Cartwheel Read Online Free PDF Page B

(the breasts) were simply not battened down in any serious way at all. Andrew blamed Maureen for this, somehow; some important, delicate conversation had been missed, somewhere along the line, and now here they all were, staring at this photo, which contrasted so starkly with Katy’s neat hair and sparkling teeth and compact body—all of it somehow virginal, somehow the particular beauty of an innocent.
    Between Lily and Katy was a picture of Sebastien LeCompte—that name! In the photo, he appeared young, foppish, with overlong hair that reminded Andrew of some kind of ornithological plumage. The idea of this boy inspiring murderous lust was absolutely comic. Andrew was going to actually laugh about it, in fact, just as soon as he got out of this office.
    “I’m sorry, but this guy?” Andrew tapped the photo. “Really? You’re expecting me to believe those two girls were fighting over this guy?”
    “We’re not expecting you to believe anything,” said Ojeda. “But it’s what the prosecution will assert, and we have to assume that the panel will believe it.”
    “Why?”
    “There is some evidence,” said Velazquez. “A few emails the deceased wrote, indicating a new romance that she needed to hide from your daughter. And Carlos Carrizo—that’s the host family father—”
    “I know,” said Andrew.
    “—Has grudgingly admitted to seeing the deceased return from LeCompte’s house late one evening. But in terms of the trial, what your daughter believed to be the case is more important than what was actually the case, as I’m sure you understand. And your daughter believed that the deceased and Sebastien LeCompte were romantically involved. She said as much in her initial interrogation.”
    “Are these really the concerns of law enforcement, though?” Andrew sat back heavily in his chair. “I mean, it all seems a little—tawdry. And, frankly, trivial.”
    Ojeda blinked, impassive. “Your daughter’s emails characterize her relationship with the deceased as fraught, at best,” he said. “The love triangle element establishes a motive. And then there’s the question of your daughter’s behavior on the day of the murder.”
    “You mean, trying to administer CPR to a dead body and then calling the police?” said Andrew. “You mean, doing exactly what she was supposed to do?”
    “We’re not as concerned about the blood the truck driver saw on Lily’s face,” said Ojeda. “Lily found the body of the deceased, as you say, and we have every confidence that the DNA report will support that story. What’s somewhat more worrying for our case, actually, are the reports from the initial interrogation of your daughter’s rather … subdued … reaction to Katy’s death. And in conjunction with the cartwheel, of course, that looks a little strange.”
    Andrew felt his tongue freeze momentarily in his mouth. “What cartwheel?” he said.
    The lawyers exchanged another glance. “You didn’t know about the cartwheel?” said Velazquez.
    “She did a cartwheel?”
    “During the interrogation.”
    “
During
the interrogation?”
    “Afterward. Right after the first interrogation, when they left her alone.”
    “Okay,” said Andrew, his tongue unfreezing. “Well. That’s odd, Isuppose. But I don’t really know what it has to do with anything. I mean, maybe she just wanted to stretch? Maybe she hadn’t moved in a while? At any rate, I just don’t see how it matters at all.”
    But he did, and the lawyers could see that he did, and that they did not need to explain.
    “Finally,” said Ojeda apologetically. “There’s this.” He clicked a remote at the TV, summoning a black-and-white image of Lily and Sebastien LeCompte, who appeared to be shopping at some kind of Walmart-type store.
    “What is this?” said Andrew.
    “Security footage. From the day of the murder.”
    “Why are we watching this?”
    “You’ll see.”
    On the screen, Lily and Sebastien were grainy and grim, moving