Body of Evidence (Marcus Douglas 2)

“No, she came in after eleven.”

“Did you ask her where she’d been?”

“She said she was at a friend’s house,” Scott told Paxson.

“Was this usual for Mrs. Daniels to be out that late visiting with friends?”

“No, she’s usually at home at night.”

“What type of car does Mrs. Daniels drive?”

“Black Mercedes Benz.”

Paxson approached the judge holding a piece of paper. “Your honor this is a valid motor vehicle registration in the name of Panthea L. Daniels for a 2006 Mercedes Benz CLK500 Coupe. I’d like to have it entered into evidence.”

“So ordered.”

“Thank you, your honor. Mr. Daniels, when did you find out for sure that Mrs. Daniels knew about your affair with Abril Arrington?”

“When we got home the day she got out of jail.”

“How was that exactly, Mr. Daniels?”

“She told me that she hired a private investigator to follow me. She had pictures of me and Abril.”

“Did you ask her how she had known about the two of you?”

“She said she hired him on Monday and got the pictures of us on Tuesday afternoon.”

“Tuesday, that was the night of the murder, and it is days later, Mrs. Daniels knew about the affair since Tuesday. Why did she wait so long to confront you about it?”

“I don’t know,” Scott said.

“That will be all. Your witness, Mr. Douglas.”

“What do you do for a living, Mr. Daniels?” Marcus asked while still seated at the table. He couldn’t wait to tear into Scott.

“I’m a real estate developer.”

“Does your business generally require you to use large amounts of cash?”

“Not generally, but at times it does.”

Marcus got up and approached Scott in the witness box. He handed him a piece of paper. “Do you recognize this document, Mr. Daniels?”

“Yes, it’s a copy of my bank statement,” Scott replied.

“Would you read the highlighted items and tell the court what they represent?”

While Scott stared at the document that Marcus had just handed him, Marcus went and stood in front of the jury. Scott looked up and took a deep breath. “One item is twenty-five thousand and the other is for ten thousand and one for five thousand.”

“And what do those numbers represent?” Marcus asked and returned to the jury box. He took the paper back from Scott and waited for Paxson to object to his line of questioning, which was clearly in violation of the judge’s order.

“Withdrawals of cash from the account,” Scott said reluctantly.

“What was the money used for, Mr. Daniels?”

“Business.”