Mitch drummed his fingers rhythmically on the conference table before turning his attention to Navarro.
“The standard for being put on trial might be quite low, but it’s a high bar to win an insanity case. To do that you’ll need to show that Penny was unable to understand the criminality of her conduct or unable to conform her conduct to the law. That’s the standard set by the MPC, the Model Penal Code Test.
“Even if you argue that Penny committed the crime while in a dissociated state, and that Eve is the most likely perpetrator of the violence, those old correspondences with Maria are proof that Eve knows right from wrong. Why else keep them secret? All the prosecution has to do is show that Penny, or any of her alters, had partial comprehension of their actions. That’s why those murder fantasies deeply hurt this case.”
And there it was—the big rub, the thing that kept getting in the way.
Maria. Damn Maria. Firebug Maria.
That’s when a thought struck Grace, jarring as a splash of cold water. A tingle started in her feet and worked right up her body as a new theory came to her and began to take root.
“Look, Penny told us she wasn’t alone,” Grace said, her voice and eyes both pleading. “Forget Vincent, okay, forget about that for a second. Doesn’t it make the most sense that Maria was with Penny that night? When you read those documents, Mitch, you’ll see Maria is as twisted as they come. Could it be that Penny didn’t kill anyone, but Maria did?”
For Mitch’s benefit, Grace recounted Maria’s troubled past. At five years old, Maria started setting fires in the woods around her house, and then started setting them inside her house. She was on all sorts of medications to control her impulse behaviors. She and Penny went to school together and they’d bonded over their mental health struggles. At the time, Grace had thought it was good that the girls had each other—Lord knows each needed a friend—but she had no idea how toxic that friendship had become until they were arrested.
“Why wouldn’t Penny tell us about Maria’s involvement?” Navarro asked.
Grace had her answer at the ready. “Maria and Penny—really, Eve—were extremely close,” she said. “Best of friends. We tried to keep the girls separated after the arrest, but it was impossible. They reconnected as virtual friends … what am I going to do? Ban Penny from the Internet? Then, as they got older, more independent, they started seeing each other again. I could see Eve sacrificing herself to protect Maria. Don’t you get it? That’s what Eve does. She protects. It had to be Maria with Eve that night. Had to be.”
“What’s her alibi?” Mitch asked.
“The mother says she was home sick in her bedroom,” Navarro answered.
“Mother lying for daughter,” said Grace. “Or maybe she just thought Maria was in her bedroom. I could go hours not checking on my kids when they were teens. How difficult would it have been for Maria to sneak out, catch a ride to Rachel’s home with Penny, and then walk back after the murder? It’s a two-and-a-half-mile trek at most, which would have taken her maybe an hour. She could have been gone three or four hours and Maria’s mother—assuming incorrectly that her daughter was resting in bed the entire time—wouldn’t have had the faintest idea.”
“Grace, I hear you, but there’s no evidence linking Maria to this crime,” Navarro said.
Grace was buzzing. Connections she hadn’t made before were coming to her fast and furious. “That’s because Maria researched how to pull off the perfect murder. She must have known Penny would go catatonic under extreme stress. It all makes sense now—we never knew the whole story because Eve didn’t know it. But Penny does, and she’s remembered. She told us the truth. ‘I wasn’t alone.’”
“No, what we have is Penny’s word versus Maria’s, and let’s face it—your daughter is not the most credible witness.” Navarro delivered that kill shot with stinging authority.
“Jessica Johnson will pounce all over that argument, if she’s half the prosecutor you say she is,” Mitch added. “And either way, even if Maria was there, Penny was too, and she’ll argue that Penny and her alters all knew right from wrong—and we’ll still lose.”
Nobody seemed to disagree.
“Our choices here are limited,” Navarro said somberly. “We’ll keep Vince and Maria on the table, explore them as possible perps. Fine. But we have to try for the insanity defense because it’s our best option.”