I wrote down the numbers that he rattled off and hit the button to save
the message as a reminder, but I couldn't summon the energy to call him
back. Besides, what was I going to say? I'm getting my ass handed to
me in trial and am going to have to cut a deal, but I think he's guilty
anyway? Not exactly spectacular spin.
The Jetta and I were crossing the Willamette River over the Morrison
Bridge when my cell phone rang. I recognized the number as Kendra's
and answered.
"You rang?" It was Chuck.
"You're at Kendra's?" I asked.
"Just pulled up. I guess you called Ray, trying to track down where
Kendra's purse came from?" he said.
"Yeah. Did he tell you why?"
"Not really," he said.
I struggled to think of the quickest way to describe what had been a
draining day in court. It's not easy to explain how the momentum of a
case can shift with just a few hours in trial. I had to jerk the
steering wheel back into line as I realized I'd been zoning out on the
lights reflecting off the river. I waited until I was over the bridge
and had merged onto the 1-5 to launch into it.
"The case fell apart today," I said. "Lopez brought in a guy from the
Collision Clinic. Turns out Derringer arranged to have the car work
done before the attack and the shop couldn't get it done until that
Sunday, so our theory about doing it to get rid of the physical
evidence is gone."
Chuck tried to assuage my concerns. "I don't think that part of the
evidence was that important, Sam. It made a nice icing to the cake,
but you should be alright without it."
"You're right that it wasn't the heart of the case. The problem is
that putting a theory out there and having it torn apart by the defense
is a lot worse than if we'd never floated it in the first place. It
gives the defense the momentum. And losing that piece of
circumstantial evidence makes the fingerprint even more important," I
said.
"I still don't know what the problem is there," he said.
I filled him in on Derringer's temp job doing inventory at Dress You
Up. "Without the print, all we've got is Kendra's ID and Renshaw's
testimony about the pethismograph." I had a tough time holding back
tears as I heard myself admit how bad things had turned in just one
day. "That's why I really need to know where Andrea got that purse.
How's it looking so far?"
"It's a long shot. I finally got hold of Andrea at work. She's not
supposed to get calls at the restaurant, so she was distracted and I
was having trouble explaining to her why it was important. Add the
fact that she freaked at the mention of Dress You Up, going off about
how they falsely arrested her well, you get the picture. Anyway, she
thinks she bought the purse at Meier & Frank. If not there, one of the
other big department stores, not Dress You Up. Problem is, she doesn't
have any credit cards and usually just pays cash."
"Any chance she's still got a receipt?" I asked.
"That's what I'm doing now. She says she usually just throws them out,
but sometimes she tosses them into a couple different drawers around
the house. I'm going to go through them. If I don't find anything,
I'll swing by the restaurant on the way home so she can sign a consent
form for me to get her old checks from the bank, just in case she
happened to pay by check. Other than that, I can't think of anything
else."
Neither could I. "OK, let me know if you find anything."
"You going to be OK tonight, Sam?" he asked.
Darn blasted tears were back again. "I don't know. It's just too
much, you know?"
"Then let me help you. If you need follow-up, I'm free."
What I really wanted was company. "Will you stay with me tonight when
you finish up?"
"Definitely. Easiest request I ever got from a DA. I'll call you on
my way out."
"And can you bring some pancakes?" I added. "The Hot-cake House makes
them to go."
Twelve.
It was almost midnight by the time Chuck got to my house, and we were
both exhausted. Not too exhausted to talk about the case while I
devoured my pancakes, or to have as good a round of hot and steamy sex
as a post-pancake lull will allow, but we were pretty exhausted all the
same.
Chuck had looked through the junk drawers at the Martin house, but, as
Andrea had thought, there was no receipt for the purse. Andrea signed
a release for her account information, and Chuck was going to check
with the bank in the morning for any checks that might match with the
purchase. He was also going to contact Meier & Frank to make sure they
stocked that purse before Christmas. That would at least verify
Andrea's recollection, and I could recall her to the stand along with a
Meier & Frank rep in rebuttal.
I must've killed the alarm the next morning, because I overslept. Even
though I let my hair dry in the car and parked at the expensive garage
across from the courthouse, I didn't have time for Starbucks. Now I'd
be having my ass handed me in trial with bad hair and office coffee.
Terrific.
When I ran into my office to grab my trial notebooks, I was greeted by
a nice big Post-it note on my chair: Sam Where are you? Don't bother
calling Lesh he knows you'll be late. Get down to Duncan's office
ASAP. TOD.
Now what? I grabbed my notebooks and took the stairs down two flights
to Duncan's office. I'd doubled my total number of visits there in
just two days. Not good.
When I arrived, Duncan's secretary waved me in and hollered, "Samantha
Kincaid's finally here."
Duncan sat alone at his desk. "Tim took off. Have a seat," he said.
"Sir, I'm sure this is important, but I'm still in trial," I said,
gesturing down with my head at the stack of books I was carrying for
court.
"Please, Sam, just have a seat. We called Lesh earlier."
I did as he said.
It was the first time I'd ever seen Duncan Griffith without a smile. He
looked worried. And mean. "Why didn't you tell me yesterday you had a
rotten case?" he asked.
My heart started to race as I struggled to collect my thoughts. Why
was he asking about my case again when we'd resolved everything
yesterday?
"First of all, I don't think it's a rotten case. The defense has had
some surprises, so it's no slam dunk, but I've still got a good enough
case to fight. Second, I was under the impression that we met
yesterday about the case as it relates to the Zimmerman issue. I
didn't realize that you wanted an update about the general status of
the trial."