Martin sat down at the prosecutors table, and I stood. Martins argument had been passionate and persuasive, but parts of it were dishonest, and I intended to point that out immediately. I walked to the wooden lectern, picked it up, and set it down three feet to my right. I didnt want any barriers between the jurors and me. I glanced at the jurors and then out over the courtroom. Junior Tester had come in and was sitting on the front row, directly to my left.

I noticed that hed put on at least twenty pounds since Id visited him last month. He hadnt shaved in days and looked tired and haggard. He was also staring directly at me. It unnerved me, but only for a few seconds.

"Not much point in having a trial," I said, "if you believe everything Mr. Martin just said." I smiled at the jury. "If everything he said were true, I suppose we could just go ahead and ship Miss Christian off to death row right now and save everybody all of this trouble."

I sought out eyes, looking for signs that Martins argument had closed their minds. They werent avoiding me. They were still receptive to what I had to say.

"But what Mr. Martin just told you isnt true. It was his interpretation of the evidence, and as every one of you knows, there are two sides to every story.

Now, first things first. This young ladys name is not the defendant. "

I walked over to the defense table and stood directly behind Angel. I put my hands on her shoulders.

"Her name is Angel Christian, and shes going to testify in this case. What she will tell you is this: "On the night of April the eleventh of this year, Reverend John Paul Tester came into the club where shed been a waitress for only a month. Its a strip club, a gentlemans club, whatever you want to call it. Its a place where men go to watch young ladies dance and take their clothes off. Its not the kind of place where youd expect to find a man of God, especially if hes paying for his night out with money given to him by worshippers at the Church of the Light of Jesus, where hed preached a sermon on the evils of fornication less than an hour before he arrived at the club.

"Miss Christian wasnt a dancer, not a stripper, and she certainly wasnt a prostitute. She was a waitress. She arrived here in February after leaving a viciously abusive situation back home in Oklahoma.

She originally intended to go to Florida, but she met a young lady on a bus in Dallas who told her shed help Miss Christian find work here.

"Miss Christian will tell you that on the night of April the eleventh, she served Reverend Tester the drinks he ordered"six doubles, straight scotch, the equivalent of twelve drinks, in two hours. Shell tell you Reverend Tester became intoxicated and that he was aggressive, even a little abusive, towards her.

Shell tell you Reverend Tester used inappropriate language and that Reverend Tester touched her inappropriately. She reported Reverend Testers behavior to her employer, Ms. Erlene Barlowe, who will also testify in this case.

"Ms. Barlowe spoke to Reverend Tester and eventually asked the reverend to leave. Miss Christian had never seen or heard of Reverend Tester prior to his coming to the club that night, and she never saw him again after he walked out the door."

I moved back towards the jury box and stood directly in front of them.

"Now, despite what Mr. Martin said earlier, you wont hear a single witness tell you they saw Miss Christian anywhere near Reverend Testers room that night. You wont hear a single witness tell you they saw Miss Christian leave the club at the same time Reverend Tester left. As a matter of fact, Miss Christians employer, Erlene Barlowe, will testify that Miss Christian finished out her shift and Ms. Barlowe drove her home.

"Youll hear evidence that two hairs found on the victims body contained DNA that matches Miss Christians DNA. That is, by far, the most compelling piece of evidence the state will present in this case.

I believe its safe to say that were it not for those two hairs, we wouldnt be here today. But what Ill be asking you to pay particular attention to is where those hairs were found. Both of them were lifted off of Reverend Testers shirt. Since there will be testimony that Miss Christian had contact with Mr. Tester at the club, that she leaned over and served him drinks and that he deliberately and obnoxiously rubbed himself against her, its not only possible but probable that the hairs were transferred from Miss Christian to Reverend Tester at the club.

"That, ladies and gentlemen, is all they have, with the exception of a last-minute statement from a drug addict and thief they recruited at the jail. Shes my sister, yes, and shes furious with me because I had her arrested when she stole from my family. It wasnt the first time shed done it."

Martin stood to object. Judge Green waved him back down.

"Tone it down, Mr. Dillard," the judge said.

"They have no murder weapon. They have no eyewitnesses. They have no fingerprints, no blood evidence, and no way to place Miss Christian at the scene of the crime. They say the motive is robbery, but they didnt find any of Reverend Testers money on Miss Christian. They have no evidence to prove it.

"In this case, the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Miss Christian, acting with premeditation, stabbed the victim to death and then mutilated his body. In order for you to convict Miss Christian, you must have virtually no doubt that she committed this terrible crime. And beyond that, the judge will instruct you that in a case based on circumstantial evidence such as this one, you can only find Miss Christian guilty if there is no other reasonable theory of guilt. There are dozens of other reasonable theories as to how Reverend Tester was killed.

"When all the evidence is in, you folks will have more than a reasonable doubt. As a matter of fact, youll probably be wondering why this young lady was arrested in the first place. Angel Christian has been living a nightmare since the day the state wrongfully accused her of murder. Its a nightmare only you can end. She is not guilty. She did not do this terrible thing."

I paused and looked at each of the jurors. I wanted the message to sink in.

"Everyone associated with this trial is doing their duty," I said. "The judge, the lawyers, the witnesses, everyone. Your duty is to determine the truth, and after youve done that, to vote your conscience. In this case, the only verdict youll be able to return is not guilty. This is a death penalty case. A man has been killed, and someone should pay for killing him.

But none of us wants an innocent person to pay, and that beautiful young woman sitting over there is innocent."

July 24 2:15 p.m.

"Call your first witness," Judge Green said.

Martin called Dennis Hall, the manager of the Budget Inn, to the witness stand. Hall told the jury that Reverend Tester had checked in late in the afternoon of April 11th, said he was there to preach at a revival at a friends church, and asked him where he could get a good burger. An hour after checkout time the next day, one of his maids told him Testers "Do Not Disturb" sign was still on the door. Hall went to the room, opened the door, saw all of the blood, and called the police.

When Martin was finished with his direct examination, I stood and straightened my tie.

"Mr. Hall, did you see Reverend Tester return to the motel at any time after he left for the restaurant you recommended"the Purple Pig, I believe it was?"

"No, sir. I got off work at seven and went home."

I touched Angels shoulder. "Have you ever seen this young lady before?"

"No. I would have remembered her."

"Thank you."

"You can step down," Judge Green said. "Next witness."

Martin called Sheila Hunt, the clerk who was working at the Budget Inn the night of the murder.

She said she saw Testers truck pull into the parking lot around midnight, followed by a red Corvette. She said a woman got out of the Corvette and followed Tester up the stairs. Martin didnt bother to ask her whether she could identify the woman.

"Ms. Hunt," I said when it was my turn, "it was raining when you saw Reverend Tester return to the motel, wasnt it?"

"Yes, it was."

"Raining pretty hard?"

"Yes."

"And that made it difficult for you to see, didnt it?"

"Yes. The rain, and I wasnt paying that much attention. I was watching Jay Leno."

"And didnt you tell the police that the person you saw was wearing some kind of coat or cape?"

"It had a little hood. I remember thinking she looked like Little Red Riding Hood, except I dont think it was red."

"So you cant identify the person, can you?"

"No, Im sorry."

"Theres nothing to be sorry about, maam. You cant tell us whether this person was old or young, can you?"

"No."

"Tall or short? Heavy or slim?"

"No."

"Cant tell us whether this person was black or white or brown or yellow or red?"

"I dont think she was black," she said. "But thats about all I can say."

"You cant really even say with certainty that it was a woman, can you?"

"I think it was."

"But youre not certain, are you?"

"I dont know. I think it was a woman."

"You think it was a woman. A young lady is on trial for her life here, maam. You need to be certain.

Youre not, are you?"

"It was dark and raining."

"Thank you. Lets talk about the car for a second.

You werent able to get a tag number, were you?"

"I didnt try."

"Because there wasnt anything that alarmed you, right?"

"Thats right. I wasnt alarmed."

"People come and go at the motel all the time, yes?"

"Yes."

"You didnt see the driver, did you?"

"No."

"Dont know if it was a man or a woman?"

"I didnt see the driver at all."

"Didnt see where the car went after the passenger got out?"

"I just glanced over there for a second. Then I went back to watching my show."

"Didnt see the car leave or return?"

"I told you, I went back to my show."

"Thank you."

Martin looked as confident as ever, but he had to be at least a little worried. His case wasnt exactly off to a flying start. His first witness had found a body and called the police. His second witness testified that she didnt see a damned thing.

I glanced over to my left and saw Deacon Baker and Phil Landers moving towards the prosecution table.

"Call your next witness," Judge Green said.

"May I have a moment to confer with Mr. Martin?" Baker said.

"Make it snappy," the judge said.

Baker leaned over and whispered something in Martins ear. Martin nodded and whispered back.

The two of them turned towards the judge.

"May we approach, Your Honor?" Baker said.

Green motioned them forward, and I got up and joined them.

"We need to speak to you in chambers," Baker said.

"Were in the middle of a murder trial, in case you havent noticed," Judge Green said.

"I apologize," Baker said, "but something extremely important has come up. It has a direct bearing on this case."

Judge Green agreed to a fifteen-minute recess, and the judge, Baker, Landers, Martin, and I walked into his chambers. He shut the door, hung his robe on a coat tree near the window, and sat down behind his desk.

"Whats going on?" he said.

"Theres been an important development in this case," Baker said. "The TBI found a red Corvette in a barn up on Spivey Mountain this morning. The car belongs to Erlene Barlowe. Their forensics people are examining it now."

"I fail to see what that has to do with this trial."

"It may exculpate Mr. Dillards client," Baker said.

"Back when we made the arrest, we had a young lady who worked for Barlowe at the strip club who told us that Barlowe and Angel left the club at the same time as the victim in this case. She told us they left in Barlowes red Corvette, and they didnt come back to the club that night."

"I remember that," the judge said. "That and the fact that Ms. Barlowe had been untruthful were the primary reasons I signed the search warrants to search her home and her club and to allow you to get hair samples from Barlowe and the girl."

"Thats right," Baker said. "Weve also had another witness contact us since who said he saw a woman fitting Ms. Barlowes description standing beside a Corvette on Pickens Bridge a little after midnight on the night of the murder. He said she was alone. We think Ms. Barlowe was dumping the murder weapon and the reverends penis. The problem we ran into was that the car disappeared. We couldnt find it anywhere, and because we couldnt find it, we believed it probably contained evidence regarding the murder. Now weve found it, and from what I understand, there are what appear to be bloodstains on the seat."

"So now you think the Barlowe woman killed Reverend Tester?" Judge Green said.

"It makes sense, especially if we can eventually prove she killed the Hayes girl, which is what we suspect."

"You people have made a mess of this investigation," the judge said. "Are you familiar with the term clusterfuck?"