Moment in Time Part 3
Chapter 35
Witness for the Prosecution
Part 1
After all his years of giving book readings, Rick can't figure out why one would still send him searching for a bathroom. Perhaps it's because the reading cost the buyer $15,000 at a charity auction, and her husband didn't seem very happy about it. Whatever the reason, Rick knocks briskly on the door, only for the male voice inside to tell him it will be a while.
When a helpful member of the party staff tells Rick there's another restroom on the second floor, he quickly heads for the stairs. His eyes fix on the view through a bedroom door. A woman is drawing a fireplace poker from another woman bleeding out on the floor. He vaguely recognizes the victim as Sadie Beakman, a journalist known for her work in Iraq. When Rick yells stop, the poker wielder sprints for the open window, using a portable baseball hoop to reach the ground below.
Rick runs for the stairs, yelling for someone to call 911. He jerks open the front door, only to see his quarry disappearing around a wooden fence. Now he really needs a bathroom.
"Be charming but not too charming," Kate advises as Rick prepares for his testimony at Nina O'Keefe's trial for the murder of Sadie Beakman.
"I'll just be my regular charming self. What's wrong with that?"
"You should definitely tone it down," Esposito interjects.
"Just tell the court what you saw and heard. Don't try to embellish or give an opinion," ADA Marcus Weller instructs. "We don't need to give the defense any opportunities to object. Not that he'd probably take the opportunity."
"Who's Nina O'Keefe's lawyer?" Kate asks.
"Stan Novac."
"'Short Attention Span Stan?'" The corners of Kate's mouth tug upwards as she turns toward Rick. "You'll be fine."
The judge regards Caleb Brown as he hurries to take the empty spot at the defense table. "Always nice to see you, Mr. Brown. But I understood that Mr. Novac was handling this case."
"He was, Your Honor," Caleb confirms. "But his wife went into premature labor last night. She and the baby are fine, but you can understand that he'd want to stay with his family."
"I do, indeed, Mr. Brown," Judge Gloria Wollcott replies. "But you had very short notice. Are you prepared?"
"Yes, Your Honor. I have Mr. Novac's notes, and I did some investigation of my own this morning."
"In that case," Wollcott declares, "you may proceed."
Rick and Kate exchange glances. With Caleb Brown in the mix. The trial just became a whole other ballgame.
Lanie Parish takes the stand, as she has countless times before, describing Sadie Beakman's cause of death. "Would death have been instantaneous?" Brown prompts.
"No," Lanie responds. "She would have lived for about ten minutes and in great pain."
"So, when the poker was removed from her body, she would have been alive?" Caleb presses.
"Yes," Lanie confirms.
Rick's stomach clenches. He's sure Sadie looked dead to him. But if she was alive, should he have called for help immediately instead of trying to chase the killer? Or maybe he could have stopped the bleeding himself. By the time Rick reaches the stand, Caleb Brown ably takes his testimony apart. And Rick's not entirely sure that he didn't deserve it.
"You got nuked up there," Marcus Weller accuses Rick. "And we needed your eyewitness testimony. Everything else about this case is circumstantial."
"The trial doesn't resume until tomorrow afternoon," Kate points out. "That gives us time to dig up something else."
"Dig up what?" Marcus retorts. "You've had this case for months. What else can there be?"
"But I wasn't on it," Kate points out. "I am now. Anyway, at this point, what have we got to lose?"
"The case," Marcus returns. "Just the whole damn case."
"Kate," Rick whispers as Marcus Storms off. "I'm not sure anymore that I saw Nina O'Keefe kill Sadie."
Kate strokes his arm. "You just let Caleb Brown shake you. He may have a scumbag history, but he's also one of the best defense attornies I've ever seen. He could have rocked anyone."
"Hey Castle," Esposito confides, "the first time I was on the stand, I was more of a disaster than you were. Before I was done, I accused a suspect of attacking and taking me down."
"Espo, I've seen that happen," Castle comments, "very rarely, of course."
"Yeah, but this suspect was Miss Lucinda, an old lady in a wheelchair. I'll never forget the looks on the jury. And the ADA didn't try to put me on the stand again for a year."
"But Nina claimed she was just trying to help Sadie by pulling out that poker. And Brown was right about my memory loss after my abduction and what I wrote about eyewitness testimony," Rick admits. "We all know it can be the least reliable part of a case. Eyewitnesses have put multiple innocent defendants behind bars. I don't want to join that club. And he was also right that I'd been framed myself – by 3XK. So I should be able to put myself in Nina's shoes. And after what Lanie said, maybe Nina was telling the truth."
"All the evidence, not just your testimony, points to Nina, Babe," Kate reminds her husband. "We'll use whatever time we have to look for anything else we can find. But the evidence is the evidence."
"We've got something, Captain," Esposito reports. "Sadie Beakman spent the night before she was killed in a bar. Unfortunately, it didn't have any security video, but the hotel next door did. You and Castle need to see it."
"That's Sadie and Nina," Kate realizes. "And from the body language, they're not just friends."
"And fighting as only lovers can," Rick points out. "Sadie and Nina were having an affair, apparently one that went very wrong. It always comes down to the three motives for a crime, money, love, and to cover up another crime. Looks like the wheel just landed on number two."
"Right," Kate agrees. "I'll get this to Marcus. Then, he can ask for a continuance based on new evidence."
Doubt niggles at the back of Rick's mind. "But, Kate, lovers' spats don't need to lead to murder. If they did, you and I would be dead countless times over. Scratch that. I would never have survived to marry you. I would have been in prison for killing Meredith."
Kate flicks back a lock of hair falling in Rick's face. "Babe, it's new evidence. We'll do what we always do, see where it takes us."
With his head propped on his forearm, Rick stares at his bedroom ceiling. Kate cuddles into his shoulder. "You should try to get some sleep."
"I am trying. But the scene of Nina pulling the poker out of Sadie keeps playing over again in my mind. I didn't see the actual killing, Kate. And I'm not sure Sadie was still alive. It could all have played out the way Caleb Brown said it did. The real killer could still be out there, maybe with one of the other two motives. I need to talk to Nina."
"There's no way you can do that, Castle. She's the accused, and you're a witness. You'd have to get yourself thrown in jail."
"I've been in jail before. I survived. So if getting to the truth is what it takes, that's what I'll do."