The 17th Suspect (Women's Murder Club 17)

Giftos walked into the well, faced the jurors, and began, “Briana Hill is the victim here.

“Marc Christopher is a liar, and his accusations are damned lies. Even the video the prosecution produced is a lie, and in fact was a planned setup by Mr. Christopher. He designed the scene, directed it, and edited it by turning on the recording device after the discussion of the role-playing had been agreed upon. This way, the viewer would see only a staged sex game. Without the prologue, it’s understandable that this entirely orchestrated drama would seem real.

“As you have heard, Marc and Briana were coworkers. They dated and had sex. And when the flames cooled for Ms. Hill and she let Marc know that she wanted to see other men, Mr. C

hristopher became angry. And he came up with a scheme to hurt Ms. Hill. Why? Because my client had lost interest in him and he was in love with her—an attractive, wealthy, powerful young woman who was rejecting him.

“Mr. Christopher wasn’t just angry, he was determined to hurt her financially, destroy her reputation, and even send her to jail.”

Giftos paused for effect, and when he was sure that the jury was dying for him to begin again, he did.

Giftos said, “On the night in question, when they were in the restaurant bar, Mr. Christopher told Ms. Hill, and she will tell you, that he wanted to act out a rape scene with himself in the role of victim.” Giftos proceeded to summarize the defense’s version of the crime for the jury. Ms. Hill thought she knew Mr. Christopher and was intrigued by his proposition. She had never role-played before. He told her what to do, and as agreed, he would pretend to protest as she tied him up and made demands.

“The morning after this overnight date,” said Giftos, “Ms. Hill went to the office, feeling that she’d betrayed herself by going along with Mr. Christopher’s game; but she had no idea that she’d been played and was about to be victimized by his extortion scheme.

“Mr. Christopher asked her to go out with him again several times, and when she refused, he went to her office and told her that he had recorded their sex play. He wanted a payout of $250,000, or he would post the video on the web.

“Ms. Hill told him to get lost, and that’s when Mr. Christopher took the video recording to the police.

“Ms. Hill was arrested and charged with a felony that she did not commit. Mr. Christopher’s premeditated extortion scheme cost my client her job and her reputation, and now she is forced to defend herself against the false testimony of this vicious and vengeful man.

“Please. Don’t let him get away with it.”

CHAPTER 79

BRIANA HILL, WEARING dark-gray jersey down to her boots, looked as vulnerable as a soaked kitten as she took the witness stand.

Giftos took her through the events of October 11, and she responded with her version of the conversation in the bar in which Marc introduced the idea of the rape sex game and beyond.

“What were your thoughts the day after?” he asked.

“I felt … disgusted with myself. I hadn’t enjoyed the role-playing. And Marc still reported to me. We had work to do. I asked him to meet with the creative team about a Chronos commercial that had been approved. He said, ‘You bet. Right away.’ He had worked on other Chronos commercials. It’s a plum account. But this time he didn’t follow up. I asked him a second time, and again he said, ‘Okay,’ and blew it off. I had to assign another producer.”

“How did Marc react to your executive decision?”

“He didn’t respond at all to losing the Chronos spot, but he called me on my cell three days after what happened in his apartment. He asked me out again. I told him no, that we were through. I told him that if he didn’t snap out of it and do his job, I was going to have to report him to management.”

“What did he say to that?”

“He laughed at me. He told me I didn’t know what trouble was.”

“Did you ask him to explain what he meant by that?”

“Yes. I remember. Marc came to my office after work. He was sitting on the couch, talking to me from across the room. He said, ‘You’re a star, you know.’ I said, ‘What are you talking about, Marc?’ I was waiting for a client to call. Marc said, ‘I watched that video of you raping me, and wow, you are something else.’ He grabbed his … crotch.”

Her last words came out cracked into pieces.

Giftos said, “Do you need a moment, Briana?”

“No.” She cleared her throat and said, “So he told me that he had recorded our sex and that he wanted me to deposit $250,000 into his brokerage account. Otherwise he would post the video to YouTube, Facebook, and internet porn sites.”

Briana pulled back, showing indignation, and at the same time her eyes were screwed up and her face was crumpled. She reached for a tissue from the judge’s box and covered her eyes.

When James Giftos spoke again, his client looked startled and dazed.

“And how did you respond, Briana? To this extortion attempt?”

“I dismissed the demand for money at first. How could he be serious about that? But it was easy for Marc to set up a hidden camera. He’s a professional film producer. I was scared to death. I told him that he was crazy. And I mean, I saw for the first time that he was actually crazy, for real.”