"No further questions," Quinn said, staring at the beleaguered witness for a moment before taking a seat. Gates did a quick redirect as the entire courtroom seemed to breathe a little easier, relaxing from the tension that Quinn had summoned for his cross-examination.
"It's nearly 4:00," said a weary Judge Rosencrance when Gates finished. "This may be a good time to adjourn for the weekend."
But Gates apparently did not want to leave the jurors with the words of Chow's cross-examination ringing in their ears. "The commonwealth has one more witness we would like to present today, if possible. Her direct examination won't take more than ten minutes."
Rosencrance sighed and turned to the defense lawyers. Quinn stood. "Your Honor, we'd like to let the jurors get a jump on the Friday afternoon traffic. And we wouldn't mind one ourselves."
The jurors, Catherine noted, looked grateful.
But Gates wasn't through. "As long as Mr. Newberg doesn't drag out this cross-examination, we can do both-hear the witness and get a jump on traffic."
"Okay," said Rosencrance, though her tone said she didn't like it, "call your next witness."
"The commonwealth calls Tasha Moorehouse."
Catherine couldn't believe it. She turned to the door that led to the holding cell. The deputy disappeared through the door and a few seconds later came back, trailed by Tasha. She took the stand, dressed in a nice pair of slacks and a blouse, her face stern and unyielding. She didn't even look in Cat's direction.
Why was Gates calling Tasha to the stand?
Maybe he just wanted her to provide corroborating testimony about Cat's fight with Holly or the day Cat went crazy when Kenny Towns appeared on television. Cat quickly scrolled through her memory of the thousands of conversations she'd had with Tasha, the way she had confided in her cellmate.
Cat couldn't recall a single incriminating statement. And even if she could, she couldn't imagine Tasha turning on her. They were both members of the Widows. Tasha had been on Cat's side since day one.
But Cat's stomach was in utter turmoil.
Why won't she look at me?
87
Quinn had been trying cases long enough to know that jailhouse snitches came with the territory. He sensed Catherine's discomfort at her former cellmate's betrayal, but there was nothing Quinn could do about that except dismantle this woman on the stand.
Gates took the witness quickly through some background questions, and Tasha responded with a surly I-don't-want-to-be-here attitude.
"Did the defendant ever make a statement to you about this alternate persona that she claims was responsible for the killing of Paul Donaldson?"
"Yes."
"What did she say?"
"Lots of things."
Gates took a step closer to the witness. "Did she ever discuss the specifics of whether she should fake such a personality in order to help her case?"
"Are you kidding me?" Cat whispered. "I never talked about that."
"Yes," said Tasha.
"Tell us about it."
"We was talking about Barbie's shrink-Barbie was what we called the defendant-and she had that shrink named Mancini, or some Italian name like that. So Barbie says to me, 'Do you think it would help if Mancini actually meets the Avenger of Blood?' And I'm like, 'Meets her how?' Barbie gets all secretive and stuff, lookin' around to make sure nobody's listening. Then she whispers to me, 'You know, what if I turn into the Avenger while this shrink's counseling me and I get all wild-eyed.' Something like that."
Cat leaned close to Quinn. "She lying; I swear it. I never said anything like that."
Quinn nodded, trying to focus on the testimony.
"What did you tell the defendant?" Gates asked.
Tasha shrugged. "I told her not to try and fake it. Lyin' gets complicated, and people know how to trip you up."
Quinn frowned and turned toward Catherine, in part to get his client to look away from the jury so they wouldn't see the shock registering on her face. "What do you know about her?" Quinn whispered. "What's she serving time for?"
"I don't know much," Catherine said, clearly flustered. "She's awaiting trial on some type of firearms charge-being a 'straw purchaser,' I think she said. It's like her third offense."
"To your knowledge," Gates said, "did the defendant manufacture any dangerous weapons while in jail?"
"She sure did."
"Tell us about it."
"She showed me how to make it," Cat whispered furiously to Quinn. "It was her idea."
"She filed her toothbrush down to a shank. Said she was saving it for just the right occasion. Kept it hid inside her mattress."
"Did you tell the prison guards about it after your cellmate was placed in solitary confinement?" Gates asked.
"Yeah."
Gates moved dramatically back to his counsel table and retrieved a toothbrush in a plastic evidence bag. The handle of the toothbrush had been filed to a sharp point. He showed it to Quinn, who shrugged it off.
Gates had Tasha identify the weapon and introduced it as an exhibit.
"No objection," said Quinn.
Gates consulted his notes. "Let me direct your attention to an incident that occurred on Monday, June 16, in the pod that you shared with Ms. O'Rourke and a number of other prisoners. Did anything unusual occur on that day?"
"Is that the day that dude Kenny was on the tube?" Tasha asked.
Quinn stood to object, but Gates was faster. "I can't give you information, Ms. Moorehouse. Why don't you just tell us what happened on the day that you and the defendant saw Mr. Towns on television?"
"Well, this man that Barbie says raped her in college comes on TV and gets all indignant and stuff. 'The sex was consensual. Ask any of my frat brothers.' You know, like that. Well, this dude is hot, and so all the inmates start giving Barbie a hard time-they're gettin' in her face, making all these suggestive motions and stuff, and Barbie just basically freaks."
"What do you mean by that-'just basically freaks'?"
"She gets all red in the face and starts cursing and yelling, her eyes bugging out like she wants to kill someone-"
"Objection!" shouted Marc Boland.
Gates turned. "Which one of you guys is going to be examining her? You can't both make objections."
"I'm sustaining the objection," said Rosencrance. "Ms. Moorehouse, just stick to the facts. Don't characterize things.
"And, Mr. Boland, I suggest you and Mr. Newberg decide which one of you will be examining this witness. This isn't a tag-team match."
"I've got her," Quinn whispered to Marc.
"You sure?"
"I want her."
Gates kept plowing forward. "Just tell us what happened, Ms. Moorehouse."
"So then Barbie starts attacking everybody. She grabs trays of food and throws them at the TV. She goes ballistic on the trustee who has the remote. I mean, she just freaked."
"What did you do?"
"I tried to stop her. I didn't want her to get busted on somethin' this stupid. So I'm sayin', 'That guy on TV is a jerk, don't sweat it,' and Barbie just snapped."
Tasha paused, and Quinn sensed the punch line coming.
"So I jumped in front of her and tried holding her back, just to keep her from getting into more trouble."
"What did the defendant do?"
"She's like tryin' to fight through me to get at the trustee, screaming, 'Let me go,' and 'Stay out of this' and stuff? like that. After I calmed her down and she stopped strugglin', she just looks at me. She's still hacked but she's not, like, wild-eyed or anything anymore. And she just says to me, all calm-like, 'I should have done Towns first.'"
Moorehouse paused, her statement sucking the air out of the courtroom. Quinn heard a gasp from Cat's mother and sister, seated behind him.
"She's lying," Cat whispered to Quinn, her voice choked with desperation.