Steve Winslow smiled and bowed. “Thank you very much. Now, as I understand it, after dinner you were going to take the defendant to a movie. Is that right?”
“Yes, it is.”
“And what time did the movie start?”
“Eight o’clock.”
“Eight o’clock?”
“That’s right.”
“But you say you didn’t leave the restaurant until after eight o’clock.”
Cunningham smiled. “But we didn’t see the movie.”
“Yes, but you intended to. If you intended to go to an eight o’clock movie, how come you didn’t leave the restaurant until after eight o’clock?”
“I can explain that,” Cunningham said.
“Please do.”
Cunningham turned to the jury. “The Olympia Theater is on Broadway and 106th Street, which is only a block away. It would take at the most five minutes for us to leave the restaurant, purchase tickets and go in. Plus there’s always five to ten minutes of previews of coming attractions. As if happens, it was nearly eight when we were preparing to leave the restaurant. Which would have given us ample time. However, before we left the restaurant, I made a phone call and checked my answering machine. I found I had a message from a client, summoning me to a business meeting. Unfortunately, I had to go. I happen to be a consultant in the stock market, and when a client has a tip he wants to act on, tomorrow will not do. So we couldn’t go to the movies because I had to go to work.” Cunningham shrugged. “Once we weren’t going to the movies, there was no longer any rush to get out of the restaurant. We finished our coffee, settled up the bill. Amy went home and I went to work, and we didn’t get out of there until after eight.”
“I see,” Steve Winslow said. “So you can personally give the defendant an alibi until sometime after eight o’clock?”
“Yes, I can.”
Steve Winslow nodded. “Thank you, Mr. Cunningham.” He turned to the bench. “Your Honor, I think I have a few more questions, if I could have your indulgence for a moment, please.”
Steve turned, walked back to the defense table, leaned over to Amy Dearborn. In a low voice, he said, “How’m I doin’?”
That startled her. “Fine I guess,” she said. “What do you need to know?”
“Nothing, really,” Steve said. “I’m just stalling for time.”
“Huh?”
“Just taking a break before the big push. But I suppose I really should ask you something.”
“What?”
“You ever go to bed with this guy?”
Amy’s eyes widened. “Damn it,” she said.
“Can I take that for a no?”
“What the hell are you doing?”
Steve shrugged. “Like I said, I had to ask you something. Now nod your head like we just conferred over a very important matter.” When Amy just stared at him, he said, “That’s fine. And away we go.”
Steve Winslow walked back to the witness stand. He frowned, thought a moment. “Mr. Cunningham. You have stated you were going to an eight o’clock showing at the Olympia theater?”
“Yes. But I believe I stated the movie actually starts about ten after. What with previews and everything.”
“I understand that,” Steve said. “And I wasn’t disputing the time element. I was merely stating that you and Amy Dearborn were going to what would generally be referred to as the eight o’clock showing. Is that right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Is it?” Steve said. “Mr. Cunningham, do you recall a conversation I had with you prior to this trial, when I asked you what movie you were going to and you had no idea?”
“No, I don’t recall that at all.”
“As I recall the conversation, you stated that you were going to the Olympia theater all right, but you had no idea what was playing there. I pointed out to you that the only two choices were a eight o’clock showing of a romantic comedy, or a nine o’clock showing of a rap movie. Is it not true that it is only since that conversation that you made up this whole explanation of how the movie you going to started at eight o’clock, but with previews and everything it would have started at eight-ten, and that’s how you got out of the restaurant so late?”
Cunningham looked at Steve Winslow as if he couldn’t believe he was asking him that. “Absolutely not,” he said. “Why would I do such a thing?”
“I’ll tell you why,” Steve said. “Is it not a fact that while Amy Dearborn may have thought she was going to the movies, you never had any intention of doing that at all? Is it not a fact that the reason you didn’t know when the movie started was because you didn’t plan to go? Is it not a fact that after dinner, instead of going to the movies, you were going to take Amy Dearborn back to her apartment and try to get her to go to bed with you?”
“Why, you son of a bitch!” Cunningham exclaimed.
“Objection!” Dirkson shouted. “Incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial.”
“It is an impeaching question, Your Honor.”
Judge Wylie banged the gavel, silencing the attorneys and the rumble from the spectators in the courtroom. “The objection is overruled. Witness will answer.”
“Is that not a fact, Mr. Cunningham?”
“No, it is not a fact. And I object to the insinuation.”
“I’m sorry about that,” Steve Winslow said. “But these allegations come up, and they have to be aired. I would think you would welcome the opportunity to set the record straight.”
“On that score, I do,” Cunningham said. “And I may say there was absolutely no truth to that allegation. We were going to the movies.”
“It was always your intention to go to the movies?”
“That’s right.”
“And the only reason you didn’t go was because you got a phone call from a client summoning you to work?”
“That’s right.”
“Well, that’s not quite right,” Steve said. “I phrased the question incorrectly. You didn’t get a phone call. You got a message on your answering machine, isn’t that right?”
“Yes, it is.”
“You called your answering machine, got a message from a client asking you to meet him that night?”
“That’s right.”
“You made this call to your answering machine at a little before eight o’clock on the night of the murder?”
“That’s right.”
“Is that so? Mr. Cunningham, do you have call-forwarding?”
There was a pause. Cunningham, who had been snapping out the answers to the questions, choked on that one.
Dirkson filled the void. “Objection, Your Honor. Incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial.”
Judge Wylie, looking at the expression of the witness, rather reluctantly said, “Objection sustained.”
“I’ll withdraw that question and ask another. Mr. Cunningham, whatever you might say to the contrary, was it not your intention that evening to go back to the defendant’s apartment? Is it not true that for that reason you set call-forwarding on your phone to transfer your calls to hers? Is it not true that when you called from the restaurant to get your messages, you didn’t call your answering machine, you called hers? Because your messages had been transferred there?
“Only there wasn’t any message for you on the answering machine, was there? The message you heard was for her. It was a message from Frank Fletcher, your hated rival, asking her to come down to the office. It was an arrogant, obnoxious message, implying a past relationship. When you heard it, you were outraged. But you hid it well. You went back to your table, told Amy a business matter had come up and you would have to leave.
“Only it wasn’t at eight o’clock. You left the restaurant at seven-thirty, as Amy Dearborn has always maintained. She went home, and you went straight down to the office, found Frank Fletcher and shot him dead.