The Reversal

by Michael Connelly

  "The three I worked in regard to the Landy case."

  "Can you please take a moment to study those logs and use the pencil I have given you to circle any name that appears on all three lists."

  It took Gordon less than a minute to complete the task.

  "Finished?" Royce asked.

  "Yes, there are four names."

  "Can you tell us?"

  "Yes, myself and my supervisor, Art Donovan, and then Detective Kloster and his partner, Chad Steiner."

  "You were the only four who were at all three crime scenes that day, correct?"

  "That is correct."

  Maggie leaned into me and whispered.

  "Cross-scene contamination."

  I shook my head slightly and whispered back.

  "That suggests accidental contamination. I think he's going for intentional planting of evidence."

  Maggie nodded and leaned away. Royce asked his next question.

  "Being one of only four who were at all four scenes, you had a keen understanding of this crime and what it meant, isn't that correct?"

  "I'm not sure what you mean."

  "Among police personnel, were emotions high at these crime scenes?"

  "Well, everyone was very professional."

  "You mean nobody cared that this was a twelve-year-old girl?"

  "No, we cared and you could say things were at least tense at the first two scenes. We had the family at one and the dead little girl at the other. I don't really remember things being emotional at the tow yard."

  Wrong answer, I thought. She had opened a door for the defense.

  "Okay," Royce said, "but you are saying that at the first two scenes the emotions were high, correct?"

  I stood up, just to give Royce a dose of his own medicine.

  "Objection. Asked and answered already, Your Honor."

  "Sustained."

  Royce was undaunted.

  "Then how did these emotions display themselves?" he asked.

  "Well, we talked. Art Donovan told me to keep professional detachment. He said we had to do our best work because this had been just a little girl."

  "What about detectives Kloster and Steiner?"

  "They said the same thing. That we couldn't leave any stone unturned, that we had to do it for Melissa."

  "He called the victim by her name?"

  "Yes, I remember that."

  "How angry and upset would you say Detective Kloster was?"

  I stood and objected.

  "Assumes facts not in evidence or testimony."

  The judge sustained it and told Royce to move on.

  "Ms. Gordon, can you refer to the crime scene attendance logs still in front of you and tell us if the arrival and departure of law enforcement personnel is kept by time?"

  "Yes, it is. There are arrival and departure times listed after each name."

  "You have previously stated that detectives Kloster and Steiner were the only two investigators besides yourself and your supervisor to appear at all three scenes."

  "Yes, they were the lead investigators on the case."

  "Did they arrive at each of the scenes before you and Mr. Donovan?"

  It took Gordon a moment to confirm the information on the lists.

  "Yes, they did."

  "So they would have had access to the victim's body before you ever arrived at the El Rey Theatre, correct?"

  "I don't know what you mean by 'access' but, yes, they were on scene first."

  "And so they would have also had access to the tow truck before you got there and saw the three strands of hair conveniently caught in the seat crack, correct?"

  I objected, saying the question required the witness to speculate on things she would not have witnessed and was argumentative because of the use of the word "conveniently." Royce was obviously playing to the jury. The judge told Royce to rephrase the question without taking editorial license.

  "The detectives would have had access to the tow truck before you got there and before you were the first to see the three strands of hair lodged in the seat crack, correct?"

  Gordon took the hint from my objection and answered the way I wanted her to.

  "I don't know because I wasn't there."

  Still, Royce had gotten his point across to the jury. He had also gotten the point of his case across to me. It was now fair to assume that the defense would put forth the theory that the police--in the person of Kloster and/or his partner, Steiner--had planted the hair evidence to secure a conviction of Jessup after he had been identified by the thirteen-year-old Sarah. Further to this, the defense would posit that Sarah's wrongful identification of Jessup was intentional and part of the Landy family's effort to hide the fact that Melissa had died either accidentally or intentionally at the hands of her stepfather.

  It would be a tough road to take. To be successful it would take at least one person on the jury buying into what amounted to two conspiracies working independently of one another and yet in concert. But I could think of only two defense attorneys in town who could pull it off, and Royce was one of them. I had to be prepared.

  "What happened after you noticed the hair on the tow truck's seat, do you remember?" Royce asked the witness.

  "I pointed it out to Art because he was doing the actual collection of evidence. I was just there to observe and gather experience."

  "Were detectives Kloster and Steiner called over to take a look?"

  "Yes, I believe so."

  "Do you recall what if anything they did then?"

  "I don't recall them doing anything in relation to the hair evidence. It was their case and so they were notified of the evidence find and that was it."

  "Were you happy with yourself?"

  "I don't think I understand."

  "It was your first day on the job--your first case. Were you pleased with yourself after spotting the hair evidence? Were you proud?"

  Gordon hesitated before answering, as if trying to figure out if the question was a trap.

  "I was pleased that I had contributed, yes."

  "And did you ever wonder why you, the rookie, spotted the hair in the seat crack before your supervisor or the two lead investigators?"

  Gordon hesitated again and then said no. Royce said he had no further questions. It had been an excellent cross, planting multiple seeds that could later bloom into something larger in the defense case.

  I did what I could on redirect, asking Gordon to recite the names of the six uniformed police officers and two other detectives who were listed as arriving ahead of Kloster and Steiner on the crime scene attendance log kept at the location where Melissa Landy's body was found.

  "So, hypothetically, if Detective Kloster or Steiner had wanted to take hair from the victim to plant elsewhere, they would have had to do it under the noses of eight other officers or enlist them in allowing them to do it. Is that correct?"

  "Yes, it would seem so."

  I thanked the witness and sat down. Royce then went back to the lectern for recross.

  "Also hypothetically, if Kloster or Steiner wanted to plant hair from the victim at the third crime scene, it would not have been necessary to take it directly from the victim's head if there were other sources for it, correct?"

  "I guess not if there were other sources."

  "For example, a hairbrush in the victim's home could have provided hair to them, correct?"

  "I guess so."

  "They were in the victim's home, weren't they?"

  "Yes, that was one of the locations where they signed in."

  "Nothing further."

  Royce had nailed me and I decided not to pursue this any further. Royce would have a comeback no matter what I brought forward from the witness.

  Gordon was dismissed and the judge broke for lunch. I told Bosch that he would be on the stand after the break, reading Kloster's testimony into the record. I asked if he wanted to grab lunch together to talk about the defense's theory but he said he couldn't, that he had something to d
o.

  Maggie was heading over to the hotel to have lunch with Sarah Ann Gleason, so that left me on my own.

  Or so I thought.

  As I headed down the center aisle to the rear door of the courtroom, an attractive woman stepped out of the back row in front of me. She smiled and stepped up to me.

  "Mr. Haller, I'm Rachel Walling with the FBI."

  At first it didn't compute but then the name caught on a memory prompt somewhere inside.

  "Yes, the profiler. You distracted my investigator with your theory that Jason Jessup is a serial killer."

  "Well, I hope it was more help than distraction."

  "I guess that remains to be seen. What can I do for you, Agent Walling?"

  "I was going to ask if you might have time for lunch. But since you consider me a distraction, then maybe I should just..."

  "Guess what, Agent Walling. You're in luck. I'm free. Let's have lunch."

  I pointed to the door and we headed out.

  Thirty

  Tuesday, April 6, 1:15 P.M.

  This time it was the judge who was late returning to court. The prosecution and defense teams were seated at the appointed time and ready to go but there was no sign of Breitman. And there had been no indication from the clerk as to whether the delay was because of personal business or some sort of trial issue. Bosch got up from his seat at the railing and approached Haller, tapping him on the back.

  "Harry, we're about to start. You ready?"

  "I'm ready, but we need to talk."

  "What's wrong?"

  Bosch turned his body so his back was to the defense table and lowered his voice into a barely audible whisper.

  "I went to see the SIS guys at lunch. They showed me some stuff you need to know about."

  He was being overly cryptic. But the photos Lieutenant Wright had showed him from the surveillance the night before were troubling. Jessup was up to something and whatever it might be, it was going to go down soon.

  Before Haller could respond, the background hubbub of the courtroom ceased as the judge took the bench.

  "After court," Haller whispered.

  He then turned back to the front of the courtroom and Bosch returned to his seat at the railing. The judge told the deputy to seat the jury and soon everyone was in place.

  "I want to apologize," Breitman said. "This delay was my responsibility. I had a personal matter come up and it took far longer than I expected it would. Mr. Haller, please call your next witness."

  Haller stood and called for Doral Kloster. Bosch stood and headed for the witness stand while the judge once again explained to the jury that the witness called by the prosecution was unavailable and that prior sworn testimony would be read by Bosch and Haller. Though all of this had been worked out in a pretrial hearing and over the objection of the defense, Royce stood once again and objected.

  "Mr. Royce, we've already argued this issue," the judge responded.

  "I would ask that the court reconsider its ruling as this form of testimony entirely undercuts Mr. Jessup's Constitutional right to confront his accusers. Detective Kloster was not asked the questions I would want to ask him based on the defense's current view of the case."

  "Again, Mr. Royce, this issue has been settled and I do not wish to rehash it in front of the jury."

  "But, Your Honor, I am being inhibited from presenting a full defense."

  "Mr. Royce, I have been very generous in allowing you to posture in front of the jury. My patience is now growing thin. You may sit down."

  Royce stared the judge down. Bosch knew what he was doing. Playing to the jury. He wanted them to see him and Jessup as the underdogs. He wanted them to understand that it was not just the prosecution against Jessup but the judge as well. When he had drawn out the stare as long as he dared, he spoke again.

  "Judge, I cannot sit down when my client's freedom is at stake. This is an egregious--"

  Breitman angrily slammed her hand down, making a sound as loud as a shot.

  "We're not going to do this in front of the jury, Mr. Royce. Will the jurors please return to the assembly room."

  Wide-eyed and alert to the tension that had engulfed the courtroom, the jurors filed out, to a person glancing back over their shoulders to check the action behind them. The whole time, Royce held his glare on the judge. And Bosch knew it was mostly an act. This was exactly what Royce wanted, for the jury to see him being persecuted and prevented from bringing his case forward. It didn't matter that they would be sequestered in the jury room. They all knew that Royce was about to get slapped down hard by the judge.

  Once the door to the jury assembly room was closed, the judge turned back to Royce. In the thirty seconds it had taken the jury to leave the courtroom, she had obviously calmed down.

  "Mr. Royce, at the end of the trial we will be holding a contempt hearing during which your actions today will be examined and penalized. Until then, if I ever order you to sit down and you refuse that order, I will have the courtroom deputy forcibly place you in your seat. And it will not matter to me if the jury is present or not. Do you understand?"

  "Yes, Your Honor. And I would like to apologize for allowing the emotions of the moment to get the best of me."

  "Very well, Mr. Royce. You will now sit down and we'll bring the jury back in."

  They held each other's eyes for a long moment until Royce finally and slowly sat down. The judge then told the courtroom deputy to retrieve the jury.

  Bosch glanced at the jurors as they returned. They all had their eyes on Royce, and Harry could see the defense attorney's gambit had worked. He saw sympathy in their eyes, as if they all knew that at any moment they might cross the judge and be similarly rebuked. They didn't know what happened while they were behind the closed door, but Royce was like the kid who had been sent to the principal's office and had returned to tell everyone about it at recess.

  The judge addressed the jury before continuing the trial.

  "I want the members of the jury to understand that in a trial of this nature emotions sometimes run high. Mr. Royce and I have discussed the issue and it is resolved. You are to pay it no mind. So, let's proceed with the reading of prior sworn testimony. Mr. Haller?"

  "Yes, Your Honor."

  Haller stood and went to the lectern with his printout of Doral Kloster's testimony.

  "Detective Bosch, you are still under oath. Do you have the transcript of sworn testimony provided by Detective Doral Kloster on October eighth, nineteen eighty-six?"

  "Yes, I do."

  Bosch placed the transcript on the stand and took a pair of reading glasses out of his jacket's inside pocket.

  "Okay, then once again I will read the questions that were posed to Detective Kloster under oath by Deputy District Attorney Gary Lintz, and you will read the responses from the witness."

  After a series of questions used to elicit basic information about Kloster, the testimony moved quickly into the investigation of the murder of Melissa Landy.

  " 'Now, Detective, you are assigned to the detective squad at Wilshire Division, correct?' "

  " 'Yes, I am on the Homicide and Major Crimes table.' "

  " 'And this case did not start out as a homicide.' "

  " 'No, it did not. My partner and I were called in from home after patrol units were dispatched to the Landy house and a preliminary investigation determined that it appeared to be a stranger abduction. That made it a major crime and we were called out.' "

  " 'What happened when you got to the Landy house?' "

  " 'We initially separated the individuals there--the mother, father and Sarah, the sister--and conducted interviews. We then brought the family together and conducted a joint interview. It often works best that way and it did this time. In the joint interview we found our investigative direction.' "

  " 'Tell us about that. How did you find this direction?' "

  " 'In the individual interview, Sarah revealed that the girls had been playing a hide-and-seek game and that she w
as hiding behind some bushes at the front corner of her house. These bushes blocked her view of the street. She said she heard a trash truck and saw a trashman cross the yard and grab her sister. These events occurred on a Sunday, so we knew there was no city trash pickup. But when I had Sarah recount this story in front of her parents, her father quickly said that on Sunday mornings several tow trucks patrol the neighborhood and that the drivers wear overalls like the city sanitation workers do. And that became our first lead.' "

  " 'And how did you follow that lead?' "

  " 'We were able to obtain a list of city-licensed tow truck companies that operated in the Wilshire District. By this time I had called in more detectives and we split the list up. There were only three companies that were operating on that day. Each pair of detectives took one. My partner and I went to a tow yard on La Brea Boulevard that was operated by a business called Aardvark Towing.' "

  " 'And what happened when you got there?' "

  " 'We found that they were about to shut down for the day because they essentially worked no-parking zones around churches. By noon they were done. There were three drivers and they were securing things and about to head out when we got there. They all voluntarily agreed to identify themselves and answer our questions. While my partner asked preliminary questions I went back to our car and called their names into central dispatch so they could check them for criminal records.' "

  " 'Who were these men, Detective Kloster?' "

  " 'Their names were William Clinton, Jason Jessup and Derek Wilbern.' "

  " 'And what was the result of your records search?' "

  " 'Only Wilbern had an arrest record. It was an attempted rape with no conviction. The case, as I recall, was four years old.' "

  " 'Did this make him a suspect in the Melissa Landy abduction?' "

  " 'Yes, it did. He generally fit the description we had gotten from Sarah. He drove a large truck and wore overalls. And he had an arrest record involving a sex crime. That made him a strong suspect in my mind.' "

  " 'What did you do next?' "

  " 'I returned to my partner and he was still interviewing the men in a group setting. I knew that time was of the essence. This little girl was still missing. She was still out there somewhere and usually in a case like this, the longer the individual is missing, the less chance you have of a good ending.' "