis's wedding. She really wanted to go, and wanted Alexa to come with her. And it was a huge wedding, so Tom's point about it not being awkward with Luisa was well taken. The rehearsal dinner that he and Luisa were giving at the country club would have been awkward, but not the wedding reception. Alexa had had lunch with him again, and he had pointed that out. He didn't mention again how much he missed her, or how sorry he was, or how unhappy with Luisa. He respected the boundaries she had established, and she was grateful for that. She wouldn't have seen him again otherwise. She was past it. It was over for her, all behind her now.

"Will you, Mom?" Savannah pleaded, looking more like five than seventeen, and her mother laughed.

"What difference does it make if I'm there? You'll be having fun with your friends." Everyone she knew was invited, even Turner and Julianne, as their parents were going too. It was a very small social circle in Charleston, and eight hundred guests represented everyone who mattered in town. Savannah said that even the governor was coming to the rehearsal dinner, and several senators to the wedding, at least two. Luisa loved showing off her social and political connections, and so did Scarlette's parents. The two families were well matched, as were the bride and groom.

"It'll just be more fun if you're there. We can come down together." She hadn't told her mother yet that she wanted to come back in August to see Turner before they both left for college. The romance had lasted and was going strong. They were in love.

"All right, all right," Alexa finally conceded, "but it's awkward for me. I knew all those people while I was married, and now I'm an outcast." She looked awkward and forlorn as she said it, but she felt that way.

"You're not an outcast, Mom. You're a national media star. You're a famous prosecutor from New York."

"Don't be silly," Alexa said humbly, denying it. But it was true. "You don't have anything to be ashamed of, Mom," Savannah insisted.

"Only that your dad dumped me, which was a big deal here, and to me. Huge, in fact." No matter how important she was in her job, that still mattered to her too.

"You're bigger than that. Besides, I think you're over it," Savannah said cautiously, not wanting to upset her mother. "You don't want him anymore, and I'll bet you could have him, if you did. He's miserable with Luisa."

"I know," Alexa said quietly. He had told her as much himself. "And you're right, I don't want him now. But I did then."

"I know, Mom," Savannah said, putting her arms around her mother. "So you'll come?"

"Yes, yes." She rolled her eyes. "I'll send the reply card back tomorrow."

"I already told Scarlette I'd go," Savannah giggled.

They spent a lovely last night together, and Alexa left for the airport when Savannah went to school the next morning. She had thought it would be her last visit to Charleston, but it appeared there would be one more, for the wedding.

Alexa told her mother about it when she got home.

"I don't know how I let Savannah talk me into it," Alexa complained. "And now I have to buy a dress."