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“Could you tell the court what Mr. Grant told Sergeant Boxer and yourself?”
“Yes. She asked him if he’d seen the explosion. He said, ‘Did I see it? I created this—this magnificent event. This is my work.’ Sergeant Boxer asked him his name, and he told us and he described himself as a genius, a creator of beauty. He asked if we had seen all of it. The mushroom cloud. The color of sundown on the glass. He said he gave himself extra points for that.”
Parisi said, “Do you remember anything else he said?”
“I do. Sergeant Boxer asked him again, ‘Are you saying you bombed Sci-Tron?’ And he said, ‘Exactly.’ He was emphatic. And he added that if we needed to know why, he said that beauty didn’t need a reason.”
Parisi asked, “Did you believe this confession?”
There was a moment of silence. Yuki didn’t breathe as she watched Joe disappear into his memory. And then he snapped his eyes back to Len’s.
“Yes, I believed him. Mr. Grant confessed, confessed again, gave his reasons for blowing up the museum, and bragged about what a fine job he’d done, how proud he was that he had done it. He was convincing, and despite the fact that, in my opinion, what he did was crazy, he sounded sane to me.”
“Thanks, Mr. Molinari. Your Honor, I have no more questions for this witness.”
CHAPTER 37
YUKI SAW CONNOR Grant speak to Elise Antonelli from behind his hand, and after a moment Judge Hoffman asked, “Mr. Grant, do you wish to cross-examine the witness?”
“Yes, Your Honor. Yes, I do.”
Grant got up, crossed the room to the witness box, and said, “Mr. Molinari, first, I’m sorry that you were injured. You must still be in a lot of pain.”
Joe said, “I can handle it.”
Grant went on.
“Do you love your wife?”
Parisi yelled, “Objection, Your Honor. Irrelevant and out of line because it has nothing to do with anything.”
Grant said, “Goes to the veracity of his testimony, Your Honor.”
“Overruled, Mr. Parisi. Mr. Molinari, please answer.”
“Yes. I love my wife.”
Grant said, “So if your wife said to you, ‘Joe, this is what Connor Grant said to me,’ and you actually didn’t remember hearing anything, you’d be inclined to support your wife, wouldn’t you?”
“Are you asking me if I’m lying?”
“Are you?”
“I am not.”
“Let me ask you this,” Grant went on. “Did you record my so-called admission?”
“No.”
“Did you see me run from the building?”
“No.”
“Isn’t it true that my so-called confession could have been the dazed mumbling of a stunned bystander—me? Is it possible that your wife made the confession up and you’re just backing her to the hilt?”
Parisi roared his objection. The judge sustained it. Parisi moved to strike the defendant’s last question, and Hoffman asked the court reporter to so strike. Connor Grant apologized and said that he had no more questions.
Grant looked quite smug when he returned to his seat, and Yuki understood why. He’d made his point. Then he’d drilled in on it. And he’d concluded his questioning with the simple message that Joe’s corroboration was a feature of his marriage, not his memory.
