Pandemonium broke out in the courtroom. The public gal ery burst into conversation. Engle jumped to his feet again and cal ed out objections. The judge cal ed for order. Eventual y, more perhaps because people wanted to see what would happen next than for any other reason, the courtroom quieted.
“Judge, this supposed evidence was obtained by the most egregious breach of Sheriff Pierce’s constitutional rights and should be excluded on that basis. It’s not admissible.”
But Hannah was ready. “Burdeau v. McDowel , Judge. I am not a member of law enforcement. I’m a private citizen. And I just have a few more questions.”
The judge hesitated. Her eyes were on Jerome Pierce. Hannah got the distinct impression that the al egation that Pierce was a blackmailer hadn’t come as a complete surprise to the judge, but she came down on Hannah’s side. “Proceed, Ms. Rokeby, but careful y please. These are very serious al egations.”
The courtroom settled again into tense, anticipatory silence.
Hannah was painful y aware that every person in the courtroom was focused on her and on what she might say next. This was so difficult and Jackson Engle was right. She was essential y trying to testify through Pierce. Her eyes went to Michael Dandridge. Her father.
God. What kind of man was he real y? Not the monster of her mother’s fairy tale, but not an angel either. None of that had been real. From now on she would look at life with eyes wide open. Right now Michael looked flushed and agitated. Excited and scared at the same time. His freedom in her hands. It was too much.
“Isn’t it the case, Sheriff Pierce, that you knew that your brotherin-law, Derek Rawlings, was the man who committed both crimes? The rape and murder of Sarah Fitzhugh and the attempted rape of Lana Cantrel ? That you covered up for Derek Rawlings after the murder of Sarah Fitzhugh because he was your brotherin-law and you did not want the social embarrassment that would fol ow if he were exposed?”
“Absolutely not,” Pierce said. He was red-faced with fury and frustration and he was sweating hard.
“Isn’t it the case that you arrested Michael Dandridge for the murder of Sarah Fitzhugh as part of that cover-up, and that you beat him up during your interrogation to force him to confess?”
“No. No way.”
“And isn’t it the case that after Derek Rawlings tried to rape Lana Cantrel , you stole and hid the hair evidence from that case to make sure that it wasn’t tested? You couldn’t al ow the hair to be tested because you knew it would match the hair recovered from the Fitzhugh murder, and if that was discovered, your whole setup against our client might wel col apse.”
“You are ful of shit,” Pierce said. Spittle flew from his mouth.
“This is unacceptable. I don’t have to take this.”
Hannah turned to Burrel . “Judge, I spoke to Teddy Rawlings.
Teddy is Derek Rawlings’s son.” Thank God for social media. She’d found Teddy online. Sam had mentioned he’d gone to Columbia University and that had been enough to track him down. She’d messaged him and then cal ed him after speaking with Nicola Pandy.
“Teddy believes his father was guilty of Sarah’s murder. He is wil ing to have his DNA taken, for the purpose of familial DNA testing. I believe that the test wil show that the hair that was taken from Sarah’s scene was that of Derek Rawlings, and that it wil match the hair from the Cantrel scene also.”
Engle final y took to his feet. He looked utterly shaken and Hannah wondered again what was in that manila folder with his name on it. She hadn’t had time to look at it.
“Judge, this is al wel and good, but we are in obvious hearsay territory here. If Ms. Pandy wishes to give evidence in this case, then she should give evidence. We cannot rely on Ms. Rokeby’s word.
She has, after al , just confessed to breaking into the property of a law enforcement officer. And we stil have no chain of title for this socal ed hair evidence, even should DNA testing proceed.”
Parekh stood too, keen to take back control of his case, and the attorneys argued the law around admissibility until the judge cal ed a halt. The tiredness that had been in her face when Hannah had entered the courtroom had disappeared. She looked sharp and focused, like someone who had sensed an opportunity and wasn’t about to let it go past.
“Let’s not lose track of what we’re doing here. This is a preliminary hearing, not a trial,” she said. “Right now, I’m not satisfied that there is sufficient evidence against the defendant for this case to proceed. The eyewitness has withdrawn his testimony.