Page 59 of Witness 8

Even though the conversation fell quiet, and Ruby could not see the two women from the hallway, she knew Esther was giving her daughter one of her looks. One of her skeptical, motherly looks.

Esther was beginning to become a major problem for Ruby.

21

Kate

When Kate arrived in the office, Denise was already there, working the Xerox machine.

Eddie’s plan had worked.

Yesterday she had met with Castro, and told him she needed time. Her client was on the ragged edge, ready to crack and plead to a crime he didn’t commit. The odds of getting an acquittal with the DNA evidence against him were just too great. She told Castro they needed time to find a DNA expert, a latent palm print expert and a ballistics expert who was probably going to have to come from overseas, seeing as how Castro had poisoned the pool of experts in the US.

Castro said he would think about it.

Harry’s talk with the judges corroborated what Kate had told him. Lawyers talk.

Trial date was set for four weeks from today. And the interviews of Brett Bale and Todd Ellis had come through to the office that morning.

It was clear the investigating officer, Detective Chase, had thought Bale and Ellis were suspects. They were interviewed days apart. But both men had stuck to their stories. Yes, they’d had a relationship with Maggs, but that was all in the past. They’d been at the party, with forty witnesses, and they’d stayed until after three in the morning.

A separate statement from Petra Schwartzman confirmed both men left after three a.m. The medical examiner put the time of Margaret’s death at between midnight and one a.m., but absolutely no later.

Castro would have held these interviews back, buried them. And then unleashed them in court if Eddie and Kate had decided to use Bale and Ellis as alternative suspects. He was sharing them now, to try to add to the pressure on John Jackson to throw in the towel.

No way was that going to happen. And they now had a trial date, which helped John focus on getting through this ordeal.

Kate left a note for Eddie and a copy of the statements, then left the office and saw Bloch pulling up in her Jeep. Kate got into the passenger seat.

‘Let’s go shake some trees,’ said Kate.

They drove to Brett Bale’s tennis camp in Yonkers, where he had offices and managed the rest of his empire – a base close to his home in Manhattan. Bloch parked in the lot beside Bale’s Ferrari, and walked with Kate into the reception area.

There was a tennis shop on the left, and an office on the right with a reception window. Kate could see a formidable lady sitting in that office, focused on her screen. A bell sat at the reception window. A corridor facing the entrance doors led to changing areas and tennis courts beyond. A set of stairs led up to the next floor.

‘His office must be upstairs,’ said Bloch.

If no one was stopping Kate going to find Bale, she wasn’t about to ask permission. Better not give people a reason to say no.

Kate followed Bloch up the single flight of stairs. At the top was a storeroom on the left, and a short corridor leading to an office.

The plaque on the door readBrett Bale #1.

‘How do you want to handle this?’ asked Bloch.

‘Diplomatically,’ said Kate.

Bloch raised an eyebrow.

‘That means we don’t threaten to remove any limbs,’ said Kate.

‘I’ll play it by ear, for now,’ said Bloch, considering the advice.

Kate knocked and opened the office door in one smooth motion. Again, she didn’t want to give anyone an opportunity to stop them.

Bale stood behind a large desk. A wide window behind him overlooking the tennis courts. He wore an expensive white silk shirt and navy chinos with, as Kate expected, tennis shoes. He held his phone to his ear.

The office was neat, with a few filing cabinets on one side and two chairs facing the desk.