Page 106 of The Right to Remain

The witness paused and then glanced at her attorney. Jack had the distinct impression that she was trying to make sure she stated her answer exactly right—exactly as rehearsed.

“Elliott told me that he was going to get his baby back.”

There it was. The deposition’s raison d’être. Not exactly a “motive” to kill Owen Pollard, but it was at least an explanation of how things had turned deadly: a botched mission to reclaim the only child Jack’s client would ever bring into the world.

“Thank you, Ms. Carpenter. I have no further questions at this time. Mr. Swyteck, I pass the witness.”

Jack grabbed the figurative baton and moved quickly, giving the witness no time to adjust to what was coming.

“Ms. Carpenter, the two hundred fifty thousand dollars you demanded from Owen and Helena Pollard at the hospital was not the only time you demanded money from an adoptive family, was it?”

“It was the first time. But no, not the last.”

“According to court records I’ve seen, you were arrested two years later. You helped a nineteen-year-old pregnant woman arrange a private adoption and then, just after she gave birth, you demanded a hundredthousand dollars from the adoptive family to complete the adoption. You pleaded guilty to multiple felonies and are currently serving a ten-year sentence in Lowell Correctional Institute for Women, correct?”

“Yes. I regret that.”

“Do you also regret the way you extorted the Pollard family?”

Her lawyer raised her hand like a traffic cop. “Don’t answer that question, Serena. Mr. Swyteck, I have to object to your use of the wordextorted. My client has never been charged with any crime relating to the adoption of Austen Pollard.”

Jack spoke only to the witness. “And you’d like to keep it that way, wouldn’t you, Ms. Carpenter.”

“I join in the objection,” said the prosecutor.

“Let me ask it this way,” said Jack. “Ms. Carpenter, has the State of Florida promised you anything in exchange for your testimony here today?”

“No.”

“But you hope there’s something in it for you, don’t you? You’re testifying against my client in the hope that you won’t be charged for extorting the Pollard family?”

“Uh, no.”

It was a lame denial, which prompted the prosecutor to chime in. “Let the record reflect that the witness is testifying here today because she has been subpoenaed.”

“Right,” said Serena. “I’m just here telling the truth.”

“Good,” said Jack. “Then let’s get to the truth. You demanded a quarter million dollars from the Pollard family. That’s a lot of money, agreed?”

Serena shrugged. “To most people it is.”

“It’s more money than you can expect most people to come up with on the spot, right?”

“Depends on what you mean by most people.”

“I mean the Pollards. You didn’t expect Owen Pollard to go home, open the cookie jar, and scrape together that kind of money, did you?”

“No. But I knew he could get it.”

Jack was almost certain he knew what she meant, but he proceeded cautiously. “You knew Owen Pollard’s business partner was C. J. Vandermeer, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. I knew.”

“You knew Mr. Vandermeer is a very wealthy man.”

“That’s what people say.”

“Rich enough to come up with a quarter million dollars on demand.”