“The 4:00 p.m. till midnight shift.”
“On both days?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You said two men per shift. Who was his partner?”
“Michael Reed.”
“And the 8:00 a.m. till 4:00 p.m. shift? Who was assigned to that?”
“Saul Burroughs and Fred Grimes.”
“On both days?”
“Yes, sir.”
“These two eight hour shifts were specified in the work that you were contracted to do?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And,” Fitzpatrick said, raising his voice, “who made those specifications? Who requested two eight hour shifts per day of surveillance on Marilyn Harding? Who hired you, Mr. Miltner?”
Miltner shook his head. “I don’t know.”
Fitzpatrick stared at him. “You don’t know?”
“No, sir.”
“How is that possible, Mr. Miltner? You’re a businessman. You want to get paid for your services. Who did you bill?”
“I didn’t bill anyone. I was paid in advance and in cash.”
“How?”
“By messenger.”
“By messenger?”
“Yes, sir. An envelope came to my office by messenger. It had a thousand dollars cash in it.”
Fitzpatrick raised his eyebrows. “A thousand dollars cash? In what denominations?”
“Ten one hundred dollar bills.”
“Is that right? Was there a letter with them?”
“No, sir.”
“Nothing at all?”
“No, sir.”
“Then how did you know what the money was for?”
“I was contacted by phone.”
“By phone? Then you spoke to the person who hired you?”
“Objected to as calling for a conclusion on the part of the witness.”
“Sustained.”
“You spoke with a person on the phone who gave you instructions regarding the money you received from the messenger?”
“That’s right.”
“And this person instructed you to place Marilyn Harding under surveillance?”
“That’s right.”
“It was this person who requested the two eight hour shifts?”
“Yes.”
“When was this phone conversation?”
“On Monday, the seventh of this month.”
“And when did the money arrive?”
“That same day.”
“Before the phone conversation or after?”
“I believe it was right after.”
“This person on the phone-they didn’t identify themselves? They didn’t give you a name?”
“No, sir.”
“Did you ask?”
“Yes, I did.”
“And what were you told?”
“I was told to mind my own business.”
“Which you did?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“You did. You minded your own business. You accepted the employment?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Is it your policy to accept employment from people who refuse to identify themselves?”
“It’s my policy to accept employment, period. If it’s legal, I’ll do it.”
“Very virtuous of you, Mr. Miltner. And what can you tell us about this mysterious person, this person who contacted you on the phone?”
Miltner shrugged. “Nothing.”
“Nothing? And yet you spoke to them for several minutes.”
“About instructions, yes. I learned only what the person wanted done and the fact that they didn’t want to be identified.”
“Surely you must have learned more than that. For instance, I notice you keep using the word person to describe the caller, rather than the pronoun he or she. Which leads me to ask, was the caller a man or a woman?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know? How is that possible?”
“The caller disguised his voice. Or her voice. It was muffled and distorted. It could have been a man affecting a high voice, or a woman affecting a low one. There was no way to tell.”
“And you made no attempt to find out to whom this voice belonged?”
“No, I did not.”
“You made no attempt to trace the call?”
“No, I did not.”
“And the money that was sent to you. The ten one hundred bills. Did you make any attempt to trace them?”
“No, I did not.”
“What did you do with them?”
“Put them in the bank.”
“And the person who called you. How were you supposed to contact them?”
“I wasn’t. They were to contact me.”
“How?”
“By phone.”
“And did that happen?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“On Wednesday morning the person called in for a report.”
“Did you speak to them at that time?”
“Yes, I did.”
“And did you give them a report?”
“Yes, I did.”
“You reported on Tuesday’s surveillance?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Accurately?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And did the person call back again?”
“No, sir.”
“They didn’t call Thursday, to ask about Wednesday’s surveillance?”
“No, sir.”
Fitzpatrick frowned and thought a moment. “On Wednesday night you contacted the police?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And told them everything you knew about the Marilyn Harding surveillance?”
“That’s right.”
“Then let me ask you this: if the person who called you had called back on Thursday, would that call have been traced?”
“It sure would. The police had a tap on the phone ready to record the call, and officers standing by ready to run the trace.” Miltner shrugged. “The call never came.”
Fitzpatrick thought that over. “That’s all,” he announced.
Dirkson didn’t even stand up. He waved his hand. “No questions, Your Honor.”
Miltner left the stand.
“Call your next witness,” Judge Graves said.
“Call Fred Grimes.”
As the witness took the stand and was sworn in, Fitzpatrick leaned down to Steve Winslow. “What can I do with him?” he said. “This guy’s gonna do us more harm than good.”
“Depends on how we play it,” Steve said. “What do you mean?”
“How would you feel about getting admonished for prejudicial misconduct?”
“I wouldn’t like it.”
“Then why don’t you let me take this one?”
Fitzpatrick sat down. Steve Winslow stood up and approached the witness.
“Your name is Fred Grimes?”
“Yes, it is.”
“And you are employed by the Miltner Detective Agency?”
“That’s right.”
“Directing your attention to Tuesday, the eighth of this month, were you employed to shadow the defendant, Marilyn Harding?”
“Yes, I was.”
“Were you alone at the time?”
“No, I was not.”
“Who was with you?”
“My partner, Saul Burroughs.”
“Where did you pick up the defendant?”
“We staked out her house in Glen Cove.”
“At 8:00 a.m.?”
“That’s right.”
“When did you first spot the defendant?”
“She drove out the front gate about 1:15 p.m.”
“You followed her?”
“Yes, we did.”
“Where to?”
“We followed her into Manhattan, to 249 East 3rd Street.”
“And what happened then?”
“She went into the building at that address.”
“Did you follow her in?”
“No, we didn’t.”
“So what did you do?”
“When she parked near the building, my partner stayed with the car and I got out and followed her on foot. When she went into the building, I tried to get close enough to see where she was going. I couldn’t risk following her in, but I wanted to learn all I could. I got close enough to look into the foyer. There was a row of buttons there and a call box. She pressed one of the buttons, waited, then the door buzzed and she went in. The minute she disappeared up the stairs, I went into the foyer and looked at the row of buttons. The one that she had pushed was labeled David C. Bradshaw.”
“Nice work,” Steve said. “So, to the best of your knowledge, on Tuesday the eighth, the defendant, Marilyn Harding, called on David C. Bradshaw at approximately 2:30 p.m.?”
“That’s right.”
“When did she come out?”
“About ten minutes later.”
“What did she do?”