"Did Mr. Darius make any statements?"
"Other than to ask to call his lawyer, no."
"Your witness, Mrs. Tannenbaum."
Betsy looked unsure of herself She asked the judge for a minute and pretended to look through a police report while she worked through her thoughts.
"Detective Kassel," Betsy asked cautiously, "who told you to enter the Darius estate and arrest Mr. Darius?"
"Detective Barrow."
"Did he say why you were to arrest Mr. Darius?"
"Yes, ma'am. He said there was a tip that the defendant had killed his wife and her body was in his basement."
"Did Detective Barrow tell you who gave him the tip?"
"I didn't ask."
"How was Mr. Darius dressed when he opened the door for you?"
"He was wearing a white shirt and pants."
"Mr. Darius, please stand up." Darius stood.
"Are these the pants?" Detective Kassel took a second to look at Darius.
"Yeah. Those are the ones we arrested him in."
"And this is the white shirt?"
"Yes."
"It's in the same condition as when you arrested him?"
"Yes."
"There's no blood on this shirt, is there?"
Kassel paused, then answered, "No, ma: am.
"Did you view the body of Lisa Darius at any point?"
"Yes."
"When it was still in the basement?"
"Yes."
"Mrs. Darius was disemboweled, was she not?"
"Yes."
"There was blood all over that basement, wasn't there?"
"Yes," Kassel answered grudgingly.
"The gate to the Darius estate is locked. How did you get in?"
"Detective Barrow had the combination."
"How is it that you arrived at the Darius estate so far ahead of Detective Barrow, Mr. Page and the other officers?" Betsy asked with an easy smile that disguised the tension she was feeling. She would know if her suspicions were correct after a few more questions.
"We were parked outside it."
"Was that by chance?"
"No, ma'am. We had the defendant under surveillance."
"How long had you had him under surveillance?"
"We've been SURVEILLING him for quite a while. Back before his first arrest."
"Just you and Detective Rittner?"
"Oh, no. There were three teams. We switched off You can't do that twenty-four hours."
"Of course not. When did your shift start on the day you arrested Mr.
Darius?"
"Around three in the afternoon."
"Where did you start?"
"Outside his office."
"I assume you took over for another surveillance team?"
"Right. Detectives Padovici and Kristol."
"When had they started?"
"Around five in the morning."
"Where did they start?"
"The defendant's house."
"why did the other team start so early?"
"The defendant gets up around five-thirty and leaves for work around six-thirty. By getting there at five, we kept him covered when he left his place."
"Is that what Kristol and Padovici did?"
"Yeah."
"I suppose they followed Mr. Darius to work?"
"That's what they said."
"Anything unusual happen that day, according to the detectives?"
"No. He went right to work. I don't think he ever left his office.
Detective Padovici said it looked like he sent out for sandwiches at lunchtime. Around six a bunch of guys in suits left. I think they were having a meeting."
"When Mr. Darius left, you followed him home?"
"Right."
"Was he ever out of your sight?"
"No, ma'am."
"How long after Mr. Darius arrived home did you receive the instructions from Detective Barrow to enter the Darius estate and arrest Mr. Darius?"
"Not long."
"Give me your best guess."
"Uh, about fifteen, twenty minutes."
Betsy paused. She felt sick about asking the next series of questions, but her sense of duty, and the possibility that the answers could prove her client innocent, overcame her revulsion at the prospect of Martin Darius walking free.
"Did you ever see Mr. Darius with Lisa Darius that day?"
"No, ma'am."
"What about Padovici and Kristol? Did they say they saw Mr. Darius with his wife?"
Kassel frowned, as if he suddenly realized where Betsy's questions were leading. Betsy looked to her left and saw Alan Page in an animated discussion with Randy Highsmith.
"I can't recall," he answered hesitantly.
"I assume you wrote a daily surveillance log listing any unusual occurrences?"
"Yes."
"And the other members of the surveillance team also kept logs?"
"Yes."
"Where are the logs?"
"Detective Barrow has them."
Betsy stood. "Your Honor, I would like the logs produced and Detectives Kristol and Padovici made available for (Questioning. justice Ryder testified that he last saw his daughter at seven-thirty a.m. Detective Kassel says Padovici and Kristol reported that Mr. Darius left his estate at six-thirty and went directly to work. if neither team saw Mr.
Darius with his wife during the day, when did he kill her? We can produce the people who were with Mr. Darius yesterday. They'll say he was in his office from about seven a.m. until a little after six p.m." judge Norwood looked troubled. Alan Page leaped to his feet.
"This is nonsense, judge. The surveillance was on Darius, not his wife.
The body was in the basement. Mr. Darius was with the body."
"Your Honor," Betsy said, "Mr. Darius could not have killed his wife before he got home, and he was only home for a short time when Detective Kassel arrived.
The person who disemboweled Lisa Darius would have blood all over him.
There was no blood on my client.
Look at his white shirt and his pants.
"I suggest that Mr. Darius is being set up. Someone was at justice Ryder's house having coffee with Lisa Darius during the day. It wasn't the defendant. Lisa Darius left the house without turning off the television. That's because she was forced to leave. That person took her to the estate and murdered her in the basement, then phoned in the anonymous tip that led the police to the body."
"That's absurd," Page said. "Who is this mysterious person? I suppose you'll suggest the mystery man also butchered the four people we found at your client's construction site."
"Your Honor," Betsy said, "Ask yourself who knew the body of Lisa Darius was in Mr. Darius's basement.
Only the killer or someone who saw the murder. Is Mr. Page suggesting that Mr. Darius found his wife -alive in his home, butchered her in the fifteen minutes or so between the time Detective Kassel lost sight of him and the time Detective Kassel arrested him, got no blood on his white shirt while disemboweling her and was such a good citizen that he reported himself to the police so they could arrest him for murder?" judge. Norwood looked troubled. Betsy and Alan Page watched him intently.
"Mrs. Tannenbaum," the judge said, "your theory depends on Mr. Darius leaving his estate at six-thirty and being in his office all day."
"Yes, Your Honor."
The judge turned to Alan Page. "I'm keeping Mr. Darius in jail over the weekend. I want you to give copies of the logs to Mrs. Tannenbaum and I want the detectives here Monday morning. I'll tell you, Mr. Page, this business has me seriously concerned. You better have a good explanation for me. Right now, I can't see how this man killed his wife."
Goddamn it, Ross, how did this slip by you?"
"I'm sorry, Al. I don't review the log entries every day."
"If Darius didn't go near justice Ryder's house, we have trouble, Al,"
Randy Highsmith said.
"The surveillance teams must have screwed up", Page insisted. "She was there. She got into the basement somehow. Didn't you tell me there were paths through the woods? The surveillance teams weren't watching Lisa.
She could have used the paths to sneak onto the estate while the teams were tailing Darius."
"Why would she go to the estate if she was terrified of Darius?"
Highsmith asked.
"He could have sweet-talked her over the phone," Page said. "They were man and wife."
"Then why sneak in?" Highsmith asked. "Why not drive through the front gate and up to the front door? It's her house. It makes no sense for her to sneak in if she was going back willingly."