The Pal List

Chapter 33

Monday, February 4th

Reese stands from his seat next to the aisle. He takes eight steps to get to the stand, where he swears to tell the truth about what he saw. What the hell did he see?

My mom stands in the front of the courtroom, but not blocking Reese or Judge Barry from anyone's view. "Mr. Asner, you were at 4th street bar on the night of July 20th, 2017, is that correct?"

"Yes, that is correct," Reese says.

I study Reese as he sits on the stand. He looks nothing like the school bully that Ben punched or the kid that sat in the bakery making googly eyes at Kaisey. He seems normal, important.

"Were you in the bar, Mr. Asner?"

Reese shakes his head slightly. "No. I was sitting outside in my car."

"What were you doing there?"

"I was picking up my dad and my step-mom. They had been drinking and didn't want to drive home."

"And what did you see, Mr. Asner?"

"I saw Mr. Crawford. He came out of the door of the bar. He was alone and stumbling towards his car. Then I saw him start the car and drive away," Reese says, then he takes a deep breath.

My mom nods. "And what time would you say that was, Reese?"

"It was about 10:30."

"And how do you know that?"

"Because I texted my dad at 10:29 saying that I was there to pick them up, and that was about a minute before I saw Mr. Crawford."

"Ladies and gentlemen, I present before you a screenshot of the text message from Reese to his father, at 10:29 p.m. on July 20th, 2017, saying that Reese was there to pick him up."

I'm almost as surprised to see Reese on the stand as I am to learn that he hasn't deleted any text messages in the last two years. It's a good thing he hasn't needed to free up space on his phone.

The jury studies the screenshot of the text message, and my mom continues.

"What kind of car did Mr. Crawford get into that night, Reese?"

"I'm not exactly sure what type of car it was, but it was an old blue pickup truck."

"And you witnessed him drive away in that old blue pickup truck around 10:30, correct?"

"Yes."

"Are you absolutely sure that it was Mr. Crawford that you saw?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"How do you know?"

"I grew up with Mr. Crawford's son, Jude. I used to see him picking up Jude after school and am familiar with the way that he looks. I know that it was him."

"Okay. Thank you for your time, Reese."

It looks like the defense doesn't have any questions for Reese at the time, so Judge Barry dismisses him from the stand.

Next, a forensic investigator is called to the stand to talk about the evidence that was found on the scene. He talks about the paint that was left on the car, and DNA that was left on the scene. He used words such as "buccal sample" and "soft tissue decomposition," things that I don't totally understand but my mom obviously has a tight grasp on.

After the forensic investigator, a pleasantly chipper man, was dismissed from the stand, my mom calls Jude to testify. He rises from his seat, walks to the stand, swears to tell the truth, and sits back down.