"So Stuart was an unconstrained citizen, free to go where he liked?"
"Technically."
"Not just technically, Inspector. Absolutely. He could have taken a plane to another country and not been disobeying any order of yours, isn't that true?"
Juhle took a while to answer. Finally, he got it out. "I suppose so."
"You suppose so. And do you also suppose, Inspector, that Stuart was fleeing when he eventually did hear about the arrest warrant?"
"I don't know about that."
"You don't?"
"But I assumed so. I went back to his house to pick him up on the warrant and found open and mostly empty dresser drawers and discovered half a box of ammunition out on his desk. I made the assumption he'd armed himself, which turned out to be true. He also snuck out of his house and didn't respond to calls to turn himself in when we did get the warrant."
"Ah yes, the famous 'armed and dangerous' we've heard so much about. Isn't it true, Inspector, that Stuart legally owned the weapon you recovered from him?"
"Yes. It was his gun."
"And when you broke into his room at the motel in San Mateo, did you see this gun?"
"It was on the end table next to his bed."
"In other words, in plain sight? In other words, it wasn't a concealed weapon, was it?" "Not at that time, no."
"To your knowledge, did he at any time carry it concealed on his person?"
"No."
"And you've just finished telling us that he had received repeated threats on his life. True?"
"Yes."
"All right. When you broke in, did he reach or lunge for the gun?"
"There were three men pointing guns at him, yelling, 'Don't move!' He didn't move."
"No, he didn't." Gina turned and quickly walked back to her table, ostensibly for a sip of water. In fact, she didn't want her aggressiveness to get the better of her and she needed a little time to frame her last few questions from this key witness. When she was back in her place, the calm tones of her voice came as a bit of a shock even to her. "Inspector Juhle, to recap. Stuart did not know he was a suspect in this event. There was no warrant issued for his arrest when he left the city to interview some people on his own in connection with this event…"
Behind her, she heard the scrape of Abrams' chair, and the objection. "Calls for a narrative, Your Honor, and assumes facts not in evidence."
Toynbee sustained the objection, as she knew he would, but at least she'd put the reason for Stuart's trip down the Peninsula into the judge's consciousness, and that had been her intention.
Juhle saw his one shot and took it. "And of course, he stole license plates from another car and put them on the truck he was driving."
This, Gina knew, had been just another flat-out mistake on Stuart's part. Of course, Stuart had correctly suspected that there'd be a warrant out for his arrest shortly, and had developed the strategy to avoid detection and identification. But she wasn't here to argue that point-Toynbee would have to factor it in and draw his own conclusion.
Gina pasted on a tolerant smile, kept any rise out of her voice. "Yes, he did, Inspector. Would it be fair to say that this case has attracted about as much media attention as any case in recent memory?"
"It has had some."
"Well, you know, don't you, Inspector, that the press has been hounding Stuart since the day of his wife's murder?" "I don't know about 'hounding.' "
"Well, how about following around with cameras and microphones in groups of five and six every time he walked out his front door? You know they've been doing that, Inspector, because you've seen it, and because we've complained about it to the Police Department."
"I'm aware you've made those allegations."
"Could it be, Inspector, that Stuart didn't want to have his truck followed by an aggressive pack of reporters who didn't leave him alone?" "Objection. Speculative."
"Well, Your Honor," Gina said. "Mr. Abrams wants you to draw one conclusion about this license-plate business, but I'd like to suggest that there is a far more sensible one obvious to anyone who knows the facts."
"What's sauce for the goose, Mr. Abrams. I'll let it in for what it's worth," Toynbee said. "Which once again, Ms. Roake, isn't much. Let's move on."
"Now lastly, Inspector, and still on the subject of Stuart's alleged flight to avoid arrest. Can you please tell the court how you came to learn of Stuart's presence at the Hollywood Motel in San Mateo?"
This was going to be bad, and Juhle knew it. "I traced a call made from a cell phone and made its location."
"And what was the nature of that call, Inspector?"
Juhle, hamstrung, couldn't bring himself to describe it. Behind Gina, she was aware that the entire courtroom was still, hanging on Juhle's response. But it wasn't forthcoming. After a long moment, Gina broke into the silence. "Isn't it true, Inspector," she asked in her gentlest voice, "that that call to you was made by Stuart Gorman's attorney, who had heard about the arrest warrant and wanted to arrange her client's surrender the next morning at ten o'clock? And that you agreed to accept such a surrender?"
Juhle's eyes kept flashing between Abrams and Gina. Finally, Judge Toynbee leaned over from the bench and addressed him directly. "We're going to need a yes or no, out loud, Inspector."
"All right, sorry, Your Honor." Juhle brought himself back to Gina. It still took him another few seconds until he finally mumbled it out, just audibly. "Yes. But you and I both know, Counselor, that a lawyer is supposed to surrender a wanted client immediately. And just because I told you I'd be around if your client decided to come in later didn't for a second mean that I was going to stop looking for him. This was a murder warrant, not an invitation to drop by the Hall of Justice."
Gina felt she could allow him the little rant. She ran through the notes she'd been balancing in her mind. Stuart's alleged consciousness of guilt was based on knowing that he was wanted and acting on that assumption by arming himself, carrying a concealed weapon, and his flight from prosecution. Satisfied that she'd touched all the bases, she now made a small bow to her witness. "Thank you, Inspector. No further questions."
The short recess was over almost before it had begun. Stuart didn't even leave the defense table, but asked Gina if he could borrow a pen and one of her yellow legal pads. When she got back from her bathroom break, he didn't look up immediately, but continued until he got to a good stopping place.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Writing a few notes. I got an idea."
"I'll take anything you've got."
"From where I'm sitting, you don't need any help. I'm almost starting to feel like we're going to beat this thing." He saw Gina try to hide the grimace. "You don't think so?"
"I hope so," Gina said. She half-turned to make sure no one was hovering near them, within listening distance behind the bar rail. Coming back to him, she spoke sotto voce. "I think we're all right up to now, but just about everything they've talked about so far, even Juhle, is just interpretation of facts, not the facts themselves."
"No. You beat him on that one."
"Not really, Stuart. Maybe I did get Toynbee to see another alternative and plausible explanation for the timing. And consciousness of guilt isn't flying too high either. That, unfortunately, leaves guilt itself. And that's where Bethany Robley comes in." But Gina didn't want to entirely deflate Stuart's newfound hopes. It was surely true that she'd stymied the prosecution's efforts up to now, and if Bethany Robley was like the other witnesses so far, then Gina might allow herself some hope about the results of this hearing, but not until then. Meanwhile, they had to get through Bethany. Gina put on a false face. "But I've got a plan that might do some good, so we'll see. Meanwhile"-she pointed to the legal pad in front of him-"what's your idea?"