"That was only a split second thought in my head. I was watching Luther Mahoney's arm very carefully, thinking, okay he's going to drop the gun. And then—" Rachel's voice broke. "—And then, the muscles in his arm tighten, another split second and I know he's about to raise the gun and shoot Meldrick Lewis and—" Her voice broke again and her eyes filled with tears. "—And I was screaming and for a second I'm thinking I'm going to watch a cop get murdered and I'm just watching and I can't do anything and why can't I put the binoculars down but I can't, I can't, I can't put them down—
"He almost shot Meldrick Lewis and then Michael Kellerman shot Luther Mahoney and he fell down and Meldrick Lewis wasn't dead and I started crying and—and, fine!—it did bother me to see someone get shot, even crap like Luther Mahoney!"
Rachel put her head down on her arms and cried and cried.
Dumbfounded, Pembleton reached into his pants pockets, pulled out a handkerchief, and stuffed it into Rachel's hand. She took it but didn't look up.
"Um, I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere," Pembleton said, then left the room, nearly stumbling over his feet.
There, standing behind the two-way mirror, were Lewis, Kellerman, Howard, Munch, and Bayliss, all looking as shell-shocked as Pembleton.
Frank recovered first. "Obviously she believes what she's saying, but it can't be true. I won't take this statement and enter it into evidence. She's a nut, Howard, I'll get her to retract her statement before lunch."
"How do you know she's lying?" Kellerman asked. "Maybe I copped to a lie. Stivers was standing behind me. Maybe she didn't have a clear line of sight. Meldrick, if you back me on this, it'll be this girl's word against Stivers's. It'll be clean.
"It was clean," Kellerman said, his voice growing confident. "It was clear all along and Stivers was the one who put doubts in my head, in your head, Meldrick. Is it so hard to believe that I saved your life, Meldrick?"
"Naw, Mikey, that ain't so hard to believe," Lewis said. "I was behind you. But Stivers was so sure."
"Kellerman, you're grasping at straws. This girl has no credibility. The prosecution would tear her down in five seconds," Pembleton said, his tone brooking no discussion.
But Kellerman argued anyway. "Really? The way you have? She may be crying, but she knows what she saw."
"I haven't yet begun, Kellerman. There is a chink, a flaw somewhere. She's a police groupie, she's a Kellerman groupie, she's got an ulterior motive somewhere that I was find and I will show her that she was imagining things. She will cave."
"Do you have it in for Kellerman, Frank?" Bayliss piped up. "Maybe this girl is telling the truth."
"Thanks, Tim," Kellerman said.
"Everybody lies," Pembleton said darkly, and stormed back into the interrogation room.