“This time she told me. I’ll give her credit for that. She was upfront with me. Asking me for advice.”
“What did you tell her?”
Valerie sighed. “I told her she was making a huge mistake. It was bad enough that she cheated on one husband. Now she was cheating on the other one. Plus, I just didn’t like how she was jerking poor Joe around. And I told her. It seemed like a hundred times. She shouldn’t have married Tom. Not that soon. But he was so attentive to her. He put her on this pedestal and it was new and exciting. That I understood.”
“Did you notice any changes in Katy’s behavior?”
“Not just her behavior. Her appearance. She went out and got a facelift and a boob job and …”
“Your Honor,” I said. “I’m sorry. None of this is relevant to the issues at hand.”
“I agree,” Castor said. “Let’s stick to the facts of the case. Not speculation about life choices.”
“Okay,” Quick said. “I’d like to draw your attention to some text exchanges that took place between you and Katy Loomis. Particularly starting around fall of last year. Do you recall the ones I mean?”
“Of course I do,” she said. “You want to know about how Katy wanted Tom dead.”
“Objection,” I said. “Calls for speculation and assuming facts not in evidence.”
“Sustained,” Judge Castor said. “Ms. Harbour, first, please respond to the question asked. Second, Mr. Quick is asking about text exchanges. Not your interpretation of the accused’s intent. Stick to the facts. The jury will disregard the witness’ last statement.”
“Sure,” she said. “Sorry.”
“Let’s do this,” Quick said. “Ms. Harbour, I’d like to show you State’s Exhibit 41. Do you recognize what this is?”
He handed Valerie a stack of papers. A printout of the text exchanges he would introduce into evidence. Once he had, he directed her to read them into the record. The jury would of course be able to comb over them at their leisure once they deliberated in the jury room. As soon as they saw and heard them, the damage was done. I could only do my best to impeach Valerie’s credibility in terms of her interpretation.
Katy: It’s all just gotten so complicated, Val.
Val: Girl, I know. But you can’t blame Tom for not trusting you.
Katy: I don’t. I know I’ve got to do my penance. But he’s not blameless either. He was going to dump me. I know it.
Val: You don’t know that. You were being paranoid. I told you that then. You know I love you. But you made your bed. You have to lie in it.
There was a three-day break between texts. Val sent a series of question marks that went unanswered. Finally, Katy responded.
Katy: I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to ghost you. I just had some thinking to do. Things are bad again. Tom’s not talking to me.
Val: I’m sorry.
Katy: It’s like he’s Jekyll and Hyde. One minute he’s all over me. Saying he’s sorry for ignoring me for so long. He even said he could understand why I went back to Joe. Like he took responsibility for shutting me out. He said he just wasn’t used to sharing his life with someone. Maybe he wasn’t ready to get married as fast as we did. And things are good. Better than good. He’s attentive. He’s ALL OVER ME. Insatiable. It’s soooooo good. Like romance-novel good. And then. He turns into the iceman again and won’t talk to me for a day.
Val: I know I’ve said this before, but maybe you need to go into counseling.
No response from Katy for a full day.
Katy: I can’t do this anymore. I just can’t. Tom is so mean. He called me the worst names. He called me a whore.
Val: Ugh.
Katy: He can just decimate me with one look. I love him. I feel like I’m almost obsessed with him. And he doesn’t see it. He doesn’t see ME. I think I went back to Joe just to make Tom face what he was doing to me.
Val: That’s not really fair to Joe, though.
Katy: I know. I don’t need you to tell me that. You don’t have to agree with my choices. But I need you to be my friend. Even when I do stupid things.
Val: Well, I’m not going to hide my opinion. I wouldn’t be a good friend if I did. And I don’t expect that of you either.
