WASHINGTON DC: The Sadir Affair (The Puppets of Washington Book 1)

by Lavina Giamusso

  “Yes, sir, that’s correct. They matched perfectly with the hand prints we lifted from the vehicle.”

  “Now, if we could return to the other two items that attracted your particular attention. By that, I meant the lack of airbags in the steering wheel and the fact that there was a leak in the power-steering fluid container. Could you tell us if you drew any conclusion from these findings, based on your long experience in forensic analyses of vehicular accidents?”

  “In my experience, this vehicle was tampered with and if driven in that condition for some distance, it would have caused the driver to lose control for one thing.” The witness took a breath. “And if the car rammed into a tree, such as was the case in this accident, the driver would have been thrown against the steering wheel with such a force—given that there was no airbags in the steering wheel—he or she could have died on impact.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Lieberman, you’ve been most helpful.” Billycan turned to Silverman. “I have no more questions for this witness, Your Honour.” He walked to the prosecution table and sat down.

  “Your witness, Mr. Simmons.” Silverman reclined in his seat again and started to play with his reading glasses, folding and unfolding the branches.

  “Thank you, Your Honour.” Today, dressed in a very expensive-looking grey suit, the calculating defence lawyer seemed ready to prance in front of the jury. “Good morning, Mr. Lieberman.”

  “Good morning, sir.” Lieberman locked eyes with the attorney.

  “My name is David Simmons. We haven’t met before today, have we, sir?”

  “No, we haven’t.” The witness wondered where this was leading.

  “And we haven’t discussed your testimony prior to this trial, have we?”

  “No, sir, we haven’t.”

  “Well then, it would be fair to say that your answers today haven’t been rehearsed, wouldn’t it?”

  Billycan was on his feet. “Your Honour, where are we going with this? Relevance?”

  Silverman advanced his chair to the bench. “Move on, Mr. Simmons, we’ve got a lot of grounds to cover yet.”

  “Yes, Your Honour, I’m sorry.” Simmons went to stand in front of Lieberman, placing both hands on the railing. “Let me ask you the first question then, Mr. Lieberman. We have ascertained that the accident occurred during rush hour. You were aware of the fact, weren’t you?”

  “Yes, it’s in my report.”

  “And did you arrive on the scene of the accident immediately after it occurred?”

  “I wouldn’t say immediately, no.”

  “How long did it take you to get to the scene then?”

  “Half an hour... About that.”

  “Was the scene secured when you arrived?”

  “Yes, it was. The police department had already taped the area and had put barricades to prevent traffic from entering the intersection at that corner and at the other end of the street, yes.”

  “Were there a lot of people around—apart from the police officers—observing the scene, did you notice?”

  “The neighbours were standing behind the tape, yes, and there was a fire truck parked just two houses down the street.”

  “Ha!” With a broad grin on his face, Simmons turned to the jury. “Was there a need for the fire department to be there?”

  Lieberman nodded. “In my experience, cars that meet an unmovable object at any speed are liable to burst on fire soon after impact—so yes, the fire department might have been needed.”

  “Was the car doused with water before you arrived, do you know?”

  “No, the car inside and out was dry.”

  “Thank you. Now, do you remember if the car doors were closed or opened when you arrived on the scene?”

  “I believe the passenger side door was open, yes.”

  Simmons went to the evidence table and took the forensic report, leafed through it, and once he found the page he was looking for, he brought the open binder to the witness. “Does this picture depict the passenger side of the car the way you found it when you arrived?”

  Lieberman looked at the picture and nodded. “Yes, that’s the way I found the passenger door open.”

  Billycan was getting visibly irritated. He bent to Marcel Fauchet to his right and whispered in his ear, “Did this come up in the interview with Meshullam?” Marcel shook his head. “Let’s get him in my office tonight.” Marcel nodded.

  “Your Honour, may we show the photo to the jurors?” Simmons was asking when Billycan returned his attention to the witness.

  “Bailiff, please pass the open binder to the members of the jury—thank you.” The bailiff nodded, took the binder from Simmons’s hand, and showed it to each juror in turn.

  Simmons returned to the witness stand and again planted his hands on the railing. “Now, Mr. Lieberman, let’s go back to your testimony; you said that you lifted a set of two hand prints from the dashboard on the passenger side of the vehicle—is that correct?”

  “Yes, sir, that’s right.”

  “Good. Do you have any knowledge or could you ascertain when these prints were made?”

  “No, sir. We can’t be sure when prints are made—not with any degree of certainty, no.”

  “Okay. But could you tell us if these prints were ‘fresh’ or ‘old’, in your expert opinion?”

  “They were relatively fresh, in my opinion, yes.”

  “Could you qualify ‘relatively fresh’ for the jury then? Were they a week old, a month old or could they have been made on the day of the accident?”

  “Objection, Your Honour,” Billycan burst out, trying to divert the jury’s attention. “Defence Counsel is leading the witness.”

  “Overruled.” Silverman didn’t like this sort of unwarranted interruption. “Answer the question, Mr. Lieberman.” He shot a reproving glare in Billycan’s direction.

  Meanwhile, if Sadir had looked bored yesterday, today he was all ears. He had turned to Simmons several times during Billycan’s questioning on direct, nodding his approval and even smiling, and was now admiring his attorney’s performance.

  “Yes, Your Honour...” Lieberman shifted in his seat again. “Relatively fresh prints mean that they were made recently—but I can’t be more precise than that.”

  Simmons turned to Billycan, watching for his reaction to his next question. “So would you say it is possible they were made on the day of the accident?”

  “That’s a possibility, yes,” Lieberman answered to Simmons’s back.

  The implication of that statement didn’t escape the jury or the audience for a moment.

  Chapter 63

  After the luncheon recess, Judge Silverman seemed more relaxed. He even smiled to everyone as he sat down. “Your next witness, Mr. Billycan,” he said in a booming voice once the bailiff had declared the court in session.

  “Yes, Your Honour, thank you. The Prosecution calls Dr. Valance to the stand.”

  Dr. Valance strode to the witness stand easily, his gait as flexible as his demeanour. Well in his sixties, the surgeon appeared to be overall very content with his station in life. He was sworn in, sat down and crossed his long legs. His focused and deciphering brown eyes seemed to be made to observe and deal with the slightest details, which was, in fact, very much needed in his trade.

  “Thank you, Doctor, for making the trip. And since we know that your position only allows you to stay in Washington for a couple of days, I will try to make this as short as possible.” Billycan was already near the witness when he posed his first question. “When you stated your occupation for the court just now, you said that you were a neurosurgeon with the St Paul Hospital in Vancouver, BC. How long have you been occupying this position, Doctor?”

  “For about sixteen years.”

  “And before that?”

  “I worked out of the Calgary Hospital for about seven years before that.”

  “Thank you, Doctor. Now, let’s turn to the reason that brought you to this trial. In the fall of last year, yo
u operated on a woman who was admitted at St Paul Hospital with a bullet wound to the arm and chest, is that correct?”

  “Yes, that’s accurate.”

  “Could you describe, as briefly as you can, the extent of the victim’s injury at the time she was brought into the operating theatre?”

  By this time, everyone in court, including the judge, wondered why Billycan had not named the victim yet. This strategic manoeuvre was designed to demonstrate to the jury how the doctor had taken particular attention to this case. Billycan wanted to show that Dr Valance was a sympathetic witness, and he hoped he would give “the victim” a name before he did.

  “I assume you mean when Ms. Kartz was brought in?” The judge exhaled a sigh of relief while Billycan paused and nodded almost imperceptibly before he answered the doctor’s question.

  “Yes, doctor, that’s who I meant. Do you always know the people you treat personally?”

  “I wouldn’t say I get to know all of them personally, no, but in such cases as that of Ms Kartz, yes I do.”

  “Why did you say in such cases as that of Ms Kartz? What was so particular about her case?”

  “Well, for one thing, I had never seen or even heard of a victim with such an exacted injury, and then when we went in and examined the extent of the damages to the tissues and bones surrounding the bullet’s trajectory, we were even more amazed.”

  “In what way were you amazed, Doctor?”

  “I could perhaps draw you a picture…? It would be easier to understand as I explain what we discovered.”

  Billycan looked up at the judge. “If Your Honour doesn’t mind, we would like to bring in a drawing pad and easel to enable Doctor Valance to explain graphically what he discovered during surgery.”

  “That’s fine, Mr. Billycan.” He nodded to the bailiff. “If you have the easel and writing implement ready, please bring it in, John. Thank you.”

  “While the bailiff is doing that, I’ll ask you another question, Dr Valance. Would you mind telling us why a neurosurgeon would be called for a bullet wound injury—any particular reason?”

  “Yes. Dr Latimer, the first attending physician, determined that the bullet had lodged itself near the spinal column after examining Ms. Kartz’s ex-rays. In such cases, and if surgery appears to be required at the time, I am usually called to attend or perform the surgery.”

  “Thank you, Doctor.” Billycan then turned to the bailiff who was stabilizing the easel before the witness stand. “That’s fine, thank you.” John bowed and retreated to his position on the other side of the judge’s bench. As he handed a black felt pen to the doctor, the US Attorney added, “If you could stand up, Doctor, I think it would be easier for you to trace your sketch and make it big enough for everyone in the jury to see what you’re drawing.”

  “Yes, of course,” Dr Valance replied, getting up. He approached the easel, and began to draw the right side of a human body. Everyone in court appeared surprised at the ease with which the doctor manoeuvred his pen onto the paper.

  “Could you describe, for the record, what you have drawn so far, Doctor?”

  “Yes...” He pointed to the sketch. “This is the right side of a human torso... From the neck, the right arm, the thoracic cage limited on the left by the vertebrae, hosting the right lung, to above the waist.”

  “Now could you show us what you discovered during surgery?”

  Dr Valance took his pen and traced a horizontal line across the upper arm, crossing the armpit, entering the thoracic cage and stopping a half-an-inch from the spine, which he had graphically represented on the left side of the drawing. Replacing the cap over the felt tip, he described what he had drawn. When he finished, he concluded by saying, “The strange thing about the bullet’s trajectory is that it only traversed the humerus at the most solid part of the bone, into and through the deltoid tuberosity, then went through the rib cage, scraping a thin hole through the right lung before stopping millimetres from the T6 vertebrae. It was slowed down by hitting bones prior to stopping. It did not damage the right lung as extensively as one would have expected, and the victim didn’t bleed from the thoracic wound as much as she did from the hole in the upper arm.”

  “Thank you, Doctor.” The US Attorney then again turned to the judge. “The Prosecution requests to introduce the drawing as evidence, marking it Exhibit 6, and tendering it to opposing counsel.”

  “Very well, Mr. Billycan, so noted.”

  Apparently quite impressed, as was the jury, Simmons offered no objection to admitting the drawing into evidence. He actually seemed mesmerized by it.

  The doctor, meanwhile, resumed his seat and crossed his legs again. Billycan turned to him once the easel had been set aside so that the jury could view it while the doctor was still on the stand. “In your testimony you mentioned that the bullet stopped millimetres from the spinal column, is that correct?”

  “Yes, it did.”

  “Did you extract the bullet from the victim’s wound during the operation?”

  “Yes, the assisting surgeon did, yes.”

  “Do you have first knowledge of what happened to the bullet after the assisting surgeon extracted it?”

  “Yes. I ordered it to be taken to the lab and to be couriered to the police forensic lab in Vancouver.”

  “And to your knowledge that’s where the bullet ended up?”

  “Yes, as far as I know, that’s where it was transferred.”

  “Thank you, Doctor. Now if we could return to the surgery; would you explain for the court why the patient’s didn’t show any response in the lower limbs since the bullet did not actually touch the spinal column?”

  The doctor appeared to be thinking how he would respond before he uttered the first word of his answer. “If I may, I should first explain that each vertebra hosts an intricate set of nerve endings, which connect to various functions of the body or limbs. In the series of thoracic vertebrae, the nerves attached to the T6 and its neighbours control most movements of the lower limbs. If something severs or damages one of these series of nerves, it affects the motion of the legs. Such as in this case, the bullet only damaged the vertebra superficially, but severed several nerve sections before stopping where it did, causing the patient to lose all motor movements in her legs.”

  “Thank you, Doctor. That was very clear. Now, one more question; were you able to repair the damage to the vertebra or nerves at the time of the operation?”

  “As usual in such instances, we couldn’t repair any damages to either vertebra or nerves, no.”

  “Why was that, Doctor?”

  “Because of the swelling around the wound. We had to wait until the swelling went down before we could repair the damages.”

  “And did you repair the damages at one point?”

  “Yes, we did, this spring, yes.”

  “And during the first operation, were you able to repair any other of the patient’s injuries?”

  “Yes, absolutely. The patient was able to use her right arm after appropriate recuperation, and never lost the use of her right lung. The ribs that had been damaged healed themselves over time under care.”

  “Thank you, Doctor. You’ve been most helpful.” Billycan turned to the judge. “Your Honour, I have no more question for this witness, but would like to reserve the right to recall him at a later time.”

  “So noted, Mr. Billycan.” He looked over his glasses at the defence attorney. “Mr. Simmons, your witness.”

  “We have no question for this witness at this time, Your Honour.”

  “Very well then.” The judge turned to the surgeon. “You may step down, Doctor. We will advise you as soon as your presence in court is required again.”

  “Thank you, Your Honour, my pleasure.” Dr. Valance then stood up, stepped off the witness stand and strode out of the courtroom as flexibly as he had come in.

  Chapter 64

  Billycan, Marcel and Samuel were sitting around a small conference table in the US Attorney’s office wh
en Darlene came in. The three men stood up, greeted her and sat down again, as soon as she had taken her coat off and sat across from Billycan and beside Samuel.

  Billycan said, “As I was saying to Agent Meshullam before you came in, Ms. Stovall, this is going to be an informal meeting. We’re doing this off the record for now.” Darlene nodded and turned to smile at Samuel. She had met him briefly by chance when he arrived in Washington and from that moment, she had been quite impressed by the handsome face, calm demeanour and reserved attitude. There was something mesmerizing about the man, something mysterious. “But if there are some statements worth recording we’ll call in a reporter to take down whatever is said—if that’s all right with you, Agent Meshullam?”

  “Yes, I have no problem with that.” Samuel appeared relaxed and no doubt ready for anything the US Attorney would be throwing his way.

  “Alright then. The first question relates to your presence in Flint, MI. Could you elaborate on how and when you arrived in that city?”

  Samuel stretched his legs under the table. “After I left Ms. Kartz in Chattanooga, I picked up a car and drove to Flint. I arrived at Ishmael’s house in the evening but he wasn’t there…”

  “Did you know, or were you aware of his absence before you arrived in Flint?”

  “No, I wasn’t. I contacted Mossad then and they told me to wait for him.”

  “How long did you have to wait for Mr. Assor’s return?”

  “About a week.”

  “Okay then, could you tell us how you knew Ishmael Assor?”

  Samuel smiled. “Well, I only knew him by reputation and his name was familiar to me.”

  “Did you meet him before you arrived in Flint?”

  “No, not in person, no.”

  “Okay, let’s move on. How long did you stay with him?”

  “When he came back, I let him believe that I had just arrived that evening. I wanted to stay only for as long as it would take me to get his routine down and where to take aim.”