“You’re dating Colleen Maples, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“And she was actually the CRNA involved in the surgery that ruined your football and baseball careers.”
“True.”
“And you reported her to the Alabama Board of Nursing, and the board imposed discipline, didn’t it?”
“I believe they suspended her, yes.”
“And now you’re dating her, true?”
“Yes.”
“How did that come to be?” Jason knew you shouldn’t ask an open-ended question on cross, but he wasn’t sure he cared so much about what the answer was here. He thought he might be able to play with whatever it was.
“She came to the Little League field where I was umping a game one day. Then she walked over when the game was over and apologized. She asked if there was anything she could do.
“I told her she could buy me a beer . . . and over time one thing led to another.”
“You make a little more than minimum wage working for the city, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“It would be hard for you to come up with $15,000 in cash, wouldn’t it?”
“More like impossible.”
“But Ms. Maples makes plenty of money as a CRNA, doesn’t she?”
“I really wouldn’t know her financial situation. She might have massive student loans for all I know.”
“She lives out on the main channel of the lake, doesn’t she?”
“Yes.”
Jason walked toward the defense table. He was almost to the finish line. One more seed to plant . . .
“Mr. Cowan, isn’t it true that you became friends with Waylon Pike when he came to Guntersville?”
Trey raised his eyebrows, and his face flushed red. It appeared the high school football star was finally getting where everything had been going. Jason couldn’t tell if he was scared, angry, or both. “Yes,” he said. “That’s true.”
Jason was relieved. He would no longer have to call Teresa. Unless he did, in fact, call Jana, he was about to end his case.
“You used to meet Pike at the Brick and talk with him for hours a few times a week.”
“I’m not sure we ever planned to meet there, but we were at the Brick a lot at the same time. I wouldn’t say we talked for hours, but we talked a good bit.”
“Did you like him?”
“I guess I did. He didn’t talk much about my high school playing days because he was new to town. Instead he wanted to know town gossip and whatnot.”
“You understand that Waylon Pike killed Dr. Braxton Waters on July 4, 2018, don’t you?”
“Yes, sir, I do.”
“And you saw Pike pretty much every day at the Brick in the days before the murder.”
“That’s probably true.”
Jason had planned to sit down, but he couldn’t resist the urge to ask one more question. To bring it all home.
“Mr. Cowan, you and Colleen Maples conspired to kill Dr. Waters, didn’t you?”
“Objection, Your Honor,” Shay said, slamming her hand on her table and standing up. “This is an outrage! There’s been absolutely no foundation presented for such an outlandish accusation.”
Conrad gave Jason a stern look. “Overruled. The witness will answer the question.”
“No, sir.” His voice was firm.
“Maples gave you the money so you could take a third and final swing at Dr. Waters, isn’t that true?”
“Same objection, Your Honor,” Shay said, her hands on her hips. “This entire line of questioning is outrageous.”
“Overruled,” His Honor said.
“No,” Cowan said.
“Waylon Pike had told you that he had access to Dr. Waters, and you gave him $15,000 to do the deed, didn’t you?”
Shay remained standing. “Objection. Lack of foundation.”
“Overruled.”
“No, sir,”’ Cowan said.
“Your Honor, I have nothing—”
“Waylon did tell me something about Dr. Waters,” Cowan interrupted.
“—further,” Jason said.
Judge Conrad cleared his throat. “Given the interruption, Mr. Rich, do you want to continue?”
“No, Your Honor. I didn’t ask a question, so I’d ask that Mr. Cowan’s comment be stricken.”
“Response?” Conrad looked at Shay Lankford, as did Jason. The prosecutor’s eyes seemed to be dancing, and Jason knew he’d just made a tremendous rookie mistake.