Just Take My Heart - Mary Higgins Clark [112]
“Sir, I was there for most of that first meeting with Easton in the Old Tappan police station,” Jake replied. “Billy didn't coach him.” Jake looked at Emily. “Emily, I'm going to be frank. You and Billy have always rubbed each other the wrong way. But I really think that you are being unfair to him now.”
“That's all I needed to hear, Jake. Thanks. You can go now,” Wes?ley said sharply.
When the door closed behind Jake, Wesley looked at Emily. “I think it's clear Easton didn't need help putting together his story. He didn't need help because he was telling the truth about what he and Aldrich had done. And now, because of your total lack of judgment in responding to his genuine fear about going back to prison after cooperating, he is dead. Not to mention that Aldrich is out on bail and our case is probably wrecked. Why didn't you just agree to time served as his sentence and all of this could have been avoided?”
“Because he is a career criminal and he would have just gone back to breaking into people's homes,” Emily replied firmly. “Maybe this time around someone would have gotten hurt.”
Emily stiffened her back and continued. “And there's something else you apparently haven't considered. The jury heard he was going to get four years. If I had later agreed to time served as his sentence, Moore would file a motion for a new trial and argue that I knew and Jimmy knew all along he would get time served, and that the jury should have known that when they were evaluating his testimony. Moore would further argue that Easton would have said anything if he knew he would be getting out. There's no way the judge wouldn't grant that motion.”
“Then you should have thought about that when you were nego?tiating with him before trial,” Wesley snapped. “You knew he was a loose cannon and that he could turn on you later on. You should have just given him probation from the beginning. There was a lot of corroboration to his story, no matter what sentence he was going to get. Now the integrity of this office will not only be questioned, but actively maligned. The media is going to annihilate us.”
Not knowing when she had first come to this meeting whether she would reveal them, Emily had kept the two sketches in a folder. She took them out and placed them in front of Wesley. “Maybe De?tective Tryon can satisfactorily explain this. The sketch that I found yesterday in the New York file on Jamie Evans, the murdered room?mate of Natalie Raines, was not the one that he brought back to this office. It has the same date on it but that's where the similarity ends. It's of an entirely different person.”
As Wesley and Tryon angrily glared at her, Emily continued. “I know perfectly well Billy will claim that it was just a mix-up. But the detective at the Manhattan DA's office who showed me this file is sure there was only one sketch. I suggest to you that it was a deliber?ate attempt by Billy to keep the right sketch out of the Aldrich file.”
Emily paused, not immediately knowing if she was going to say what she was thinking. She took a deep breath. “I also want to point out that the original sketch bears a rather obvious resemblance to Billy Tryon, which may be why he desperately wanted it to never reach our file.”
Ted Wesley took the sketches and studied them. “Emily, you are now making not only serious accusations, but also scurrilous and even hysterical ones. Do I understand correctly that Natalie Raines never even met this man, and that this sketch was drawn from her recollection of a supposed wallet picture she may have seen once?”
“This is exactly what I expected that you would say,” Emily responded defiantly, “It is my position that not only does this sketch strongly resemble Billy, but that there is no question these sketches were deliberately switched by him to hide something terribly impor?tant. And I'm not going to stop until I find out what that is.”
“I have had enough of this,” Wesley shouted. "I've had enough of your attempts to vilify my finest detective. I've had enough of your attempts to destroy