“We’ll just have to do them both,” Jeff recalled Jessica telling him a few nights earlier as this contingency arose during a conversation.

“Okay,” Jeff said over the phone that morning, “that’s a complication.”

They didn’t discuss it on the telephone specifically, Jeff said later, but there was an agreement clearly implicit between the two of them: Terra Bates was not going to stand in the way of their plans.

“We’re going to have to kill her, too,” Jeff explained later, going back to that telephone conversation, describing what he was thinking after getting the news Terra was there, too. “I guess it was just assumed. It wasn’t mentioned. I don’t recall it being mentioned. . . . Basically, if you’re going to do one, you’ve got to do the other one if they’re there together.”

Collateral damage.

Most interesting, there was never a moment after their murder strategy had been outlined where Jessica or Jeff backed down and considered abandoning the plan. It would have to be adjusted. Certainly. Any good plan would be. But they were going through with what was now double murder, come hell or high water, and no one was going to stand in their way.

For Jeff, the only deal breaker, he admitted later, was if Alan’s parents showed up with him. Jeff said he would have never gone through with it if that had happened.

“I don’t know what Jessica would have done.”

During a lunch break, at 12:06 P.M., Frank Head and David Dorn took off together to eat and talk things through. They went right around the corner to a local place. Tony’s Terrific Hot Dogs. It was a familiar hot spot that Alan and Terra had actually eaten at routinely when they worked at the nearby Alabama Theatre.

As the group began to separate for lunch, Alan told Head, “I’m going to get Terra”—she was in the office waiting room—“and go get some lunch.”

“Be back by one,” Head said.

Alan smiled.

Jessica ate alone upstairs in Dorn’s office. There was a long conference table where the depositions were held. Jessica sat and began eating her lunch there.

Kelly McCloskey, the court reporter Dorn had hired to type the deposition, planned on using the lunch break to get a jump on proofing the record. “Can I work on these transcripts over lunch, Mr. Dorn?” McCloskey asked the attorney before he left.

“Sure.”

As McCloskey went through her work, Jessica stepped out to go to the restroom. She looked calm. Confident. Like things were going her way.

When Jessica returned, McCloskey was on the phone with her firm, finding out what her next assignment was. There were some conflicts, McCloskey said later in court, and she was in contact with her office to try to work things out.

Jessica looked on, watching McCloskey talk on the phone, waiting for the opportunity to say something. It was obvious Jessica wanted to talk. McCloskey had work to do, however. She didn’t have time for idle conversation.

“My husband’s a police officer in Pelham,” Jessica said after McCloskey hung up with her boss.

“Really?”

“He’s been a cop for some time. . . . We live in Hoover.”

Jessica carried on. Did not stop talking. McCloskey was getting a bit impatient with her, when, McCloskey said later, “Jessica just blurted it out.”

“It wouldn’t take much for [my husband] to shoot somebody,” Jessica explained to the court reporter.

How strange it was for Jessica to say such a thing. McCloskey was startled by this, adding later, “And I just automatically took it to be justifiable homicide that she was speaking of.”

McCloskey didn’t answer. She gave Jessica a quick roll-your-eyes stare, then continued with her work.

Jessica, though, did not stop. “I don’t understand why Alan is fighting so hard for [Samantha, the oldest daughter]—she’s not even his child. But, of course, he doesn’t actually know that yet.” There was a sarcastic tone to her voice. She was making fun of Alan, even though he wasn’t around. To a stranger, no less.

Jessica then talked about how Alan used to hit her when they were married.

“She did mention an incident where he had her arrested, and said that he had—she had attempted to hit him or assault him in some way,” but that it was actually Alan who had hit her.

McCloskey wanted off the subject of Jessica and Alan’s life. She was a court reporter, not a therapist.

It was 1:00 P.M.

Finally lunch was over.

47

During his side of the deposition, Alan discussed a day when he believed Jessica was hiding the children at her sister’s house in Florida. David Dorn was disturbed by this—that Alan could make such an allegation without any proof. There were other things said throughout the day, but the case would be in a judge’s hands in a matter of weeks.

Alan felt confident as he and Terra got ready to leave Dorn’s office. Things had gone well. When it came down to it, Jessica was not a good liar. It was so clear that she was making things up, it was almost embarrassing to have to sit and listen. But there it was: all out in the open now.

It was a little after 3:00 P.M. as everyone met in Dorn’s office. Alan mentioned that since they had finished so early, would it be possible for him and Terra to pick up the girls sooner? It would be nice to get a jump on traffic and get out of Birmingham before five o’clock.

Jessica snapped: “No! Won’t work. The girls have some things going on after school, extracurricular activities, and won’t be home.”

So it was back to the original agreement. Alan said he’d be at the Myrtlewood Drive house at 6:00 P.M. sharp. He wanted the kids ready to go.

Frank Head asked Alan if he was all set.

Alan said he was.

They agreed to talk the following week.

Jessica stayed with David Dorn as everyone left. Kelly McCloskey packed her things. She heard an exchange between Dorn and Jessica. Dorn was sitting down, going through some paperwork. Jessica had a “bragging” tone to her voice, as though she had gotten one over on Alan. “That time,” Jessica told Dorn, “when Alan was looking for the girls at my sister’s . . . [we] all knew where the kids were.” She laughed. The reference was to a particular portion of the deposition that had visibly angered Alan. Alan was certain Jessica had been lying to him—and here was Jessica now laughing about it, saying he was right. “My sister had instructions from me,” she continued, “to tell Alan the girls weren’t there.”

“What?” Dorn said. He stopped what he was doing. Stood. He was upset. “Perturbed” was how Kelley McCloskey later put it.

“I cannot believe my client would do something like that,” Dorn reportedly said to Jessica. “You were in contempt of court. You should have never done that.”

“Boastfully” was the word Dorn later used to describe Jessica’s demeanor during this same scene. She was ecstatic over the fact that she had lied to Alan and had easily gotten away with it.

Jessica didn’t react to Dorn’s frustration. She just stood there.

“You mean you and your family,” Dorn said, disgusted, “did not have the common decency to let this man see his children?”

Jessica walked in the door at 4:30 P.M.

Jeff was waiting.

They had ninety minutes to get things prepared for Alan and Terra, who were grabbing a quick bite to eat downtown.

The problem was getting Alan and Terra into the backyard so they would walk in the back door. That was key to the plan going off without a hitch.

“The den,” Jeff explained, “here in the den.”

It was the perfect murder room. There was a couch. Jessica could offer them a seat. Jeff could walk up and take several quick pops. It would be over.

The room was adjacent to the garage. “Back of the house,” Jeff said later, explaining how he and Jessica went about preparing the house for the murders. “It’s the standard entrance. Trees, shrubs, whatever—behind the house. No windows facing either of the neighbors or facing the street.”