Every Reasonable Doubt (L.A. Law Series) by Pamela Samuels Young

Author:Pamela Samuels Young [Young, Pamela Samuels]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Goldman House Publishing
Published: 2013-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 36

The judge called a recess just before noon. David, Tina, and I headed for the courthouse cafeteria where we all ate turkey sandwiches on stale bread, pretty much in silence. There wasn’t really much to say. Lopez had identified Tina walking down a hallway, knife in hand, with an evil-intentioned look on her face. If we weren’t able to shake his identification at trial, Tina might as well pack up her toothbrush now. Fortunately, neither David nor Tina brought up that last zinger Lopez had zapped me with. I already felt bad enough.

When we returned to court after our lunch break, Julie called her next and final witness, Max Montgomery’s personal assistant. The prosecution planned to use her to paint a picture of Max’s extracurricular activities, setting the scene for Tina’s motive to kill.

Ernestine Frye was petite and polished, and looked like an older version of Tina. She’d been Max Montgomery’s right hand for over twenty years, following him through three separate career moves.

She testified, quite reluctantly, about the many women who called Max’s office for reasons that obviously had nothing to do with business. She reminded me of President Clinton’s Betty Curry. She was fully aware of Max’s wrongdoing, but it wasn’t her job to play morality police.

After Julie completed her questioning, sufficiently painting Max as the louse that he was, my only goal was to show that Frye had no evidence that Tina knew about her husband’s affairs. This would go over bigger with the jury, and would probably have no impact at all on Judge McKee, but I might as well get my practice in now.

“Mrs. Frye, you often helped Mrs. Montgomery with her charity work, didn’t you?” I asked. It wasn’t my plan to put her on the spot if I could help it. She didn’t want to be here anymore than I wanted her to be.

“Yes, we worked together on several fundraisers.” Her voice had an eloquent air about it, as if she had been taught the importance of enunciation even before she had learned to talk.

“Can you describe the type of things you helped her with?”

“Basically anything she needed. I would address envelopes, help with the food planning, scout out locations. Things of that nature.”

“And you considered Tina a friend, didn’t you?”

“Yes, I considered Mrs. Montgomery to be a friend,” she said unconvincingly.

Of course, most people are on a first-name basis with their friends, I thought. I would have to ask her to refer to Tina by her first name at the trial.

“In fact, Mrs. Montgomery often dropped by the office to invite you to lunch, didn’t she?”

“Yes, quite a few times.” Mrs. Frye smiled nervously. She did not trust me.

“And around Christmastime, she would take you on shopping sprees at Macy’s?”

“Yes,” she nodded. “Yes she did.”

“And Mrs. Montgomery also sent money to your granddaughter when she was attending college at Spelman, didn’t she?”

“Yes.”

I cleared my throat and continued, softening my voice. “And during all of this time, you knew Mr. Montgomery was cheating on his wife, correct?”

Mrs.

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