Part 38 (2/2)
”I told him that, sir. Indeed I did.”
”Did he write that down?”
”I believe he did, and in any case he had his machine running.”
”A tape recorder?”
”That's what it was.”
”Did you ever tell Sergeant Nickerson that on the night of December 5 there had been only three shots and that you heard them all together, in succession, one after another?”
”I did not tell him that. It wasn't so.”
”Were you aware that at the trial, back in April 1979, Mrs. Zide and Mr. Neil Zide testified that there had been only three shots fired by the accused, Darryl Morgan? And that they had all been fired at the same time?”
”No, sir, I've told you, I was in Colorado and then in sunny California with my children and grandchildren.”
”How soon after the death of Mr. Zide was your employment terminated?”
”About five years later.”
”Can you tell us the circ.u.mstances?”
”Mrs. Zide came to me and told me she wished to reward me for faithful service. She knew I had another daughter down in Daytona Beach, and that I thought of retiring there. She said the time had come, and she would take care of me.”
”Did she give you severance pay?”
”Yes, she did.”
”Tell the court how much.”
Terence hesitated, then said, ”Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”
I was silent a few moments to let that sink in for the judge's benefit. Then I asked Terence if he thought that was a lot of money. Predictably, he did.
”Do you also receive a pension from the Orlando Police Department?”
”Yes, I do.”
”Was Mrs. Zide aware that you would receive that pension?”
”I told her, of course.”
”And in addition to that pension, and above the quarter-of-a- million-dollar lump-sum payment she gave to you, Mr. O'Rourke, in the past eight years has Mrs. Zide paid you any more money?”
”She has not, but I receive a check from one of Mr. Neil's companies, every month, for four thousand dollars.”
”Health insurance and major medical?”
”I have that from them too.”
”Did you ever expect such handsome retirement benefits?”
”No, but I've told you, they are good people.”
”Pa.s.s the witness,” I said.
This time it was Muriel who jumped up to do the cross. She and Beldon thought highly of young Whatley, but Muriel wanted Terence O'Rourke for her own. She beat at him, she insulted him, she questioned his sobriety and his mental capacity and even his loyalty to his former employers, tried to twist his words and hammer at his memory and degrade his story in any way she could-as any lawyer would have done had he or she been standing in her shoes-indeed, as I would have done had I been the prosecutor.
Like infidelity, the law is a cruel sport.
I held Muriel in check as best I could by objecting to just about every other question. It was unnecessary: Terence wouldn't budge. He was telling the truth, and the more Muriel tried to twist the knives of ridicule and doubt, the more certain he became. Finally she said, ”I have no more questions,” and I thanked Terence, and the court told him he could leave.
Judge Fleming looked down from his lofty position on the bench. He was king and emperor and court jester. ”Is that all?” he asked me. ”You look like death on a cracker. Are you ready to go home and get some sleep?”
”No, Judge, I'm just fine, and I have one more witness. And possibly a second one.”
”Can we get them done this afternoon before we close up shop?”
”Yes, sir,” I said, somewhat recklessly. ”They're both here in the courtroom.”
”Let's hear the first one.”
”The defense calls Constance Zide.”
Chapter 31.
”YOUR HONOR, I would like to declare Mrs. Zide to be a hostile witness.”
”Objection!” cried Muriel Suarez.
”State your reasons,” Judge Fleming said, clutching his coffee mug and peering down at me.
”I'm going by Rule 90.62 Subsection 2,” I said, ”of the Florida Criminal Code. Mrs. Zide has already been a witness for the state in the jury trial and in this hearing. That makes her adverse by any standards. If she's my witness now, and presumed to be friendly, I can't ask her leading questions. And I don't believe I can get her to speak the truth other than by leading her.”
”You want to cross-examine her, Mr. Jaffe? Is that what you're telling me?”
”Yes, Your Honor. But with some lat.i.tude.”
”You could have cross-examined her day before yesterday, when she was a witness for the state. You said you had no more questions.”
”But I asked to have her stay on call.”
”And she has.” He pointed with his bony hand. ”She's here in the courtroom, isn't she?”
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