Page 104 of The Accomplice
Kate screamed again. And cried. She had missed her chance to get out. It would take a small crane to move that plate with all that extra weight piled on top of it. The Sandman was completely unhinged. Even if he let her live, he wouldn’t ever let her go. She would die in this pit. The only question was when. He wasn’t trying to scare her just now with the gasoline, it was just dumb luck that he didn’t set her on fire right then.
Her life was perched on the head of a match.
She sat on the chair and gazed up at the gap. Her strip of moonlight returned and she knew, right then, that this was probably the last light of the moon she would ever see.
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
EDDIE
The courtroom had no natural light. A concrete box filled with loss, hate, betrayal, murder, corruption and lies. It was the great theatre of human weakness.
Harry and I sat at the defense table.
The client chair that sat on the end of our table was empty.
It was just past nine in the morning. I hadn’t slept for two days and Drew White was about to put on a show in our little theatre.
‘The people call Otto Peltier,’ he announced.
Harry opened a fresh page on his legal pad, primed his fountain pen and sat ready to make his notes.
The jury liked the look of Otto. That suit, the hair, the physique – it screamed wealth and authority. This was someone the jury would listen to.
He took his oath on the Bible and sat down with Judge Stoker’s permission.
‘Mr. Peltier, how did you come to know Daniel Miller ?’
‘My firm represents elite clientele, Mr. White, in all matters of wealth management including tax law, trusts, wills and estate planning. Mr. Miller was a successful hedge-fund manager and formerly a broker. We represent a good deal of Wall Street clients, and he came to me from a referral.’
‘You were at one time representing Carrie Miller in this case. How is it that you know her ?’
He cleared his throat, said, ‘I met Carrie when Daniel introduced her as his fiancée. He wanted to make sure she was taken care of financially in terms of spreading the ownership of some of his property. I advised that a prenuptial agreement would be sensible, and they both agreed. I carried through the agreement, and the asset splits.’
‘Mr. Peltier, there came a time when the defendant, Carrie Miller, sought your advice regarding her husband, correct ?’
‘Correct,’ he replied.
Harry tutted.
That was a missed opportunity. If Otto had been sharper, he could have elaborated on that answer, painting Carrie as the concerned, innocent partner. I moved my chair back, scraping all four feet on the tile floor. Peltier, drawn by the sound, looked in my direction. I flared my eyes. He looked away.
This theatre also shows one of the great failings of our species, cowardice.
‘The jury have had an opportunity to read Carrie Miller’s journals, which she left with your office for safe keeping, just tell the jury your impression of those journals.’
‘They are an account of how she was feeling and thinking at the time. The conversation she recounts with me is accurate as far as my memory serves …’
Peltier wanted to say more, I could see his gaze drifting to the jury, his tongue coating his lips. He opened his mouth …
‘Thank you,’ said White, cutting him off before he could say anything helpful to the defense.
‘In those journals, she talks about her husband coming home late at night and showering, that he gave her gifts of jewelry that had belonged to the victims, usually the day after they were murdered, and putting his clothes straight into the washing machine in the middle of the night. Isn’t it clear from the journals that Carrie Miller knew her husband was the Sandman ?’ asked White.
Before Otto could answer, his train of thought was interrupted by the doors opening at the back of the courtroom. He stared down the aisle, and when the judge noticed who it was, he leaned forward on his elbows to take a long look.
Carrie Miller looked thinner than she had been a few days ago. Her make-up couldn’t hide the dark rings around her eyes, nor the strain on her features. Bloch came through the doors behind her carrying a pile of papers, which she placed on the defense table before she took a seat in the gallery. Harry and I stood up as Carrie came over to our table and took a seat at the end. Everyone in the courtroom held their breath and stared at the one person who mattered most. The person this whole story revolved around. They all wanted to take a good look at her and judge her for themselves.
‘Your Honor, if I might interrupt Mr. White for a moment to inform the court that my client will be surrendering to the police at the end of today’s hearing in relation to her breach of bail conditions. I have spoken to the detectives involved and this is agreed.’
