Mercy. David Kessler

Alex knew that he would make no more progress on this point. Not with Jonathan at any rate.

      ‘You know,’ Jonathan said, ‘he used to bully her in high school.’

      Alex surveyed Jonathan’s face for signs of emotion. There was none.

      ‘Verbally or physically?’

      ‘Mostly verbally. Like, he used to make fun of her name.’

      ‘Dorothy?’

      ‘Our name. He used to call her “Al Jolson”—like that was funny.’

      ‘I knew there was some animosity between them,’ Alex acknowledged. ‘I kind of figured that bullying might have something to do with it. Either that or unrequited love.’

      ‘Unrequited love?’ Jonathan scowled and his tone was a sneer. ‘On whose part?’

      ‘Either. It was just speculation.’

      ‘Well you can take my word for it, there wasn’t.’

      ‘I take your word for it. But tell me this. If he bullied her, that wouldn’t necessarily lead to him killing her, would it? I mean, making fun of someone’s name isn’t exactly heavy-duty bullying. And murder is quite extreme for a high school bully.’

      ‘True.’

      ‘On the other hand, all that bullying might have given her a motive to want to see him suffer.’

      Jonathan scowled again.

      ‘What are you saying? That she faked her own death and framed him?’

      Alex hesitated. He chose his next words carefully.

      ‘You’re the second person who’s raised that possibility today.’

      Jonathan got up and reached for his jacket.

      ‘Well before you get carried away with the idea, let me tell you that he had a motive to hate her too.’

      ‘And what’s that?’

      Jonathan was putting on his jacket as he replied.

      ‘She got him canned over the bullying.’

      ‘That doesn’t sound like much of a motive for a jock who was probably just coasting in class in the first place.’

      ‘Oh it was enough of a motive for a sleazeball like Burrow. He liked to win, don’t forget. And getting kicked out of the school made him a loser. It gave Dorothy the last laugh. You can imagine how someone like Clayton Burrow would have taken that.’

      And with these words, Jonathan angrily left Sedaka’s office.

      Alex wasn’t surprised by what Jonathan had told him just now. But it had huge implications for the case. One of the things that had given Alex doubt over Burrow’s guilt was the absence of specific motive. Not that you needed motive to find a man guilty. But a weak motive or no motive is a point in favor of the defense. And it was the weakness of the motive that had given Alex a sense of hope until now.