Helen gave her a swift fist pump and cleared her throat. “Let the record reflect that the witness has identified the defendant.”
For several seconds, there was silence in the office. Finally, Helen cleared her throat. “You know what’s coming on cross?”
Mandy nodded.
“You were drunk on the night of October 2, 2014, isn’t that correct?”
“Yes, I was.”
“And you admittedly don’t remember everything that happened that evening, correct?”
“That’s correct, but I do remember being raped. I’ll never forget that as long as I live.”
Helen flashed a thumbs-up sign and continued. “Now, Ms. Burks, you didn’t report what happened to you for over a month, isn’t that correct?” Helen mimicked Lou’s southern drawl.
“Yes, sir,” Mandy said. “I wish I had come forward sooner, but I was embarrassed and scared.”
“You were so embarrassed and scared that you waited thirty-six days from October 2, 2014, the night of the alleged rape, to November 7, 2014, to tell anyone about it.”
Mandy set her jaw and looked straight ahead where the jury would be sitting. “I wasn’t sure anyone would believe me and, yes . . . I was terrified. But, eventually, I realized that I didn’t want Mr. Zannick to do what he did to me to anyone else.”
Helen leaned back in her chair and extended both of her hands toward Mandy in a double thumbs-up gesture. “Great job. You may not get a sarcastic question like that at the end, but Lou is known for taking things too far. If he does, you shove that answer straight up his butt.”
Mandy managed a tentative smile. “Yes, ma’am.” Then, smiling, she added, “Thank you.”
Helen returned the smile and walked around the desk. She squatted and grabbed both of Mandy’s hands in her own. “Are you ready to put Michael Zannick where he belongs?”
“Yes, ma’am, I am.”
5
In the reception area of the district attorney general’s office, Helen exchanged hugs with Mandy and Lona and advised them both to get something to eat. “Two hours till go time,” she said. “I need you both to be strong and alert.”
“Will do,” Lona said, escorting her daughter out of the office. As they were walking out the door, Gloria Sanchez brushed past them. She looked at Helen as she placed several file folders on her desk. “I’ve talked to Jason Lightfoot and the high school, and he can be here to testify with thirty minutes’ notice.”
“How do you feel about him?” Helen asked, not hiding the challenge in her voice.
“For what he brings to the case, I think he’ll be fine. He corroborates Mandy’s story up to him leaving to take the ATV out before sundown. When he returned, he’ll say that he found her in the house, hugging her knees by the fireplace. When she saw him, she begged him to leave, and her eyes were red as if she’d been crying.”
“How will he hold up on cross?”
Gloria sighed. “He’ll admit he had been drinking, and so had Mandy. He obviously didn’t see the rape, and Mandy never mentioned it to him, despite him asking her all the way home what was bothering her.”
Helen rubbed the back of her neck, thinking about Mandy’s reputation at Giles County High. She knew that Lou was right about one thing. Pulaski was a small town, and Mandy’s exploits would precede her into court regardless of whether the jury was shown any evidence of it. “What does Lightfoot say about the blow job in the locker room mess?”
Gloria peered up at the ceiling. “He’s never heard anything about that.”
“And you think he’s lying.”
Gloria met her gaze. “I know he is.”
“And why’s that?”
“Because half the students I’ve talked to had heard that rumor. Mandy supposedly gave head to one of the Fitzgerald twins before the first home JV basketball game.”
“The rumor started with the Sartain kid?”
Gloria nodded. “Joey Sartain. He’s a freshman guard on the team who’d arrived early to the game to get some extra shooting in and saw Mandy blowing Doug Fitzgerald in the locker room. He took a picture on his phone and sent it to several of his friends on Snapchat.”
“He didn’t see any money exchange hands, though, right?”
“Correct. We’re still not sure where that part of the story originated. Probably an embellishment as no one I’ve spoken to corroborates that detail.”
“The Snapchat photograph disappeared after his friends opened it, right?”
“Yes, that’s the way it works and why the kids like Snapchat so much.”
Helen again worked the facts through in her mind. She was aware of all of this type of information already and knew that none of it would come into evidence. “You’ve seen the picture, right?”
Gloria nodded. “The school investigated the incident after a parent of one of Sartain’s friends reported it. The school’s IT person captured the photograph.”
“All the image shows is Doug Fitzgerald’s pleasure-soaked face and the back of the girl’s head,” Helen said.
“True.”
“There’s no way you can definitively identify Mandy from it.”
“True again.”
“But you think it’s her.”
Gloria cocked her head at Helen. “Don’t you?”
Helen didn’t answer the question, instead firing off another of her own. “The JV basketball game was about a month after the rape.”
“Correct. The game was on November 3, 2014, and the rape happened on October 2.” She paused and swatted a stray string of hair out of her eyes. “If it’s true, General, and I believe that it is, why would Mandy Burks be engaging in oral sex in a public place so soon after such a traumatic experience?”
Helen glared at her young assistant and stepped toward her. “Rape affects women in different ways, Gloria. You’d be wise to not make any callous assumptions.”
Gloria held her ground. “Just pointing out the potential prejudice. A reasonable person on the jury who’s aware of this rumor might ask the same thing. He or she could also ask why Mandy waited until November 7 to report the rape, which was thirty-six days after the crime but only four days after the tryst with Fitzgerald at the ball game.”
Helen cringed, knowing that Gloria was right. She decided to switch gears. “Why did Mandy and Lightfoot break up?”
“Mandy broke things off a week after the rape. Said she liked him but that they didn’t have anything in common.”
Helen gazed down at the hardwood floor and bit her lip. “Let’s go back to the night of the rape. As far as we know, Zannick has no alibi for where he was when Mandy was in the house.”
“None. It’s a straight-up he-said-she-said.”
For a moment, there was silence in the small space as the two women eyed each other. “Good work,” Helen finally said.
“Thank you. General, can I ask you something?”
“Shoot.”
Gloria darted her eyes at Trish, who looked down at her desk when Helen’s gaze landed on her.
“Have you thought about pleading Zannick out to distribution of alcohol to minors and dropping the rape charges?”