Southern Lights: A Novel

The case for the defense took less than a week, and then the public defender rested her case. Alexa called only two defense witnesses for rebuttal and made hash of them. They were incompetent, and it showed. And then Judy made an emotional closing statement, begging the jury not to convict an innocent man, and hoping that she had convinced them he was. The jury looked stone-faced as they watched her.

Alexa’s closing argument summed up the evidence for them, reminded them of each case and instance when Luke Quentin had been linked conclusively to one of the women, as their murderer. She went down the list of proofs, both simple and complicated, that should convince them that the defendant was guilty of all of these crimes. She then made a brief emotional speech reminding them of their responsibility as jurors to bring criminals like Luke Quentin to justice and convict, not an innocent man, but a man who had been proven to have raped and killed eighteen women. She thanked them for their attention during the long trial.

The judge then instructed the jury for their deliberations. The foreman had already requested charts and evidence that had been presented during the trial. Throughout the trial the judge had warned the jury that they were not to read anything in the press about the proceedings, but he had not sequestered them.

They would be taken to a hotel that night, however, if they had not reached a verdict, and for as many nights as it took. The jury left the courtroom, and Alexa let out a long sigh. Her job was done. Sam and Jack looked at her with admiration.

“You did a hell of a job,” Sam said, somewhat in awe of her strength and precision. Watching Alexa in court was like watching ballet. She had an amazing way of making complicated information sound simple and reasonable to the jury, as she questioned witnesses and asked them to explain in simple terms what they’d said before. It was a very clever way of not confusing a jury with overly technical details.

As she stood up, Luke Quentin was led away in handcuffs by the four deputies who had been with him throughout the trial. He looked at her in open hatred this time. He knew too that it hadn’t gone well. He said nothing to Alexa and moved on, but if he could have murdered her with a look, she would have been dead on the spot. She was more than ever grateful that she had sent Savannah away. Until he was behind bars in a maximum security prison for life, she didn’t feel safe.

Sam, Jack, and Alexa had to stay near the courtroom but not in it while they waited for the jury to deliberate. They were all available on their cell phones, and decided to go back to Alexa’s office. It was hard to believe it was almost over. Alexa hoped they’d convict, and it was difficult to imagine they wouldn’t. But juries were unpredictable and quixotic. If they had a “reasonable doubt,” even if they had been too confused to assimilate the information, he’d go free. They had all seen it happen.

Sam sprawled out on the couch in Alexa’s office, while Jack relaxed in a chair, and Alexa sat down with her feet on the desk. She was excited, but exhausted, and had been running on adrenaline and fumes for almost five weeks, since jury selection. It was the first of June. Savannah was graduating in Charleston in ten days. Life would be normal again by then. The DA had promised her a week’s vacation as soon as the verdict came in. He stuck his head into her office as she sat there and said he had seen her closing argument and it had been excellent. He had been in the courtroom frequently during the trial, as had several senior members of the FBI.

There was no call from the court that afternoon, and little conversation in her office. They were too tired and anxious to speak.

Finally, the judge’s clerk called, and told them to go home. The jury was going to a hotel for the night, and would reconvene to deliberate in the morning. Alexa reported it to Jack and Sam, and they both groaned. They were hoping the verdict had come in, although it was early for that. They invited her to dinner, but she said she was too tired. She went home and sat on the couch and stared at the TV mindlessly. It had been an incredibly grueling five weeks. Alexa fell asleep on the couch, in her clothes, without dinner and with the TV on, and didn’t wake up until seven a.m. the next day. She looked at her watch as she woke with a start. She had to shower and dress. The jury was reconvening in two hours.

Chapter 17

Sam, Jack, Alexa, the judge, the public defender, and the families of the victims waited through another long day, while the jury deliberated, with no results. They were all about to leave so the jury could be sent to a hotel for another night, when the foreman sounded the buzzer in the judge’s chambers that announced they had reached a verdict.

Court was immediately reconvened, and the defendant was brought in.

The elderly man who was the foreman of the jury stood up and looked at the judge.