Silent Witness (37 page)

''Josie. Josie.''

Impatiently, Ruth called to Josie. It took a minute but finally Josie composed herself and apologized with a curt 'sorry' to the people around the conference table. She shot a glance over her shoulder. Roger McEntyre looked back, his expression a mix of curiosity and admiration. She knew the reason for this meeting had piqued his curiosity but what did he admire? The answer didn't matter. Josie didn't care. He was here as were Ruth and Jude and that was all that was important.

''I'm ready.''

Josie pushed in the video tape. There was a click and a mechanical sigh as it settled itself.

''This video was shot by Mrs. Michael Tronowski. She and her husband and their children were behind Archer, Lexi and Timothy Wren as they waited in line for the Shock & Drop on the day of Tim's death.''

Enough said.

It was show time.

Mrs. Tronowski was a decent videographer. The camera was steady, lingering where it should, panning over the crowd when she was bored, focusing and closing in tight on anything she found interesting. Mostly Mrs. Tronowski found her children interesting but Lexi, Tim and Archer were caught in every frame. Archer's impatience with Tim's antics were barely concealed. Lexi offered her son water, candy, a hug. He pulled away. Archer grabbed Tim's arms. They could see him speaking harshly to the boy.

''Play that again,'' Ruth directed.

Josie did as Ruth asked. They all watched Archer discipline Tim, holding the boy's arms tightly to his side, Archer's face turning scarlet with irritation. Ruth looked smug as if this was proof that she had the moral high ground. Dutifully, Josie played the scene twice then moved on.

''I can show you this next part but it's disjointed. Mrs. Tronowski thought she turned off the camera when she hadn't.

The high whine of fast-forwarded filled the room then the tape began to play again. The first frames caught the shuffle of feet. They heard a jumble of sounds: a garble of voices, the child closest to the camera asked to go to the bathroom, the woman said it was too late and, finally, Mrs. Tronowski's motherly cheer rallied the troops as they inched toward the Shock & Drop. The camera panned the line.

We're almost there.
One. . .three. . .eight more. . .

She counted the people in front of them.

There was a redheaded girl making out with her dark skinned boyfriend. A big bald man escorting three children. There was Archer, hands in his pocket, disinterested in everything. Behind him, seemingly disconnected from everyone including Archer, stood Lexi and Tim.

Lexi's arm was around her son's waist. Her head lay against his shoulder. Suddenly Tim rolled away from his mother; his head lolled sideways then back. For a split second, his unfocused eyes looked directly at Mrs. Tronowski. His arms hung down loosely even as his body jumped with involuntary tremors and twitches. Lexi pulled him back to her and, as she did so, she looked directly at the camera, too. Lexi looked raw and hard. She turned away when she realized the camera was on her. Tim jumped once, his head did that wave movement, and his legs dipped so that he seemed to be collapsing. Lexi whispered something to him and clutched him tight. She held him up, that big boy.

Her big boy.

It was their turn at the Shock & Drop.

Eric Stevens was on tape, motioning them forward. Archer spoke to him. Eric shook his head. Archer put a hand up. He moved Eric out of the way without any real force. Archer tended to Lexi's son. He latched the safety harness – twice – without looking at Tim. Mrs. Tronowski tired of the people in line and turned her camera up and focused on the Shock & Drop.

Oh, look.

Archer, Lexi and Tim came into view.

So high.

They were almost at the top. A long way. Mrs. Tronowski hit a button and the camera adjusted for a close up.

So fun.

Lexi touched Tim's face. She said 'I love you'. All three jolted as the platform reached the top, engaged and then. . .

Oh, My God! Oh, My God!

Recording a memory, Mrs. Tronowski caught a murder on tape.

Shooting straight up, her vertical view of Tim and Lexi and Archer saw what Pacific Park's horizontal camera had not. Yes, Archer's hand shot out and grabbed at Tim's harness. Yes, Tim's hands came down on top of Archer's. It was hard to tell how much force Tim used, or whether Archer was scratched, or whether Tim, in the state he was in, was able to make a good faith effort to save himself. So much was unclear except for one thing: Each of them knew who released the safety on Tim's harness.

Lexi.

Her hand had shot out and pulled back almost before Archer could react. This was what broke Josie's heart. A mother – Tim's mother – had sacrificed her son in one, quick, definitive movement and the implication of all that entailed sent a chill through the room.

''Oh, Jesus,'' Ruth breathed.

Josie played it again and couldn't shake the feeling that watching this was like looking up a woman's skirt. Straight on all you saw was the skirt, looking up you saw the underpinnings, the forbidden stuff, the titillating reality of the human form. Mrs. Tronowski had lifted the skirt of Lexi's psyche to reveal the desperation of the human spirit: a dying mother so terrified that her son would be alone after her death that she sent him on before her. They would be together in heaven. God would not blame a mother for taking care of her child. God would not be that cruel.

Lexi could not look at what she had done; Archer watched because he could not believe what had happened. It was a matter of perspective: moral, physical, psychological. The perspective of one silent witness over another; one camera telling the truth it recorded, the other telling the truth as it was.

''Jesus,'' Ruth said again and then cleared her throat. Back in character, her voice bold now. ''So it was a mercy killing.''

''No it wasn't,'' Josie said flatly as she rewound the tape. ''Lexi committed premeditated murder.''

''The woman was dying,'' Ruth argued, unwilling to point the same finger of guilt at a woman and mother that she had at Archer. ''She was worried about her kid. Her mind was gone. Tim wasn't in any great shape himself. It was a mercy killing.''

Josie punched eject and the tape came to her like a well-trained dog. She held it against her middle as if to keep sickness away.

''She knew exactly what she was doing,'' Josie said again as she looked across the table and gave a head's up. ''Jude.''

His coat was unbuttoned and, when he stood, it fell open so that the flash of the silk lining could be seen. Today he wore a tie the color of blood. His breast pocket was glued to his shirt by starch and a meticulous maid. His suit was black. It was Jude in all his glory and, yet, it wasn't. His expression was guarded so that no one would see the deep and enduring sadness this exercise had caused him. Josie and Jude had talked, argued and speculated but, in the end, they had come to the same conclusion: love had gone terribly awry and people they cared about had been caught in the wake of one woman's premeditated action. Wilson was dead; Archer was close to losing life as he knew it. Jude handed everyone an overview of the facts. They would leave no question that the victims were the people they loved.

''The killing was premeditated, and carried out despite the fact that Tim Wren was generally in good health. Lexi killed her son because she was arrogant enough to believe that, without her, his life wasn't worth living.''

Jude looked at Josie, saw she was settled and let her take over.

''Our independent autopsy showed that the problem with Tim's heart was manageable,'' Josie began. ''For all intents and purposes he was healthy and could live a long life. Doctor Chow could make no decision regarding the quality of that life, but that was not for him or Lexi to say.

''Lexi requested Tim's medical records be released to her five days before his death. They were sent and subsequently destroyed.''

There was a rustle of pages as everyone followed Josie's lead and turned to the next page.

''Page two,'' she intoned. ''Three days before Tim's death, Lexi received a form letter from the Greenwood Home and the attached check. A stop payment had been issued seven days before that. We can document a pattern of payment for Tim's care until that day. When Lexi could, she paid in advance for fear that Tim would somehow suffer if she were ever in arrears. Yet, on this date, Lexi deliberately stopped payment on the check that would have assured Tim's care for the next three months because she knew he would not be returning to the Greenwood Home.

''Page three.'' Again the rustle of paper. ''A report on the water bottle we found in the bag Lexi carried that day shows Phenobarbital is evident. That is the same drug that was found in Tim's system when he died. The drug subdued him during a forty-five minute wait so he wouldn't make a scene. The doctor's believed Tim did not understand cause and effect, but Lexi knew better than to assume. She medicated her son as a precaution. If he had struggled or fought her off, Archer, at the very least, would have known what she was trying to do. We have the bottle from Lexi's bag, a Polaroid of her holding that bottle as she stood next to her son that day and Mrs. Tronowski's video that shows Lexi making Tim drink from that bottle at least twice.

''Page four,'' Josie went on. ''A copy of a list Lexi wrote. Please note that she carefully marked off everything that she had done the day of Tim's death, even going so far as to write 'the end' as the final postscript. Certainly, there is no greater evidence of her premeditation.''

Josie turned the pages back. She clasped her hands atop them and looked at Ruth Alcott.

''We were working backwards. All the little pieces of information on Lexi and Tim made no sense until we had Mrs. Tronowski's tape showing a different angle of the incident. Once we had that, everything else fell into place. You don't have a case against Archer. You never really did.''

''We indicted on good faith,'' Ruth objected.

''You indicted because someone put a bug in your ear.'' Josie had no trouble with the accusation. ''You indicted because it was sensational and John Cooper gave his blessing to help out an old friend and you couldn't resist something as juicy as this.''

''We'll drop the charges; your client will be out this afternoon.'' Ruth pushed back her chair, unwilling to take the blame for this mistake. ''But make no mistake. I do not have the time to indict people just for the fun of it and I don't do favors, even for the DA. Indicting your client was a mistake - a bad one, but a mistake nonetheless.''

''Then maybe you should rectify it,'' Josie suggested. ''Investigate Pacific Park. They're the ones that used you and Mr. McEntyre should be the first one you look at.''

''What's she talking about?'' Ruth snapped as she looked Roger's way. ''Mr. McEntyre?''

''I don't know.'' Roger answered.

''Then let me fill you in. I'm talking about obstruction of justice, tampering with evidence and, if our eyewitness and the fingerprint evidence holds up, we are also talking about the murder of Wilson Page. Pacific Park is knee deep and I think it starts at the top,'' Josie said.

''Isaac Hawkins knows nothing about security issues,'' Roger answered without a trace of emotion.

''What are you talking about?'' Ruth demanded, but Roger only had eyes for Josie. He dared her to lay it out and she obliged.

''Mr. McEntyre knew about this tape two years ago because Mrs. Tronowski forwarded a copy of it by registered mail to the head of security at Pacific Park. The signature card was signed by Roger McEntyre. I imagine the second camera on community grounds caught exactly the same view as Mrs. Tronowski or at least something close to it.'' Josie pushed a Xerox of the signature sheet toward Ruth. Jude supplied an electrical schematic of the park with the camera's highlighted. ''Mr. McEntyre never told anyone about either tape.''

''Is that true?'' Ruth asked, her face ashen. ''You knew all along that Tim Wren's mother was responsible for his death?''

Roger didn't answer and his gaze never wavered. Ruth wouldn't let it go.

''If you had this tape, why did you lead us to believe that Ms. Bates' client had committed the crime?''

''I was doing my job. I was protecting the park,'' Roger said. ''Two simultaneous wrongful death cases would have put us out of business.''

''But that doesn't explain what happened two years ago,'' Ruth insisted. ''You had the original tape. You could have proven that Pacific Park was not culpable. You wouldn't have had to pay out a dime.''

''That's bullshit and you know it. The company pays. It always does even if they didn't do anything.'' Roger looked around the table daring anyone to contradict him. ''Besides, why even bring it up? The boy's mother wasn't going to make a fuss so why should I tell anyone she killed her kid in our park? It wouldn't look too good to point a finger at a dying woman no matter what was on that tape.''

Roger McEntyre shook his head as if he just realized he was surrounded by idiots.

''Within three hours I had reviewed and confiscated the park videos and I thought that was the end of it. I didn't get the Tronowski woman's tape until a month after the accident. By that time, Tim Wren's mother was dead. I had the tapes in the safe and I figured that was the end of it.''

Roger looked back at Josie and Jude.

''Unfortunately, I made two mistakes. I believed no one would even think about the second camera once the grounds were configured and it was my assumption that Mrs. Tronowski had sent me her original. Once I destroyed those tapes I figured everything was taken care of.''

''But why implicate someone else? Why let an innocent man pay the price for something his wife did?'' Ruth demanded.

''Mr. Getts is a fine lawyer,'' Roger said, his mustache twitching with a wry smile. ''I couldn't take the chance that he would convince a jury that the boy's father deserved compensation from Pacific Park. The only way I could be positive we wouldn't be held liable was to make someone else responsible; someone unrelated to the victim. Isaac Hawkins would have insisted I tell the truth if he knew what it was. I couldn't have that.''