The Last Alibi (A JASON KOLARICH NOVEL) Read online

  ALSO BY DAVID ELLIS

  Jason Kolarich novels

  The Wrong Man

  Breach of Trust

  The Hidden Man

  Eye of the Beholder

  In the Company of Liars

  Jury of One

  Life Sentence

  Line of Vision

  By David Ellis and James Patterson

  Mistress

  Guilty Wives

  G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS

  Publishers Since 1838

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street,

  New York, New York 10014, USA

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  Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  For more information about the Penguin Group visit penguin.com

  Copyright © 2013 by David Ellis

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  Published simultaneously in Canada

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Ellis, David, date.

  The last alibi / David Ellis.

  p. cm.

  ISBN 978-1-101-62114-1

  1. Murder—Investigation—Fiction. I. Title.

  PS3555.L59485L38 2013 2013015329

  813'.6—dc23

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  To Ed Nystrom

  Contents

  Also by David Ellis

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  THE TRIAL, DAY 1

  Chapter 1: Jason

  SIX MONTHS BEFORE TRIAL

  Chapter 2: Jason

  Chapter 3: Shauna

  Chapter 4: Jason

  Chapter 5: Jason

  Chapter 6: Shauna

  Chapter 7: Jason

  Chapter 8: Shauna

  Chapter 9: Jason

  Chapter 10: Jason

  Chapter 11: Shauna

  Chapter 12: Jason

  Chapter 13: Jason

  Chapter 14: Jason

  Chapter 15: Jason

  Chapter 16: Jason

  Chapter 17: Jason

  PEOPLE VS. JASON KOLARICH TRIAL, DAY 1

  Chapter 18: Shauna

  Chapter 19: Jason

  Chapter 20: Shauna

  Chapter 21: Jason

  SIX MONTHS BEFORE TRIAL

  Chapter 22: Jason

  Chapter 23: Jason

  Chapter 24: Shauna

  Chapter 25: Shauna

  Chapter 26: Jason

  Chapter 27: Jason

  Chapter 28: Jason

  Chapter 29: Jason

  Chapter 30: Shauna

  Chapter 31: Jason

  Chapter 32: Jason

  Chapter 33: Shauna

  Chapter 34: Jason

  Chapter 35: Jason

  Chapter 36: Jason

  PEOPLE VS. JASON KOLARICH TRIAL, DAY 2

  Chapter 37: Shauna

  Chapter 38: Shauna

  Chapter 39: Jason

  Chapter 40: Shauna

  Chapter 41: Jason

  FIVE MONTHS BEFORE TRIAL

  Chapter 42: Jason

  Chapter 43: Jason

  Chapter 44: Jason

  Chapter 45: Jason

  Chapter 46: Jason

  Chapter 47: Jason

  Chapter 48: Shauna

  Chapter 49: Jason

  Chapter 50: Jason

  Chapter 51: Jason

  Chapter 52: Shauna

  Chapter 53: Shauna

  Chapter 54: Shauna

  Chapter 55: Jason

  Chapter 56: Shauna

  PEOPLE VS. JASON KOLARICH TRIAL, DAY 3

  Chapter 57: Jason

  Chapter 58: Shauna

  Chapter 59: Shauna

  Chapter 60: Jason

  Chapter 61: Jason

  Chapter 62: Jason

  Chapter 63: Jason

  FIVE MONTHS BEFORE TRIAL

  Chapter 64: Jason

  Chapter 65: Shauna

  Chapter 66: Jason

  Chapter 67: Jason

  Chapter 68: Jason

  Chapter 69: Shauna

  Chapter 70: Jason

  Chapter 71: Jason

  Chapter 72: Jason

  PEOPLE VS. JASON KOLARICH TRIAL, DAY 4

  Chapter 73: Shauna

  Chapter 74: Jason

  FIVE MONTHS BEFORE TRIAL

  Chapter 75: Jason

  Chapter 76: Jason

  Chapter 77: Jason

  Chapter 78: Shauna

  Chapter 79: Jason

  Chapter 80: Jason

  Chapter 81: Jason

  Chapter 82: Shauna

  Chapter 83: Shauna

  Chapter 84: Jason

  THE DAY OF ALEXA HIMMEL’S DEATH

  Chapter 85: Shauna

  Chapter 86: Jason

  Chapter 87: Jason

  Chapter 88: Shauna

  Chapter 89: Jason

  EIGHT YEARS AGO

  Chapter 90: Jason Kolarich, Assistant County Attorney

  PEOPLE VS. JASON KOLARICH TRIAL, DAY 4

  Chapter 91: Shauna

  Chapter 92: Shauna

  Chapter 93: Shauna

  Chapter 94: Jason

  Chapter 95: Jason

  Chapter 96: Shauna

  Chapter 97: Shauna

  PEOPLE VS. JASON KOLARICH TRIAL, DAY 5

  Chapter 98: Jason

  Chapter 99: Shauna

  PEOPLE VS. JASON KOLARICH TRIAL, DAY 6

  Chapter 100: Jason

  Chapter 101: Jason

  Chapter 102: Jason

  Chapter 103: Jason

  Chapter 104: Jason

  THE DAY OF ALEXA HIMMEL’S DEATH

  Chapter 105: Shauna

  Chapter 106: Jason

  Chapter 107: Jason

  Chapter 108: Shauna

  Chapter 109: Shauna

  Chapter 110: Jason

  Chapter 111: Jason

  THREE MONTHS BEFORE TRIAL

  Chapter 112: Jason

  PEOPLE VS. JASON KOLARICH TRIAL, DAY 7

  Chapter 113: Jason

  Acknowledgments

  THE TRIAL, DAY 1

  Monday, December 9

  1.

  Jason

  Judge Judith Bialek, from her bench overlooking the court, peers down over her glasses at the defense and prosecution. Until now she has been businesslike, efficient, carefully instructing the twelve jurors and three alternates as to their duties in this case. But this particular case gives her pause, as she is familiar with the parties and tries to emit some kind of acknowledgment of this fact: a grim smile, lips tucked in, a brief nod in the direction of the defense table.

  “Please remember, above all,” she says, “that the defendant has pleaded not guilty, and he is presumed not guilty unless proven otherwise beyond a reasonable doubt.”

  Everybody knows that, of course. You’ve only made it as far as Judge Bialek’s courtroom if you’ve uttered those two words: Not guilty. Not guilty by reason of insanity. Self-defense, maybe. But always Not guilty!

  How many times I’ve stood in a courtroom like this one, the grand, ornate walnut molding and
finishes, the overdone lighting, the walls practically bleeding with the fears and horrors they’ve absorbed during the seven decades that this building has stood. Not guilty are the only words the exhausted and terrified defendants utter prior to trial, but so many more lie just beneath the surface, at the backs of their throats, yearning to gush forth: I didn’t do it. I was set up. This is all a misunderstanding. It’s not like it seems. I’m not a criminal. Please, please, before this goes any further, just please hear me out!

  I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve stood here. Over three hundred cases, if you count everything from third-chairing a trial to being the top dog, while I was prosecuting. Nearly fifty cases, surely, as a defense lawyer, standing next to a weak-kneed defendant watching the machinations of the criminal justice system begin to churn against him, the enormity of what is happening crashing down upon him—the judge in a black robe, the steely prosecutor, the sheriff’s deputy waiting to handcuff him, the United States flag waving over a courtroom of the public, spectators watching him stand accused by the government, peering at him with a combination of morbid curiosity and vicarious thrill.

  “We will now hear opening statements from the prosecution. Mr. Ogren.”

  “Thank you, Your Honor.” Roger Ogren is a lifer at the office, probably close to twenty-five years in by now. I knew him when I was there. I was surprised, in fact, to learn that he was handling this case. And I was unhappy, too. This is a man who has seen everything, who is surprised by nothing.

  He is slim, unusually so to anyone who knows him, after a long illness that many thought would end his career. No longer fitting into his old suits, Roger is wearing new stuff, fashionable threads his wife must have picked out.

  As Roger Ogren approaches the podium to address the jury, Shauna Tasker very subtly places her hand over mine. I turn and offer a grim smile. Shauna is my law partner. She is my best friend.

  And for this trial, she is my lawyer.

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” says Ogren, “we are here today for one reason and one reason only. This is a murder trial, and the defendant is Jason Kolarich.”

  Ogren turns and points his finger at me. I always advise my clients to be ready for that, to have earnest, nonthreatening looks on their faces, and to return the stare. I now understand just how difficult it is.

  And again I hear the cries of the thousands who have sat in this chair, their silent, desperate wailings: It wasn’t me. They have the wrong guy. You don’t understand what happened, just let me explain, please don’t do this to me!

  But I say none of those things. I just look at the jurors with my I didn’t kill anybody face—yes, I practiced before a mirror—searching their eyes, wondering what it is they are seeing in me.

  I will probably testify. When I do, I’m not sure it will be convincing enough to establish reasonable doubt. I’m not sure it will do more good than harm.

  I’m only sure, in fact, of one thing: When I testify, I will not tell the truth.

  SIX MONTHS BEFORE TRIAL

  June

  2.

  Jason

  Tuesday, June 4

  I stand up in the courtroom gingerly, still hesitant with the knee, more out of habit than necessity. My mouth is dry and sticky, so I slide the glass of water near the podium in case I need it. Once I start, I don’t like interruptions unless I choose one for tactical advantage. It’s all about strategy once I walk into a courtroom.

  This is war, after all. No other way to look at it. The cop sitting on the witness stand arrested my client for possession of two grams of crack cocaine. My job at this hearing is to show that he had no probable cause to search my client, and therefore the product of that search—the cocaine—must be excluded from evidence. This is technically a preliminary hearing prior to trial, but everyone knows that this is the whole enchilada. If the crack is found admissible, my client is toast; he has no defense left other than claiming that the plastic bags fell from the sky into his pocket, which usually doesn’t work. But if, on the other hand, the judge excludes the crack from evidence, my client walks.

  My client is William Braden, a nineteen-year-old high school graduate from the posh suburb of Highland Woods who’s “taking a year or two off” before college. Exactly why Billy decided to come down to the city’s west side to buy his drugs is anyone’s guess. Surely he could have found them at the high school or other places up there; the lily-white, wealthy suburbs are no longer immune from hard-core drugs. But people do dumb things. If they didn’t, I wouldn’t have a job.

  I cast a glance at Billy’s parents, John and Karen, doctors at a prestigious downtown hospital each of them, who are seated behind the defense table, wearing expressions I see all too often—they are overwhelmed, they can’t believe this is happening, this isn’t where people of their ilk are supposed to find themselves. Not wealthy white people from the suburbs.

  I wonder if they know that their son is more than a user—he’s a dealer. I certainly can’t tell them. And the cops didn’t find enough drugs on Billy to charge him with possession with intent to distribute. So to all the world, Billy is simply a clean-cut kid who was experimenting, taking an ill-advised walk on the wild side.

  I reach the podium and stop. Three months ago, this small exercise of motor skills would send pain skyrocketing up from my knee.

  “Detective Forrest,” I say, “my name is Jason Kolarich. I represent Billy Braden.” Billy, not William. A kid, a stupid boy, not an adult criminal.

  “Counsel,” he says. Nick Forrest has worked undercover narcotics for almost four years. He is thick through the chest and shoulders and maintains a formidable posture. He must, if he works the city’s west side.

  “You arrested my client walking down Roosevelt Avenue on December eighth of last year, correct?”

  “Correct, sir.”

  “He was walking west between Girardi and Summerset.”

  “That’s . . . that’s correct.”

  “He was alone, as far as you could tell.”

  “As far as I could tell.”

  “But there were other people on the street, on Roosevelt, yes?”

  “There were a few. It was getting close to dusk. People wander out less when it gets to be dark around there.”

  “It’s a dangerous neighborhood.”

  “It can be.”

  “Lot of gang activity, right?”

  “That’s right.” Detective Forrest nods.

  “And Billy—Billy was wearing a black wool coat as he walked westbound.”

  “He . . . That’s right, yes.”

  “It was cold out that day, true?”

  “It was.”

  “Below freezing, you could see your breath, that sort of thing?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Nothing unusual about wearing a black wool coat on a cold day, correct?”

  “I didn’t say it was unusual.”

  I pause. Sometimes judges like to interject when witnesses elaborate, especially at the beginning of their testimony. But Judge Goodson remains mute, his chin resting in his left hand.

  “You agree with me, it wasn’t unusual.”

  “I agree,” he says.

  “His hands were in his pockets, correct?”

  “I believe they were, yes.”

  “Nothing unusual about that, either.”

  “Correct.”

  “You were in an unmarked Chevy Cavalier, parked on the south side of the street.”

  “That’s right. I was doing a drive-around.”

  Judge Goodson, a former prosecutor, knows what that means, but I have to make my record for the appellate court. “You were driving around Roosevelt, looking for someone to stop and sell you drugs in your car.”

  “Correct.”

  “Okay, Detective. And you were in the driver’s seat.”

  “I was.”

  “So you’re on the south side of Roosevelt, looking north?”

  “That’s correct.”

  “So B
illy, walking west on the opposite side of the street, came up from behind you, so to speak. He wasn’t walking toward you, he was walking away from you.”

  The detective clears his throat. “I observed the suspect in my rearview mirror, walking westbound. Then he passed by my line of sight and continued walking away from me.”

  “The suspect,” I say. “You called him a suspect.”