An interview with Michelle Theer: 'Night falls–and death beckons'
Q. Harbin said he would invite the men.
A. Yeah. . .
Q. Is it true, as the police have alleged, that you told Diamond about this Sunday-night dinner at your lunch at Zorba's?
A. No. Well, if I did, it was inadvertent. I never, as a rule, I never talked to John about anything that Marty and I did together. It was, like, a taboo subject. . . John [said] that he knew I was going. Whether he saw that in my calendar because in my calendar it says, my Day-Timer, it says, something like, Christmas party, whatever time, I don't know. Whether he overheard, whether I got a phone call and he overheard me say something–
Q. Well, the cops say you schemed with him?
A. Well, of course they are going to say that.
Q. You are saying you didn't tell him you were going out on Sunday night.
A. I don't recall telling him that. . . John did tell the police that he knew I was going to Raleigh for a Christmas party that night. . . .
Q. You had a good time at the Fox and Hound. You went into the bathroom and called Diamond's cellphone as the party was leaving the restaurant that Sunday night to go back to Fayetteville?
A. Here's what really happened. They [the police] asked me if I had talked to John on Sunday. And I said, yes, that I had talked to him a couple of times. They asked me what time. I said I don't really know what time I talked to him. I talked to him a couple times from the house. And I wasn't sure what time it was, but that I knew it was before–I think I said 4 o'clock–because I knew that we had left the house at, like, 4 o'clock. . . . They said, let's go over everything that happened on Sunday. What time did you wake up? What did you do then? So, we are going through Sunday... I tell them that Pep Boys called [her] in the car, and we got to the restaurant. . . [Marty, Michelle, Heidi, and Dominique Peterson arrived at the restaurant before Harbin and his wife and were seated]. . . I got up, and I went into the bathroom, and as I'm going into the bathroom, I'm thinking about this phone call I got from Pep Boys maybe 15 minutes earlier, and about, God, you know, my car's not going to be ready, I can't go pick up my car tonight. Tomorrow morning, Marty's got to get up in the morning and leave at 4 a.m. because he's got a flight, first thing. And now he is going to be gone at 4 a.m., it's not going to be done until noon, I'm not going to have a car, how am I going to get to work? I am thinking about this. . . as I get up, and I am walking to the bathroom, and as I am standing in front of the mirror putting on my lipstick, and even as I'm doing this, I'm thinking I could call John and he could pick me up and take me to work. And even as I'm saying, God, no, I don't want to ask him for anything. . . I'm wondering if I should call. No, I'm not going to call. Yeah, OK, I'm going to call. So I pull up my [phone], and I dial his number and I call. Now, I don't know what time this is, but it's gotta be. . . like 6, 6:15. But that's when I made the phone call, or I should say I tried to make the phone call because I dialed his number and I think, you know, normally his phone rings like four times and then it goes to voice. So, I dial his phone number, and it rings three solid rings. Even as it is ringing, I'm still debating–oh, I shouldn't be asking him for a favor. So, it rings three times, and I hang up because I am not going to leave a voice mail because if I leave a voice mail, he's going to call me back. Do I want John calling me back when I'm sitting at the table in a restaurant with Marty? No, I don't want to do that. . . . So, anyway, that's what I told [Detective Ralph] Clinkscales that, oh, yeah, that's when I tried to call John, but I didn't talk to him.
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