“Subpoena?” Olivia asked awkwardly.
“Just joking,” Connie screamed. “If there’s a poor innocent soul facing prison for that crime, then we’d be happy to tell our story if you think it’ll help your client.”
“Great,” Olivia announced.
Fuller raised a finger to silence her and Connie.
“Fuller here,” he said after pushing the button that connected yet another call.
“Well, I think I’m done here,” Olivia said, rising from her chair.
“Darling.” Connie stood, too. “You can’t leave. You’ve got to have lunch with us before you go. No one comes to Nate ’n Al’s and not eat. I mean it would be so—so—sinful,” she anguished.
Olivia reluctantly sat back down and decided that enjoying lunch with the Fuller’s before making her way back to the airport wouldn’t be a bad thing after all.
25
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When Panthea’s trial reconvened that next morning, Marcus was starting to feel optimistic. He had received the news that Fuller was willing to testify the night before. Even though he was excited, he had resisted the urge to call Panthea to share the news with her.
Marcus looked over at Panthea. She never wanted to talk about her case anyway, so they would just end up like they always did, on the phone for hours. Then one or the other would suggest they meet somewhere, which always meant at some out of the way motel.
Once the judge was seated, Paxson stood up. “The state calls Wade Long.”
Marcus leaned toward Panthea. “You have no idea why the prosecution is calling your alibi as a witness?” he whispered.
“Other than me being at his house that night, I have no clue.”
When Wade was seated in the witness box, Paxson approached him. “Mr. Long, thank you for joining us today. You’re a hard man to keep up with. What do you do for a living?”
“I’m a personal trainer,” Wade said.
“Now, you told Detective Silver that on the night in question Mrs. Daniels came to your house, is that correct?”
“That’s correct.”
“Please tell the court what time Mrs. Daniels got there?”
“Panthea—I mean, Mrs. Daniels got there about eight-thirty.”
“You sure about the time, Mr. Long?”
“Yes, sir, Mrs. Daniels got there a little after eighty-thirty,” Wade stated again.
“So Mrs. Daniels got there at eight-thirty. What time did she leave?”
“It was a little before eleven when she left.”
“You’re sure about the time?”
“Mrs. Daniels left after Law & Order SVU went off,” Wade said.
“Just so everybody knows the difference,” Paxson said and turned to the jury. “There are two Law & Order programs that came on that night. If I am not mistaken one comes on at nine, that’s criminal intent and then there’s the SVU program, it comes on at ten. Now which one were you and Mrs. Daniels watching?” he asked, turning his attention back to Wade.
“SVU.”
“So Mrs. Daniels got there at eight-thirty, and she left before eleven. Now you told the court that you’re a personal trainer. Is that correct?” Paxson asked.