Witness for the Defense (24 page)

Bragg scanned the jury. They were watching him intently. He turned back to McBean, who was ready to strike the deadly blow. “What was found inside of Mr. Reineer’s 1956 Chevrolet after it was impounded?”

McBean made a disgusted face. “Filthy clothing, books, personal items,” he said and blew air from his mouth, “a lot of junk.”

“Junk?” Bragg queried. “Could you be any more specific?”

I knew where Bragg was going. He had to lay a foundation, not only for the discovery of the Gummy Bears but also to establish that there was so much stuff in the car that Jared probably wouldn’t have noticed that Danny had dropped the candy there.

“Military records, photographs, various receipts, miscellaneous paperwork from the Veterans Administration, empty can of shaving cream, used rolls of toilet paper and,” McBean said with a crooked half smile, “and a bottle of Obsession perfume.”

“Women’s perfume?” Bragg said in a mocking tone.

Bragg wanted the jury to think that Jared had some unusual sexual tendencies. That way it would be much easier for them to believe Jared preferred young boys.

“Objection,” I said, rising from my chair. “How is listing every item found inside that car relevant?”

“Mr. Bragg, how much further are you going with this?” Priest asked.

“I believe the jury should understand the true condition of the interior of that car.”

“But why is it necessary to go into such detail?”

“To show why an item of evidence that Lieutenant McBean has not yet discussed may have gone unnoticed by the defendant. It was because of—”

“Your Honor, if Mr. Bragg intends to argue any further, I believe we should approach sidebar.”

All judges hate sidebar conferences and the time they take. By the frown on Priest’s face I could see she was no different.

“Sit down, Mr. Dobbs,” Priest said and turned to Bragg. “Proceed.”

With a satisfied expression, the D.A. turned back to his witness. “I believe, Lieutenant,” Bragg said, “we were discussing the perfume you found.”

“Mr. Bragg, enough,” Priest barked. “I’m sustaining Mr. Dobbs’s objection.”

“Then I would have to agree with Mr. Dobbs. Let’s approach sidebar?”

“Stop right there,” she growled. Priest then scooted her chair closer to the witness stand and leaned toward McBean. “Are you saying you found many miscellaneous items in that car?”

McBean hesitated, and I smiled. The judge wasn’t in the script that he and Bragg had rehearsed.

“Yes,” McBean finally replied.

“There was a lot of what I believe you referred to earlier as junk?”

“And trash,” McBean added.

“So it would be fair to say that the interior of the car was, for lack of a better term,” she said and paused, flickering a smile, “one hell of a big mess.”

There was rustling and laughter from the area where the reporters were sitting. Priest spun on them and scowled. Without a word the courtroom silenced.

“Well, Lieutenant, did you hear my question?”

“Sure did,” he answered eagerly, “the inside of that car was one hell of a big mess.”

“Thank you,” Priest said and turned to Bragg. “Now get to the point, Counselor.”

Bragg walked closer, stopping a few feet in front of McBean. “Were you present when Danny Barton testified that he had a package of Gummy Bears with him the night he was abducted?”

“I was.”

“Then tell me, Lieutenant,” Bragg said, and paused to check the jury to make sure they were paying attention, “during your search of the defendant’s 1956 Chevrolet, did you recover anything similar to the package of Gummy Bears that Danny Barton described?”

“Not similar,” McBean scoffed. “We found exactly what that poor boy said he was in possession of. An unopened package of Gummy Bears on the passenger-side front seat.”

Bragg hesitated, milking it for all it was worth. “You found an identical Gummy Bear package in the front seat of the defendant’s car?”

“That’s correct.”

“And what did you do with that package?”

“Gave it to the scientific lab for fingerprint analysis.”

“The same package that Mr. Stamps testified he found Danny Barton’s fingerprints on?”

“The same.”

“Your witness, Counsel,” Bragg said to me. “I have nothing further.”

Standing in front of the witness stand, I dug deep into my pant’s pocket. After making a show of it, I pulled out a handful of change. One by one, I selected a coin and slapped it on the counter in front of McBean. “There,” I said and thumb-flipped the last coin in the air, which he stabbed before it hit his face. “I believe that’s one dollar and sixty-five cents.”

McBean shrugged his shoulders. “So what?”

I slid the coins closer. “That’s the exact amount you owe me.”

“What are you talking about?”

The jury was on the edge of their seats waiting to see what I was up to.

“Isn’t one dollar and sixty-five cents the exact amount that a package of Gummy Bears cost?”

McBean shifted nervously in his chair. The corner of his eye twitched.

“You did get an identical package of Gummy Bears from the cashier the day after Danny was attacked, didn’t you?”

McBean’s voice fell. “I’m not positive it was the following day.”

“But you did get it, correct?”

McBean paused, studying me intently. He knew I wouldn’t be asking this question if I couldn’t prove it. “Yes,” he finally said.

“And you obtained it before you sent a package of Gummy Bears to your scientific bureau for fingerprint analysis?”

“I’m not sure of the exact time.”

“Do you want to refresh your memory by referring to the report?” I said, waving it in the air.

McBean’s eyes flashed with impatience. “That’s not necessary,” he said. “I recall getting it from the cashier before I sent the wrapper to the lab.”

From the corner of his eyes, McBean must have seen the jury studying him. He raised an eyebrow. “If you’re implying the package I obtained from the cashier is the one I gave to the lab, then how do you explain the boy’s fingerprints on it?”

“Why don’t you tell us?”

McBean’s face flushed with anger. He was grabbing the arms of his chair so tightly, I could see the whites of his knuckles. “I don’t think you should be allowed to imply that the wrapper was planted without proof.”

Priest slammed her gavel. “You know better than that, Lieutenant.”

McBean shook his head violently. “Your Honor, it’s just that he can’t prove any of it. He shouldn’t be allowed to accuse me like this.”

“No one is accusing you,” Priest said.

I had to put a stop to what the judge was doing. I had McBean where I wanted him. He was losing his cool. Who knew what he’d do or say next?

“That’s not correct! I am accusing him.”

“And I’ll ask you again,” McBean spat, “explain how the kid’s fingerprints could have gotten on that package if it was planted.”

“No more!” Priest slammed her gavel again. This time it hit to the side of her bench closest to the witness stand. McBean flinched as it missed his head by only a few inches. “I want to see both counsel and the lieutenant in my chambers.”

Priest lectured the three of us through the lunch hour. Somehow the judge was aware that McBean and I had many past differences. She made it clear she wouldn’t allow either of us to use her courtroom as a forum to slug it out. I walked out of her chambers sure she wouldn’t hesitate to hold any of us in contempt—including Bragg, whether or not he was the county’s head D.A.

When I returned to the courtroom, I noticed that Sarah and Avery’s chairs were still empty. I was scanning the room to make sure there was no sign of either when my gaze was snagged by Otto Cosgrove’s. He had been in the same seat ever since jury selection began—the one directly behind Bragg and next to Danny Barton’s mother.

Cosgrove had always made it a point to give me a murderous look whenever our eyes met. But rather than upsetting me, I felt sorry for the man. He honestly believed Jared was responsible for his son’s disappearance and this trial was his only hope that the person responsible would be punished. I could only hope by the time the trial was over, Cosgrove—like everyone else—would realize that Jared was a victim, too. The victim of a sly cop’s unlawful act.

When Priest entered, I abruptly stood to resume my cross. Turning from the witness stand, I saw Sarah walking down the center aisle toward me. I could tell she wasn’t happy.

“May I have a moment?” I said and the judge nodded.

“Still no word?” I whispered.

Sarah shook her head. “I’m really worried. I’ve called everyone.”

I gently squeezed Sarah’s shoulder. “I’m sure he’s all right.”

Priest tapped her watch. A signal for me to get moving.

Rapidly I switched gears. I walked to a spot directly in front of McBean. He appeared cool as he pulled his chair forward and adjusted the mike, waiting for me to begin.

“When we stopped, Lieutenant, I believe we were discussing the package of Gummy Bears you obtained from a clerk at Sav-on the day after Danny was attacked?”

“That’s correct,” he responded evenly.

“Do you recall the clerk’s name?”

“I really don’t,” he said and pointed to his file located on the counter in front of him. “I better refresh my memory.”

McBean thumbed through several pages before he settled on one. After reading it quickly, he closed the file. “Her name is Carol Sealy,” he said. “I interviewed her to see if she remembered the boy.”

I placed my hands on the counter in front of him. “Where is the package of Gummy Bears that she gave you?”

“I really can’t answer that.”

“You can’t or you won’t?”

McBean gave me a disgusted look, then waved his hand like I was some pesky fly. “It’s nothing like that,” he said. “It’s just that I don’t recall what I did with that package.”

His confident and cavalier attitude was definitely getting to me. I halted to compose myself.

“You know those vultures in the detective bureau are always looking for something to munch on,” he added as an afterthought. Chuckling, he turned to the jury. “Cops don’t just eat donuts, you know.”

There was the sound of suppressed laughter from the gallery. That’s all I needed to set me off.

“You think all this is funny, Lieutenant.”

“No, but your stupid questions are.”

Not taking the time to grab her gavel, Priest slammed her fist so hard in front of her that everybody in the courtroom jumped. “I already warned the two of you.”

The judge had every reason to toss our butts in the can. And I wished she would have. Losing my cool was stupid. I had to remain calm, even if only outwardly.

I looked at Priest. “I apologize.”

Glaring, she took a deep breath and slumped back into her chair. “Move on, Counselor.”

“Lieutenant, have you tried to locate that package of Gummy Bears?”

“Until today, I had no reason to believe it was important.”

I walked to the clerk and obtained a plastic bag which contained the alleged Gummy Bears found in Jared’s car. I held the bag in front of McBean. “Are you sure that the Gummy Bear package in this bag is not the same one Carol Sealy gave you when you interviewed her at Sav-on?”

McBean grimaced and looked up at the judge, who was watching him closely. “I’m positive,” he said, shaking his head.

“Then clear something up for me,” I said, waving the plastic bag in front of him. “If Danny’s fingerprints are on this wrapper, why weren’t they found anywhere else inside the car?”

A smile returned to McBean’s face. “That’s simple. Your client wiped the car clean.”

“Let me get this straight, Lieutenant,” I scoffed, backing farther away to make sure everyone could see him. “You’re saying that my client had the foresight to wipe the inside of his car clean?”

“That’s correct.”

“Yet,” I said, scratching my head, “he left the Gummy Bears, which anybody with half a brain would know could connect him directly to Danny Barton, not only inside the car, but right in the middle of the front seat. Now, does that make sense to you?”

“Hey”—he chuckled—“if the damn crooks had any brains, we wouldn’t catch half of ‘em.”

“But you already said he would have had to wipe the interior of the car clean, correct?”

He crossed his arms. “That’s what I said.”

“And did a heck of a good job of it, didn’t he?”

“Except for the candy.”

“Ah yes, the candy.” I looked toward the heavens for an explanation. “Why would he be so dumb?”

McBean shrugged. “Like I said, the car was a mess. He probably never saw it.”

“Could it be that the real reason my client never saw the candy was because it was never there to begin with?”

McBean’s smile broadened. “Nonsense,” he said like I was some kind of fool.

I was worried. McBean had managed to regroup and had his temper under control. I didn’t know what the jury was thinking, but I couldn’t take a chance they were buying what he was selling. No matter how much I feared Priest’s wrath, I had to try to get under his skin again.

I walked slowly back to the witness stand and stopped directly in front of him. “My client never saw the wrapper, Lieutenant,” I said and leaned my face so close to his that I could feel the warmth of his breath, “because you are the one who placed the wrapper on the front seat”

McBean thrust his head back. “That’s ridiculous!”

“You put it there after he had been placed under arrest.”

McBean paused to look at Bragg, who was closely watching his investigating officer.

“Didn’t you?” I pushed.

McBean’s chest began to heave. His face turned a darker shade of red. I could tell he was just about to blow when one of the jurors, a heavy-set, balding man closest to the witness box, sneezed. McBean turned to him with a startled look and blinked once. It was as if he had forgotten the jury was there. He slowly scanned the remaining members, and a certain calm came over him.

“All of this, Mr. Dobbs,” he said in a controlled voice, “is nothing but a figment of your devious imagination. You defense attorneys are all alike. If you can’t explain away the incriminating evidence, then you accuse the cops of planting it.”

Out of the corner of my eye I could see the jury. Every eye was on me. McBean had managed to calm himself and in the process had turned the tables on me. Now I had nowhere else to go and he knew it. My only remaining hope was that Carol Sealy’s testimony would, at the very least, create a reasonable doubt that Danny’s fingerprints couldn’t have been on the wrapper because he was wearing gloves. It was a long shot, but it was all I had.