Play Dead

Kevin and I struggle to come up with a theory, but what we wind up with is vague and only loosely based on facts. Our thought is that Stacy, which is how I can’t help referring to her even though her real name was Diana, was likely stationed in Afghanistan. She was probably a witness to wrongdoing, and witnesses very often need protection.

The wrongdoing could have been misconduct by American soldiers, perhaps mistreating the enemy, or it could have been financial. There have been a number of stories written over the past couple of years about the chaos that existed just after the Taliban was defeated, and the corruption that was part of the reconstruction efforts. Billions of dollars were alleged to have been lost.

Billions. People have killed for a lot less.

It’s possible that the government itself didn’t believe that lives were really lost in that helicopter crash, or perhaps it knew of other bad guys that got away and would pose a threat to Stacy. In any event, those in charge obviously felt it necessary to tuck her away where she wouldn’t be harmed.

Pete comes over and joins the discussion, mainly to report once again that no progress has been made toward finding Reggie, and that he seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth. I’m going crazy about it and getting more and more pessimistic that we’ll never get a ransom demand. If we were going to get one, it would have come already.

We bring Pete up to date on what we know and what we suspect about Stacy’s real identity and why she was a protected witness. He has a slightly different take on this. “If it’s money that was stolen, maybe they put her in the program not so much so that she could someday testify, but rather to insure that she never would.”

I don’t understand, and I tell him so. He continues, “That money is gone; they’re never going to see it again. If they catch the crooks and have a trial, then they have to publicly confront the embarrassment that they screwed up and lost billions of dollars. If they don’t, then nobody finds out the truth about it.”

“Right. But if there was some other kind of misconduct, like if she witnessed torture or something, the army might also want to keep that quiet.”

Either scenario makes sense in light of the way the government has acted, trying to keep the case from being reopened and, failing that, attempting to thwart us at every turn.

We kick this around a while longer until it’s time for Kevin and me to start our trial preparation for tomorrow. It’s extraordinarily frustrating to realize that nothing that we have learned today or talked about tonight is going to make it to the jury.

Before Pete leaves, he gives me three sheets of paper. It is the result of the investigation I suggested into Franklin’s work at customs, a comparison of the cargo entering before and after his death. I want to look at it because I still have no idea where Franklin fits into all this, but I just don’t have the time right now.

Kevin and I are at it until almost one in the morning, including a half-hour walk that he takes with Tara and me. I’ve been trying to get Kevin to get a dog, since he loves them, and he’s weakening. He explains that right now he’s trying to figure out what he would do with the dog if he had to spend an extended time in the hospital.

“Why? Are you sick?” I ask.

He smiles weakly. “You have no idea; I just don’t like to talk about it.”

Oh.

Our first witness in the morning session is Michelle Miller, a travel agent with an office in Englewood. She met with Richard the day before Stacy died, and she testifies that the meeting was to finalize their honeymoon plans.

“They were going on a cruise through the Panama Canal,” she says.

“Did he give you a deposit?”

She nods. “He did. One thousand dollars.”

“Was it refundable in the event that they had to cancel their trip?” I ask.

“It was not.”

I turn her over to Hawpe. “Had you spent a great deal of time with Mr. Evans and Ms. Harriman when they were together?”

She shakes her head. “No, I actually never met Ms. Harriman.”

“I see. So you did not know what you would describe as intimate details of their marriage?”

“I did not.”

“If the deposit had been refundable and then Mr. Evans committed suicide, would he have been around to receive the refund?”

I object and Judge Gordon sustains, but Hawpe’s point had been made. A murder-suicide is an irrational act, and simply making a honeymoon reservation is no proof at all that Richard could not have done it.

We then call a series of witnesses who spent time with Richard and Stacy and who talk about how much they seemed to love each other.

Hawpe is basically dismissive of these witnesses, getting each one to admit that they have no idea what goes on behind the closed doors of anyone’s relationship other than their own.

It’s been a day of making small gains and pretending they are big, but we’re going to have to do much better. And our chance will come tomorrow, when we call Dr. King and Jeffrey Blalock.