I nodded when she told me all of this. I had never broken into a hotel room while some guy was snoring on the bed. But I knew about the moment when the gears began to grind. I knew about the velocity.
I found what I was looking for an hour into my second run at the files. It had been there in front of me the whole time. First in Elliot’s arrest report and then on the time-and-action chart I had drawn myself. I called the chart the Christmas tree. It always started basic and unadorned. Just the bare-bones facts of the case. Then, as I continued to study and make the case my own, I started hanging lights and ornaments on it. Details and witness statements, evidence and lab results. Soon the tree was lit up and bright. Everything about the case was there for me to see in the context of time and action.
I had paid particular attention to Walter Elliot as I had drawn the Christmas tree. He was the tree trunk and all branches came from him. I had his movements, statements and actions noted by time.
12:40 p.m. – WE arrives at beach house
12:50 p.m. – WE discovers bodies
1:05 p.m. – WE calls 911
1:24 p.m. – WE calls 911 again
1:28 p.m. – Deputies arrive on scene
1:30 p.m. – WE secured
2:15 p.m. – Homicide arrives
2:40 p.m. – WE taken to Malibu station
4:55 p.m. – WE interviewed, advised
5:40 p.m. – WE transported to Whittier
7:00 p.m. – GSR testing
8:00 p.m. – Second interview attempt, declined, arrested
8:40 p.m. – WE transported to Men’s Central
Some of the times I estimated but most came directly from the arrest report and other documents in the file. Law enforcement in this country is as much about the paperwork as anything else. I could always count on the prosecution file for reconstructing a time line.
On the second go-round I used both the pencil point and eraser and started adding decorations to the tree.
12:40 p.m. – WE arrives at beach house front door unlocked
12:50 p.m. – WE discovers bodies balcony door open
1:05 p.m. – WE calls 911 waits outside
1:24 p.m. – WE calls 911 again what’s the holdup?
1:28 p.m. – Deputies arrive on scene Murray (-4-alpha-1) and Harber (-4-alpha-2)
1:30 p.m. – WE secured placed in patrol car Murray/Harber search house
2:15 p.m. – Homicide arrives first team: Kinder (#14492) and Ericsson (#21101) second team: Joshua (#22234) and Toles (#15154)
2:30 p.m. – WE taken inside house, describes discovery
2:40 p.m. – WE taken to Malibu station Joshua and Toles transport
4:55 p.m. – WE interviewed, advised Kinder takes lead in interview
5:40 p.m. – WE transported to Whittier Joshua/Toles
7:00 p.m. – GSR testing F.T. Anita Sherman Lab Transport, Sherman
8:00 p.m. – Second interview, Ericsson in lead, WE declines got smart
8:40 p.m. – WE transported to Men’s Central Joshua/Toles
As I had constructed the Christmas tree, I kept a separate list on another page of every human being mentioned in the sheriff’s reports. I knew this would become the witness list I would turn over to the prosecution the following week. As a rule I blanket the case, subpoenaing anybody mentioned in the investigative record just to be safe. You can always cut down a witness list at trial. Sometimes adding to it can be a problem.
From the witness list and the Christmas tree, I would be able to infer how the prosecution would roll out its case. I would also be able to determine which witnesses the prosecution team was avoiding and possibly why. It was while I was studying my work and thinking in these terms that I felt the gears begin to grind and the cold finger of revelation went down my spine. Everything became clear and bright and I found Jerry Vincent’s magic bullet.
Walter Elliot had been taken from the crime scene to the Malibu station so that he would be out of the way and secured while the lead detectives continued their on-site investigation. One short interview was conducted at the station before Elliot ended it. He was then transported to sheriff’s headquarters in Whittier, where a gunshot residue test was conducted and his hands tested positive for nitrates associated with gunpowder. Afterward, Kinder and Ericsson took another stab at interviewing their suspect but he wisely declined. He was then formally placed under arrest and booked into county jail.
It was standard procedure and the arrest report documented the chain of Elliot’s custody. He was handled solely by the homicide detectives as he was moved from crime scene to substation to headquarters to jail. But it was how he was handled previous to their arrival that caught my eye. It was here that I saw something I had missed earlier. Something as simple as the designations of the uniform deputies who first responded to the call. According to the records, deputies Murray and Harber had the designations 4-alpha-1 and 4-alpha-2 after their names. And I had seen at least one of those designations in the Wyms file.
Jumping from case to case and from file to file, I found the Wyms arrest report and quickly scanned the narrative, not stopping until my eyes came to the first reference to the 4-alpha-1 designation.
Deputy Todd Stallworth had the designation written after his name. He was the deputy originally called to investigate the report of gunfire at Malibu Creek State Park. He was the deputy driving the car Wyms fired upon, and at the end of the standoff he was the deputy who formally placed Wyms under arrest and took him to jail.
I realized that 4-alpha-1 did not refer to a specific deputy but to a specific patrol zone or responsibility. The Malibu district covered the huge unincorporated areas of the west county, from the beaches of Malibu up over the mountains and into the communities of Thousand Oaks and Calabasas. I assumed that this was the fourth district and alpha was the specific designation for a patrol unit – a specific car. It seemed to be the only way to explain why deputies who worked different shifts would share the same designation on different arrest reports.
Adrenaline crashed into my veins and my blood took off running as everything came together. All in a moment I realized what Vincent had been up to and what he had been planning. I didn’t need his laptop or his legal pads anymore. I didn’t need his investigator. I knew exactly what the defense strategy was.
At least I thought I did.
I pulled my cell phone and called Cisco. I skipped the pleasantries.
“Cisco, it’s me. Do you know any sheriff’s deputies?”
“Uh, a few. Why?”
“Any of them work out of the Malibu station?”
“I know one guy who used to. He’s in Lynwood now. Malibu was too boring.”
“Can you call him tonight?”
“Tonight? Sure, I guess. What’s up?”
“I need to know what the patrol designation four-alpha-one means. Can you get that?”
“Shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll call you back. But hold on a sec for Lorna. She wants to talk to you.”
I waited while she was given the phone. I could hear TV noise in the background. I had interrupted a scene of domestic bliss.
“Mickey, are you still there at the office?”
“I’m here.”
“It’s eight-thirty. I think you should go home.”
“I think I should, too. I’m going to wait to hear back from Cisco – he’s checking something out for me – and then I think I’m going over to Dan Tana’s to have steak and spaghetti.”
She knew I went to Dan Tana’s when I had something to celebrate. Usually a good verdict.
“You had steak for breakfast.”
“Then I guess this will make it a perfect day.”
“Things went well tonight?”
“I think so. Real well.”
“You’re going alone?”