“Oh yes.”
“What about Jamie Simmons?”
“He came too. If you’re going to ask me the first time, well, I can’t remember that. I just remember him being part of a group of Ellie’s friends that just came and made sure we had everything we needed.”
“I don’t mean to be redundant, but so I’m clear with what you’re saying. These friends of Ellie’s. From college. From high school. They were all in your home during those initial weeks when Ellie went missing?”
“Yes. Yes, they were.”
“Okay. I’m going to come back to that. But I want to focus on your communication with the police. Did you ever tell them if you knew of anyone who wanted to hurt your daughter?”
“Here we go,” Hojo wrote on the pad in front of us.
“Yes,” Claudia said. “I told them there was only one person I knew of who would want anything bad to happen to my Ellie.”
“And who was that?”
“My nephew … well … I suppose he’s not technically my nephew. He’s my cousin’s son. Dane Fischer.”
“Why did you think Dane Fischer wanted to hurt Ellie?”
“Because he said he did.”
“He threatened her?”
“Yes. Dane said …”
“Objection,” I said. “Calls for hearsay. We’ve been over this, Your Honor.”
“Your Honor, Mr. Fischer’s statement isn’t being offered for the truth of it. It’s being offered to show Mrs. Luke’s state of mind. She was responding to being questioned by the police.”
“I’ll allow it,” Judge Saul said.
“Go ahead, Mrs. Luke.”
“Ellie told me that Dane said he wanted to smash her head in for what he thought she’d done to him.”
“Objection!” I rose. “Your Honor, now we have double hearsay. I’d ask that the witness’s answer be stricken.”
“Sustained. The jury will disregard the last answer, Mr. Cutler.”
Cutler seemed unfazed. We could admonish the jury all we wanted. They’d heard the answer.
“Mrs. Luke, why did you think Dane Fischer was a threat to your daughter?”
“Because he was an addict. His behavior was unpredictable. I’d opened my home to him because I wanted to help. He betrayed my trust. He stole things to pay for his drug habit. Ellie was the one who figured that out. She told us about it. And she gave a statement to the police. So Dane blamed Ellie for us kicking him out of the house. It wasn’t her fault. But he blamed her. And Dane was dangerous. When he was on drugs, he could be violent. He punched a hole in the wall right next to Ellie’s head the last day he was in the house.”
“He punched the wall right next to her head?” Cutler repeated, as if he were surprised by the revelation.
“That’s right. And he shoved George.”
“Okay. How would you characterize your relationship with your son-in-law?”
“Today?”
“Today, historically. All of it.”
“I love Jamie. He’s like a son to me. He’s the one bright spot that happened amidst all that tragedy.”
