The Second Chair

"I was right down the street." He shifted where he sat, defensively, and Wu felt some gratification. At least Andrew knew that he'd done something wrong, that was certain. "I couldn't handle waiting inside with both of them there." His voice rose, more defensiveness. "What was I supposed to do? They were just… It didn't matter. They weren't going to move. Nothing changed in there."

Wu sat back with an exaggerated calm, crossed her own arms, leveled her eyes at him. "Okay, then. I think it's time to talk about discovery. Leaving Columbus out of it."

Wu had her documents out on the table and she was popping Andrew pretty hard with some of the facts they contained. "So you say here in this interview that you and Laura were getting along great?"

"Right."

Wu flipped to another page she'd marked. "Then how come, do you think, Laura's mother says you were close to breaking up?"

"I don't know." He squirmed. "Okay, maybe we were having some troubles, but nothing big."

"Having some troubles isn't really the same as getting along great, though, is it?" She pressed him. "So you lied about it. Why didn't you want the police to know?"

"That's pretty obvious, isn't it?" Then he added, "But I didn't know they'd talked to Laura's mom."

"That's not why you lied, Andrew," she said. "It's why you thought you could get away with the lie." She paused, then continued almost gently. "They talk to everybody, Andrew. Don't you understand that yet? Everybody. Family, friends, friends of friends, neighbors, acquaintances, coworkers, students, teachers- you name it. And everybody's got a story. When it doesn't agree with yours, guess who looks bad?"

But Andrew was shaking his head. "Still, no way they can prove I did this," he said. "I haven't told that many lies. Maybe some small ones."

"You mean like your car? You call that a small one?"

He threw a glance at the ceiling, then leaned onto the back legs of his chair. Lifting then dropping his shoulders, he stared into emptiness.

Wu found her place in the documents, read silently, then raised her eyes to his. "When the police arrived, Andrew, you told them you'd walked to the rehearsal that night. You remember that? You don't call that a lie?"

"I couldn't have them go look at the car right then. I went down to it after I called them."

"You mean after your nine one one call?"

"Yeah. To get away from the scene. I already told you I couldn't stand being in the room with them."

Wu clasped her hands in front of her. "So instead of waiting just outside Mooney's door for the police to arrive, you walked- what, a block or two?- back to your car."

"That's right."

"And why, again, did you do that?"

He moved his hair out of his eyes. "I already told you, I…"

Bam! She slapped down hard on the table between them. "Cut the shit, Andrew! Right now!" She raised a finger and pointed it at him. "You went to the car to get rid of the gun and you lied to the cops because you didn't want them to look where you'd hidden it. Isn't that it?"

He stared at her, openmouthed. Wu had truly frightened him now. For the truth was that she hadn't read anywhere in discovery that Andrew had ever mentioned the gun that night. She had read nearly all of the eyewitness testimony and had come to the conclusion that he'd just gotten rid of it. And now his terrified visage verified that she'd guessed right.

Andrew's hand again went to his forehead. "How do you know about that?"

"The same way the police do, Andrew. They know there was a gun left in the room after the shooting, and-"

"But how could they know it?"

"The upstairs neighbor told them."

"Who's he? How did he know about any gun?"

"His name's Juan Salarco. Another witness the cops managed to talk to. Also, you might like to know, he's the man who picked you out of the lineup."

"I don't even know the guy."

She pulled some copied and stapled pages from one of her folders, held them up for him to see. "You want to read his statement to the police, or should I just give you the highlights?" But it wasn't really a question and she didn't wait for an answer. "He and his wife happened to hear the shots and right after they both saw you leave-"

"They saw me leave? Right after the shots?"

She nodded. "Both of 'em."

"Then they're lying. They've got to be lying."

She had him ru

Now she leaned forward, her eyes boring into his. "Do the math, Andrew. Only one person could have taken and hidden the gun, and that's you. You took it to your car to get rid of it later, and that's why you had to lie. And that's not a small lie. It's a whopper."

Ray Nelson escorted Andrew back to his cell, while Cottrell led Wu down the corridor in the other direction. At the door to the cabins, he held the door open for her.

"Thank you," she said.

"That turn out all right?"

She stopped in mild surprise.

"You weren't in there too long before you wanted out," he said. "Sometimes that's a bad sign."

"We just had to establish a few ground rules," she said. "After that it went fine."

He was walking next to her on the short path that led down to the razor-wire gate. "He doesn't want to admit, does he?"

They'd come to the gate and she stopped and turned to face him. The walkway wasn't very wide. She looked up into his face. "I can't really discuss that, you know. I'm sorry."

"Sure. I understand." He unlocked the gate, pulled it open for her. "That's the hardest part, realizing you're really in. You're not getting out and going home with Mom and Dad."

"Yes, well…"

He held up a hand, perhaps an apology, if one was needed, that he'd made her uncomfortable. "Just making conversation," he said. "Have a nice day, Ms…?"

Wu realized that she didn't need to be such a hard-ass. She extended a hand, offered a smile. "I'm sorry, my mind's still back in there. Amy Wu."

"Nice to meet you."

"You, too. Well, I'm sure we'll be seeing more of each other."

"I'll watch out for your boy."

She briefly met his eyes. "I'd appreciate that," she said. "He might need it. Thank you."

6

Am I interrupting?" Wu asked.

Hardy looked up from the billing and utilization numbers report, one of several similar management tools that Norma gave him every week for his review and comments- good enough numbers, but numbers nevertheless. He jumped at the opportunity to leave them, closing the folder, motioning with his hand. "I was hoping you'd make it back today."

"Actually, I've been back awhile, hunkered down in my office." Wu motioned behind her. "I waited until Attila abandoned her post out there."

"Probably a good idea." He pushed his chair back from his desk, stood up and stretched, moved toward the bar counter. "You want some coffee, a beer, water, a rare old Bordeaux?"

"No, thanks. I'm fine."

"Just as well," Hardy said. "I don't have any rare old Bordeaux. David did, though. About this time of day, I'd often come down and he'd be halfway through a bottle of something outrageous."

"You miss him a lot, don't you?"

Hardy opened the refrigerator, then straightened up. He turned to her and nodded. "Yeah, I do." Then, shrugging with some awkwardness, he reached down and grabbed a bottled water, turned back again. "So how'd it go?"