Zombie Rules | Book 8 | Who The Hell Is That? Achord, David (most popular novels of all time .txt) 📖

After a minute or so, he got out of the van and waved. That’s when we saw a woman come out. She must have been hiding nearby. She came out and stood guard while the man unhooked the trailer. She then went and got a pickup truck and brought it back. That man then hitched up the trailer to the truck. He got in the van and drove off. The woman followed him in the truck. A few minutes later, we saw a bunch of smoke.”

“What did you two do then?”

“We hightailed it out of there,” Tory exclaimed. “We were scared we’d be next if they saw us.”

“Alright, the big question, Mister Freitag. Did you recognize the man and woman?”

“Oh yeah. It was Zach Gunderson and his woman, Kelly. No doubt about it.”

There was a collective gasp in the audience. Connie faced Seth.

“No further questions, your honor.”

“Cross examination, Mister Duckworth?” Seth asked. Bob stood and fixed Tory with a hard stare.

“Let me make sure I understood your testimony, Mister Freitag. You are asserting that you and your brother Trey observed Zachariah Gunderson murder President-elect Rochelle VanAllen and her staff?”

“Well, I don’t know the names of them other three women, but yeah, that’s what we seen.”

“And your testimony is you personally observed Mister Gunderson shoot each woman with a handgun?”

“Two handguns,” Tory said. “They were nine-millimeters. They looked like Glocks, and they were definitely nines.”

“How far away were you when this allegedly happened?” Bob asked.

“Oh, about thirty or forty feet. Close enough to see everything,” Tory replied.

“Is there any possibility you may be mistaken?” Bob asked.

“Nope, none at all.” He turned to the jury. “I know what I saw and I ain’t lying.”

“Did Mister Gunderson use any other weapons, like an assault rifle?” Bob asked.

Tory smirked. “Nope. All he had was them two nine-millimeter automatics.”

Bob paused only a moment. He hoped he wasn’t the only one who suspected Tory’s testimony had been coached. “Do you know what I think, Mister Freitag? I think you are a liar.”

Connie jumped to his feet. “Objection!”

“Sustained,” Seth said. “Senator, please refrain from doing that.”

Bob gave a curt nod. “I apologize to the court, but I stand by my statement. I have no further questions for this so-called witness.”

Connie declined re-direct and waited until Tory had stepped down from the witness’ chair before speaking. “That is the state’s case-in-chief, your honor.”

“Very good, sir,” Seth said and glanced at the clock on the wall.

“This is a good stopping point. We will recess for lunch and reconvene in one hour.”

He banged his gavel. The jury was escorted out first before the rest filed out of the courtroom. Precisely an hour later, Seth was back on the bench and called court to order.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the prosecution has concluded their case. The defense will now present their case,” Seth declared. “Senator Duckworth, you may call your first witness.”

“Yes, your honor, I would like to recall Detective Liam O’Malley to the stand.”

Liam stood, stretched, and walked directly to the witness chair. Seth reminded him that he was still under oath, to which Liam acknowledged. Bob started as soon as Liam was seated.

“Detective O’Malley, were you or your brother ever made aware of these two alleged eyewitnesses?”

“No, sir, we were not.”

“So, you never interviewed either one of them or checked out their story?”

“No, sir,” Liam said.

“I assume you listened attentively to his testimony?” Bob asked.

“Yes, sir, I certainly did,” Liam answered. “Let me go ahead and answer the question you are about to ask. He’s lying, and the reason I’m calling him a liar is the physical evidence contradicts his allegations in several ways.”

“Oh? Please explain,” Bob said.

“There are a couple of facts we omitted during our briefings. One of those facts is, there were no bullet holes in the van. The shooter or shooters did not spray the van with bullets, like this Mister Freitag described. No sir, they were well placed shots. Also, President-elect Rochelle VanAllen was not shot to death.”

Liam was not surprised when there was another collective gasp in the audience, followed by a lot of murmuring. He locked eyes with Tory, who was trying to give him an eat shit and die stare. Liam was nonplussed.

“Is that so, Detective?” Bob asked.

“Yep.”

“Alright, I’ll bite, how did she die, Detective?” Bob asked.

“Her throat had been cut. There were no gunshot wounds, and she was definitely dead before the van was set on fire. Also, Zelida Lillard had been stabbed to death.”

The courtroom came alive. Seth waited several seconds before banging his gavel and silencing the court spectators.

“No further questions at this time,” Bob said.

“Cross-examination?” Seth asked Connie.

Connie stood and fixed Liam with an incredulous stare.

“So, you admit to withholding pertinent evidence of the murder of the president, correct, Detective?”

“My brother and I withheld such evidence from people that would not hesitate to compromise the integrity of the investigation, yes. Yes, we did.”

There were a few chuckles in the audience. Connie frowned.

“You are admitting to committing an illegal act.”

“No, sir, I am not. My brother and I found it prudent to withhold certain aspects of our investigation in order to prevent certain people from using it to frame a presumably innocent man. Due process was thrown out the window the moment this farce of a trial commenced. I used to respect you, Senator, but it is obvious you are one of those who believe the Constitution only applies when it benefits you. This trial has denied Zach Gunderson of any due process. You should be ashamed to be a part of it.”

There were some strong murmurs of agreement in the audience now. Connie noticed, but he acted as if he did not.

“So, you have acknowledged you withheld evidence, and you have made a couple of claims that contradicts the sworn testimony of an eyewitness. There are actually two eyewitnesses, and yet you smugly claim they are lying. Is your character so much stronger than the witness that the jury should believe you over him or his