Part 41 (1/2)
”Of course not.”
”Some have quit?”
”A few.”
”Some have left by mutual agreement with you?”
”Yes.”
”Of those who've quit or left your employ by mutual agreement, how many received a bonus of a quarter of a million dollars plus a retirement payment of four thousand dollars a month?”
She had no way out.
”None,” she said quietly. ”But Terence was special.”
”I'm sure he was. Let's go back to the night of December 5,1978,” I said. ”The night of the murder.”
She nodded; she seemed almost relieved.
”Do you want me to tell you again what happened, Ted?” she asked.
Oh, poor Connie.
It was as if we were going to have a conversation on her living room sofa, or in my office as we had done thirteen years ago. And as if we were still what we once had been: lovers, then careful friends.
”No,” I said, smiling sadly. ”I want you to answer my questions, Mrs. Zide, if you don't mind.”
Connie clasped her hands like a child and nodded obediently.
Chapter 32.
”MRS. ZIDE,” I said, ”on the night of the murder you had a party on the grounds of your house, is that correct?”
”A musicale,” Connie said eagerly. ”You were there.”
”Yes, I was definitely there. With my wife.”
”The party ended about eleven o'clock, I'd say-”
”No, Mrs. Zide, I didn't ask you that. Tell me this, please. That night, the night of your husband's murder, what first alerted you to the presence of burglars-or, let's say, intruders-on your grounds?”
A blotch of color appeared on her pale cheek. ”An urn crashed on the patio,” she said. ”We heard the noise of its breaking. Solomon got up from the backgammon table-”
”Mrs. Zide, stop.” I wanted to be casual at this stage, but I had to control her. ”Just answer my questions. Don't volunteer information. Do you understand?”
”Yes, I thought...” Her voice trailed off. She wanted to be friendly, to defuse me.
”So the first thing that alerted you to the presence of burglars was the sound of an urn breaking, is that correct?”
”Yes, that's correct.”
”Didn't you have what you once referred to as 'a state-of-the-art security system'?”
She offered a rueful smile. ”We thought we did.”
”Didn't that security system include a number of spotlights called First Alert, which would snap on if anyone broke the path of their ultraviolet beams?”
”I'm not sure what they were called. But yes, that's what was supposed to happen.”
”It didn't happen? None of the lights went on to alert you?”
”I don't think so.”
”When Darryl Morgan and William Smith entered your property in the dead of night, you're telling us they didn't break any of those First Alert beams? Didn't trigger any of the spotlights?”
”Objection,” Muriel called, rising. ”Calls for speculation. She doesn't know if Morgan and Smith broke any of the beams or not. All she remembers is that the lights didn't go on, and she's said so.”
”Objection sustained,” said the judge.
I could see that Connie was feeling confident again. This was all polite, friendly, and bearable. Muriel was protecting her.
”Do you recall, Mrs. Zide, when your son took the stand here on Monday, that I read aloud some of his testimony from the trial thirteen years ago?”
”Yes, I believe so.”
”Do you recall what he said in response to my asking him: 'Did you see the intruders clearly?' ”
”Not really.”
”You don't recall his saying”-once again I read from the transcript in my hand-” 'the spotlights on the lawn had finally been triggered, I a.s.sume by these two men'? Didn't you hear that, Mrs. Zide?”
”I'm not sure. I think so.”
”Isn't it a fact, Mrs. Zide, that you did see the lights go on outside -while your husband was still alive-and that you then went outside on the terrace in your bathrobe?”
”Objection! Asked and answered.”
”Sustained.”
I pointed my finger at Connie like a pistol. ”And that's also about the time, isn't it, that you heard the Lhasa apso puppies barking?”
”Objection!” Muriel was still on her feet. ”There's no predicate for any barking Lhasa apso puppies.”
A murmur of laughter flowed through the courtroom.
”Objection sustained.”