CUTTING ROOM -THE- (27 page)

She smiled. ‘You sound exhausted.'

‘I want to see you, Counselor,' he said quietly. ‘I do. I need to. Turn the car around.'

‘Okay,' she answered.

It's a stupid, dumb fling. You're acting out.

You miss him today, but tomorrow is another day …

She shook her head at that last thought.
You miss him today. A lot. You miss him every day. There's no reason why. There's no planning around it. There's no getting out of it, Daria. It is what it is.

Although she was already at Hollywood Boulevard, a few miles from her own exit, she got off and turned around.

Just as he had asked.

The second she saw Justice Joe's face at the defense table, Daria knew something was up. Then his head turned red and he opened his large mouth and started bitching on high volume and she knew she was screwed.

‘This woman looks almost identical to Holly Skole, down to her hair color, body type. Jesus, even their underwear matches, Judge!' he barked. Once again, the well-heeled Anne-Claire Simmons sat quietly beside him at the defense table. ‘And there are others. There's no doubt the state's holding back on us; this is Brady material and a clear discovery violation and Ms DeBianchi damn well knows it!'

Daria stared at the wood grain that ran through the state's podium, biting the inside of her cheeks to keep her mouth from popping open like a broken trunk. So much for a routine status report. She'd been blindsided. Joe Varlack knew about the video and apparently so much more.

‘And the method of torture inflicted on the female in the video is almost identical to how the state describes Holly Skole as being brutalized: household cleaners, bondage, S&M. Coincidence? I don't think so. And neither does the state, which is why they've spent a lot of time investigating the murder of this other woman and developing suspects in that case. In every way these two victims match, down to the manner of their deaths.'

‘You seem to know an awful lot about a video you supposedly didn't know anything about, Mr Varlack,' Judge Becker remarked, frowning. ‘State?'

‘Judge, I thought this was on for report and to set a possible trial date.' Daria tried to collect herself. ‘This is the first I am hearing from Mr Varlack of a Brady violation, so I'm not really prepared to respond. I think Counsel should file a written motion—'

‘Nonsense. We're all here,' interrupted the judge with a shake of her head.

‘State knows exactly what video I'm talking about. And she knows what other suspects I'm talking about, too. We also believe the state has identified additional victims of this same murderer. That changes the game quite a bit, Judge. And considering the case against Talbot is purely circumstantial, it casts even more doubt on his guilt. The defense is entitled to a copy of the video, the names of the victims who have been identified, and the names of any suspects. I find it absolutely incredible that all this time the state has been sitting on information that could very well exculpate Talbot. Incredible, unethical, outrageous! All while Talbot languishes in a jail cell, denied bond!'

‘State? Is there such a video?' asked Judge Becker.

Daria blew out a low breath. Uh-oh. ‘Yes, Your Honor. However, as this video was given to me by the defendant's mother, Abigail Lunders, I assumed that she'd also given it to her son's lawyer. I'm not sure what kind of games the defense is playing. They've known about the video's existence as long as the state has.'

The judge shook her head again. She was mad. ‘Have you identified the victim on that video, State?'

‘Her name is Gabriella Vechio. It's a murder out of New York that happened five years ago.'

‘Still unsolved, I assume?'

‘Correct.'

‘Hmmm … a five-year-old homicide out of New York doesn't sound related to Ms Skole's murder, on the face of it. Let me ask you, Ms DeBianchi: is Gabriella Vechio's murder investigation related to the murder of Holly Skole?'

‘Mr Lunders is not a suspect in Ms Vechio's murder,' Daria answered. That much was true. She prayed the judge would stop with her questions — she was walking a fine line of semantics. Rephrase the same exact question, ask it again and the judge would hold her in contempt for lying. Or, rather, for not telling the whole truth.

Judge Becker sighed like she was tired of talking to toddlers. ‘Are the two cases related — scratch that. Let me see for myself. Where's this video? And I want the police reports regarding this Vechio girl's death. Ms DeBianchi, you acknowledge being in possession of the video. I want to see it.' The judge stood up. ‘I'm going back into chambers. Bring it to me along with the reports and I'll take a look and decide right now if this is Brady material. The rest of my calendar can wait till we sort this out.'

‘There's more, Judge.' Varlack walked across the aisle and handed Daria a thick packet. ‘I'm filing a motion to suppress the search of Abby Lunders's vehicle.'

‘What?' Daria replied with disbelief. ‘That search was conducted pursuant to a warrant.'

‘A warrant that was based on the statements of a witness who is now unavailable,' he said. ‘Your Honor, Marie Modic provided information to Detective Alvarez that led him to obtain a search warrant. Without her statements, law enforcement would never have located the vehicle and hence my client would never have been arrested. We can't find her, Your Honor. I've been trying to depose her, but she's gone AWOL. No one knows where she is. Without her, the warrant fails.'

And if the warrant was out, everything inside the Benz was out, too. No lipstick, no DNA, no hair, no fingerprints, no fibers. And that meant Daria wouldn't be able to prove Holly Skole had ever been in the car, which meant she could ultimately never prove she'd left the club with Lunders. No car meant no conviction. The day could not get any shittier.

‘Okay, so make a Motion to Compel her appearance, but the remedy is not suppression of the warrant,' Daria shot back. ‘Your Honor, Ms Modic only served a limited purpose in Detective Alvarez's obtaining the warrant. And I am not conceding she's unavailable.' Although the Investigations Unit at the State Attorney's had been looking for her for a couple of weeks, there was no reason to think she'd completely skipped town. Witnesses had lives that went on independent of a criminal case — sometimes all you had to do was look harder.

‘Okay, everyone: I'm not hearing that motion today. The state will need time to respond, and in the meantime, hopefully produce this witness. Althea, give them a date on that. Your motion to suppress, or compel, or whatever, is the least of the state's problems at this moment, Mr Varlack,' the judge announced as she stepped off the bench and headed toward the door that led to the hallway and her chambers. ‘Right now, I want to see that video.'

The blue flash drive dangled from the neck cord the judge held in her manicured fist. With her elbows resting on the bench, she slowly swung it back and forth in front of her face, like a pendulum.

‘I don't know what kind of game you think you're playing, State. The fact that
this
video was anonymously sent to the defendant's mother on the eve of her son's bond hearing raises eyebrows right out of the gate. At least for me it does. If it hadn't caused the same reaction for you, Ms DeBianchi, I guess that would be one thing. If you'd shrugged your shoulders and moved on to the next matter on your desk, I guess I'd be sitting here questioning your indifference. You are, I suppose, under no obligation to investigate the source of the video, or find out who the girl was or what became of her.' The judge paused for a long moment. ‘But you did. And you discovered that she, too, was not a consensual partner in an S&M tape, but rather the victim of a brutal murder that had occurred under circumstances alarmingly similar to your own case, albeit in a different jurisdiction.

‘I don't know if a jury's ever going to get to see this video. I don't know what kind of a defense Mr Varlack will be raising, although I'm pretty sure I see it coming. But at the very least, Mr Varlack had a right to be informed of the video's existence, had a right to see the video, and had a right to know the name of the victim so identified in it. As the crimes do appear similar, he also has the right to know the names of any suspects the police have identified in Ms Vechio's murder, including those developed by the authorities in New York, as well as any possible victims from other jurisdictions that have been identified, as this may lead him to develop another theory of his case. If it turns out that someone
other
than Mr Lunders committed those murders — murders that do appear, as I just said, alarmingly identical to Ms Skole's murder —
that
is information that might very well exculpate the defendant. What is the most disappointing factor in all this is that you are a smart woman, Ms DeBianchi, and you knew you had to turn it over, but you didn't.'

‘Judge—' Daria started.

‘You didn't. That being said, Mr Varlack, you can't just sit on something that you had in your possession till the last minute so you can scream you've been done wrong, hoping to engage my ire. Your client's mother had the video. She has a copy in her possession, I'm sure. You've obviously seen the video; according to Ms DeBianchi, Abigail Lunders said she'd shown it to you the morning of the Arthur Hearing. So yes, you are entitled to the information that the state has derived from investigating the video, but you are culpably negligent. The state, remiss as it is, is not legally obligated to hand you your defense. I suggest you put some of those well-paid investigators of yours to work and engage in some defense work yourself.

‘Give him the names, Ms DeBianchi,' the judge finished with a sigh. ‘Give him the police reports. Give him the video. And I don't want to hear so much as a whisper of a rumor that you are withholding evidence, or I'll be the first to file a bar complaint. No conviction is ever worth your character.'

Varlack smelled opportunity. ‘Your Honor, I'd like to revisit bond. You said that was possible if there was new evidence that came to light. I think this surely qualifies.'

‘Yes, Mr Varlack, I did say that,' the judge replied.

‘Mr Lunders needs to be able to assist in his defense. He doesn't have a criminal history, not even a traffic ticket. He'd be willing to surrender his passport, commit to an ankle bracelet. And, of course, post a substantial bond.'

‘Of course,' replied Becker, nodding.

‘Your Honor, Judge Steyn heard all this—' Daria protested.

But the judge waved her off with a fire-red claw. ‘Perhaps this will prove as incentive for you to be completely forthcoming with the court and opposing counsel in the future. You're lucky this isn't happening during trial or post-conviction, because you'd be sitting in a jail cell. Bond is hereby granted in the amount of one hundred thousand dollars. In the event the defendant posts bond, he'll commit to a bracelet and be placed under house arrest pending trial. We're done for now.'

The judge swooped off the bench before anyone could utter another word, her black robe billowing in a puff behind her as she quickly strode out the door to her chambers. It slammed shut.

Daria stood at the state's table, completely stunned. Bond was in the discretion of the trial judge, so there was nothing to appeal. She just had to deal with it.

Talbot Lunders was now out of custody. A free man.

And it was all her fault.

‘Patricia Susanna Graber was a victim on one of Reinaldo Lepidus's cases back when he was a defense attorney in '97,' Mike Dickerson was saying, peering at Manny over his thick glasses from his favorite perch on Manny's desk: one butt cheek on, one off.

Manny leaned forward in his chair. ‘Go on.'

‘The crime was a home invasion. The defendants were two career criminals from Miami, a Lazaro Nefaris and a Ricky Reeder. According to court documents, they were supposed to hit the house next door and rob it — the one with the meth lab in the kitchen — but they accidentally went to the neighbor's instead. The home of Joel and Emily Nachwalter.

‘Unfortunately for Ms Graber, she picked that very night to pay her aunt and uncle a visit. Talk about wrong place, wrong time. Everyone in the house was tied up and pistol-whipped, and twenty-three-year-old Patty was fondled while the two Neanderthals trashed the house looking for the drug money that was being counted next door. Nefaris, the Neanderthal with a conscience, apparently realized they were racking up the felonies and pulled Reeder out before it got any uglier. Prints led BSO detectives to Nefaris, and Patty Graber's subsequent ID on both of them put the nails in their coffins. Nefaris flipped and got twenty; Reeder went to trial. Patty testified against him, and the judge gave him life.'

‘Where are they now?'

‘Nefaris got out in 2009, and died of AIDS four months later. Reeder's still in Union Correctional.'

‘And Patty Graber?'

‘Her body was found in a dumpster behind a construction site in Parkland in '99. She'd been raped and strangled.' Mike tossed a crime-scene picture across the desk. ‘No arrests ever made. No suspects identified. They did check to see if there was any connection to Reeder or Nefaris, but nothing. Both boys were still in jail.'

‘Mikey, I take back everything I ever thought about you that wasn't nice. How'd you find this shit?' Manny asked.

‘A records check and manual review, since cases are not linked by computer to victim or witness names, only to defendants. I also ran both a newspaper search and a Google search with the name Pat Graber, but that wasn't so helpful, as you can imagine. I got, like, ninety-five thousand hits on my first search. It wasn't easy, which is why it took me a few weeks. Good thing this was one of Lepidus's cases from his early years in practice, or I'd still be sitting in the clerk's office going through shit, where I've been eight hours a day for the past month. My wife thinks I'm having an affair.'