"Your Honor" – Powell was standing next to Hardy in front of Villars' desk – "the People have been patiently listening to Mr. Singh's fascinating story, but I fail to see any relevance at all to these proceedings. We've argued this before and Mr. Hardy keeps saying he's going to tie this into the Witt killings. I don't think he can."
Villars ruminated, then spoke: "Mr. Hardy, I have to agree. Can you tell us where this is going?"
Hardy took a minute, giving them the short version as well as he could – that the victims in both scenarios were killed with their own guns, the amount of money involved, the suspicion in Los Angeles that there had been a paid assassin in the death of Simpson Crane and his wife. When he finished, Villars was still puzzled.
"You're saying this Simpson Crane was killed with Jennifer Witt's gun?"
Hardy said no, Witt was killed with his own gun and Crane had been killed by his.
The judge turned to Powell. "Am I missing it?"
Powell jumped in. "Even if there is-"
Villars motioned him quiet. "Is there an evidentiary connection, Mr. Hardy?"
"This is a plausible alternative theory to these murders that the jury at least ought to hear."
"Perhaps you didn't hear me? I asked you if there was any evidentiary evidence?"
"Yes, of course."
After a beat, Villars asked if Hardy would favor them by telling them what it was.
"Witt was with the Yerba Buena Medical Group, Your Honor. He got wind of this stock scam and was going to go public with it. He was killed for that knowledge."
"By whom?"
"By whoever killed Simpson Crane?"
Villars drummed on her desk. "How do you know that?"
"I think I can make a persuasive argument."
Powell stepped into the breach. "Your Honor, this is ridiculous. This is neither the time nor place for alternative theories. The jury has already found Jennifer Witt guilty. If Mr. Hardy had any evidence, he should have had Freeman bring it up during the guilt phase.
"I didn't find out any of this until last weekend."
Powell threw up his hands. "Well, that's either too damn bad or damn convenient, isn't it?"
Villars held up a finger. "Gentlemen, please. This is a woman's life, and if justice is served, we ought to be able to find a place for it. If there is evidence, I want to hear about it anytime. Mr. Hardy, this Mr. Crane then was killed…"
"The investigating officer was a Floyd Restoffer. He's with the LAPD. I could subpoena him to come up."
"And they have a suspect?"
"No, but they're certain it was a professional hit."
Villars paused, not liking that very much. "All right, so this Restoffer, what has he found about this Group?"
"The group was represented by Crane's firm, as I've told you."
"By Crane himself?"
Hardy hesitated, but there was no escaping it. "No, by another of the partners."
"Now wait a minute," Powell exploded. "Your Honor, does Mr. Hardy mean to tell us Crane didn't even represent this Group?"
"I hope not," Villars said. "That's not your evidence, is it, Mr. Hardy?"
This was not turning out pretty. "Well, no one's bee charged, if that's what you mean, but-"
Villars' face had clouded, her volume increasing. "That's exactly what I mean. Does Restoffer have a case that relates here, or what?"
"It's an open case down there."
"Ten months and it's still open? What's this man Restoffer doing with a ten-month-old case?"
"Nothing now, Your Honor. He's been taken off it."
Hardy well knew that alleged linkage here came across as pretty farfetched. Perhaps – no, certainly – he was damaging his professional credibility even bringing it up, but what else could he do? Jennifer was going to get sentenced to death if he couldn't pull something out of his hat. Was there really a rabbit in there? He didn't have any idea, but in his desperation he sure as hell would argue it. If the judge would let him.
All Hardy felt he needed was another ten minutes at least to try to explain the latest news he'd received from Restoffer: how he'd been told to drop the case after questioning Bachman; the wealthy woman in San Marino who was both a contributor to Frank Kelso, the LA supervisor, and a member of the YBMG Board. There had to be something there. He needed ten minutes alone with Villars – he had to get her ear.
"Your Honor, I wonder if we might speak in camera."
Villars sat back in her chair. "No," she said. "There is nothing off the record in a capital case. Nobody's going to cut any private deals."
Her irritation with Hardy was palpable.
"Your Honor, I must say something." Powell stepped into the pause, polite but firm. Villars turned to him. "I'd like you to consider another possibility – as Mr. Hardy is having you do. And that is this: Regardless of what you ruled or what the jury might have found had matters progressed differently, let's consider the possibility that Jennifer's first husband, Ned, was is fact killed by this same assassin ten years ago. If we grant that, could it then become, in Mr. Hardy's words, a plausible defense?" Powell squared around, right at Hardy. "It's absurd. It's insulting."
Villars had given every indication she'd reached her limit before, but Powell's reductio ad absurdum hit its mark. The judge nodded, leaning forward. "I agree," she said. "You know, I've been listening hard, Mr. Hardy. I've been paying attention. I've been leaning over backward because, as you point out, this is a capital case. But for the life of me I can't see any reason this should be admitted."
"Your Honor, there's got to be a connection." Did he really believe that? Or was it his own desperation talking? "Give me a continuance for a couple of days, I'll fly down to LA-"
"Your Honor, please!"
She held up a hand, not needing Powell's input. "That's not going to happen. We've already taken more than two months of this jury's lives." She sat, still in her robes, her face set. She lowered her voice, which gave it even more authority, to that she needed it; there was no mistaking who was the boss in Villars' chambers. "You know, Mr. Hardy, I've been trying to figure you out. I hear you were a pretty good lawyer when you worked for the City. You seem like a sincere man. You appear to work hard. But time and again in this trial I've come up against your refusal to deal with the way we do things here in this state, or in any other state that I know of. In the last couple of weeks I've had to listen to how I was personally hostile to you and how that was affecting my decisions. Then we get this specter of the battered-woman syndrome, which you raise once, don't present any evidence of, and then drop. Today, your first real opportunity to bring up something to help your client, some witnesses that might want to argue for her character or her background or something…"
"Your Honor…"
Villars slammed her hand on her desk, but her voice remained low. "Mr. Powell is correct here. The guilt phase of this trial is over. We have played strictly by the rules. Your side lost. That's how we do it. That's why it's fair."
Hardy waited a moment to make sure he wasn't interrupting, that she was finished. "It may be fair, Your Honor, but they got it wrong. Jennifer did not kill her husband and son-"
"Then prove it, when this is over. I guarantee you, if you find another murderer, Mrs. Witt will go free. But in the meantime, your job is to argue mitigation. I want to know if you are prepared to do that or not?"
Hardy let out a breath. "One of the main thrusts of my argument was that somebody else killed them."
"With the evidence you've got, I'd say that was probably ill-advised strategy." Adjusting her robes, Villars checked the clock on the wall and shifted gears. "All right, gentlemen, it's four-fifteen. We'll go outside and adjourn for today." She pointed a finger. "Mr. Hardy, tomorrow I expect witnesses who have something to say to the jury. Evidence talks here, Mr. Hardy. It's all that talks."