Page 78 of The Best Lawyer
“It’s bad enough …” I started.
“Maisy Carmichael!” Emma shouted.
Both Jeanie and I fell silent.
“Maisy Carmichael,” Emma repeated. “I know where she lives. I have her current address. She’s married now. Goes by Altman. Maisy Altman. She lives up north just south of Traverse City.It’s a hike. I know there isn’t much time, but she said she’d talk to us. I was going to just go up there and talk to her. But I knew you’d be angry. I want us all on the same page.”
“You can’t go, honey,” Jeanie said. “Your instinct was right to tell us. But you can’t be the one to interview her.”
“I have to,” Emma said, her tone growing desperate. “What if she had something to do with what happened?”
“Then why would she be willing to talk to you?” I asked.
Emma shrugged. “Does it matter?”
“This woman could be unstable,” Jeanie said. “I don’t think anybody should be meeting her alone.”
“These are all things Detective DePaul should have tracked down!” I wanted to put my fist through the wall. No matter what messes Joe and Katy made, Sharon DePaul charged too soon in this case. Even as I thought it, I knew her rush to judgment may have been the very thing that kept my brother out of her crosshairs in the first place. The swell of emotions that had been building in me for the last few hours reached a crescendo.
“Let me do it,” I said. “I’ll go. I’ll take Eric with me. We’ll leave first thing in the morning.”
“Emma?” Jeanie took the paper with Maisy’s address on it. “Thank you for bringing this to me. Now, I mean it. You need to step away. Do not come into this office again until this trial is over. No matter what happens. Do you understand?”
Emma nodded. She mouthed “thank you” to me, then backed out of the room.
“Cass,” Jeanie said. “Is this a good thing for you to be doing?”
I let out a bitter laugh. “Jeanie, I don’t even know anymore.”
“But you know this woman might have information Katy needs. That I need. I said I believe in Katy. I believe in you more. I don’t know what happened with you Friday. I’ll trust your judgment that I’m on a need-to-know basis. But right now, I need to know what Maisy Carmichael has to say.”
This is how I stayed involved. This is how I could serve Katy without betraying my brother.
“All right,” I said. “Jeanie, you take care of Katy in court tomorrow. And I’ll …”
“You’ll go prove who really killed Tom Loomis.” Once again, Jeanie voiced my thoughts.
Chapter 27
The long drivedid me good. I insisted on being behind the wheel. It kept my mind from wondering what was happening in court today. I trusted Jeanie, but it was so hard to give up control.
Eric was quiet most of the way. We listened to every episode ofTallon of Justiceposted so far. For the first six episodes, she covered what was publicly known about the murder, recapped the prosecution’s case in chief, and aired her bombshell prison witness who relayed what Katy told her. I also finally got to hear for myself the episode that made Addison Quick accuse me of misconduct in open court.
I was speechless as we listened to the thirty-eight-minute episode. She had another interview with another anonymous source using voice distortion software.
“The sleep-walking defense,” Tallon said. “It’s an incredible story. Is it possible that a person could commit such a heinous act while not being fully aware of it? My source can confirm that Katy Loomis consented to having her blooddrawn at the hospital just a few hours after Tom’s murder. From what I’ve been able to learn, she had no lawyer present at the time. We know the defense mounted a successful suppression hearing for critical evidence before this case went to trial. So, I have to wonder what was in those toxicology results that Katy and her attorney felt would strengthen her defense? We may have the answer as the defense begins its case. But here’s what I was able to learn so far.”
Tallon’s witness spoke in great detail about some of Katy’s statements to the police the morning of the murder. Statements the jury was never supposed to hear.
“She insisted that she was under the influence,” the source said.
“You were in the hospital that night?” Tallon asked.
“I was,” the witness said, though she seemed hesitant. “I was in a position to hear her very clearly. She said she didn’t remember what happened.”
“Where is she getting this?” I said, my anger rising. “The only people who know about Katy’s statement are us, the cops, and Addison Quick. I can’t think of a single reason why any of them would leak Katy’s ramblings.”
“It makes for a pretty compelling narrative,” Eric said after the episode concluded. The GPS said we were fifteen minutes from the address Emma gave us. “If we weren’t directly involved, I’d probably subscribe to the thing just for pleasure.”
