“How many people were in the house that day?”
“Objection,” I said. “Relevance.”
“Your Honor, the prosecution’s entire case rests on a box of what is alleged to be Ellie Luke’s belongings. I think it’s highly relevant to establish who might have had access to them over the years.”
“Sustained,” the judge said.
“How many people were in the house for Ellie’s wake?” Cutler repeated.
“I don’t know. I … I went to my room that day.”
“You didn’t come out,” Cutler said.
“No.”
“It was dozens and dozens of people, wasn’t it?”
“It might have been.”
“And they traipsed through your home and you can’t even say where they went in the home because you didn’t come out of bed, isn’t that right?”
“I don’t know if I’d say traipsed. But we had people in the house, yes.”
“Okay. Mr. Luke, you’ve hit your daughters, haven’t you?”
“Objection!”
“Your Honor, Ms. Brent was allowed to make the salacious implication that Erin Luke had bruises on her. I’m allowed to inquire whether this witness ever hit her.”
“Overruled,” Judge Saul said.
“Did you hit your daughters, Mr. Luke?”
“I resent your implication, sir. Sure. I spanked my girls when they were little. Not often. But if you’re suggesting I hurt them, well, then you can go to hell.”
“You have a temper, don’t you, Mr. Luke?”
George Luke turned white. He rose from his chair. “You son of a bitch. You killed her. You lied to us for twenty years. You killed her. You beat her until she was dead because she knew what a creep you are. You had the rest of us snowed, but not Ellie. Ellie knew exactly who you are!”
“Your Honor!” Cutler shouted.
I rose from my chair. Judge Saul banged her gavel. Something came over George Luke’s face. His entire body shook with rage. He started to move. Then, he vaulted over the side of the witness box and lunged for Jamie Simmons. Simmons remained stoic, almost smirking in his seat. Two bailiffs wrestled George Luke to the ground.
“He killed her!” George shouted, spit flying from his mouth. “He killed her! He killed my little girl!”
“Your Honor,” Cutler practically screamed. “I demand an immediate mistrial!”
The deputies hauled George out of the courtroom. Judge Saul buried her face in her hands. Adrenaline shot through me. I couldn’t believe what had just happened.
“Please escort the jury from the courtroom,” Judge Saul instructed her bailiff.
The deputies made it halfway up the aisle with George before the man passed out.
26
Icould still hear George Luke railing out in the hallway. Muted voices beneath his told me several of the deputies were still trying to calm him down and get him out of the building. Doug and Deena Landon stayed in the courtroom, determined to see how this played out.
Jamie Simmons remained remarkably stoic through it all. I knew he was guilty. Believed it in my bone marrow. But his chilling gaze forward cut through me. The man was a master manipulator. It occurred to me he wasn’t afraid. It occurred to me that even from behind the defense table, he had manipulated George into action with his smug expression while the man bared his soul in public for the first time.
