Billionaire's Retreat (11 page)

“Your
Honor, I object again.”

“Mr. Woodard, this is a warning. You must stick to facts and not merely recite alleg
a
tions.”

“How would you describe your relationship to Mrs. Giltry?”

“My wife
Vera, Sarah
and I have been friends since
college.”

“Do you recall the day when Sarah showed up to your house with her briefcase?”

“I do.”

“Did she open the briefcase in your pre
s
ence?”

“Yes.”

“Would you briefly describe its contents?”

“Sarah and I talked for a long time.
While
conversing, she appeared to be reviewing drawings and jotted down notes. The briefcase also appeared to have audio and video aids used to make presentations.”

The Prosecution called Marcia De Boise to the stand.  She was Johnny Davis’ next
door neighbor. When asked she testified, “I r
e
member the day very well. I was power wal
k
ing as Mrs. Giltry was exiting her car. She a
l
most knocked me over with her car door. She didn’t even say excuse me. I told her that if I wasn’t lucky she could have injured me. Mrs. Giltry upset me so much; I asked her why she was frequenting the Councilman’s house in the absence of his wife.”

“Do you remember if she was carrying an
y
thing in her hand when she exited the veh
i
cle?”

“She was carrying a light blue briefcase.”

“Do you recall anything else about that day?”

“I remember the curtains to the Counci
l
man’s bedroom were open and the blinds were raised when I noticed Mrs. Giltry disrobing. Mr. Davis was in the room. ”

The Judge stated, “Mrs. Giltry’s sexual i
n
discretions are not on trial. I am instructing the jury to disregard the remarks about Mrs. Giltry disrobing in the
Councilman’s be
d
room.”

“Did you observe Mrs. Giltry leaving?”

“Yes,
I was sitting on my front porch.”

“Did you notice anything different when she was leaving?”

“I noticed she did not have the briefcase.”
             

“I have no further questions.”

Ms. De Boise was excused from the stand.

After court, Johnny headed back to his house. After retrieving his cell phone he li
s
tened to his voice mail
,
while exiting the house
,
walking back to his car. He was taken aback
,
when he played a message saying
Vera
had
been involved in a car accident. The message had been left the night before while he was in the impassioned sexual throes of Sarah. He drove to the nearby hospital. The on call do
c
tor informed him that Vera was resting in i
n
tensive care. “
Vera
may
have
a
little difficulty walking f
or awhile if she recovers. She exper
i
enced some trauma to her head. Also, she has a
bruised
leg and a few facial abrasions.”

“I would like to see her.”

“You can go in to be by her side. You won’t be able to communicate with
her
due to her being heavily medicated.”

The doctor pointed to the nurse
s
station and stated, “Nurse Johnson will direct you to her room.”

Once by her side, Johnny noticed her heav
i
ly bandaged head. She seemed to be resting. He prayed to God asking for Vera’s life to be spared and for forgiveness. At that moment, she briefly flexed her fingers on her right hand. He spent most of the night at the hosp
i
tal.

Court had been recessed for the weekend.

After he left
the hospital, Johnny tried to explain to Sarah about Vera’s accident.

She said, “I’m sorry dear. I heard about it on the news. Vera ran through a red light
and
then broadsided a vehicle driven by an elderly gentleman. He did not survive.”

“It’s my fault, Sarah. I caused it to happen.”

“You should not blame yourself. You were not driving the car. She was the one that caused the accident. It was not your fault.”

“Sarah, I’m going to lie down. I need time to think.”

“I understand.”

The next day, Johnny spent more time at the hospital visiting Vera.

While he was away, Sarah received a phone call from Mr. Titanimum. She answered, “He
l
lo, Sarah Giltry speaking.”

“Hi Sarah. This is
Woodrow
. I have some bad news.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Mrs.
Titanimum
has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.”

“Oh no, I know you must be devastated.”

“She may have 12 months to live. Her doctor suggests she start chemotherapy as soon as possible.”

“Bridget is so frail. How will she be able to stand taking chemo?”

“She doesn’t have a choice.”

“We were talking about going shopping the last time we
met
.”

“Maybe you should drop by to give her some moral support.”

“I’m presently caught up in a bribery court case. I know you have been keeping track of the day to day happenings of the case like ev
e
ryone else in this
c
ity.”

“It is constantly in the news. I hope ever
y
thing works out for you in the end.”

“I hope so too.”

“Let me know if we can help you financia
l
ly.”

“Woodrow, I am not hurting for money. My company remains on a sound footing.”

“I don’t know if you are bragging or simply turning down my offer.”

“I’m doing both.”
They laughed. After a brief silence, Sarah
resumed speaking
, “I feel kind of bad.”

“Why?”
             

“Because I allowed you to make love to me on several occasions and now your wife has been diagnosed with cancer.”

“You wanted me as much as I wanted you. What does one thing have to do with the ot
h
er?”

“Woodrow, I was trying to be empathetic. As I mentioned earlier, I know you must be hurting.”

“I am hurting, but I don’t have any regrets for our unwholesome relationship.”

“You talk as if
we should continue our wrongful involvement unbeknownst to your dying wife.”

“I am still in love with my wife. But once she is gone I may need you.”

“Well on that note, maybe we should say goodnight.”

“Goodnight Sarah.”

“Goodnight. Take care of Bridget.”

Before retiring to bed, she had a nightcap to help her relax.

On Sunday morning, Johnny was informed his wife condition had impro
ved to stable.

Sarah telephoned Mrs. Titanimum.

“I am glad you decided to call the old lady.”

“How are you, Mrs. Titanimum?”

“Do you really want to know?”

“Yes.”

“I’m quite sure Woodrow have told you about my misfortune. That’s why you are cal
l
ing.”

“Woodrow cares a lot about you.”

“As you probably are aware, my days on earth are limited. I have cancer.”

I’m sorry. I’m here for you. If you should need any help let me know.”

“When are we going shopping? I promised to show you the shops where I purchase my f
i
ne clothing.” 

“Maybe, we can go shopping in a couple of weeks. My court case should be wrapped up by then.”

“I hope everything works out. How in the world did you get involved in such mess?”

“You shouldn’t worry about my dilemma. I am going to beat the charges.” She paused from speaking for a moment then asked, “Where is Woodrow?”

“He left with a friend this morning. They are out fishing. I don’t expect he’ll be back u
n
til late this evening.”

In the meantime, Johnny went back to the hospital. While he was there, Vera opened her eyes, starred at him murmuring, “Why are you here? You don’t love me.”

Johnny
answered
, “You have got to be strong.”

She managed to smile briefly before
drifting back
to sleep.

Sarah’s mother
in
law received a call from Detective
Burk
s
. He informed her that he has new leads, which might unravel the murder of her son. “A few people appear to be holding all of the pieces of the puzzle. I need to find a way to fit them together.” She was pleased with his effort and wanted to have more information. However, he did not want to provide such d
e
tails because of his ongoing investigation. 

She agreed, “It’s probably best not to r
e
lease information prematurely.”

Rachelle would have been livid to know that some of the suspects he spoke of were close friends of Sarah. For their sake, it was good he did not provide her with their identities.

“Keep me posted. I would like to see justice served.”

“I know. I have to go
. W
e will talk later.”

Rachelle disconnected the call.

The next day court was back in session.
The
prosecution conjectured Sarah knew about the bribe. The defense squashed
the
notion
by o
b
jecting
to the
allegation. The defense content
ed
it was a
contrived theory
b
eing used to prej
u
dice the jury against Sarah. 

During the week, the
prosecu
tion presented
da
maging documents, testimony, and forensic evidence
that
the defense could not
refute. They had copies of phone company records linking Harry Brisband to Johnny Davis. Ha
r
ry had placed calls to Councilman Davis
i
n
his
council chambers on several occasions leading up to the vote
.
Financial records were also presented for the jury to inspect. They were able to show a multi million
dollar sum of funds had been withdrawn from Brisband’s business account the next morning after the construction bid was awarded.
Prosecuting A
t
torney Woodard showed Brisband attempted unsuccessfully
to
tie the funds
to
a
constru
c
tion job that he was doing
.
A couple of months later Councilman Davis entered into a co
n
tract to purchase
several
local restaurant
franchises
. He had paid his partner
Ms. Kim Chung
with cash
funds to secure his share of their new business entity.
His partner knowing how the Councilman came across the funds made
him
a minority partner showing he co
n
tributed a substantial lesser amount. However
,
their agreement called for him to receive 35%
percent of the profits
based on his actual share contributed.
The prosecution would eventually be able to show the
trail of funds from Brisband’s business account
funneled into the franchise
s were indeed the loot Brisband had provided to buy Councilman Johnny Davis
’
vote.
As the week
progressed
, more testimony was heard. Attorney Woodard said, “Your Honor, I would like to call Councilman Davis’ ex
secretary, Constance Jennings to the stand.”  

  “Ms. Jennings, please take the witness stand.” She was asked about the day she o
b
served Councilman Davis with the alleged bribery funds.

“On the day in question, my car was in the shop
,
so I was given a ride into work early by one of the girls from another department. As I entered my work area, I noticed the Counci
l
man through the large glass window of his o
f
fice. His room is sound proof so he didn’t hear me when I arrived. He had a black briefcase open on his desk as he counted a mountain of money.
I found the activity suspicious. I used the video capability of my smart phone to ca
p
ture him counting the money
,
before placing it all in the briefcase
prior to
locking it away in
the safe behind his desk. I started thinking about the potential danger of what I had wi
t
nessed. I grabbed my purse from my desk hurrying off to the ladies
restroom. As I was leaving, I saw him turning in my direction. He may have caught a glimpse of me. A few days after witnessing this ordeal, I no longer worked for him. Councilman Davis had a
c
cepted my resignation letter two weeks earlier. I came forth with the video after hearing of the arrest of Harry Brisband and Councilman Davis on bribery charges. The police depar
t
ment obtained a search warrant which they used to retrieve the black briefcase with the funds from his office.” After Ms. Jennings stepped down, the prosecution obtained pe
r
mission from the Judge to show the video of the Councilman counting and then storing the
money
in the safe. He dropped his head once they started showing the footage. Next, a f
o
rensic expert testified and provided evidence. They explained how they dusted the confisca
t
ed newly circulated currency to reveal Brisband and the Councilman’s fingerprints. The only prints of interest found on the black briefcase were of the Councilman. Forensics did not find Sarah’s prints because she never
touched the money. The blue briefcase used to pickup and deliver the funds From Brisband had been discarded.