"Your Honor, there is no way any reasonable person could have understood the significance of this evidence," Matthew answered angrily. "Mr.
Geddes made certain of that by scattering them among the other exhibits.
Ask him why he did that and ask him why he didn't have Officer Torino write a report about them."
"If you're implying that I did anything unethical . . ." Geddes started.
"Gentlemen," Judge Baldwin interrupted, "let's keep this civilized. Mr.
Reynolds, if Mr. Geddes gave you notice that Officer Torino was testifying and he listed the strips as exhibits, he complied with the law. However, I want you to have a fair opportunity to cross-examine on this matter, which is of obvious importance.
What do you suggest we do?"
"Your Honor, I would like to have custody of the three strips so I can have them examined by a defense expert. I have someone in mind."
"How long will you need the evidence, Mr. Reynolds?"
"I won't know until I talk to my expert. He may be able to accomplish what I want this weekend."
"I object, Your Honor," Geddes said. "We're in the middle of trial. Mr.
Reynolds had ample opportunity to examine and test the evidence."
"And I'm sure he would have if you'd given him some notice of the use to which you were putting it," Judge Baldwin said sternly. "Quite frankly, Mr. Geddes, while you're within the letter of the law on this, I don't think you're within its spirit."
"Your Honor . . ." Geddes began, but Judge Baldwin held up his hand.
"Mr. Geddes, this could have been avoided if you had informed Mr.
Reynolds about Officer Torino's testimony in advance of trial. I'm going to let Mr. Reynolds have the metal strips, if he can find an expert to examine them."
The rest of the afternoon was taken up with the testimony of several bomb squad members, who identified evidence taken from the crime scene and explained where each item was found.
Outside, a gentle rain was falling, but the heat was on in the courthouse and the drone of the witnesses was putting Tracy to sleep.
She sighed with relief when the judge called the weekend recess.
As soon as court was out, Matthew took custody of the three metal strips and left with Abigail Griffen. Tracy and Barry Frame looked over all of the evidence that was in the courtroom. When they were through, Neil Christenson escorted them to a conference room in the district attorney's office that was being used to store the physical evidence that had not been introduced. Some of the evidence was spread over the top of a long conference table. Other evidence was in cardboard boxes on the floor of the conference room. Christenson parked himself in a chair at the far end of the room.
"How about some privacy?" Barry asked.
"Sorry," Christenson replied. "If it was up to me, I'd be home with a cold beer, but Chuck told me to keep an eye on you."
"Suit yourself."
Tracy started with the items on the table, conferring with Barry in whispers if she saw anything that might be significant and making notes on a legal pad. When they were done with the items on top of the table, Barry cleared a space at one end and emptied the contents of the first cardboard carton, which contained items taken from Abbie's rented house.
Tracy's stomach was starting to growl by the time they finished with the evidence from the rented house and Barry emptied the first box of items from Justice Griffen's den. The box contained personal papers, household receipts, bills and other documents of this type. Tracy emptied a second box that contained papers found in the bottom right drawer of Justice Griffen's desk.
At first glance, the papers looked like they would be similar to the papers in the other box. Then Tracy spotted something that was out of place. At the bottom of the pile was a volume from a trial transcript.
A sheet from a yellow legal pad was jutting out from between two of the transcript pages. Tracy thought that Barry must have gone through this box when they looked through the evidence the first time, because she did not remember seeing the transcript before.
When Tracy saw the cover page of the transcript, she concealed her surprise. She was looking at Volume XI of State of Oregon, Plaintiff-Respondent v. Charles Darren Deems, Defeno dant-Appellant, the transcript Laura Rizzatti had been reading the day Matthew Reynolds and Abigail Griffen argued at the Supreme Court. Tracy remembered how nervous Laura had seemed when she found her reading it.
Tracy glanced over at Christenson. He was reading the sports section of The Oregonian and looked bored stiff. Tracy shifted her body to block Christenson's view, then opened the transcript enough to see what was written on the sheet from the legal pad.
The sheet was wedged between pages 1289 and 1290 of the transcript. It was a sheet from the legal pad on which Laura was writing in the library'on the day Justice Pope accosted her. The names of three criminal cases were written on the page. Tracy remembered how quickly Laura had turned over the yellow pad to prevent Tracy from seeing what was on it. Tracy wrote down the names of the cases and the volume numbers of the Oregon reporters in which they were published.
What was so special about the transcript and these cases, and what were this transcript and Laura's notes doing in Justice Griffen's den? The transcript was part of the official record of the Deems case and should be with the rest of the transcripts in the case in the file room of the Supreme Court.
Twenty minutes later, Barry stretched and announced, "That's the lot."
Christenson showed them out, then returned to the conference room. Barry pressed the down button on the elevator. As they waited for it to arrive, he asked, "Any brilliant insights?"
Tracy was tempted to tell him about the transcript, but there was nothing to tell. She had no idea what was in Volume XI.
Whatever was there wouldn't have anything to do with Abbie's case anyway.
"I didn't see anything I didn't spot the first time we went through this stuff. If there are any more surprises, Geddes slipped them past me."
"I agree. Are you up for dinner?"
Tracy wanted to get to the office so she could read Volume XI in the set of transcripts she'd taken from Bob Packard.
"I'll pass. I'm going to grab some takeout and head for the office.
There are a few things I have to go over tonight."
"Hey, it's the weekend. Casablanca is on. I thought we'd whip up some gourmet popcorn, crack open a bottle of wine and watch Bogie. You don't want to pass that up, do you?"
Barry sounded disappointed. The elevator doors opened. They stepped into the empty car. Tracy touched him on the arm.
"I'll tell you what. I'm big on Bogie myself. When's the movie start?"
"Nine."
"Save me a seat. I should be able to finish by then."
Barry grinned. "I'll be waiting. Do you like red or white wine with your popcorn?"
"Beer, actually."
"A woman after my own heart. I'll even spring for imported."
Neil Christenson showed Barry Frame and Tracy Cavanaugh out of the district attorney's office, then he returned to the conference room and emptied the box with the evidence that had been found in the bottom right drawer of Justice Griffen's desk onto the conference table.
Christenson had only been pretending to read the paper while Barry and Tracy went through the evidence and he noticed that Tracy was intentionally blocking his view when she went through this box.
Christenson was determined to discover the piece of evidence that had created so much interest.
The transcript and yellow paper attracted his attention immediately because they were out of place. Christenson frowned when he saw that the transcript was from the Deems case. Then he remembered that Justice Griffen had written the opinion that reversed Deems's conviction. How ironic, he thought, that the person Justice Griffen had freed from prison was going to help convict the judge's killer.