4
The prosecution rested.
The case against Robert Pelley seemed overwhelming. His confrontation at the dance, his prior
brutish behavior towards Lisa, his verbal threats, the circumstantial evidence
of having changed his shirt and his being unable to account for the shirt he
wore the night of the murder, and the fact that he was missing during the time
of the murder.
But then started Mr. Branch's presentation of the
defense. And I saw what seemed to me to
be a sure thing being battered away.
First he attacked the physical evidence. Nothing Mr. Bruchow's investigation team
turned up tied Robert Pelley, or anyone else for that matter, to the crime
scene. Well, except for me. My footprints were in her blood, and my
fingerprints were on her clothing.
He brought up Ricky Rosalie, one of Robert Pelley's
buddies, who claimed that Robert had lent him his shirt that night. And then the shirt in question was introduced
into evidence. Was it really Robert's
shirt? How many blue work shirts were
there in the trap? Probably not much the
size to fit Robert and Ricky's frames, with both of them 6'3'or more. The fact was there was nothing to tie that
shirt to Robert other than Ricky's word.
And what value was that? Not much
to me. I hoped my Dad and the other
judges were as skeptical as I was.
Then there was a small parade of witnesses who tried to
indicate that Lisa might be interested in Robert. I was seething at such nonsense. Did no one else but me see the look of fear
in her eyes when Robert propositioned her at the dance? The parade of witnesses included some of
Morgan's girlfriends, like Amy James and Karen Gellenraad, but not Morgan
herself.
There was a short recess at that point, and I stepped out
with the rest of the spectators. Some
would be rotated out to allow others to observe. Morgan had not come to the trial, but she was
outside talking to her boyfriend, Mark Granite, in a heated conversation. I could not make out what they were saying,
but she seemed very resistant to whatever it was. That was quite unusual, because I had never
seen her anything but lovey-dovey to Mark.
When the recess was over, she did not come in, but instead shrugged
Mark's arm off shoulder and huffed off.
The next tact by Mr. Branch was even more fantastical, at
least to my mind. It was suggested that
Robert was not the only one with a crush on Lisa. He brought up witnesses that suggested other
boys were also interested in her; the implication is that any one of those
rejected suitors could be the murderer. This
was ridiculous. Granted, Lisa and I had
not been close in the weeks before her murder, but I still observed her enough
to know there was no other guy interested in her. Okay, yes, I admit. I was following her a bit more than I should,
but that did give enough insight to realize that most of what was being said
was poppycock.
One of the guys, who were brought up as being interested in
Lisa, was sworn in by the court, as what Mr. Branch called a 'hostile
witness'. I didn't really recognize who
he was (we still had over 900 in the trap - it was hard to keep track of
everybody). He was sworn in and gave his
name as David Garvey. He was a sophomore
whom I couldn't place at all. He
stammered out that he had really liked Lisa, but did not have the nerve to
approach. Mr. Branch introduced into
evidence a notebook that had sketches of Lisa (at least that's what Mr. Branch
said - from my seat in the
courtroom I could make out nothing that
suggested Lisa to me) and where he had written her name over and over again,
and little hearts that had 'David + Lisa' written in them.
I don't know. If
this guy was doing this, it must have been from pretty afar. And, of course, Mr. Branch was just showing
us what he wanted to from the notebook.
The boy seemed more love struck than dangerous or angry. That was the most damning things Mr. Branch
found? It seemed more smokescreen than
fire.
Then Mr. Branch called up Mark Granite. The crowd in attendance grew loud, everyone
speculating what this meant. My father
gaveled us back to order. Mark Granite
gave his patented wink and smile to the audience. When he looked at Robert Pelley, though, his
smile went away. But I saw
something. A certain look exchanged
between the two, a slight nod, just ever so slight, too quick to be really
picked up by others, but I saw it. As
sure as the world, I saw it.
Mark's presence on the stand made Morgan's absence more
noticeable to me. She was always by his
side, especially at crucial times and public events. Could he be about to say something that she
did not agree with? I did not know
Morgan well at this point in time, but it did seem odd to me.
Mr. Branch established that Mark felt that he and Robert
were friends, albeit not particularly close friends. He knew that Robert was a bit of bully
sometimes, but that he did have a good heart, and had come to rely on him a
great deal on the football team. This is
why the great Mark Granite was on the stand?
As a character witness?
Mark admitted initial confusion as to the date of the
murder. He begged forgiveness as he was
fresh off the big game, and not really concentrating on other things. He said he wasn't highly familiar with who
Lisa was, although later he did recall that Robert had mentioned her a time or
two, and that in retrospect he might have also recalled her a time or two on
the periphery of Morgan's friends. He
made a joke about how Morgan had so many friends; they were terribly hard to
keep up with. The crowd laughed. Hey, it was Mark Granite! And he was making a joke! For the record, though, I did not laugh.
It became clear as to why all this date confusion was
important. Because Mark Granite was
giving Robert Pelley an alibi, and the date confusion was to help explain why
Mark had not come forward sooner. He had
called an impromptu after dance party with some of the football guys. The party was in the boy's locker room, and
it was just him and a few other fellows.
He confessed there was some moonshine involved (thank you, David Izzner,
black marketeer extraordinaire, apparently still thriving despite all the
scrutiny and confiscations), a part of the reason events might be a little
fuzzy to him. But he could verify that
Robert Pelley was definitely there,
From 3 in the morning until 10 AM.
Yes, 10 AM. So, if Mark was
telling the truth, than Robert could not be the killer.
But Mark was lying.
Even the verifying witnesses that came after. It was all a lie. At least I felt that way. Nothing they said fit together right. Nothing passed the smell test to me. And yet, to deny it, required a belief in a
fairly big conspiracy. And who would
believe ill of Mark Granite, state Track champ, the most successful athlete in
the school, with the prettiest, most popular girlfriend?
I didn't know why Mark Granite was lying. But he was, for whatever reason, putting his
reputation on the line to protect that scumball, Robert Pelley. It woke me up. I realized for the first time that there may
be darker forces afoot than David Izzner and his Black Marketeers, darker than
the random bullies and thugs that had been a part of our school life both
before and during the Trap, Forces that
could take Lisa away from us, and then cover up the crime.
I could only pray that my Dad saw things the same way. Surely he could see through this
conspiratorial scam.
I did not get a chance to talk to him. He went straight back to deliberate with Miss
Schram and Jan Houser.
A few hours later, we were called back. My Dad solemnly announced that there was not
enough evidence to convict Robert Pelley, and that therefore, he was found not
guilty.
There was a cheer from the audience. Most had been held swayed by Mr. Branch's
defense, and the conveniently late restoration of memory by Mark Granite.
But I was not swayed.
I sat and I started to cry. I
could not help myself. Robert Pelley was
getting hugs and congratulations from many.
He was taller than most, and as he was being hugged, I saw him look at
me coldly, and he mouthed two words.
"You're next."
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