“You can twist my words around any way you like, but the fact is the crime scene unit wouldn’t have done that. You know it and I know it.”
“You know it?”
“I certainly do.”
“But your actions belie your words, sergeant. If you know they couldn’t have done it, why ask them if they did?”
And when Stams didn’t answer, Steve Winslow said, “No further questions.”
35
Mark Taylor leaned back in his desk chair and referred to his notebook. “Okay, here’s the dope. The boyfriend’s a washout. This Larry Cunningham. He’s just like you said. There’s no problem getting him to talk-the guy’s so eager to help, he’s falling’ all over himself. Has all the credibility of a wet sponge. Determined to say he left the restaurant at eight. More so now the doctor’s set it as the probable time of death. My man tried to knock his story down, but it’s no go. The waiters and the cashier in the restaurant don’t remember well enough. As far as they know, they could have left at eight o’clock. They don’t know they did, they don’t know they didn’t. They just don’t remember.
“Philip Eckstein’s another story.”
“Who?”
“The guy he had the meeting with. The corroborating witness.” Taylor shook his head. “Now, there’s a winner. He’s a nerdy little twerp, shifty eyed, defensive. Might as well have I’m lying tattooed on his forehead.”
“What’s he lying about?”
“The time of the meeting. Cunningham told him he got there at eight-thirty, and damn it, that’s what he’s going to say. According to Eckstein, Cunningham called him around eight o’clock, said he’d meet him in half an hour. We all know that’s not true. He called him at seven-thirty, made the meeting for eight. You know it, I know it, the D.A. knows it, the jury’s, gonna know it. He’s the type of guy on cross-examination Dirkson can get him to say that the earth was flat.” Taylor shrugged. “Not that he needs to. Your client already told the cops she left the restaurant seven-thirty. So when these guys pull the number, they’re gonna look like they’re auditioning for the Amateur Hour.”
“I know it, Mark. I wouldn’t put them on the stand if you paid me. What else you got?”
Taylor leaned back, laced his fingers behind his head and smiled. “I got you a present.”
Steve frowned. “What?”
“You told me to check out the music store guy. Oliver Branstein.”
“You got something?”
“I’ll say. This goes back about a year ago. F.L. Jewelry, in the back room, got a sink for washing gold plate.”
“Gold plate?”
Taylor put up his hands. “Don’t look at me. I don’t know the mechanics. Anyway, that’s how I got the story. They got an industrial type sink in the back room. Big mother. Holds a shitload of water.”
“Don’t tell me.”
“That’s right. It overflowed, leaked into the music store downstairs. Ruined some valuable guitars.”
“Branstein sued?”
“Sure did.”
“What happened to the suit?”
“Still pending.”
Tracy, who’d been sitting in the corner taking notes, put up her hand. “Whoa. Time out. You’re saying Oliver Branstein had a reason to kill Frank Fletcher?”
“I’m not saying anything. I’m just reporting the facts.”
“What about it, Steve?” Tracy persisted. “How does that add up?”
Steve shrugged. “I don’t know. But it’s interesting as all hell. Branstein and Fletcher had an adversarial relationship. It may mean something, then again, it may not. But there’s one nice thing about it.”
“What’s that?” Tracy said.
“It’s something I can bring out in court.”
36
When court reconvened, Judge Wylie said, “When we left off yesterday, Sergeant Stams was on the stand and Mr. Winslow had just completed his cross-examination. Do you have any redirect, Mr. Dirkson?”
“As a matter of fact, I do,” Dirkson said. He got up and crossed to the witness stand. “Sergeant, going back to when you questioned the defendant in Mr. Lowery’s office. Could you refresh our recollection as to what the defendant told you was her reason for coming to the office on that night?”
“Yes. She said she came to clean out her desk.”
“That’s the only reason that she came? According to her statement?”
“That’s right.”
“Just briefly, could you explain the time schedule once more. According to her statement. With regard to when she left the restaurant, went home and went to the office.”
“Yes,” Sergeant Stams said. “According to her, she left the restaurant at seven-thirty and went directly home to her apartment, which was two blocks away. She remained home until sometime later in the evening, when she got the idea to clean out her desk. She took a taxi down to the office for that purpose, arriving there at approximately ten o’clock. Whereupon she found the body and called the police.”
“Let me be sure I’ve got this straight,” Dirkson said. “According to her, she left the restaurant at seven-thirty and arrived at the office at ten o’clock.”
“That’s right.”
“At seven-thirty she went directly home and remained home until she left for the office?”
“That’s right.”
“And the reason she went to the office was because she had decided to clean out her desk?”
“That’s right.”
“Thank you, sergeant. No further questions.”
“Any recross?”
“No questions, Your Honor,” Steve said.
“The witness is excused.”
“Call Officer Hanson.”
Officer Hanson took the stand and testified to obtaining a warrant and searching the defendant’s apartment.
“And what, if anything, did you find?”
“I found a message on her answering machine.”
“A message?”
“That’s right.”
“Could you tell if this message had been picked up?”
“Objection.”
“Sustained.”
“Officer Hanson, could you describe the answering machine in question with regard to its function?”
“Yes. It was the type of machine with a small red light. When the light is on, the machine is on, ready to receive calls. When the light is blinking, it means there’s been a call. One blink for one call, two blinks for two calls, and so on. If the light is steady, it means there have been no calls since the last time the answering machine was set.”
“What was the condition of the light when you discovered the answering machine?”
“It was on, but not blinking. It was steady.”
“What did that indicate?”
“That no one had called and left a message since the last time the answering machine was set.”
“What, if anything, did you do with the answering machine?”
“I pushed the play button to play back the messages.”
“Despite the fact the light indicated there were none?”
“Yes.”
“And why was that?”
“Because unless they had been deliberately erased, the last series of messages would be there. The way the machine works, when it’s reset, a new call will erase the old messages. Since no new call had come in, this hadn’t happened. So, unless someone had taken the time to erase the messages before resetting the machine-which people rarely do-the old messages would be there.”
“And was that true in this case?”
“Yes, it was. When I pushed play, there was a message on the machine.”
“One message?”
“That’s right. Only one.”
“After you listened to this message, what did you do?”
“I took possession of the micro-cassette.”
“The micro-cassette?”
“Yes. The one in the answering machine with the message recorded on it. I removed it from the machine at that time.”
“Why did you do that?”
“To preserve it as evidence. If another call had come in, it would have recorded over it.”
“You took possession of the micro-cassette?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Your Honor, I ask that this micro-cassette be marked for identification as People’s Exhibit Three.”