Costa Crew: One More Shot

Chapter 24 - The Spell is Broken

"Your honour, I'd like to call a surprise witness," Lestrade said. McAfferty nodded for him to continue. "The city calls Lisa Kleinman."

Amelia gasped as she turned to see Lisa walking towards the witness stand. "I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth," Lisa said, voice trembling.

Richard smiled. "Miss Kleinman, you are currently under arrest for the kidnapping of Hannah Perkins, is that correct?"

Lisa nodded. "It is."

"Can you please describe the kidnapping?"

Lisa frowned, but nodded. "I had a foolproof plan for the defence of Amelia Murphy and Anthony Andrews, which involved discrediting your witnesses. But then Rebecca Hidgens said that I had knowledge of Amelia's operations, which then discredited me. So I had to force Paul Houston's hand."

"Object," Amelia hissed to her new attorney, Drew Carson, a grey-haired, bored looking man.

Carson shook his head. "They aren't breaking any rules, they're allowed to call surprise witnesses."

"The surprise witness in question happens to be my best friend and former attorney," snarled Amelia.

"I had to use one of DCI Houston's closest friends as a hostage," Lisa continued. "The first person I saw was Hannah Perkins, so I dragged her out of the courtroom, bundled her into my car and drove off, leaving my phone number where she had been sitting."

"Your own phone number?" asked Richard.

"Object now," hissed Amelia. "He's leading her."

Anthony sighed. "There's no point, they've got us. Lisa knows too much."

Amelia turned to him. "You'd better not be thinking about talking."

"Yes, my own phone," confirmed Lisa. "I didn't have time to get a burner phone as this was a snap decision."

"What do you suggest?" asked Anthony. "They've got concrete evidence and Lisa's testimony."

Richard nodded and went to a slide. "Lisa Kleinman's phone records. As you can see, on the day in question there was a call made at 4:30 to this phone. The number calling this phone is registered to Rebecca Hidgens."

Lisa nodded. "The plan was for Hidgens to call me, and I laid out my demands - that Paul Houston say he framed Amelia. I drove to a disused railway station on the outskirts of town, where I tied Hannah Perkins up. She had the chance to run, but seemed confident that I wouldn't hurt her."

"You stick to the story," Amelia whispered. "Or I can make you disappear."

"Then Rebecca Hidgens arrived, unarmed. She agreed to let me tie her up, said she wanted to talk. We talked about Amelia, about how she had manipulated us both, and I eventually stood down and let Paul Houston arrest me."

Richard moved to the next slide. "I have here a statement from Rebecca Hidgens. According to her you said 'Hannah here will die, Paul Houston will go to prison, and now I've got you. Ready for Amelia to come and finish off.' What did you mean by that?"

Amelia glared at Lisa, who took a deep breath. "Amelia Murphy tried to kill Rebecca Hidgens but failed. She fully intends to try again and succeed. I thought it would impress Amelia if I captured Hidgens for her."

Lestrade nodded to Carson. "Your witness, Mr Carson."

Carson stood up. "Thank you, Mr Lestrade. Miss Kleinman, please describe your relationship with Miss Murphy and Mr Andrews."

"Anthony Andrews is a friend from law school," said Lisa. "We kept in touch after that, especially when he started dating Amelia. I was to be Maid of Honour at their wedding. Amelia Murphy was my best friend from high school and continued to be my best friend after that, or so I thought."

"What do you mean, so you thought?" asked Carson.

"After an eye opening conversation with Rebecca Hidgens I realised that Amelia had manipulated me for her own benefit. I was willing to do anything for her - including but not limited to protecting her from justice - because I was under her spell."

Carson frowned. "So you were aware of the defendant's crimes?"

Lisa nodded. "I was."

"And yet you chose to say nothing until faced with a prison sentence."

"Because I didn't want Amelia to go to prison."

"So here you are, testifying against her. Before you were representing her, trying to show the world that Amelia Murphy is innocent. One conversation with Rebecca Hidgens and an arrest later, you're claiming that Amelia Murphy is the Godfather. It seems to me that testifying against Amelia Murphy is in your best interests."

Lisa shook her head. "Amelia told me about her criminal activity so that I would be able to properly represent her if she ever went to court. When that happened, the evidence against her and Anthony was concrete, so we devised a plan. We would use Anthony's love for Amelia to manipulate him into taking the blame. What I didn't realise was that my love for Amelia was being manipulated just as much as Anthony's. In my arrogance I believed that I was exempt from the people she used as pawns. That's why I represented her. But I was ready to commit murder for Amelia. I was close to going to prison. And I'm not going to prison for anyone. Not even the Godfather."

Carson sighed and sat. "No further questions."