Louis roared as he jumped to his feet. "I object. Why was I not told of this experiment? I demand that this so-called evidence be thrown out and the defense counsel censured for attempting to sneak false evidence into this trial."
Karp smiled. Here was the reason for not asking for any adjournments. Louis was lazy and now he was going to pay for it. "Your honor, I believe if plaintiffs' counsel will refer to his notebooks, Defense Exhibits 30-45, he will see that he received this evidence nearly two weeks ago. Again, he made no objection in any one of a half-dozen pretrial hearings after that date."
Stunned, Louis turned to his notebooks. "Give me a moment, your honor." Turning to the specified pages, he mopped at his face, then smiled broadly. "Oh, yes," he said. "Now I remember. We didn't consider this important at the time, nor do we now. Please continue, doctor."
After the lunch recess, Swanburg returned to the stand. Karp looked back at the row of benches behind his table. Repass, Russell, and Torrisi were in their seats but Tyler was missing. Good, he thought. He'd told her she might want to miss the afternoon's testimony, and she'd taken his advice.
The reason was soon clear as he put up on the screen a frontal photograph of Tyler's nude body taken after the attack. Swanburg pointed out the bruising on her arms and legs.
The next photograph was a close-up of the bruising on Tyler's legs. "Can you give us an opinion, doctor, on what caused these marks?"
"Yes, you can see the pattern left by hands as they held her down. She must have struggled quite hard."
Karp put another photograph on the screen. A close-up of Tyler's chest-with the bite mark clearly evident-as well as her upper arms. "What can you tell us about these bruises?"
"Again, you can see the marks of hands on her arms as though she was being restrained."
"Thank you, Dr. Swanburg, I have no further questions."
Klinger invited Louis to cross-examine the witness. He stood and smiled at the jury, then shook his head as if they'd all been witnesses to some sort of card trick.
"Good afternoon, Dr. Swanburg. I won't keep you or these good people long, but let's review by starting with the bite mark. Is it possible that more than one person in this world might have teeth like that?"
"Well, yes," Swanburg said. "There are any number. However, given that one of-"
"Thank you, Dr. Swanburg, I'd appreciate it if you'd just answer the question I ask rather than try to continue to testify for the defense."
"I was trying to answer the question completely."
"And I can appreciate that but it's also true the defense hired you to appear here today, isn't that so?"
"Yes."
"And they-or I guess I should say the taxpayers of New York-are paying you the handsome fee of $550 an hour, plus expenses."
"Well, yes, but my fees are in line with-"
"Just a yes or no will suffice, doctor."
"Yes, that's all true."
"Thank you. Now, let's move on to the object that was used to strike Ms. Tyler. I believe you testified that it is 'unlikely' that something created by nature, such as a piece of driftwood, would have caused that bruise. But it doesn't rule it out, now does it?"
"No."
"And is there anything on that piece of rebar from the trial that links my clients-who by the way are not on trial here-to it?"
"No."
Karp let Louis make his little speeches and asides without objecting. He was hoping that the lawyer would gain confidence and walk into his trap. Come on, baby, keep walking, he thought.
"Dr. Swanburg, let's for a moment revisit the photographs on the arms of Ms. Tyler," he said. "Now, couldn't these be the marks left by one man who was raping a woman as he held her down?"
"No."
The smile on Louis's face disappeared and reappeared on Karp's.
"No? And why not?"
"Because if you look carefully, you will see that the finger marks were not made by a man having sexual intercourse while lying on top of a woman. They're inverted and were made by someone who was leaning or kneeling at her head and holding her down."
Louis turned away from the jury so as not to reveal that he knew he'd been had. He looked up at Karp and saw the smile. "No further questions."
Karp rose for redirect and the coup de grace. "Dr. Swanburg, what conclusions can you draw from the bruises?"
"That at least three men participated in holding down the victim," Swanburg said. "One on each of her legs and one, as I said, at her head."
Karp nodded. "No further questions."
The rest of the day Karp spent playing the confessions of the plaintiffs. By the time he turned off the video machine, the jurors looked like they'd been beaten themselves. He'd refrained from commenting-if he felt it necessary, he could do that during closing arguments and summation-but for now, the videos demonstrated that the Coney Island Four were not browbeaten or intimidated. There were no big cops hovering over them or yelling in their faces. And he'd ended the session with Desmond Davis laughing about what they'd done to "the bitch" and Sykes shouting at the female police officer, "I want to lick your pussy."
Karp went back to his office feeling that he'd scored the major blows in the trial. But there were still some threads that worried him. The physical evidence placing Villalobos at the scene was irrefutable. Also, what if Louis tried to intimate that Kevin Little had assisted Villalobos-hence his reason for turning on the others-but that the remaining Coney Island Four had not participated? He needed Kaminsky. Kaminsky and the letter would be even better, because then he could go after Breman and Klinger for their participation in this travesty. If they could just have found Hannah Little the problem would have been solved, too.
That evening, Karp was looking forward to a little downtime with his family. Zak seemed none the worse for wear and enjoyed telling anyone who'd listen how he told the fearsome terrorist Al-Sistani to "shove it, asshole," until his father had said enough was enough. The only thing that seemed to truly be upsetting the boy was that he'd been warned that under no circumstances could he talk about the incident with anyone but family. Karp had impressed upon him the seriousness of the population of New York learning they'd come within a few minutes of having weapons of mass destruction used against them. For once his son understood the gravity of the situation, even if he had to remain disappointed that the further exploits of Zak Karp had to remain a secret.
Marlene also seemed to have dealt well with her excursion back into the world of violence. "It's how you look at it," she tried to explain. "In John's culture, a warrior avoids violence unless as a last resort, and I think that was about as last a resort as you can get."
Suddenly there was a buzzing at the security door. Karp sighed and went over to press the intercom button. "Yes, may I help you?" he asked.
A man's voice, heavily accented, answered. "You are being invited to a meeting with an old friend tonight."
Karp raised his eyebrows and looked at Marlene, who shrugged.
"And where am I supposed to meet this friend?" Karp asked with a laugh.
"Not just you…the presence of your wife is also requested."
"Well, that's even better. But as I said, when and where am I supposed to meet my old friend?"
"Midnight at Battery Park near the Staten Island ferry dock."
"Okay, I'm game. Who is this friend?"
"I can't say, other than he asks you to remember the pieces of candy he gave you as a child."
Suddenly Karp took notice. Uncle Vladimir? But why the secret midnight meeting? "Did he say why I might be interested in this meeting?"
"You wish to meet Igor Kaminsky, no?"
Marlene's jaw dropped as Karp said, "No, I wish to meet him, yes."
"Then midnight at Battery Park."