“What exactly are you saying?” Panthea began to panic. She certainly hoped he wasn’t trying to end the good thing they had going. The thought ran through her mind, and she instantly became infuriated. “I mean, what are you saying Marcus,” she demanded to know, raising her voice just a bit more than was actually necessary.
“All I’m saying is; we need to be careful about being seen together. Pretty soon people may start asking questions or start thinking things,” his voice trailed off, and he realized just how wimpish he was sounding.
“Marcus,” Panthea called out to him using that voice she knew often made him weak.
“Yeah, I’m here,” he answered.
“I need to ask a question, and I need your honest answer here,” she said.
“Have I been anything but honest with you?” he asked straightforwardly.
“I need to know if you believe we’ll win?”
Marcus didn’t respond right away. He pushed his feeling for her out of his head. “Look, I’m doing everything I can possibly think of to ensure you remain a free woman. Nobody wants that more than me. I need to know that you understand that?” he pressed.
“I do,” Panthea said softly.
“Good, now, I need to run.”
“Why do you have to go?” Panthea pleaded with him.
“I’ve got something I have to do for court in the morning.”
“I understand. But can’t you just talk to me for a minute. I’m going crazy in this house all alone. I wanna be with you, baby. Can’t we just meet someplace for a little while? I promise I won’t keep you long. It will be a quickie.”
“Panthea, when have you ever known us to do a quickie?”
“Today in court,” Panthea said quickly. “That was a quickie.”
Marcus had to laugh because she had him. Just the thought of taking her in the courthouse excited him instantly. He briefly considered agreeing to meet Panthea somewhere. Visions of him walking in the hotel room, without a word he would grab Panthea, rip off her panties and ram himself into her without saying a word. Once he was done, he would leave and still not speak to her.
“Marcus.”
“Huh?”
“Are you all right?”
“Yeah, sure. I’m fine. I wanted to tell you this last night and, well, you know how today turned out. But anyway, a man named Harrison Fuller has agreed to testify. That means we might be able to get a judge to subpoena Pascal Larrieux and Scott if necessary, and basically make them testify,” Marcus said.
Panthea listened quietly, but didn’t offer up any response.
Marcus knew she was still on the line because he could hear her labored breathing. He wasn’t sure what she was upset about, but he thought he’d get a different response about the good news he was sharing with her. “Panthea, is everything okay? Are you okay?”
“I’m good. I’m just thinking about what you’re saying. I mean, what exactly does that mean for us?”
“Here’s the reality of it: all the men she was involved with have strong motives for murdering her, and that will help us with reasonable doubt,” he spelled it out for her.
Panthea was still quiet, but she knew reasonable doubt was just what they needed. That meant she could go free, free to be with Marcus. “Well, that’s just wonderful news,” she said, but her voice wasn’t laced with the kind of enthusiasm Marcus had expected. Her subdued reaction left him curious at a time when he was trying to hold on to some sort of hope.
28
When the trial began the next morning, Marcus was feeling good about the way he planned for things to go that day. He got a break the day before when his last minute addition of Harrison Fuller sent the prosecution scrabbling and caused them to ask that the proceeding’s reconvene in the morning.
His first order of business was to try and contain the damage done by Wade’s testimony. Marcus assumed at some point Paxson would have to recall Detective Silver to the stand to establish the evidence or at least the chain of events that led him to arrest Panthea. That would give him the opportunity to not only support what he wanted to do on the stand with Wade, but to used Detective Silver’s professional opinion to get Pascal Larrieux and Scott Daniels to testify about their involvement with Abril Arrington.
Once Wade Long was recalled to the witness stand and reminded that he was still under oath, Marcus approached him. “Good morning, Mr. Long.”
“Good morning,” Wade said.