to the bench that flanked the frat’s small basketball court, which was at the far end of the backyard, in the shadows. He got his arm around her all right, but when he went to kiss her, she didn’t return it, and flashed him this what-are-you-doing look. And then she said, “What are you doing?” And he said, “What does it look like I’m doing?” And she said, “I’m not going to kiss you in public, Jim.”
He looked around. There were some people mingling around the back entrance, but he didn’t think they could really see them from where they were standing. And he was pretty happy they couldn’t.
“What’s the big deal?” he said a little sloppily. He wasn’t slurring his words, but he didn’t exactly have complete control over them either. “No one can see us. And even if they could, they couldn’t tell who we are.”
“It’s just a rule I have,” she said.
“Well, let’s go somewhere more private.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Why not?”
“It’s not on the agenda.”
“Sorry, I didn’t realize there was an agenda.”
She smiled. “Don’t be sorry.” Her tone was almost mocking. “You’re drunk, anyway.”
That set him off. “Not drunk enough not to know you’re lame. Not drunk enough not to realize I didn’t really want to do this.”
He went back into the party. He saw Gwen and Kathy talking a few minutes later. And then Gwen gave him a really dirty look. It was real wrath. He’d never seen it before and it upset him. Not long after that he helped Kristen get up to the bathroom.
“If you want to know the truth, Ms. Dupuy,” he says, “as much as I feel bad for what happened to Kristen that night, what really bothered me the next day was how badly I blew it with Gwen. First I’m a dick to her friend, then she finds me with a half-passed-out high-school chick in the bathroom. She hasn’t really talked to me since that night. And I don’t blame her.”
He pauses. Then, when Ms. Dupuy doesn’t say anything, he says, “Anyway, that’s how I ended up out back with Kathy Jorgenson.”
26/ WHO’S THE PI?
May 7, 2007—1:30 p.m.
ABOUT A WEEK AFTER THE CROWLEY MEETING, THE DA’S OFFICE sends over a packet containing two hours of voice recordings on microcassette and the transcript of the interviews Carolyn Dupuy conducted that afternoon at the university. Affixed to the top sheet is a yellow Post-It from the ADA that reads: “FYI, Hank. Let me know what you think.”
A lot of what’s there he’s already heard, but, expectedly, each of the witnesses has embellished a little—or in the case of Jim, embarked on a long, detailed digression. No shocker, part of Dupuy’s strategy is to raise ambiguities and strengthen assertions that Kristen was impaired at the party and plenty of opportunity was available for others to take advantage of her condition. The object is not to shift the blame but to shift the accountability. Her client may be on trial, but a lot of other people have some explaining to do, including Carrie. To cast doubt, she’s going to prosecute each of them.
After a first read and listen (he skims the printed transcript and only consults the tape when it becomes necessary to further scrutinize select passages) he can’t decide whether Jim’s latest testimonial should bother him. He hadn’t heard the back story about the freshman in his dorm, but he knew about Kathy Jorgenson and the rendezvous “out back.” Re-reading the interview, he suspects Jim simply told the story to portray himself in a more favorable light. Though his voice dips into impatience at times, he mostly speaks in a confessional tone that, according to Billings’s flash judgment, suggests the kid really “opened up” to the “babe.”
As much as he’d like to dismiss the comment as an obnoxious jab, Madden knows Billings is probably right: Carolyn Dupuy has a hormonal advantage with frat boys like Jim. He can reconcile himself with that explanation for Jim’s loquaciousness, but more vexing is the interview with Gwen Dayton, the college girl who ended up driving Kristen and Carrie from the party to Cogan’s house.
She’d been forthright and descriptive with him. As an objective third party, he thought after interviewing her that she’d make a persuasive witness. And while he still thinks she will, he’s perturbed that she seemed more animated under Dupuy’s questioning and provided a couple of important extra details. He feels a pang or two of jealousy before arriving at the heartening conclusion that