Bear Bones

by Charles Cutter

  Well done.

  Burr wanted to object, but he couldn’t think of anything to object to, and for one of the few times in his life, he couldn’t think of anything to say.

  Brooks stood with his hands in his pockets while the courtroom buzzed. At last, Judge Fisher had enough. She slammed down her gavel and the courtroom quieted without her saying a word. She looked at the prosecutor. “Do you have anything further, Mr. Brooks?”

  “Yes, Your Honor.” Brooks turned his back to the jury. “The people of the State of Michigan ask you to find the defendant, Thomas Lockwood, guilty of first-degree murder.”

  Finally, a name.

  Brooks walked back his table and sat down. Judge Fisher looked over her glasses at Burr.

  “Mr. Lafayette.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  “Thank you, Your Honor.” Burr stood. As was his ritual, he pulled down his cuffs and straightened his tie.

  He walked up to the jury. He didn’t have much to say, but what he had to say was important. “Ladies and gentlemen, the fact that you have been chosen to serve on this jury shows in itself that Judge Fisher, Mr. Brooks and I have the highest regard for your judgment. Because it will be your judgment that determines Thomas Lockwood’s – Tommy’s – fate. As citizens, it is perhaps the greatest responsibility you will ever have.”

  Burr paused and looked at each juror.

  Then, “And to find Tommy guilty, you must find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.” Burr paused again. “Beyond a reasonable doubt. Mr. Brooks didn’t mention that, did he?” They shook their heads a collective no. “No, he didn’t.” Burr had them now. “Because to convict Tommy of killing his wife of twenty-three years, you can’t think he did it. You can’t think he probably did it. Or even that it’s likely he did it.” Burr looked down at his shoes, the tasseled oxblood loafers with tassels perennially in need of polishing, then back up at the jury. “You have to be sure beyond a reasonable doubt, which means you’re convinced. Absolutely positive.”

  Brooks bolted out of his chair. “Objection, Your Honor. That is not the definition of beyond a reasonable doubt.”

  “Sustained,” Judge Fisher said. “Mr. Lafayette, you know better than that.”

  Burr nodded at her.

  Of course, I do. I’m surprised Brooks let me get this far.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, you must be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt. And that means you must be sure Tommy is guilty. You must be convinced.”

  “Objection, Your Honor,” Brooks said.

  Burr turned to the judge. “Your Honor, that is the definition of reasonable doubt. As has been said over and over again. In court after court. Trial after trial.”

  “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, Mr. Lafayette is correct. Beyond a reasonable doubt means you are sure of the defendant’s guilt. You must be convinced.”

  “Thank you, Your Honor.” Burr turned back to the jury. “When this trial is over, when it’s all said and done, you won’t be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt.”

  Burr walked back to his table. He picked up a file he didn’t need and pretended to look at it. He wanted to give the jury a little time to think about reasonable doubt. He finished pretending, closed the file, walked back to the jury.

  “The prosecutor has a twisted and convoluted case. It’s held together with Scotch tape and paper clips. It’s held together this way because it doesn’t make any sense. He’s trying to push square facts into round holes. And it just doesn’t hold together.”

  Burr looked down at his shoes again. He didn’t want to overdo it, but his opening statement was going well so far. He looked up at them. “Helen Lockwood was murdered. Yes, she was.” Burr looked over at Tommy, who looked at the jury with a sad, sincere look on his face, just like they had practiced.

  Well done.

  “No one saw Tommy kill Helen. No one even saw Tommy on the boat the day she went missing. No one. There were no witnesses. Not a soul.” Burr paused again.

  This is going swimmingly.

  “It is true that Mrs. Lockwood was shot with a gun registered to Mr. Lockwood, but Helen often took the gun with her on her boat. In fact, Tommy insisted that she take it for her own protection. It’s also true that Tommy, the widower, decided to sell the orchards. But who wouldn’t? The orchards were their life, and it just wasn’t the same without Helen.

  “What could have happened? No one knows. None of us were there. My guess, though, is that Helen fought back. She was that kind of woman. She got her gun. They fought. The murderer took it from her and somehow she was shot.”

  Burr clapped his hands together. Everyone, every single soul in the courtroom, including Brooks, jumped. The courtroom erupted.

  Two can play that game.

  As before, Judge Fisher slammed down her gavel, louder than before.

  The courtroom quieted.

  Burr pointed at Brooks. “His case is all speculation and conjecture. It’s held together with Scotch tape and paper clips,” he said again.

  Brooks jumped to his feet. “Your Honor, defense counsel is lying. He’s making things up.”

  Judge Fisher looked down her nose at the prosecutor. “This is an opening statement, Mr. Brooks. As I told Mr. Lafayette, there is room for some theatrics. Let’s let the proofs tell the story.”

  That went nicely.

  Burr looked up and down the jury. “As I was saying, it’s really very simple. Helen Lockwood was murdered. But not by Tommy.”

  Except it wasn’t plain and simple. Burr knew it and he knew Brooks knew it. If the trial could end here, right here and now, he’d win. But it wasn’t that simple, and Brooks was too good a lawyer to let him win this easily.

  Burr rapped his knuckles on Brooks’ table as he walked back to the defense table.

  My opening statement was better than yours.

  He sat down next to Tommy and waited for the firestorm.

  Judge Fisher looked down at the prosecutor. “Mr. Brooks, you may call your first witness.”

  Brooks stood. “Thank you, Your Honor. The State calls Emily Shaw.”

  Burr watched a tan, blond, twentyish woman walk past him to the witness stand. She had on a black dress, knee-length, long sleeves, crew neck, tucked at the waist. Modest but it couldn’t hide her supple figure with all the curves in just the right places. Definitely not a little black dress, but certainly attractive. She wore no makeup but didn’t need any. Burr thought her mouth was a little crooked, but no matter.

  I’d start with her, too.

  The conventional thinking would have been to start with the coroner, to get the body introduced. Everything Brooks needed would flow from the body, but Emily Shaw and what she knew was too good to pass up.

  The bailiff, a thick, jowly man in his fifties, swore in Miss Shaw and lingered too long near her. Judge Fisher, well aware what was going on, shooed him away. Brooks walked up to his witness.

  “Miss Shaw, would you please tell us where you were on June 23rd of this year.”

  She sat up straight and put her hands on her lap. “I was on South Manitou Island.”

  “Thank you, Miss Shaw. And what were you doing there?”

  “I was camping.”

  “Miss Shaw, who, may I ask, were you with?”

  “My boyfriend and my dog.”

  “Thank you, Miss Shaw. And what were you doing there?”

  “We were camping out past the lighthouse, just off the beach. Riley, my dog, disappeared, which was unusual because he hardly ever lets me out of his sight. I went down to the beach because he loves the water, but he wasn’t there. I went back to our campsite and he wasn’t back yet. My boyfriend and I looked and looked but we couldn’t find him. I was really worried.”

  She pulled at the hem of her dress which, like Burr’s cuffs, didn’t need pulling. “Finally, he came back.
I was so happy to see him and so mad. He had a bone in his mouth. Then…”

  “What kind of bone?”

  “I didn’t know. Not then, anyway. It was about, you know, this long.” She held her hands about eighteen inches apart.

  “Then what happened?”

  “I took the bone away from him, which he didn’t like. Then he took off.”

  “Thank you, Miss Shaw. Where did he go?”

  Judge Fisher curled her finger at Brooks, who came over to the far side of the judge’s rostrum. She spoke softly. “Mr. Brooks, far be it from me to tell you how to examine your witness, but perhaps you could ask Miss Shaw to just tell her story.”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “If you keep going like this, we’ll be here until Christmas.”

  “Of course, Your Honor.”

  Brooks walked back to Emily Shaw. “Miss Shaw, would you please tell us in your own words what happened.”

  “Riley took off up the beach and came back with another bone. He took off again. This time I followed him. He ran about a quarter mile or so up the beach, then up into the weeds. I followed him. When I got there, he was digging, so I went to the hole he’d made. And… and….” Emily Shaw bit her lip. A tear ran down her cheek.

  Bravo. Just the way they practiced it.

  “What was it, Miss Shaw? What did you find?”

  “It was a body. A skeleton mostly, with some clothes and…it was awful.” She put her head in her hands.

  Brooks walked back to his table and came back with an eight-by-eleven envelope. He took out four or five glossy photographs. “Your Honor, the State would like to introduce these photographs of the late Mrs. Lockwood as People’s Exhibit One.” He passed them to Judge Fisher. The unflappable judge looked like she might be ill.

  Burr leapt to his feet. “I object, Your Honor. The witness has already testified that she found the body. There is no need for these pictures. All they will do is upset and prejudice the jury.”

  “Would you like to look at them, Mr. Lafayette?” Judge Fisher said.

  “No, and I don’t want anyone else to look at them, either.”

  The judge turned the pictures face down. “Objection denied. Mark these as People’s Exhibit One.”

  I knew that would happen.

  The bailiff marked the photographs and handed them back to Brooks. “Ms. Shaw, I have in my hand photographs taken by the sheriff’s office of Mrs. Lockwood’s body. As found on South Manitou.”

  “You told me I wouldn’t ever have to look at them again.”

  Brooks ignored her. “Please tell us if these pictures are of the body you discovered on South Manitou.” He showed her the pictures.

  She shut her eyes, then looked away.

  “Ms. Shaw, this is important.”

  “I can’t look at them.”

  “I’m sorry, but you must.”

  She looked at Brooks, then glanced down at the pictures. “Yes, that’s what I found. It was so terrible.” She put her head back in her hands.

  Damn it all. Why does she have to cry like that?

  Brooks walked over to the jury. “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m afraid I have to ask you to look at these photographs of the late Helen Lockwood. They are extremely graphic, but it’s necessary.”

  Burr stood. “I object, Your Honor. This is not only unnecessary, it is inflammatory. There is no reason to pass these pictures around. The witness identified that she found Mrs. Lockwood’s body. That is all that is necessary. Showing the jury these horrible photographs will prejudice my client, perhaps irrevocably.”

  “I’m going to allow it,” the judge said.

  The worst is going to happen.

  Brooks passed the photographs, one by one, around the jury. They shuddered, all of them. Burr thought two or three of them were going to be ill.

  Brooks collected the photographs and walked back to Emily Shaw. He leaned over the witness box and put his hand on her shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Miss Shaw. Thank you for your testimony. I have no further questions, Your Honor.” Brooks returned to his table and sat.

  Burr tapped his pencil.

  If the trial ended now, Brooks would win.

  There was nothing Burr could do without making things worse. It was a stroke of genius on Brooks’ part to call Emily Shaw as a witness. She was beautiful, sympathetic and showed the horror of finding a dead body. The photographs were genius. They were also totally unnecessary. The sheriff and the coroner were all that was needed, but it was genius. Burr didn’t have any questions worth asking, but it would look worse if he didn’t do something.

  I must be very careful.

  Burr stood and walked up to the still sobbing Emily Shaw. Burr handed her his handkerchief. She wiped her eyes and handed it back “Miss Shaw, I’m so sorry about what you found. I only have a few questions.”

  She nodded at him.

  “Where are you from?”

  “Atlanta.”

  “Atlanta. That’s a long way from here. I must say you don’t have a trace of a Southern accent.”

  She smiled at him, a weak little smile. “I grew up in Grosse Pointe. My family moved to Atlanta.

  “Are you in school?”

  ”I go to the University of Georgia.”

  “I see. And who paid your way here?”

  “Mr. Brooks.”

  Brooks jumped to his feet. “Objection, Your Honor. Irrelevant.”

  “Your Honor, it is most relevant if Mr. Brooks is paying to fly witnesses hither and yon.”

  “The county paid, not me,” Brooks said.

  “A poor county like Leelanau County, which does not have its own circuit court, is paying for witnesses to fly hither and yon.” Burr liked the ring of it.

  “I object, Your Honor.” Brooks turned red under his tan.

  “You said that. And this poor girl isn’t even necessary to whatever your case might be.”

  “Stop it, Mr. Lafayette,” Judge Fisher said. “You are out of line.”

  “I’m sorry, Your Honor. I don’t like to see witnesses mistreated. I have no further questions.” Burr walked back to his table. He hadn’t hurt Brooks much, and if the prosecutor was going to pay to fly in all of his witnesses, it wouldn’t matter if the trial was in the dead of winter.

  Brooks called Fred Harris, the Leelanau County Sheriff, a big man who hadn’t missed many meals. The prosecutor went through Sheriff Harris’ qualifications, then got to the point.

  “Sheriff, how and when did you learn that there was a body on South Manitou?”

  The sheriff pulled up his belt. No mean feat since he was sitting down and his belly hung over his belt buckle.

  “The Park Service called our office. Miss Shaw told the ferry captain, who called Park Service headquarters. They called us.”

  “And what did you do then?”

  “I took a detail to the island right away. The girl led us to the body. We secured the crime scene. I left a deputy to guard the site. Then the crime scene boys came over.”

  “What did they find?”

  “Not much.”

  “Could they identify the body?”

  “No. It was badly decomposed and there was no identification.” The sheriff pulled on his belt again. “I had a pretty good idea who it was, though.”

  “And why would that be?”

  “She was the only missing person we had.”

  “Then what did you do?”

  “I brought him over to look at the body.” He pointed at Tommy.

  Brooks turned to the court reporter. “For the record, the sheriff is pointing at the defendant, Thomas Lockwood.” Brooks turned back to the sheriff. “And did the defendant identify the body?”

  “He said he recognized her clothes, her coat and her shoes.”

  “Was he ups
et?”

  “No, not really.”

  Burr popped up. “Objection, Your Honor. Counsel is leading the witness.”

  “Sustained. Mr. Brooks, you know better than that.”

  Brooks looked over at Burr, who smiled at him, then sat back down.

  “Sheriff,” Brooks said, “how did the defendant seem?”

  Harris looked at Tommy, then, “He didn’t seem too much of anything. Matter of fact, I’d say.”

  “What did you do after the defendant identified the body?”

  “We sent it over to Dr. Murray for the autopsy.” The sheriff hitched up his belt again.

  “And what about the crime scene?”

  “We took all the evidence back to my office.”

  “Thank you, sheriff. No further questions.”

  Burr walked up to the sheriff, who hitched up his belt for the third time.

  “Must you?” Burr said under his breath.

  “What’s that?”

  Burr hitched up his own belt. “It’s annoying.”

  The sheriff turned red.

  “Speak up, Mr. Lafayette,” Judge Fisher said.

  “Yes, Your Honor. I just wanted to make sure Sheriff Harris and I understood each other.” Burr hitched up his belt again, just to make sure.

  “Sheriff, was anyone at the crime scene when you got there?”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “When you arrived at the crime scene, who was there?”

  “No one.”

  “I see. So, between the time the body was discovered by Miss Shaw and the time you reached the crime scene, no one was guarding the site, preventing tampering with evidence and, of course, the body.”

  “No one knew about it.”

  “Sheriff, as soon as Miss Shaw told the ferry captain everyone within earshot knew, and as soon as the ferry captain radioed in, many more people knew.”

  “There was no one there when I got there.”

  “I wasn’t asking you a question just now.” Burr glared at the witness. “Just because no one was there when you got there doesn’t mean someone hadn’t been there.” Burr paused. “Does it?”