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“Did you know Mr. Rigel?”
“No, but Mr. Mortensen said he was a screwup. He was following Gabby Devlin but she drives the same car as her brother. Rigel took a shot at the brother and missed, then he had to kill some random guy who made him.”
“Do you know the name of this so-called random guy?”
“Neil Lemaire. Wrong place, wrong time.”
Dear God. I already knew what had happened, but hearing it aloud made me sick to my stomach. After the police had told me, I’d reached out to Neil’s boyfriend, Daniel, and he mourned Neil all over again.
“And what did Mr. Mortensen tell you to do?”
“He told me to take out the brother. Thomas Devlin.”
“And did you understand what Mr. Mortensen meant by ‘take out’?”
“Yes.”
“What did you understand?”
“He meant kill, and he gave me a gun with a silencer.”
I shuddered, and my mother’s face drained of color. I patted her hand, and she straightened. We Devlins were battle-hardened, having testified already and watched the proceedings every day. My father, who was slowly recovering from his gunshot wound, had crushed it on the witness stand. The media dogged us, but Gabby used every interview to raise awareness of the Holmesburg lawsuit. Chuck Whitman and Tony Bales sat with us in court, plaintiffs who had become friends, and the community packed the gallery, too. We were turning into a media sensation, reported as the lawsuit that corporations would kill to stop.
Nolan faced Solkov. “Now, did Mr. Mortensen offer you money to kill Thomas Devlin?”
“Yes.”
“How much money?”
“Five grand.”
“And did Mr. Mortensen tell you where he was getting the money that he was going to give you to kill Thomas Devlin?”
“Yes.”
“And where did Mr. Mortensen say he was getting that money?”
“Mr. Mortensen said Dr. Bostwick was going to pay him ten grand to kill the woman lawyer, Gabby Devlin, and Dr. Bostwick would pay me five grand to kill her brother.”
The gallery reacted with gasps. Shocked faces wheeled to one another. The courtroom artist sketched madly, and Gabby and I exchanged knowing glances. We’d heard all this during Mortensen’s testimony, and we shared a dark laugh over my life being worth half of hers.
Nolan stood tall, finishing up. “And did Mr. Mortensen tell you why Dr. Bostwick wanted Gabby Devlin and Thomas Devlin dead?”
“Yes.”
“And what did he say?”
“Dr. Bostwick said the lawyer and her brother had a lawsuit that would have made Fournette look bad and hurt the stock price. Dr. Bostwick had a lot of stock and he didn’t wanna lose any money he was gonna make when the company went public.”
“Did Mr. Mortensen tell you how much money Dr. Bostwick would have lost if the stock price went down?”
“He said millions. He didn’t say how many millions.” Solkov smirked. “If it’s millions, it don’t matter how many.”
The jurors smiled, and two nodded in agreement. I took heart, hoping they believed his testimony. I sure did.
Nolan nodded. “Your Honor, I have no further questions.”
Judge Rati-Jio motioned to the defense counsel. “Ms. Yler, your witness.”
