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“What did Burke say?”
“He sent Cindy a letter, told her he was writing a book. He told us he knows nothing about the recent killings,” I said. “He might be telling the truth.”
“Figures,” the warden said. “He has a TV but his laptop is no better than a typewriter. No internet connection. He does get mail and some visitors, hucksters, his attorney, true-crime fans.”
Warden Hauser leaned back in his chair and said, “He’s a nonstop headache, that guy. He’s disruptive. We have a 24/7 watch on him to protect him from death threats. It would be a big deal to be the one who takes him out.”
Brady said, “That mail that he gets. Maybe Burke knows something. You think you could put the screws to him a little? Monitor his mail a little more closely. Nothing illegal. If we see him again, I’d like him to be in a negotiating frame of mind.”
Hauser said, “Well. There’ve been some security breaches lately, including cyber. We’ll have to confiscate his computer for a while.”
I said, “He’ll say he can’t access the web.”
The warden smiled, rocked his chair to its upright position. “He’s a lifer. What’s he gonna do?”
Good deal.
CHAPTER 51
FOR THE THIRD time, Barbara Sullivan was on the witness stand. Yuki greeted her witness Monday morning and reminded her that she was still under oath.
“I understand.”
“Very good,” Yuki said. “On Friday, you told the court that you’d recently visited your home for the first time since your husband beat you. Going home refreshed your memory of that beating?”
“Yes. I remembered that the fight started when Lew and I came back from the grocery store with the kids. Tom Watkins, our neighbor, had offered to help me unload the groceries from the car. I’d said, “No, thanks, we’ve got it.”
“But Lew didn’t like Tom even talking to me. By the time we were inside, he was boiling mad. He called me names. He said he wanted to kill me. I didn’t take him seriously. I went downstairs to run some laundry. Lew came down after me. He said something like, “‘This is it. Say your prayers. Do it fast.’ He had a knife.”
Barbara covered her eyes with her palms, finally accepting a packet of tissues from Yuki, holding a wad of them to her eyes.
A few uncomfortable moments passed, as Barbara’s muffled sobs filled the courtroom from wall to wall. She coughed, apologized to the judge, then continued her narrative.
“Lew grabbed me by my hair, pulled my head back, and pressed the blade to my throat. I knew then that he really might kill me. I kneed him in the balls and he dropped the knife. He let go of me for that one moment and so I grabbed the knife off the floor and held it out in front of me, gripping the handle with both hands.”
Yuki urged Barbara to go on.
“The standoff ended when Lew held his hands up, his palms facing me and said, ‘Okay, okay, you win.’ I asked Lew to please leave so I could do the laundry. I turned back to the washer and felt a blow to the back of my head. When I woke up, I was tied to the laundry sink by my wrists. My ankles were taped to free weights and Lewis was kicking me in the ribs. He said, ‘Wake up,’ and called me a name. Then he—raped me. I passed out.”
Barbara broke down again. Yuki asked if she was able to continue.
“I’ll try. I must have been out for a long time. When I woke up, it was night. I can’t describe the pain. I hurt everywhere inside and out. I couldn’t see. I touched my … eye. God help me. I called out but there was no answer. When I woke up again, it was morning and I was throbbing everywhere. Every breath was like shards of glass in my lungs. I heard my seven-year-old, Kevin, calling me. I called back, but my voice wasscratchy. A whisper. I tried to break free. The pain was too much. I was having out-of-body waking dreams, Ms. Castellano. When the police came, I felt that my soul was leaving my body. That’s what I remembered from when I went home recently.”
“Thank you, Barbara. I have just a few more questions to ask you. Do you remember the times you called the police prior to this event?”
“Yes. Once after a bad fight. And once when I was afraid to go into the house.”
“And did you drop the charges? If so, why?”
“Yes. Because I was afraid of Lewis. He threatened me and called me names and hurled the most horrifying insults in the world at me for days. He was careful to hurt me without leaving marks. So it would be my word against his. All the time telling me what he would do to me. Above all, there were the children. I didn’t want him to lie about me and somehow get custody of the children. That would be an endless hell for them.”
Tears spilled down Barbara’s cheeks. She put a hand on her chest to steady her heaving.
“Thank you, Barbara. I have no more questions.”
Yuki took her seat at the counsel table. Gaines had pushed a note card over to Yuki’s place. It read “Brilliant.”
The judge asked if defense would redirect and Switzer had the good sense to say “No, Your Honor.”
