"Did she accept it?"
Darius nodded. "She stopped calling, but I knew she was bitter. What I can't understand is how she could possibly think I killed Sandy and Melody."
"If the judge lets Page testify," Betsy said, "we'll soon find out."
Chapter Twelve.
"Let me tell you how I see it, Mrs. Tannenbaum," judge Norwood said. "I know what the Constitution says about confronting the witnesses and I'm not saying you don't have a point, but this is a bail hearing and the issues are different at trial. What Mr. Page is trying to do is convince me he's got so much evidence a guilty verdict at the trial is almost a sure thing. He thinks some of this trial evidence is going to come from this missing detective or from someone else in New York. I'm going to let him tell me what the evidence is, but I'm also going to take into account that he doesn't have his witness and may not be able to produce her, or these other detectives, at trial. So, I'll decide what weight to give to this testimony,]) I'm going to let it in. If you don't like my ruling, I don't blame you. I might be wrong. That's why we have appeals courts. But, right now, Mr. Page can testify."
Betsy had already made her objections for the record, so she said nothing more when Alan Page was sworn in.
"Mr. Page," Randy Highsmith asked, the evening before the bodies of Victoria Miller, Wendy Reiser, Laura Farrar and an unknown male were unearthed at a construction site owned by the defendant, did a woman visit you at your residence?"
"Yes."
"Who was this woman?"
"Nancy Gordon, a detective with the Hunter's Point Police Department in New York."
"At the time of Detective Gordon's visit were the details surrounding the disappearances of the three Portland women widely known?"
"To the contrary, Mr. Highsmith. The police and the district attorney's office weren't certain of the status of the missing women, so we were treating them as missing persons cases. No one in the press knew of the links between the cases and the husbands were cooperating with us by not divulging details of the disappearances."
"What were the links you spoke of?"
"The black roses and the notes that said "Gone, But Not Forgotten."
"What did Detective Gordon say that led you to believe she had information that could be useful in solving the mystery surrounding these disappearances?"
"she knew about the notes and the roses."
"Where did she say she had acquired this knowledge?"
"Ten years ago in Hunter's Point, when an almost identical series of disappearances occurred."
"What was her connection with the Hunter's Point case?"
"She was a member of a task force assigned to that case.
"How did Detective Gordon learn about our disappearances and the similarities between the cases?"
"She told me she received an anonymous note that led her to believe that the person who was responsible for the Hunter's Point murders was living in Portland."
"Who was this person?"
"she knew him as Peter Lake."
"Did she give some background information on Peter Lake?"
"She did. He was a successful lawyer in Hunter's Point. He was married to Sandra Lake and they had a six-year-old daughter, Melody. The wife and child were murdered and a "Gone, But Not Forgotten' note and black rose were found on the floor near the mother's body.
Lake had a lot of political clout and the mayor of Hunter's Point ordered the police chief to put him on the task force. Lake soon became the primary suspect, though he was not aware of that fact."
"Have the prints of Peter Lake been compared to the fingerprints of Martin Darius?"
"Yes."
"With what results?"
"Martin Darius and Peter Lake are the same person."
Highsmith handed the clerk two fingerprint cards and a report from a fingerprint expert and introduced them into evidence.
"Mr. Page, did Detective Gordon tell you why she believed the defendant murdered the Hunter's Point women?"
"She did."
"Tell the court what she told you."
"Peter Lake had a connection to each of the women who disappeared in Hunter's Point. Gloria Escalante sat on one of Lake's juries. Samantha Reardon belonged to the same country club as the Lakes. Anne Hazelton's husband was an attorney and the Lakes and Hazeltons had been to some of the same Bar Association functions. Patricia Cross and Sandra Lake, Peter's wife, were both in the junior League.
"Detective Gordon met Lake the evening Sandra and Melody Lake were murdered. This was the first time a body was discovered. In all the other cases, when the women disappeared, the note and rose were found on the woman's pillow in her bedroom. None of these notes had fingerprints on them. The note found at Lake's house had Sandra Lake's prints on it.
The detectives believed that Sandra Lake discovered the note and was killed by her husband so she would not connect him to the disappearances when the notes were made public. they also believed Melody saw her mother killed and was murdered because she was a witness."
"Was there a problem with the time that Peter Lake reported the murders to the police?"
"Yes. Peter Lake told the police that he discovered the bodies right after he entered the house, that he sat down on the steps for a while, in shock, then called 911.
The 911 call came in at eight-fifteen, but a neighbors who lived near the Lakes, saw Peter Lake arrive home shortly after seven-twenty. The task force members believed it took Lake fifty-five minutes to report the murders because the victims were alive when Lake got home."
"Was there anything else that implicated Lake?"
"A man named Henry Waters worked for a florist.
His truck was seen near the Escalante house on the day she disappeared.
Waters had a sex offender record as a Peeping Tom. The body of Patricia Cross was found in the basement of Waters's house. She was disemboweled, just like the three Portland women.
"Waters was never really a suspect, but Lake didn't know that. Waters was borderline retarded and had no history of violence. There wasn't any connection between him and any other victim. Without telling anyone, Lake staked out Waters's house and followed him for days before the body of Patricia Cross was discovered."
"What led the police to Waters's house?"
"An anonymous male caller, who was never identified. The task force members believed Lake brought Cross to Waters's house, murdered her in the basement, then made the phone call to the police."
"Why wasn't Lake prosecuted in Hunter's Point?"
"Waters was killed during his arrest. The police chief and the mayor made a public statement labeling Waters as the rose killer. There were no more murders and the cases were closed."
"Why did Detective Gordon come to Portland?"
"When she learned about the Portland notes and roses, she knew the same person had to be responsible for the Hunter's Point and Portland crimes, because the color of the rose and the contents of the notes were never made public in Hunter's Point."
"Where did Detective Gordon go -after she left your residence?"
"The Lakeview Motel. The manager said she checked in about twenty minutes after leaving my place."
"Have you seen or talked to Detective Gordon since she left your residence?"
"No. She's disappeared."
"Have you searched her room at the motel?"
Page nodded. "It looked like she was in the midst of unpacking when something happened. When she was at my place, she had an attache case with a lot of material relating to the case. It was missing. We -also found the address of the construction site where the bodies were found on a pad next to the phone."
"What conclusion do you draw from that?"
"Someone called her with the address."
"What do you believe happened then?"
"Well, she had no car. We've checked all of the taxi companies. None of them picked her up from the Lakeview. I believe the person who called her picked her up."