“This attack supports evidence previously ignored by the State. We are asking the court to reconsider Lacey Alderwyn’s detention in light of all this.”
Simple. Direct. Almost modest.
Belmont finally rose. Her movement was elegant and deadly.
“Your Honor,” she said, “the State has newly obtained evidence relevant to this motion as well.”
Sean went still. “Your Honor, this is a discovery violation. We didn’t receive any notice of this new evidence.”
“Your Honor, the defense is arguing the identity of the murder suspect. We have newly obtained evidence that directly contradicts that claim. This is a proper rebuttal.”
“I’ll allow it,” Judge McKenna said. “Let’s hear what the State has, Mrs. Belmont.”
Her grin widened. “Thank you,” she said. “The footage came into our possession last week.”
“Footage?” Sean repeated.
He turned to look at us, as if we knew what was coming. I shook my head.
Belmont nodded to one of her assistants. He picked up a remote and pressed a few buttons. The screen at the front of the courtroom turned on.
A grainy parking lot video came into view. It showed the Happy Rama Bowling Alley on Route 1. My heart almost stopped. There was no sound, but I knew exactly what I was looking at.
It was Lila’s eighth birthday.
Lacey was wearing that bright yellow silk blouse. She’d bought it for $300 because she wanted to look pretty for Brian. But he was already pulling away, acting cold and withholding affection because he was bored with marriage again.
I remembered thinking that day how beautiful she looked.
And now that same sad memory was up on a courtroom screen, being shown to strangers as evidence.
“The woman in the yellow blouse is the defendant, Lacey Alderwyn,” Belmont said. “The male with her is the victim, Zach Nabb.”
Nobody challenged it, so the video kept playing.
The whole courtroom watched Lacey and Zach standing next to his Mercedes. He was vaping. She was talking. At first, itlooked casual. Like two friends talking about nothing important. But suddenly Lacey’s hands started moving faster, and Zach’s face tightened. Even without sound, you could tell they were fighting.
Then Lacey shoved Zach. And he shoved her back.
I also couldn’t watch. This was bad. No. This was catastrophic.
On the screen, Lacey and Zach kept going at each other. Hands flying. Screaming back and forth. Lacey grabbed Zach by his shirt. Zach shook her.
Then Dylan appeared at the edge of the frame, walking toward the Mercedes.
Lacey noticed him first and let go of Zach right away. She stepped back as if a switch had flipped. Just like that, she looked composed again. Sweet. Friendly. Smiling wide.
A second later, Zach noticed Dylan too. He froze. But, unlike Lacey, he didn’t bother pretending. He turned and headed back into the bowling alley, knocking his shoulder into Dylan as he passed.
The video ended with Lacey placing her arm around Dylan and guiding him back inside.
Silence fell over the room as reality settled in.
The State now had something it didn’t have before: a motive. The missing piece besides the missing murder weapon. I could already see what Belmont was going to do with this video. She would pull it apart. Twist it six different ways until Lacey stopped being a struggling victim and turned into an unstable woman full of rage. Belmont would reintroduce the old jealous-mistress theory. The State had floated the idea before but dropped it when it couldn’t find any evidence.
But what Kara Belmont did next was worse than anything I could have imagined.
“The State calls Dylan Alderwyn to the stand,” she said. “To testify about what he overheard in the parking lot that day.”
