Sleight of Hand - By Phillip Margolin Page 0,17
wasn’t acting strange or anything and I trusted him because he was my brother’s friend.”
“What happened in the car?”
“He closed the door. Then he put his arm sort of behind me. Not touching but right above my shoulders.”
“Did he say anything to you?”
“Yeah, he told me he always thought I was . . . was hot.”
“How did that make you feel?”
Anita shrugged. “Embarrassed, I guess.”
“What else did he say?”
“How I was more mature than the stuck-up girls at his school, and smarter. Then he asked me if I wanted my present. I was curious so I said yeah.”
“What was the present?”
“He leaned over and kissed me.”
“How did that make you feel?”
“A little scared, but I wasn’t worried.”
“Did you make out?”
Anita turned red. “A little.”
Once again, the witness’s answer was barely audible. Judge Gardner reminded her to speak up in an uncharacteristically sympathetic tone.
“Did the defendant do anything that made you want to stop making out?” the prosecutor continued.
“Yeah, he started touching me in . . . in places. I asked him to stop. He said he knew I wanted to and I said I didn’t.”
“What happened then?”
“He got this ziplock bag out of his glove compartment and he said it would loosen me up.”
“What was in the bag?”
“Objection,” Benedict said. “That would require an expert opinion, Your Honor.”
“I’ll retract the question,” Maguire said before the judge could rule.
“Did the defendant tell you what was in the bag?” Maguire asked.
“No. He just said it would make me feel great.”
“What did the material in the bag look like?”
“White powder.”
Benedict watched as the jurors turned their attention to his client. None of them looked sympathetic.
“Did you try some?”
“No. I got scared. I said I wanted to go back to the party.”
“Did the defendant let you?”
“No. He sort of moved on top of me in my seat, the passenger seat, and he started to . . . to feel me up.”
Some of the women on the jury looked upset. Two of the men were frowning.
“What did you do?”
“I tried to push him off and I yelled for him to stop.”
“What happened then?”
“There was a knock on the window.”
“Who knocked?”
“It was a policeman. He was shining a light into the car. He said to open the door.”
“What happened then?”
“Kyle freaked out. He tried to crawl over me to get out on my side. I grabbed the lock and pulled it up.”
“Why did you do that?”
“I wanted him off of me.”
“What happened then?”
“Kyle scrambled out of the car, but he didn’t see the other policeman, and that policeman grabbed him.”
“What did you do?”
“Nothing. I was scared, so I just sat there.”
“What happened next?”
“After they grabbed Kyle, the first policeman asked me if I was okay. I said yeah. That’s when he saw the ziplock bag. He said, ‘What have we here?’ and I said I didn’t know and that I hadn’t touched it. Then he told me to get out of the car, and he told me to go away from Kyle.”
“What happened between the defendant and the officers?”
“I don’t know. I just waited. I was scared and I didn’t want anything to do with it.”
“Did the officers arrest you?”
“No, they put Kyle in the back of a police car. Then they brought me inside and told everyone they’d had complaints about the noise and everyone should go home.”
“No further questions,” the prosecutor said.
“Nothing, Your Honor,” Benedict said.
Kyle pulled at Benedict’s sleeve. “Don’t let her off. Cross-examine that lying cunt.”
“She’s got the jurors on her side, Kyle. If I get on her it will just upset them.”
“But she’s lying. That was her coke. And I never touched her. I can get any girl I want. Why would I waste time on that scrawny bitch?”
“Keep your cool and remember what you have to do. You’re going to be okay,” Benedict reassured Ross.
“Call your next witness, Miss Maguire,” Judge Gardner said.
Stephen Hurley, the arresting officer, took the stand. He testified that he and his partner had driven to the party because of complaints about the noise. They were walking toward the house when they saw Miss Lesley and the defendant struggling in the front seat of a parked car. Hurley explained how he’d found a ziplock bag containing a white powder in the front seat and had arrested the defendant. Hurley told the jury that the ziplock bag had been turned over to the crime lab for testing.
After Benedict told the court that he had no questions for the witness, Maguire called Justin Wing, a pudgy forensic expert