“Ms. Lankford?”
“No more questions, Your Honor.”
“Very well, please call your next witness.”
There was a half beat of silence, and Jason gazed across the courtroom at the prosecutor, who was whispering with Sergeant Daniels. Shay then turned and announced to the court, “The state rests, Your Honor.”
69
After Jason’s motion for judgment as a matter of law was denied, Judge Conrad adjourned the case for lunch and told everyone to be back in an hour.
As Jason started to go, Jana grabbed his arm.
“I have to testify,” she whispered.
“Not only no, but hell no,” Jason whispered back. “We have a game plan to follow.”
“No, Jason. We can’t—”
“Jana, we’ve been through this. There’s too much risk and not enough reward.”
Two guards came to take her back to the holding cell where lunch awaited her.
“Jason, please.”
“We’ll talk about it tonight.”
She leaned in close and spoke directly into his ear. “I lied to you, J. J.”
Jason wrinkled up his face. “What?”
“I lied.”
“Jana.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Jana, we’re about to start our case. You know who I’m going to call.”
“I do, and that’s fine. But before we finish, I have to take the stand.”
Jason opened his mouth to protest, but she was led away from him, looking back one last time and mouthing, “Please.”
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, he thought but knew he shouldn’t be surprised. This was Jana, after all.
As he began to walk down the aisle—he was supposed to meet Izzy and Harry at Café 336—his brain flooded with questions.
How could he call Jana given what he’d promised Tyson Cade?
And if he did call her, how could he do so without blowing up the whole case?
And finally, the big one.
What’d you lie about, Jana?
70
“Is the defendant ready to call her first witness?” Judge Conrad asked once everyone had returned from the break.
“Yes, Your Honor. Defense calls Ms. Beverly Thacker,” Jason said, his voice carrying to the back of the courtroom.
Nurse Thacker waddled into the courtroom wearing green scrubs. She took her seat and nodded at the jury.
After taking his time covering her experience as a nurse and knowledge, Jason waded into the reason for her testimony. His alternative theory had three links, and Thacker provided the first.
“Nurse Thacker, did you ever see Dr. Waters acting unfaithful toward his wife, Ms. Waters?”
“Well . . . yes I did. I actually walked into the doctors’ lounge to ask Dr. Waters a question, and he was in a cot with a nurse anesthetist . . . and they were going at it.”
A few chuckles from the jury, and Jason was reminded of something he’d heard Professor Adams say. “A laughing jury doesn’t convict . . .”
“Nurse Thacker, are you trying to say they were having sex?” he asked.
“Yes, sex. She was on top of him and gyrating.” She looked at the jury. “It’s been since the younger Bush was president, but I remember what sex looks like.”
More laughter.
“Did you recognize the nurse anesthetist, Ms. Thacker?”
“Colleen Maples.”
“And did you see Dr. Waters and Ms. Maples again after this encounter?”
“Oh, yes. Many times. But that was the only time I saw them knocking boots.”
Juror Russell Edmonson was drinking from a cup of water and had a coughing fit.
“Did you ever hear them argue?”
“Your Honor, I object,” Shay interjected. “While humorous, this all seems discomfortingly irrelevant.”
Jason didn’t wait for a prompt. “Judge, we’re allowed to present alternative theories for the murder. Sergeant Daniels testified herself that her office investigated Colleen Maples.”
“I’m going to allow it. Objection overruled.”
“Ms. Thacker, did you ever see them argue?”
“Yes, I did.”
“And when was that?”
“During a surgical procedure.”
“What was being said?”
“They were whispering, but I heard one part of it.”
“What was that?”
“Maples told Dr. Waters that he had to make a choice between her or Ms. Waters.”
“And what did he say?”
“He said, ‘You know I can’t do anything now.’”