FiFty Fifty

Chapter Twenty - One

KATE

The morning of the polygraph test, Kate sat outside the examiner's office on a steel chair and wished with all her heart she could disappear into a hole where no one could find her. Her left hand wouldn't stop shaking, so she tucked it behind her knee.
'You're more nervous than I am,' said Alexandra.
Her client sat beside her, sipping from a half-gallon bottle of water. Kate had noticed that whenever she was with Alexandra, the woman nearly always had a big bottle of water close at hand, which she poured down her throat every five minutes. She was the most hydrated person Kate had ever met. As Alexandra drank from the bottle, Kate noticed the slight tremor in her client's arm. The heel of Alexandra's boot clicked on the floor tile in triple time.
Bloch leaned against the opposite wall. Cool, nonchalant, and switched on. Nothing escaped Bloch's notice. She was like a machine. Everything around her was data to be absorbed and perhaps noted. Never forgotten. Bloch kept looking between Kate and Alexandra.
'Just keep cool. Tell the truth,' said Bloch. Alexandra nodded. Took another drink.
Kate nodded and bit the nails on her right hand. Bloch was stone.
The door to Kate's left opened and a man in a suit came out. He greeted them, introduced himself as a licensed polygraph expert by the name of Carter Johnson, and invited them inside.
The room had no windows. One corner desk was lit with a lamp, and apart from an area no bigger than ten feet either side of the lamp, the room was in darkness. Beside the lamp sat a laptop and a desktop computer with two screens above it. Next to the desk was a chair facing into the room, its back to the wall.
Johnson beckoned Alexandra to the chair and began to attach monitors to her thumb, arms, forehead, and neck.
'I'm just here to observe,' said a voice in the dark.
Kate located the source of the voice and saw one half of Wesley Dreyer's face illuminated by the glare from his cell phone screen.
'I didn't agree to you being here,' said Kate.
 
'You never said I wasn't permitted to attend, either. I'm here now. I won't get in the way. I'll be in the corner. Quiet as a mouse,' said Dreyer.
As Kate became more accustomed to the gloom, she saw a bank of chairs in the opposite corner of the room. Kate and Bloch sat together, watching Alexandra settle herself. Taking deep breaths through her nose, and exhaling through her mouth. Long and slow. Then short and fast. She stretched her neck, closed her eyes.
Alexandra was ready.
The examiner, Johnson, explained he was going to ask her some questions to get a baseline response.
'Are you Alexandra Avellino?' he asked. 'Yes.'
'Do you have blonde hair?'
'Yes.'
'Do you live in New York?'
'Yes.'
As she answered the questions, she stared straight ahead, and kept as still as
she could. The only movement came from her fingers as they stroked a leather and black pearl bracelet with a few metal charms. Alexandra didn't spin the bracelet on her wrist, as if she was fidgeting. Instead she rubbed the leather, turned the pearls, and felt the charms between her fingers as if she were exploring their feel for the first time.
'Is Hillary Clinton President of the United States?'
'No.'
While these questions went on, there were lines flitting across the twin
screens, and Johnson was making notes and clicking on a mouse. This was new technology. Kate thought they were a long way from reams of paper feeding from a machine with a needle jumping across it in wavy lines.
'Is today Wednesday?'
'No.'
'Was it snowing when you came into the building?'
'No.'
'Did you murder Frank Avellino?'
'No.'
'Did your sister kill Frank Avellino?'
'Yes.'
'Have you lied in any of your answers so far?'
'No.'
Johnson glanced over his shoulder, nodded toward Dreyer who let out a sigh

and then gave Johnson the thumbs up. Johnson reached down with his left hand, then came up with something in a clear plastic bag.
'Did you murder Frank Avellino with this knife?'
Pause. Alexandra stared at the thing in front of her as Kate got up and unleashed a tirade at Dreyer – her voice and indignation rising in her throat with every word.
'This is an ambush. This test is over. I agreed to let your examiner ask questions, not show my client the knife that was used to murder her father – that's completely outrageous. Have you no shame?'
Dreyer had his hands up in placation. Bloch strode over to Alexandra. She still hadn't answered the question. She had turned away from the knife, hiding her eyes from it. Her chest heaving. Bloch tore the pads and sensors from her skin.
'This is inadmissible. We've had enough and we're leaving. My client is a victim. How dare you show her the weapon used to kill her father? What kind of a sick animal does that?' said Kate.
'She's not a victim until twelve people on a jury say she's not guilty, Miss Brooks. You know that. The facts of what happened here can be referred to in cross-examination. Tell your client I'm not falling for her fake tears.'
Bloch walked Alexandra to the door, Kate followed them out. In the corridor Kate bumped into the back of Bloch. She was standing still, staring straight ahead. If Kate hadn't been standing behind them, she would've missed Bloch reach up and firmly take hold of Alexandra's right arm.
Stepping to one side, Kate looked ahead.
At the other end of the corridor was the reason Bloch stopped. Eddie Flynn, Harry Ford and Harper were coming toward them with their client, Sofia.
Kate swung around and saw Dreyer coming out of the examination room. He moved ahead of them and stopped. They would have to walk past him, and the other defense team, to get out of the building.
Kate didn't want Alexandra to have to face this moment so soon.
One of Alexandra's fears was having to sit in the same room as her sister. Facing your father's killer was one thing – but the fact it was your sister added only more pain.
'Alexandra, keep your eyes on the floor and walk with me. Don't look at her. Don't speak to her,' said Bloch.
They started walking.
'You set this up,' hissed Kate to Dreyer as they moved past him.
He said nothing. Alexandra's bail conditions were the same as Sofia's.
Neither of them were to have contact, direct or indirect, with any of the witnesses in the case or each other.

'If you say one word to her, Dreyer will have you arrested and ask the court to revoke your bail. Don't speak to her, don't look at her, keep your head down,' said Kate.
Eddie Flynn looked like he was having the same conversation with his client. He found a door and stepped into it, Harper dragging Sofia in after her.
They were only ten feet away, Sofia was holding onto the doorway, Eddie shielding her from a view of the hallway. Sofia was telling them, 'No, no, no ...' As they passed by, Kate caught Sofia peeking around Eddie's body. The look on her face was one Kate would never forget.
Sofia's eyes looked like fire. The skin around them was red, they were blazing with tears, hatred and sadness. Sofia didn't say anything more as they passed by. Harry Ford pressed himself to the wall, and Kate nodded in greeting. He nodded back, then looked at Kate's client.
Alexandra shielded her eyes, as if her sister were an eclipse and the mere act of looking upon her would render Alexandra blind.
Neither sister spoke. Kate put her hand on Alexandra's back, gently urging her to increase her pace. Kate felt a surge of tension – as if there was a toxic cloud emanating from that doorway.
They passed without incident, rounded the corner and made their way to the exit.
Bloch held open the door for them and then led the way to Alexandra's Land Rover, parked in the lot. Fumbling in her purse, Alexandra dropped the keys. Kate picked them up, opened the car and got Alexandra into the driver's seat. With the door still open, Kate waited while Alexandra cried.
'I don't know how I'm going to get through this,' said Alexandra.
'We'll be right by your side, every step of the way. You're stronger than you know,' said Kate.
Alexandra let out a peal of nervous laughter, said, 'I'm a mess. I can't sit in the same room as Sofia – knowing what she did. I just can't.'
'You can. And you will,' said Bloch.
No one spoke for a time. Alexandra nodded, blew her nose on a napkin and thanked Bloch and Kate. Kate said she would email the videos from the crime scene inspections later – see if Alexandra could spot anything useful. Kate closed the car door and watched Alexandra drive away.
'Dreyer wanted to see how she would react, to the knife and the presence of her sister. Smart,' said Bloch.
'He's not sure which one killed Frank Avellino. He's gauging them. I get the impression he's deliberately messing with their heads. He wants the sisters to tear each other apart, so he can mop up the blood and convict both of them. Let's

hope Sofia's polygraph is a lot worse than Alexandra's,' said Kate.
Later that same night, Kate and Bloch made sure they arrived at Franklin Street to view the crime scene at the allotted time, and Alexandra was not present. They didn't want any more contact between Alexandra and Sofia.
A cameraman for the DA's office met them at the front door and an NYPD boy in blue let them both inside.
Kate had been hoping that seeing the inside of the property for real would trigger some additional line of defense – that she would see something which would help prove Alexandra's innocence, or rather, prove Sofia's guilt.
They took photos, and their own video.
When they left the property an hour later, both were disappointed not to have discovered a killer point to win the case. They did both have a better understanding of the geography and sheer size of the place, though, so it wasn't a complete waste of time.
By the time Kate got home, the DA's cameraman had sent both videos. Kate clicked on the email and forwarded it to Alexandra.
Maybe she could see something Kate couldn't?