Daunting Days of Winter (14 page)

“He looked shocked. He seemed very surprised that she had been found dead. I think we all expected her to have just gotten lost on her way home. I know I did.”

“Did you physically examine the accused?”

“Yes.”

“Was there anything on his body to indicate he’d been in a struggle?”

“No. He had a few scratches on his arms, but they were older, scabbed over. He said he fell when he was hunting.”

“Did Kyle ever make any comments about raping or killing anyone?”

Sean shook his head. “Nothing at all like that.”

“Did you ever worry about him patrolling at night, unsupervised?”

“No. I have a lot of confidence in all the guys who work at night. It’s a good crew.”

“All right, thank you,” Boyd said, concluding.

Helen asked for a redirect and returned to face Sean. “You said his wounds were old. I’m just curious. What physiology class have you taken that would give you the expertise to make such a statement?”

Sean looked at the prosecutor, his disdain for the question obvious. “I’ve not had a physiology class, ma’am. But I did receive medical training in the military…”

“So you haven’t had specific training in this area. Correct?”

“Not specifically, but I had medical training when I served in the military. I’ve been…”

“Mr. Reider,” Helen interrupted him again. “Just answer my questions. I understand you want to help Mr. Tait, but you are speaking out of line.”

“Look,” Sean said, straightening up in his chair. “I realize we are not the expert scientists you are used to having as witnesses, but I’m not stupid. I don’t need training to know what an old scratch looks like.”

Helen smirked at him. “Thank you, Mr. Reider. Nothing more. Please don’t leave the court, ah, this building. I may have more questions for you later.” She stepped over to her table and consulted her notes. “My next witness is Dale Briggs.”

Dale strode to the witness chair with his chest puffed out, but looking like he might throw up at any second. Once sworn in, he focused his attention on Ms. Markham, who asked a series of questions about his relationship with the deceased. Dale described how they’d first met at the New Years party, their first “date,” the sexual nature of their relationship, how much he’d cared for Leah, and what had happened the night in question.

While Dale poured his heart out as he described his lost love, Helen casually strode over to the defense table. When Dale was finished, she waited for him to compose himself then asked, “Can you describe for us your relationship with Mr. Tait?”

“I don’t have a relationship with him,” he retorted. “He’s an ass.”

Helen lingered by the table, and Kyle’s heart sunk, knowing where the questions were heading. “Any past dealings with Mr. Tait?”

“I guess you could say that. He beat me up a few weeks ago.” Whispers rolled through the room, and Helen paused for effect, waiting for them to subside.

“Please elaborate.”

Dale smirked at Kyle. “It was about four weeks ago. It was really cold that night, and my mom and I needed some wood, so I went to the wood lot when it was dark and took some. He caught me there and chased me down. Beat me up pretty bad. I still had a black eye at the New Years party.”

“Were you entitled to the wood?”

“Well, we live here, and the trees don’t belong to anyone, but they wouldn’t give me any. So I guess in their eyes I didn’t deserve it. I dropped it all when I ran off, but he still attacked me.”

Helen had been watching Kyle during this exchange, then very dramatically turned to the witness. “Did you fear for your life?”

“I did,” Dale answered, now on the verge of tears. “Another guy came and stopped the attack, but I thought he was going to kill me, all for an armload of wood.”

“Anyone else know about this?”

“He does,” Dale said, turning and pointing at Gabe. “And the last witness, he did, too. And the guy who stopped Kyle from attacking me, the black guy, he does. I don’t know his name.”

“Thank you, Mr. Briggs. I’m so sorry for your loss. I have no further questions.”

Kyle whispered a few things to his lawyer, who then stood for cross-examination. “Mr. Briggs. I’m sorry for your loss, but I do have a few questions for you. When the Smith girl left your home, did you walk her to the corner?”

Dale shook his head no.

“Did you watch her ride down the street?”

He shook his head again in the negative.

“Did Leah ever indicate she had any problems with the militia?”

He thought a second. “No, not that I recall.”

“So you were the last one to see her alive, didn’t escort her anywhere, are an admitted thief, and we should take your word on all of this?”

Dale shifted uneasily. “Look, I know the wood wasn’t mine, but nobody was going to be hurt by the little bit I took, and my mother will tell you that Leah left my house, and I didn’t.”

“When you stole the wood, who initiated the assault?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Did you throw the wood onto Mr. Tait?”

“I’m not sure.”

“When it came to blows, did you punch and kick Mr. Tait after you pushed a wall of wood on top of him and before he struck you?”

“I…I…I can’t be certain. It’s possible. But none of that even hurt him. I had black eyes and a fat lip.”

“Just because you can’t fight, that doesn’t mean Mr. Tait is guilty of anything.” A chorus of muted laughter came from the crowd. Boyd asked several more questions about Dale’s background, revealing little, then sat down.

Helen stood. “I’d like to recall a previous witness. Mr. Reider, would you please come back to the witness chair?”

Sean returned to the front, his face blank. “Mr. Reider,” Helen began. “I asked you just a few minutes ago if you’d had any issues with Mr. Tait, and you said no. Correct?”

Sean agreed.

“The last witness, Mr. Briggs, tells us of an incident where the defendant assaulted him and of which you were directly aware. Why is it you chose not to inform the jury of that event?”

“I just forgot about it. It wasn’t a big deal. You know, we recently saved this town, and likely yours, from armed infiltrators. We had to bury four of their guys and one of ours got shot up, and you expect me to make a big deal about a punk thief who got a fat lip?”

“It’s not about the fat lip, sir. It’s about a man you put on patrol who seems to have a problem with his temper, with his self-control. You see, the problem is when you don’t tell us stuff like that and when you make it so obvious whose side you’re on, it makes the jury think you’re hiding something, and that you’re trying to protect the accused. Frankly, I think that myself. Now, why is it you didn’t tell us about the incident with Mr. Briggs?”

“I told you. I forgot. And besides, I don’t think Kyle did any more than most people would’ve done. We’re figuring this out as we go. I’m not a trained policeman. We don’t have nightly reports that we fill out and can refer to. We’re just trying to keep you people alive. That doesn’t make us nefarious.”

Helen rolled her eyes. “Thank you. Please, work on your recall in the future.” She waited as Sean returned to his seat. “For my next witness, I’d like to call Audrey Welch.”

A woman three rows back stood, hesitated, then walked to the front of the room, her gaze directed at the ground. Kyle turned to Jennifer and whispered, “Who’s that?”

Jennifer shook her head slowly. “She lives on the other side of town. Don’t know why she’d be called to testify.”

When Audrey was seated, Helen faced her. “Do you know the defendant?”

Audrey looked at Kyle. “I know who he is, and I know his wife a little, but I can’t say that I know him.”

“When did you first meet him?”

“Just after he got back. It was pretty exciting, like he’d returned from the dead. I mean, after that much time, with everything going on, to have him show up alive was remarkable. We left to get to the meeting early, because we heard he was going to tell about his experiences.”

“When you say ‘we’, who do you mean?”

“It was my son, Shane, and I that went.”

“Did Mr. Tait disappoint when he spoke about his experiences?”

Audrey shook her head vigorously. “No. Not at all. It was fantastic.”

“Did he say anything that disturbed you?”

She hesitated, looking nervously at Kyle and Jennifer.

Helen stepped between them, breaking the line of sight between Audrey and the Taits. “Did he say anything that disturbed you?” she repeated.

Audrey exhaled and made eye contact with the prosecutor. “Like I told you the other day, my son is a little impulsive. He asked Kyle if he’d killed anyone on his trip home…”

Kyle’s mind instantly flashed back to his first Sunday home. He’d spoken for about thirty minutes at the town meeting and was answering questions when an impish boy of about twelve had questioned him about killing people. Kyle had intentionally left out any mention of the shootout in Colorado while speaking, but asked point blank about it, he had been caught off guard and his vague answer had clearly given the impression that he had taken a life. Afterwards, he’d wished he’d just said ‘no’ and moved on. He hadn’t provided details, other than to say his own life had been on the line, but the damage was done, enough to make people look at him just a little differently.

“And?” Helen asked, prodding.

“Well, he didn’t come right out and say it, but the implication was pretty clear that he did. Even my twelve year old got that. It bothered me when he said it, but how can I say if it was wrong or right? I don’t know…”

“Thank you, Mrs. Welch. I don’t need your interpretation of Mr. Tait’s intentions. I just needed to know what he said about killing people on his way home. So, to summarize, Mr. Tait tacitly admitted, in front of the town, that he killed in order to make it home, correct?”

Boyd stood. “I object your honor. Leading the witness.”

Gabe, wide-eyed, looked nervously at Don, his co-judge. “Boyd, I’m not sure what to say, exactly, but I was there. I don’t think she’s making Mrs. Welch say anything out of line. Perhaps on your cross you can clarify things.”

Helen looked back at the witness. “Did he admit to killing, or not?”

“He didn’t say those words that I remember, but I took it as an admission.”

“Thank you. Nothing further.”

Boyd stood, but didn’t move towards the witness. “Did he say the words ‘I killed x number of people?’”

“No, he did not say the words ‘I killed someone.’”

Boyd hadn’t been at the meeting she was referring to and hadn’t been able to question Kyle about it, so was unsure how far to push the questioning, so he thanked the witness and sat down.

Helen smiled as she stood back up. “I now call Steven Lee as a witness.”

Kyle’s heart skipped a beat when he heard the name. Jennifer noticed his distress and gestured for an explanation, but he just closed his eyes and stared at the floor.

After Mr. Lee was sworn in, Helen began her questioning. “How do you know the defendant?”

“I’ve worked the guard shift at night with him for a few weeks.”

“Do you get along?”

“Yeah. Haven’t had any problems. He’s been a good guy to work with.”

“Did you work the night of the murder?”

“Yes.”

“Did you see anything unusual that night?”

Steven hesitated. “I’m not sure. It didn’t seem like it at the time, but with everything that happened, there might be more to it.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well, that night I had a job similar to Kyle’s, patrolling the interior, but in a different section. It was kind of cold, and I was heading back to the militia house to warm up when I saw movement up by a house. I had my gun out and had him raise his hands before he identified himself. It was Kyle.”

“Why do you find this unusual? I’m sure that situations like that happen on occasion.”

“Yeah, it’s happened a couple times in fact. The thing that concerned me was, the next night I realized that it was his house that he was near when I saw him, where the body was found.”

An audible murmur came from the crowd.

“You’re saying you saw him by the front door of the house where the body was found, correct?”

Steven nodded sheepishly. “Yes. I suppose so.”

Helen paused and looked at the jurors, who were jotting notes. When they looked back up she asked a handful more questions, then returned to her seat.

Boyd stood for cross-examination. “That’s all very interesting. I wonder if you saw Kyle go to the house?”

Steven shook his head. “No. I just saw him by his house. I was just walking down the street, keeping an eye out for stuff.”

“Did you see him with a body?”

“No.”

“Did you hear a woman’s voice?”

“No.”

“Did you see the victim’s horse?”

“No.”’

“Did Kyle seem nervous?”

“No, not especially. Maybe just a little startled when I spotted him.”

“Did he have blood on his hands, or his pants down? Anything that would indicate he had just committed or was preparing to commit a murder?”

“No. If the body hadn’t been found there, I probably wouldn’t have thought about it again. It wasn’t until after the girl was found that it stood out to me.”

“Are you sure it was the night of the murder that you saw Kyle near his house?”

Steven nodded. “I am. Kyle usually has the patrol along the river, not the interior, but he was late getting to work that night. So I’m positive it was the night in question.”

Boyd asked a few questions about the work they did at night, then, finding no other fruitful veins to explore, excused the witness.

The prosecutor next called a string of witnesses, which included the girl’s father, the man who had found the body, two other militia members who had worked the night the girl disappeared, a neighbor Leah had spoken to about her new boyfriend, and a teacher from Leah’s childhood. The prosecutor concluded just after sunset, having artfully painted a tragic picture of an innocent girl cut down by a heartless opportunist.

CHAPTER 18

Wednesday, January 25
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