MANKOWSKI: Please answer the question. Did Beth Greer ask what was going on?
BLACK: No, she did not ask us that.
MANKOWSKI: Did she request a lawyer?
BLACK: In that first interview, no, she did not.
MANKOWSKI: Did Beth Greer comply and answer your questions in that first interview?
BLACK: Yes, for the first part.
MANKOWSKI: And what happened after the first part?
BLACK: It’s in the recording and the transcript. She got up and left.
MANKOWSKI: Did Beth Greer seem like she was taking this seriously?
BLACK: I have no idea if she was taking it seriously. I assume she was.
RANSOM WELLS: Objection, Your Honor.
JUDGE HEIDNIK: Sustained. The jury is asked to disregard that question and answer.
MANKOWSKI: I’ll ask one more factual question. Did Beth Greer use angry profanity in that first interview?
BLACK: It was a stressful situation.
MANKOWSKI: Please answer the question.
BLACK: I don’t—
RANSOM WELLS: Objection, Your Honor.
JUDGE HEIDNIK: This is factual, so I’ll allow it.
MANKOWSKI: Please answer the question, Detective. We can all hear the recording and read the transcript, but I’d like your answer. Did Beth Greer use profanity when you interviewed her?
BLACK: Yes, she did.
MANKOWSKI: Can you please read this line from the interview transcript? Right there.
BLACK: Here?
MANKOWSKI: Yes, you can see it clearly. This line here.
BLACK: “It wasn’t me, you idiot. I wasn’t in that fucking car.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
February 1978
BETH
Beth sat in the courtroom for the whole thing, watching. By then, she was so numb that it didn’t seem real. This was happening to someone else, on TV or in the movies. Ransom brought her clothes—blouses, skirts hemmed below the knee, pumps—and Beth wore them. She tied her hair at the back of her neck and wore makeup, but not too much.
Her job was to sit in silence and not speak. Ransom didn’t put her on the stand. No offense, he’d said, but that would be the height of idiocy. So no goddamned way are you getting up there. Ransom rarely swore.
There was a motion from the press to have the trial televised. Ransom fought it and won. Beth was relieved, though not because she wanted privacy or had any fear of a media circus. Nothing could be said about her that was worse than what had been said already. No, what she was afraid of was Lily watching the entire thing on TV. She’d absorb every word, every gesture, just like everyone else would. She would relish the chaos she’d caused. She’d make fun of Beth’s outfits, laugh in front of the TV. Beth didn’t want Lily to know exactly how confused everyone was, how incredibly wrong they had it. She didn’t want to give Lily the satisfaction.
She didn’t want Lily to see the testimony about the dangerous, psychotic woman who had done this, and possibly get angry.
And she didn’t want Lily to see Detective Black.
He looked as handsome as ever on the stand, wearing a dark blue suit and a wide blue tie. He’d had a haircut, and she missed the slightly too-long look he usually had. With his hair cut short, he looked more like a cop, though there were faint lines around the edges of his eyes and he looked painfully uncomfortable. He kept his gaze trained on the prosecutor, Charles Mankowski, and never looked at her, but she could feel his awareness of her all the same.