by Carsen Taite
“I’m good, Jake, real good. You’ve met Dex?”
Jake nodded toward Dex. “Sure have. He filled me in on the basic details. Ms. Bradley just called to say she was on her way. In the meantime, why don’t we sort through all these papers and let’s see what we have?”
The three settled around the oak table in the small conference room at the Ramirez Law Firm. Ray Ramirez had generously donated the space to the Chavez defense team for a war room. Already the room was covered with flip charts and flow charts detailing strategy for the upcoming trial. Empty food and drink containers filled the trash cans to overflowing. Although the police detectives spent weeks investigating Camille Burke’s death, the fruits of their labor had only recently been released to the defense. The students on the team were appalled to learn how late in the game they might receive this information. Morgan and Ford had explained they’d received some of the information even sooner than the law required. The moment the case was set for trial, the defense team filed discovery motions requesting copies of the evidence against their client as well as any evidence in the possession of the State favorable to Luis’s case. This latter type of evidence was called Brady evidence in honor of the Supreme Court case requiring prosecutors to hand exonerating information over to the defense. However, with a few narrow exceptions, the State was not required to hand over most of the evidence requested in a defendant’s discovery motion until moments before they intended to use it. It was not uncommon in the courtroom for crime scene photos to be tossed on the desk of opposing counsel seconds before the prosecutor questioned the witness who had taken the photos.
Some prosecutors believed the primary reason for sharing evidence before trial was to advance plea negotiations while others held a genuine belief the system worked better when the playing field was leveled, at least to some extent, by sharing the evidence before the start of trial. Gibson rode the fence. She provided more than she had to, but later than many would have. Certainly, it had been clear once Morgan entered the case, that plea deals were out of the question. Morgan had a reputation as a trial lawyer for a reason. She wasn’t afraid to try the tough cases and her appearance in a case usually meant a jury would decide her client’s fate.
The group was reviewing the catalog of evidence in the trial notebooks Gerald had prepared, when Morgan entered the room. She caught Parker’s glance and winced at the well of hurt in her eyes. Morgan willed herself not to respond with anything more than a pleasant smile. She had made peace with her decision that no personal contact was the only way for both of them to emerge unscarred through the gauntlet of emotions laid down by their shared intimacy. Morgan’s plan would sting now but, like ripping off a bandage, the pain would be over quickly. Resigned to her plan, Morgan focused on the purpose of the meeting.
“I’m going to get you started, but then I have to meet with Ford to go over our plan for jury selection.” Morgan flipped through the notebook in front of her. “I’d like you to focus on witnesses. We don’t have the State’s witness list yet, but we can construct a likely list from the individuals identified on the police report. I know we’ve talked about motive and how the State doesn’t have to prove Luis had a motive to kill Camille, but juries want to know the ‘why.’ Chaos isn’t comfortable, and for someone to kill a person for no reason at all, especially when he hasn’t exhibited any violent tendencies in the past, can provide exactly the kind of doubt we can argue is reasonable enough to merit an acquittal.”
Dex chimed in. “So, you want us to find out if someone else had a motive?”
“Precisely,” Morgan answered. “Start with the rest of the staff at the Burke household. Most of them have already been interviewed by the police. Luis says he was working on the plumbing when he heard gunshots. Someone in the house must have seen him working. Then find out who Camille’s friends are and interview them. We know virtually nothing about her other than she was the only daughter in a fabulously wealthy family. Contact as many people as you can and have summaries of your interviews ready by the end of the week.”
“What about character witnesses?” Jake asked. “Would you like us to hold off on that?”
“Go ahead and identify some, but you can wait on those interviews till next week. We’ll use most of the character witnesses for the punishment phase of the trial.” Morgan grinned. “I like to be prepared, but I’m a little superstitious about preparing for a loss.
“I have to run. Any questions?” Seeing there were no questions, Morgan made a hasty exit, avoiding any eye contact with Parker.
*
Parker watched Morgan’s retreat and pondered the coolness of their recent interactions. She couldn’t put her finger on the problem. She didn’t feel any animosity between them, but there was a distinct formality that didn’t usually exist between people who had seen each other naked. Parker realized she had her answer about what Morgan wanted from her. The answer was sex, and she had gotten all she wanted and was ready to move on. Fine, I can move on too. Saying it was the easy part.
“Hey, Parker, wake up.” Dex snapped his fingers in her direction. “Any ideas how to find out who Camille’s friends are?”
Parker shook off her malaise and brought her mind back to the task at hand. “Maybe we can get her transcript, talk to her teachers, find out who else was enrolled in her classes.” She paused as a nugget of information struggled its way into her consciousness. “Seems like I talked to someone recently who knew her.” She drummed her fingers on the table. “Oh yeah! My roommate, Erin. She was in her undergraduate class. She might have some ideas.”
Dex grinned. “She’s cute. I’ll talk to her.”
“Settle down, playboy. She has a boyfriend.”
“For now.”
“Enough, you two.” Jake interrupted their friendly banter. “I’ll get a subpoena for Camille’s transcript, but go ahead and talk to Erin. She might have some leads on folks we can talk to who Camille knew outside of school.”
Parker nodded agreement with his plan. As Jake and Dex started a list of the known witnesses, she flipped through the pages of the autopsy report. “Hey, Jake, is Doc Hudson still practicing? He must be a hundred years old by now.”
Jake shook his head at the mention of the doddering pathologist. “A hundred and ten, and yes, he’s still posing as a doctor. The only redeeming fact is he’s only allowed to work on dead bodies.”
“I don’t see the toxicology report. Any idea where it might be?”
“Why would they have done a tox screen?” Dex asked. “Wasn’t she found shot to death in her own bedroom at home?”
“Toxicology screens are usually standard requests on suspected homicides.” Parker was puzzled but then she realized he probably didn’t work many homicides as a DEA agent. “The object of the autopsy is to rule out causes of death, not to merely accept the obvious. It’s a simple test and it doesn’t require any extra effort beyond filling out the request and sending off the samples. There’s no reason not to do one. Let’s put it in our list of follow-up items.”
While Dex made a note, Jake placed the papers in front of him to the side and said, “I’m going over to the jail later this afternoon to see Luis. Do either of you have any insight about his version of what happened?”
“He’s not much help. Like Professor Bradley said, Luis says he was working on the plumbing in one of the downstairs hall bathrooms when he heard what sounded like a gunshot. He went inside to investigate, heard sounds upstairs, and found Camille Burke lying in a pool of blood with her face missing.”
“His prints are on the gun and his boot prints are all over the room,” Jake observed.
“He picked up the gun and he must have gotten blood on his boots when he was checking to see if she was still alive.”
Parker chimed in. “Does he have an explanation for why he ran from the house?”
“Not a good one. He said Teddy Burke saw him holding the gun, so he dropped it and took off. He ran because he was scared he would be blamed.”
Jake shook his head. “Full of holes. How the hell are we going to explain the fact he didn’t call the cops, that he hid out?”
“Well, he has his reasons, but we can’t use them. About eight years ago, Luis was arrested with his nephew, Raul, who was driving a car he had ‘borrowed.’ While investigating whether the car was stolen, the cops found drugs in the car. Luis says he didn’t know the drugs were in the car, but he took the fall for his nephew. Raul was enrolled in school and would’ve lost his scholarship. Luis figured he didn’t have as much to lose as Raul, so he took the heat. The public defender who handled his case got him probation, but the prior can be used against him if he were to testify. Luis says the cops treated him like shit before and he was in no hurry to call them in on this occasion. He figured there was no way they would believe he wasn’t involved.”
“So your fella has a bad habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Parker’s first reaction to Jake’s words was to vehemently defend her client and ask Jake how the hell he could work for their side when he was obviously already convinced of Luis’s guilt. She forced herself to hear beyond the actual words and realized Jake’s cynicism represented a major obstacle they would need to overcome with the jury. It was absolutely necessary that they keep Luis’s record out of the evidence, and the only way to ensure it would stay out was for him not to testify. The pressure was on. They needed something to present in Luis’s defense besides Luis himself, and she was committed to finding that something.
“Jake, while you go see Luis, Dex and I will find out what we can about Camille’s friends. How about we meet up in the morning and start interviewing whoever we’ve identified?”
Jake and Dex nodded their agreement.
While she helped Dex construct a list of the people they would need to interview, Parker shuffled through the crime scene photos again. The image of Camille’s body sprawled in the throes of a violent death clawed at a memory of another lurid crime scene she would never forget. When Dex wasn’t looking, she stuffed a copy of the autopsy report and a few of the photos in her notebook. She told Dex she had an errand to run before she could get started on their project. Her actual plan was to do a little research about the missing toxicology screen. She cringed inside at the semi-lie, but she wasn’t ready to explain why she was so focused on the autopsy report since her instincts were probably off.
Chapter Sixteen
Parker paced the room. She hated this place. Necessity had called her to this section of SWIFS, the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences, on too many occasions to count, and her insides twisted up without fail whenever she walked through the door. No amount of cold air and sterile solution could block out the heavy stink of death. Every room in the building reeked and she knew when she left she would carry the scent.
“Detective Casey?”
Parker was startled at the use of her former title. The woman standing before her was wearing a white lab coat and sporting a clipboard. She was younger than Parker expected her to be. And way better looking. Ah, she thought, now I understand why Kelsey developed this “professional” relationship.
“I’m Parker Casey. I assume you’re Dr. Williams.”
The woman extended her hand. “Lauren Williams. Dr. James said you had some toxicology questions. If you’ll follow me to my office, we can talk there.” She started off down the hall without waiting for a reply. “This way, Detective.”
The use of the title jarred her still. Kelsey must have used it to secure this meeting, banking on the pretense of authority to get Parker in the door. Parker vowed to correct the misimpression the moment they reached the privacy of Dr. Williams’s office. She wanted information, but not at the expense of lying to get it. Parker considered contacting one of the many doctors she knew in the pathology department from her time on the force. When she’d run through the list of potential contacts, she realized she had no idea how any one of them would react to hearing from her. She had cut herself off completely from the department and, as a result, severed her connection to anyone she knew in her professional capacity as a cop. If she had it to do over, she might have figured out a way to preserve her valuable contacts, but she spent all her energy in the weeks and months after she was fired trying to find the energy to get out of bed. Networking for a future career seemed a waste of time when she didn’t foresee a future at all.
The crime scene photos and the autopsy report raised more questions than they answered. Parker had turned to Kelsey for assistance filling in the blanks, and Kelsey had set up this appointment with Dr. Williams. Parker pulled up a chair and settled in across from Dr. Williams’s desk.
“Before we get started, I need you to know I’m not a detective. I used to be, but I’m now a law student working on a case. A homicide. Your office did the autopsy and I have some questions about it.”
Dr. Williams looked at the papers in Parker’s hand. “Did I do the report?”
“No, you didn’t.”
“You should be talking to the doctor who did the report. Even if I were to tell you something different, I would have a conflict if you asked me to testify against one of my colleagues.”
“Who said anything about testifying?” Parker hedged. She was here to get answers about procedure. She wasn’t asking her to reach a different conclusion than Dr. Hudson, but she did want someone to say a tox screen should have been done and list the reasons why. It would be best if the testimony came from someone who knew the protocol for this office and, if this doctor was willing to commit, Parker would have Jake here with a subpoena in no time flat. Then the judge could decide if the doctor’s conflict was more important than the truth. “I’m not here to get you to give a different conclusion. I would like to ask some questions about protocol. For my own edification.”
“Fair enough. Dr. James is a friend and I told her I would help. What are your questions?”
Parker felt like she was cheating. She’d already gone over her questions with Kelsey, who had done a rotation in pathology, and knew what the answers should be. With Kelsey’s help and her own experience watching dozens of autopsies performed, she was ready to poke holes of reasonable doubt into the report prepared by Dr. Hudson. She laid the report and the crime scene photos in front of Dr. Williams and gave her a moment to flip through the pages before posing her first question. “When is it appropriate not to request a toxicology screen?”
“I’m not sure what you’re asking. A tox screen is part of the protocol on all autopsies. If we do an autopsy, we do a tox screen.”
“Are there any circumstances where you wouldn’t wait on the results before assigning a cause of death?”
“Sure. If the cause of death was readily apparently from the physical exam, there would be no need to wait on the results of the tox screen.”
“Okay, so conversely, what, if anything, would cause you to wait?”
Dr. Williams picked up the crime scene photos and studied them before answering. “Why do I think you already know the answer to the question?” Dr. Williams smiled.
Parker returned the smile. “Because a good lawyer never asks a question when she doesn’t already know the answer?” Leaning in, she assumed her very best earnest expression. “Seriously, Doctor, I know what I think the answer should be, but I want to know your opinion. I think the cause of death determination should have been suspended until the toxicology results were in. I think the findings in this report were based on the obvious, but not the actual cause of death. Maybe I’m wrong, but there’s only one way to find out.”
“As much as I’d love to play Nancy Drew with you, if a tox screen wasn’t done, I can’t order one.”
“Can’t or won’t?” Parker challenged.
“If you were indeed a detective, you know this office has procedures we are required to follow. First, this isn’t my case—you should be talking to Dr. Hudson. Second, even if it were my case, I don’t act at the direction of defense counsel. I work for the coun
ty.” She examined the photos again. “Now, if the detective or prosecutor assigned to the case asked for additional information, I’d be happy to oblige.” Dr. Williams’s expression shouted what her words did not say and Parker got the message loud and clear. The good doctor harbored some measure of interest in learning if there was more to Camille Burke’s death than the conclusory results contained in the “final” version of the autopsy report. Yet she was making it clear Parker would have to show her hand if she wanted to find the answers to her questions about Camille Burke’s cause of death.
Parker gathered her papers, thanked the doctor, and left the palace of death stoked with purpose. She needed to talk to Morgan about their options. She had enough experience to know the defense couldn’t order the medical examiner to run tests. That would amount to asking them to create evidence. The defense could certainly ask for their own expert to run tests on the evidence in possession of the medical examiner, but they would have to file a motion with the judge to obtain access. In addition, because Luis was indigent, they would have to ask the judge for money to hire their own expert to conduct the tests. If the defense wanted tests, they would have to give the judge a damn good reason why. Parker had a hunch, but she wasn’t confident her hunch would meet the judge’s definition of good cause.
*
Aimee’s unexpected visit was a pleasant surprise, though Morgan suspected it was hardly a coincidence. Yolanda escorted Aimee to Morgan’s office offering some lame story about how she and Aimee just had lunch. As it happened Aimee had an updated list of homes to give Morgan, and Yolanda suggested she might be in her office.
Morgan had to admit she was relieved to be sifting through sheets of home details rather than the gory evidence of Camille Burke’s demise, even if the whole ruse of Aimee’s appearance was Yolanda trying to play matchmaker. Fact was, she could do worse than Aimee. They had spent a fair amount of time together over the past month looking at houses. Morgan liked the way Aimee adjusted the search based on her expressed likes and dislikes. She reasoned away the fact she didn’t feel anything for her beyond surface-level attraction. There was no burning, no yearning, to be in her presence, but Aimee did provide a pleasant personal distraction from the stress of the murder case. And, Morgan reflected, spending time with Aimee was completely appropriate. Although they had a professional relationship, they were both adults capable of distinguishing their roles based on circumstance. A nagging inner voice queried whether she thought of Parker as an adult. Well, of course she’s an adult, but our roles are different. I’m in the position of deciding a part of her future and that places us in decidedly different places. Even as Morgan had the thought, she questioned the rationale. Her feelings for Parker were vastly different than the shade of attraction she felt for Aimee. She burned and yearned to feel a glance from Parker, to run her hands through her wild hair, and to fall back into the strong and gentle arms of the tough yet sensitive woman who sat in the third row of her trial practice class.