Compelling Evidence (39 page)

that person was not in the car when you looked out the and saw it?" 7@"

right." 1k all very neat. Nelson is working on broad inferences, lover were lying in wait at the house, that Ben t they.did him with the little handgun and took the body to the office. All circumstantial, but the isis jury might use to reach mind‐bending conclusions. "Your witness."

"Mrs. Foster, do you know for a fact that the saw parked in the driveway of the Potter *fte Potter's car?"

"Oh yes, it was his car. I know that car very well. many times."

She is wrinkled and age‐spotted, but a pleasant ,w i i W, occasionally at Talia, so one would think that to appearance here is some good, neighborly deed. I of witness who can hurt you with a jury, the kind vill or even remote personal agenda. "Your Honor, may I approach the witness?"

Acosta waves me on. U4, I drop an envelope on Nelson's table and carry

.1 witness box, where I pull out three photographs. "Mrs. Foster, I have three pictures here of vehicles, color, late‐model cars. Can you look at these and tell them is Mr. Potter's car, the car you saw that his driveway?"

She looks at them, studying them top to bottom, glasses that hang from a gold chain around her heck. these photos like it is some multiple‐choice 4*iiofw@@T, first one aside, then another, picking up the first one to exclude at least one of the distractors to give rem I between the other two. "Your Honor, I object to this." Nelson can see i#". trouble. "Mrs.

Foster is not an expert on car 4M she saw Mr. Potter's car in the driveway that sii4@, vehicle she has seen many times and would '4rr Now defense counsel is trying to confuse her."

"Your Honor, I just want to know if she can @(M T Acosta is looking at me over the top of his

"Get on with it," he says. "Mrs. Foster, can you tell me if any of the cars in 04k4' looks like the car you saw at the Potter residence I. "This one looks a little familiar," she says. "Is that the car?" I ask her. She's looking at me, searchingly, pleading as hint. "They all look so much alike," she says. : s can do that," I tell her. "Both in pictures and in drivethink this is it," she says. Wn it over and read the number on the back. IT Honor, let the record reflect that the witness has identitoyota Cressida ownedby my secretary." I then back to the witness. "She will be happy, Mrs. Foster." lu old lady looks at me. lv@y secretary, to know that she drives a car that looks like T"

M.;:. it may keep her from putting the touch on me for a jv@,;io are smiles, a little laughter in the jury box. lv,iv, Foster shrugs her shoulders, a good‐natured gesture, like

"TTIL the best that she could.

V& has been less than forthright on this, shooting all of the .On4@ to avoid the give‐away grill on Ben's car. ;66"Mqm.@ number three, Mrs.

Foster. That was Mr. Potter's car." she says. trained police officers have a hard time telling some cars I say, a little balm for a bruised ego. Nelson doesn't object. seems to accept this with good grace. f back at the counsel table now. "Mrs. Foster, I think you @:Ty. that the night that you saw this vehicle, whatever it was, 'i * " t., you never actually saw Mr. Potter, in the vehicle I fit, is that correctt' that's right!, you see him around the outside of the house or in the through any of the windows?" y d ' know whether Mr. Potter was actually at home ou on t or not)" car was there," she says. car that looked like his was there." I correct her. 4;5liall say so." She makes a face. The path to old age, I think, be like Mrs. Foster, obdurate and unbending.

L'*,"t.h,u,.ik h` t 0 is i' ver" IHON @r, g Is 0, you see I&‐ml you never actually saw Mr. Pottert' I j6r"@ " *','r‐ you see Mrs. Potter that evening about the time that you .4o'@, car in the driveway?" ,41C'

she says. "Her car wasn't there." To the witness, it seems, of a vehicle is more than a sign of status, it is the sole of existence. "So you never actually saw either Mr. or Mrs. around the Potter residence on the night in question

"No. "Did you hear anything unusual that night, any sz&'. ‐from the Potter residence?"

"No."

She shakes her head. Is

"No sharp sounds like firecrackers, or a car

MWIT "M "I didn't hear a shot if that's what you mean."

"That's what I mean, Nfis. Foster." This lady is 114X t as she looks.

"This car that was parked in the driveway of the dence, did you notice what time it leftt' "I looked out about mine. It was gone," she says.

"But you didn't see who drove it away?"

"No. "Nothing further, Your Honor."

"Redirect?"

"Just a couple, Your Honor." Nelson is on his the witness. "Mrs. Foster, how far is it between your house w,# residence, approximately?"

She looks at him like this is the same as apart. "Let me see if I can make this easier on you. V_ for a moment. "You've seen a tennis court, from ‐0141, othert' She nods. "Good. How many tennis courts could be laid ‐1 0 11 between your house and the Potter residence?"

She mulls this over for a long time before

"Three, maybe four," she

says. "So it's a considerable distance between your are not suburban homes on postage‐stamp lots?"

"Oh no," she says. "It's a good walk to your st4vj@ "So if someone fired a small handgun, inside 17‐1 residence, it's not inconceivable that you might not

"Objection, calls for speculation."

"Sustained."

She shrugs but doesn't really answer the on. "I suppose you were watching television on the Mr. Potter's car in the driveway." : objection, leading. The question also assumes facts not in FIR that the vehicle observed by the witness was in fact dle victim's car."

,sustained."

"Fine" says Nelson. "Mrs. Foster, were you watching telejj‐ @n the night in question, when you saw the car in the T, ‐I don't watch television,"

she says. ‐,What were you doing that evening?"

"Playing with my cats," she says. "I have six cats." ‐Ah Nelson is nodding his head like he understands this, an 13MIL, and her cats. But it gets him no closer to where he wants the inference that if Talia fired a bazooka at Ben inside their Mrs. Foster wouldn't have heard it.

@tt,L "But it's possible," he says, "that if a shot was fired in that

.1% im you might not have heard itt' He finally does it head‐on. calls for speculation on the part of the witness. 1:9@sm`yss‐lhh‐e didn't hear a shot. The jury can form its own , " I say. @1 ,‐@ie @ Coconut is making faces like he might actually allow the ".w to venture a guess on this. 11)w, Foster is pursing her lips, about to respond. "If a tree falls in the forest, but there is no one there to bear it, 47 M, make a sound?" I ask. "lwv‐im@, me," says Acosta. % 4, an ancient conundrum of logic, Your Honor. Counsel may

"M ask the witness that one while he's at

it. Philosophers have speculating about it without an answer for five thousand say..7‐57P is bristling at my sarcasm. But it achieves its point. The is now thoroughly confused. I think she would rather look i)(ii., of cars again. ,?‐ml. objection is overruled. The witness may answer the quesm Foster looks at Nelson, not sure, what the question is is smiling. Acosta has driven one more spike into me 11ashed him a big green light. e!t@@ Foster, is it possible that if a gunshot was fired in the @ ,I residence, you might not have been able to hear it?" .‐'"Aooks at me, wondering if trees and forests will be next. M, ‐ know," she says. With just dime words she destroys this bone ,v4C fighting over.

"There," I say. "She doesn't know."

Acosta gives me a look that could kill. We break for lunch. When we return, Acosta has Eli from the little celebrity room at the jail and back in ‐%; Walker hasn't shaved in three days. He has stains Cif, of his suit pants that look remarkably like the man is ir. tinent. There's a palsy to his hands and a wild look in all it is a pathetic sight. I feel more sympathy here 17"KF have imagined, particularly given Walker's part in Ale, Nelson and Meeks are poised like vultures on a in the comer waiting for Walker to hand over his has his note pad out as if to take the name of 1*;41 and distant subaltern, some buried bureaucrat who he 17 Walker's fountain of knowledge for the column at to as Talia's lover.

"Have you had anything to eat, Mr. Walkert' Acosta seems genuinely concerned by the ow, 7. prisoner. It would not do to have a member of die die in his custody. Those who appoint and elevatc,*LIL, be asking some probing questions. "I'm not hungry," says Walker. His eyes seem to looking for anything that might remotely and glasses. But in chambers at least, the Coconut appearances of a teetotaler. Walker's lawyer makes a pitch to have a client before he goes back to jail. "Back to jail?"

Walker says this like "fat chance.,' few obscenities, all directed at Walker's lawyer jail," he says. "You try it for a while and tell me I With each word Eli's spitting on his attorney, a ii‐iw saliva. Walker looks at the judge. "Can I have a piece of, th 6r 7pen')' he says.

Acosta obliges. Walker's hand is shaking so badly he has to with both hands, a little chicken scratch on the Acosta has given him. "You won't tell anybody where you got this?"

Acosta smiles. "Mum's the word," he says. lawyer is upset, concerned that his client doesn't underf 40@,@ the implications of what he's doing. r'j, Walker, there's the potential for liability here," he says.

11411‐ gave assurances of confidentiality to your source, and if ;Ty reveal that source, and the person suffers some penalty, i)L Or loss of employment, you could be held liable for damages."

VA, is an uncertain point of law, but a possibility, something cutting edge of appellate decisions in this state. @n.w gives him a look, as if to say

"If the source wanted he should have brought me a drink in the can." rk, the little scrap of paper in two and pushes it across the the Coconut. i,., looks at it, then passes it to Nelson. Meeks looks, but

@N% take a note. It is clear that Harry and I are not to know Walker's source is. Walker, I'm very concerned about you." Acosta is falling ;"v him now, not anxious to have him go back to his colout in the hall looking like this. He calls his bailiff and instructions that the marshal is to take Walker to the '779 Mirm mm: and buy him anything he wants, to eat or drink, '@7@ it on the court's tab. He hands the bailiff the county blue I'f:1 plastic credit card accepted by merchants and innkeepers throwing distance of the courthouse. points the two of them toward the back door. "Then fl'li( home so he can clean up," he says.

"And don't let him 116"M until he does." This last is whispered to the marshal, could even care. The county's about to get a bar tab to S&L

bail‐out. 7P@ turns to Nelson. 17Fil‐M that?" The judge is pointing to the note in Meeks's @1M:o care of it," says Meeks. Walker's source, it seems, is J;A, become toast. :

CHAPTER 21.

the afternoon Nelson calls his

final witness, Tony Sk e've done battle over this during our motions in liminea,rpbeelflorse trial began. Harry and I moved the court to bar Skarpellos frmoem, the employment of Cheetarn and his hand in hiring ngs, h0imgroiundasctohnaflticts Original association with TWIA,s of inter‐est. before my present legal leprosy, Acosta rejected this t. e ught Nelson's contention that the Greek was 0 counsel in the case, and that while he may have acted DIJ le in financing the early phases of her defense, Tony not privy to any confidences with Talia, and therefore not by the attorney‐client privilege. This may provide a little for appeal if we lose. e done one other thing to blind Tony in this case. Among Ils on my list of witnesses I have placed the name of R Ony's gofer in the firm‐This has kept Brown out of t0hen , sequestered like the other witnesses. He is unable to and listen, as the eyes and ears of the Greek, and shuttle ts Of witness testimony to Skarpellos, to allow the Greek his testimony accordingly. The other young lawyers firm are not likely to humor Tony with such duty; their to practice are too dear. the Greek is full of bluster and vinegar, a cock on the a thousand‐dollar gray pinstripe. He doesn't do well in t Tony could always dress the part. He swaggers down r aisle and to the stand, where he is sworn. S

fill me with a stare until he's in the box, seared. karpeen'hoes nods to Nelson, a little greeting, like he's ready to Mrt Tony's broad features seem magnified in this *ok and demeanor to match his ego. Nelson waltzes him through his early days with he came to meet Ben, and how they formed a fast prospering partnership. To listen to Tony, it was 111F good cheer, two legal giants taking the high road to mentions Potter's imminent appointment to the M. Greek is working up a little fame‐by‐association the theme being that Ben couldn't have done it Against this background Nelson is laying the il#@ his pitch with the Greek, that here is a man *IWOTIS7@; W, by the victim, a man to whom Benjamin Potter ‐broisi‐M,* private thoughts and actions. He wastes no time getting to the heart of it. "You were interviewed by the police twice gation, is that correct?"

"Right," says Tony. "Once about a week after the murder and the *NS: recently, when you called the police and told them you had forgotten about?"

"That's correct."

Nelson unfortunately has benefited from 7 my office, a necessary price I pay for the big fact that Skarpellos can't testify with certainty aware of the stated plans for divorce by Ben. A motive. Nelson is shoring up some of the weak spots. : rz'k@ nient memory until just before trial, when he *11 M lay on them this revelation, Ben's impending an innocent oversight. "During that second interview by the police ... , Z for the date and pins it down. "You told them I;r`@@ Benjamin Potter, had a private conversation with tell the court the substance of that conversationt AK, "Objection, Your Honor, hearsay." Harry is on decided that Harry will do Skarpellos here and Greek is less likely to ignite with Harry. I will r7 I when we recall him in our own case for Talia.

"Exception," says Nelson, "state of mind."

Harry's shaking his head at this. "Under the Your Honor, they are one and the same."

Acosta waves them on to approach the bench, off to the side, M from the Iwitness. There's a lot of verbal dueling here, Harry Ow, Nelson. t@, leans over toward me. "This is a total lie," she says. "Ben ,7; said anything about divorce." This is loud enough for the hear, but the judge is occupied with Nelson and Harry. is giving us dirty looks from the other table. It is as close as Talia will get in this case. ILILTIL are still going at it at the bench. The issue is whether this 7hjlsa. the Greek's recollections of what Ben told him outside courtroom, is indeed hearsay, or whether it is subject to one the myriad exceptions to the hearsay rule. In fact Nelson's is that it doesn't fall within the rule.