Piece of My Heart (Under Suspicion #7) - Mary Higgins Clark Page 0,58
would put him in the spotlight. But Lou Finney’s case had all the hallmarks of a front-page story. The beloved owner of a popular bar in one of the hottest neighborhoods in Manhattan. A private college student and a rich-kid real estate heir were the suspects. A tale of old New York City meets new. A clash of the classes. And Leo supposedly getting the goods on me made him the star of the story. Then guess what? He got the big promotion, making him the chief public spokesperson for the entire NYPD, able to command as much media attention as a mayor.”
Laurie did not like what she was hearing. Gunther was wielding her father’s stellar reputation as a weapon against him. On Nick’s digital screen, Laurie could see Gunther’s gaze shift off camera. He was looking at her, but then he directed his attention back to Ryan.
“I suggest you check into the timing of Leo Farley’s trajectory in the department. You’ll see that I’m right. Did you know I’m not the first prisoner to have accused Farley of fabricating evidence?”
Even in profile, Laurie thought she saw a flicker of doubt in Ryan’s reaction. He was probably thinking that in any other case—with a different police investigator, with a normal timeline for production—Laurie would have researched any possible pattern of complaints prior to conducting on-screen interviews. He recovered quickly, though.
“You’ve been in prison eighteen years,” Ryan said. “I assume you know how common wrongful conviction complaints are. Any police officer with thirty years of service will have multiple defendants accuse them of misconduct over the course of a career. It doesn’t make the allegations true.”
“The newly discovered DNA matches a man with a demonstrated pattern of threatening people with knives, including at least one known stabbing in a bar fight, the exact conduct at issue in my case. Did you know that the District Attorney’s Office’s Conviction Integrity Unit has confirmed that Mason Rollins was living in Greenwich Village at the time Lou Finney was stabbed? His apartment was only a ten-minute walk from that bar. Rollins slammed the door in my lawyer’s face when she tried to talk to him, and my understanding is that he refused to speak to the DA’s investigator as well.”
“So what is your theory about why Rollins would stab a bar owner with whom he had no known grievance?”
“Because we all spilled out onto the sidewalk. I was trying to disengage, but the other guy from the bar, Jay Pratt, kept punching me and grabbing my shirt. We bumped into some other guy—hard—and he was the one who pulled the knife. The next thing I knew, Mr. Finney was falling. There was so much blood. And the other guy… He was long gone. There’s no doubt in my mind that man was Mason Rollins, and I have the DNA to prove it. You’re an excellent lawyer, Mr. Nichols. You tell me: If my case isn’t good enough to raise doubts about my guilt, whose is?”
Chapter 36
Gunther held Ryan’s gaze, as if daring him to suggest any weaknesses in his arguments. If my case isn’t good enough to raise doubts about my guilt, whose is?
It was a made-for-the-camera moment, striking just the right tone for the end of the interview. Ryan hadn’t managed to shake Gunther away from any part of his side of the story. If anything, Gunther had strengthened his case, maximizing his use of the DNA evidence while calling into question Leo’s credibility.
Ryan looked to Laurie. She understood it was a sign that he was coming to a close. She nodded.
“Just a few more questions before we wrap up, Mr. Gunther. I’m going to read you a list of names of people who were at Finn’s Bar the night of the murder and ask whether you had any contact with them either before that night, or since.”
“Very well, but I don’t see the point of it.”
“According to your version of the story, you were at the bar alone and didn’t know anyone there, so we’d like to confirm that. And then we’d like to make sure you didn’t make any attempt after the fact to contact potential witnesses against you, either at your original trial or in your wrongful conviction case.”
For the first time since the cameras started filming, Tracy Mahoney spoke up. “Don’t answer that, Darren. It’s too vague.”
He used his free hand to wave off her concerns. “Please, I’ve got nothing to worry about. Let’s hear it.”