Keep No Secrets (48 page)

The chatter increases as the bailiff escorts Celeste from the room, but it dies down as soon as the doors close behind her.

"Mrs. Hilliard?" Walker resumes.

"Four and a half years have passed since your husband had his affair with Ms.

Dodson, is that correct?"

"Approximately."

"Has he seen her, between—"

Earl begins to stand, but Jack touches his arm to stop him. He knows Walker might word the question in a way that won't matter.

"—the time she allegedly left St. Louis and the night he took Ms. Del Toro home?"

But Claire goes mute, and Jack worries that she doesn’t understand she can answer truthfully without revealing Jack's recent interactions with Jenny. "Can you please repeat the question?" she asks.

She just gave it away
, Earl writes. Jack nods.

"Certainly." Walker realizes it, too.

Even if he doesn't reword the question, he'll follow it with more pointed ones.

"Has your husband seen Ms. Dodson between the time she allegedly left town four years ago and the night he drove Ms.

Del Toro home?"

Claire leans forward, squints as if thinking hard. "I don't know."

With those three words, Claire wipes Walker's smug expression from his face.

She caught the question, all right. She simply took the time to parse it in her brain and ensure she answered it

correctly. Walker didn't expect an "I don't know"—he was hoping for an unqualified

"no" to bolster his later argument. He made the classic mistake: asking a question for which he didn't know the answer.

Walker rubs his chin. He obviously understood from Claire's sudden

nervousness that Jack had, indeed, seen Jenny at some point since she left town, but by limiting his question to a certain period of time, he not only diminished his motive argument, he lost his chance to expose Jack. Walker knows Earl will now object as irrelevant to testimony about Jack's possible contact with Jenny
since
the night with Celeste, and the judge, most likely, will sustain the objection.

Sure enough, Walker leaves the subject of Jennifer Dodson behind and decides to focus on Jack's more recent lies.

"Mrs. Hilliard, on the night in question, you were at home, asleep in your bed, is that right?"

After Walker and Claire move through a series of questions and answers in which Claire explains what happened from her point of view—beginning with her

coming down the stairs to find Jack and Michael in the living room, and ending with her admission that yes, she only finally learned she'd been lied to when Jack was arrested—Walker turns her over to Earl.

Earl rises briefly. "Can Your Honor give us one moment? I'll be quick."

At the judge's assent, he leans over and whispers in Jack's ear. "I'm going to ask her point blank if she thinks you did it.

Are you okay with that?"

"And if she says yes?"

"She won’t."

Earl leaves Jack's side and takes a spot near the jury box. He nods politely to Claire, and she subtly returns the gesture.

Jack can barely watch the nascent exchange. He hates that Earl, who is so fond of Claire, has to do this.

"I have only a few but very pointed questions for you," Earl begins, and then stands a good, long time without

speaking. The delay reflects his reluctance to treat her as an adverse witness, but Jack knows it also ensures he has the rapt attention of every man and woman in the courtroom. He sighs, looks solemnly at Jack one more time, and then turns back to Claire.

"Mrs. Hilliard, do you think your husband committed the crimes he's accused of?"

"Objection," Walker says quickly. He smirks to show how ridiculous he thinks the question is. "Calls for speculation, Your Honor. And what Mrs. Hilliard thinks is irrelevant."

Earl calmly crosses his hands low and waits for the judge's ruling. Even though Walker asked the same question of Michael, Earl still expected the objection.

Judge Simmons, who probably wants to hear the answer himself, doesn't even bother to look at Walker. "I'll allow it."

He smiles at Claire. "Go on, ma'am."

"Your Honor," Walker says quickly, before Claire answers. "Will you please remind the witness she's under oath, then?"

Walker must anticipate the glare he gets from the judge, but clearly he doesn't care. The request alone accomplished his goal: to remind the jury that a wife may very well lie to protect her husband.

"I think you just did that, Mr. Walker.

Now, why don't we let her answer? That is, if she remembers the question." He turns to Claire. "Would you like the question repeated, ma'am?"

"No, Your Honor. I remember the question."

Claire then, in her infinite wisdom, looks not at Earl, not at the jury, but directly at Jack. The moment before she answers stretches, and he holds his breath. He thinks everyone in the courtroom might be holding their breath, too. The courtroom is quiet except for the creak of the benches as spectators try to unobtrusively shift positions. And even though he looks back at her—her stare leaves him no other choice—in his peripheral vision he can see the court reporter's hands hovering above her machine.

"No, I don't think Jack committed the crimes he's accused of. Indeed, I know he didn't."

Jack can only blink. He's otherwise paralyzed by her gaze.

"Even though he lied to you on the night in question?" Earl asks.

She nods, but she doesn't release her hold on Jack. "Yes, even though he lied to me."

"Even though, in the past, he committed adultery?" Earl persists, his tone aggressive.

One tear falls down her right cheek as if forcefully pushed over the edge.

Another follows on the left side. She still continues to stare at Jack, and he finally manages to raise a hand to wipe at his own eyes before they betray him.

"Yes, even though he committed adultery."

Earl looks down at the floor. "Mrs.

Hilliard, I have one more question for you."

She looks from Jack to Earl, slowly, as if he just woke her from a deep sleep.

"Why?"

She scrunches her brow, and he adds,

"Why do you think—excuse me, you said you know, didn't you?—how do you
know
Jack didn't commit the crimes he's accused of."

She lowers her head, then, as if

studying her hands in her lap. She breathes in and finally looks to the jury box to give her answer.

"I've known Jack Hilliard for nineteen years. One of his best qualities, and one that made me fall in love with him, is, ironically, the same quality that caused him to commit adultery. It's this same quality that convinces me he didn’t do what Celeste says he did."

"I don’t understand."

"Let me finish, Mr. Scanlon." She chastises him kindly, the way a mother might chastise a toddler for a minor offense.

"I’m sorry, go on."

"Jack is an idealist, a romantic. He lives his life trying to do what’s right." A few skeptical murmurs rise from the audience.

Claire sits up straighter and raises her voice as if she’s talking not just to Earl, not just to the jury, but to an entire community. "I imagine that sounds strange to some of you. How can

someone who strives to do right cheat on his wife? Right? That’s what you're all thinking, isn’t it? I know because that’s what I kept asking myself, too, for a long time. But it’s true. He went to law school because he’s an idealist, he got a job at the prosecutor’s office because he’s an idealist. He devotes long hours to helping the victims of crimes by bringing the perpetrators of those crimes to justice.

And yet, because he’s an idealist, he also believes most criminals can be

rehabilitated, and he does what he can to make rehabilitation a reality for those who are willing to work for it. Some of you are probably thinking,
but didn't he go
to one of the big silk stocking firms after law
school?
He did. But he did that, too, because he’s an idealist. He graduated from law school with $35,000 in student loans, and back then, that was a lot of money to owe at graduation. The right thing to do when you owe money is to pay it back. The fastest way to pay it back is to work at a high paying job, no matter how much you hate it. And trust me, he did hate it. He won't appreciate me saying this, but he also got fired from that firm for trying to do the right thing. He refused to do something he believed was unethical."

"Your Honor," Walkers says.
Come on
, his tone says. "She's giving a narrative, much of it is hearsay, and frankly, I also don't see how any of this is relevant."

"Would you prefer I lead the witness, Mr. Walker?" Earl's question gets a snicker from a few attorneys in the audience.

"Well, it
is
a cross-examination,"

Walker shoots back.

"Mr. Walker," Judge Simmons interrupts their bickering, "I'll allow it.

She's giving a narrative, yes, but some questions call for a narrative. Mr. Scanlon asked her why she believes Mr. Hilliard didn't commit the crimes. She obviously feels she can't answer that question in one sentence. As for your hearsay objection, I've not heard anything in her testimony wherein she repeats statements made by others. Where's the hearsay?"

"She's testifying as to why he was fired from a job. She's testifying why he hated that job. These are not things of which she had direct knowledge. They're based on what he, or someone, has told her."

"But the testimony is offered not to prove its truth, but rather to explain her opinion."

"Exactly, Your Honor. And that leads me to my third ground for the objection.

Her opinion, as I argued when I originally objected to the question, is not relevant.

The point of this trial is to decide Mr.

Hilliard's guilt or innocence. That's the jury's job, not his wife's. Her lay opinion isn't appropriate."

Jack scribbles on Earl's pad,
He's right
.

Earl writes back,
Not our problem, the judge
would rather err on the side of the defendant
.

Jack knows this is true. By giving a defendant's attorney more leeway at trial, the judge effectively limits the grounds for appeal after conviction.

"Well, as judge, I have wide discretion in these matters, and I do think her testimony goes to Mr. Hilliard's intent somewhat, so I'm overruling the

objection.
Again
." The judge peers down at Claire. "Ma'am, were you finished answering Mr. Scanlon's question?"

"No, Judge, but this time, I'm afraid, I don't remember where I was." She laughs a little, though everyone sees she doesn't think it's funny. The judge asks the court reporter to read back the last few lines of Claire's testimony. She listens, breathes deep, as if reloading her nerve. "I was about to say, even the decisions he made that night, he made to help Celeste. At the risk to his reputation, I might add.

Did he show poor judgment? Perhaps, by some standards. Many men, in this day and age, wouldn't dare be alone with a young girl for fear of being falsely accused of something, anything. But Jack doesn't think like that. He simply tries to do what's right. And that night, he thought it was right to drive a drunk girl home. He thought—"

"Your Honor!" Walker's frustration is palpable. "I apologize, but now she's testifying to Mr. Hilliard's thoughts. I have to object."

"I
will
sustain that objection," Judge Simmons says. "Mr. Scanlon, your client may testify about his own thoughts"—a few more laughs from the gallery—"if he decides to take the stand." The judge then smiles down at Claire as if in apology.

"Mrs. Hilliard, you'll need to limit your testimony to your own thoughts."

"Yes, Your Honor." She turns back to Earl. "My point is merely that I know Jack couldn't have committed the crimes he's accused of because it's not
in him
to do something like that. His whole career has been about
stopping
people who do such things. I've watched him shed tears for the victims in child abuse and sexual abuse cases.
It's just not in him
."

Her voice breaks with the last sentence.

She's clearly frustrated with her inability to express her thoughts without drawing an objection.

Earl lets the jury absorb her testimony, and then he quietly thanks Claire. As he walks back to the table, his body radiates the same frustration.
It's okay
, Jack writes.

They care about emotion, not objections
. Earl ignores the note, poised for redirect.

Walker stands even before the judge motions to him. "Ma'am, I don't quite understand your testimony. You stated that Mr. Hilliard's idealism made you fall in love with him, and yet his idealism also caused him to commit adultery?"

"Yes."

"If an idealist is ruled by the principle of always wanting to do right, how can that be? Surely you don't mean to say that Mr. Hilliard thought it right to have sex with a woman who wasn't his wife."

Claire's nostrils flare. Jack and Earl exchange a look. Walker should have let it lie and then used it in his closing. Now, not only has he angered Claire with his blunt language, he's also given her free rein to fix the inconsistencies he pointed out in her testimony.

"No, Mr. Walker. I am quite sure he knew it was wrong. What I mean to say is that idealists aren’t perfect, just like the rest of us. And just like the rest of us, they sometimes do things that violate their code. The difference, though, is that while most people accept they made a mistake and move on with their life, an idealist has a hard time forgiving himself.

No one, I mean
no one
, beat up Jack Hilliard more for what he'd done than Jack Hilliard. Not even me."

"Who's to say he didn't violate his code by raping Celeste Del Toro?" He says the word "code" with obvious disdain.

Claire ignores his sarcasm. "Because raping a child would be more than wrong, it would be evil. There's a difference. An idealist's mind can rationalize doing something wrong. But evil? It's simply not in an idealist's DNA to do anything evil."

"Adultery's not evil?"

Jack can't believe Walker continues to pursue this. Anything she says now can only hurt his case. Has it become personal for Walker, too?