Page 135 of One of Us Is Guilty

She slowly tapped her pen on her desk and stared at me. The three jurors watched closely.

I stared back.

I smiled.

This didn’t go down well.

She shook her head, turned to Riley and said, ‘Call your next witness.’

The political consultant, Geoff Gilbert, wasn’t the type of guy you wanted in your corner. He wore an expensive, tailored suit, a bespoke blue shirt, navy tie, handmade shoes and a Rolex hung off his hairy wrist. His beard was neat and trimmed, as were his eyebrows and his coiffured hair. He gave the appearance of a guy pretending to be rich, even though I was quite sure he was a rich man. The money didn’t suit him. It looked like he’d stolen what he was wearing.

Taking his time, Riley led Gilbert through establishing testimony for the jury, questions designed to elicit who Gilbert was, what he did for Patrick Vanderpool and who else worked on the campaign, including Molly Green.

‘It was clear from the way she spoke to Molly that Vanessa hated her,’ said Gilbert. ‘She was jealous of a young beautiful woman being around her husband so much. Not that anything ever happened between Molly and Patrick, of course not. But that didn’t stop Vanessa’s insane jealousy. I overheard her once, Vanessa, that is, threatening Molly. She told her to stay away from her husband.’

‘Did you form the impression that this was a threat?’

‘You’re damn right it was,’ said Geoff.

‘No further questions.’

‘You want to do this one?’ I asked Harry.

‘Sure. I was thinking short and sweet. A one-two combination punch?’ he said. Harry often thought of cross-examination like a boxing match.

‘Go for it.’

That’s what all the greats do. Young inexperienced lawyers have legal pads filled with questions for every witness in a trial. They’re trained to do it. The fact that they charge by the hour is only partly responsible. Often, they ask witnesses lots of questions out of fear of missing out some important detail.

They forget that sometimes it doesn’t matter what the answer is to the question. Sometimes the question is way more important than any answer.

Harry rose to his feet.

Threw a left.

‘How much do you earn working on Patrick Vanderpool’s campaign?’ asked Harry.

Gilbert looked toward Riley, then the judge. He was waiting for an objection. His earnings weren’t relevant in his mind. No objection came from Riley, who was still wary of wading into unknown waters with an objection he wasn’t sure about. Just in case it came back to bite him.

‘Do I have to answer that?’ asked Gilbert.

The judge nodded.

‘Four point three million dollars a year,’ he said, and cast his eyes down toward his knees and brushed some imaginary fluff from his pants. Like he wanted to brush away the question.

Two of the jurors visibly reacted to that by making O shapes with their lips. That’s a lot of money.

Harry threw his right.

‘Who pays you that salary?’ asked Harry.

This time, Gilbert had nowhere to hide so he just answered fast.

‘Patrick Vanderpool.’

He was waiting for another question.

Harry announced, ‘That’s all I need to hear. Thank you, Mr. Gilbert.’