Compelling Evidence

by Steve Martini

  “Good to know they’ve got one.”

  “Look it. Time of death is fixed by their own expert at seven-oh-five P.M. The shotgun blast isn’t heard at the office “til eight-twenty-five. Yet according to pathology the cause of death was the pellet to the basal ganglion. You tell me.”

  Harry’s making faces, perplexed. In trial as in life, fear is most often clothed in the unknown. And for the present, our case is shrouded in mystery.

  Now he’s pawing around in the pile of paper on the table. “I think you have it,” he says. “The pathology report.”

  I reach into the stack and pull it out.

  “The footnote,” he says. “The monster pellet. Read it one more time.”

  I’m halfway through, when I stop in mid-sentence and look up into Harry’s beaming eyes.

  “You thinkin’ what I am?” he says.

  I nod, and in near unison we whisper: “A second shot.”

  “Cooper—you little sucker,” I say. “You found a bullet fragment, didn’t ya?”

  “Cheetam can kiss his ‘shotgun’s not a woman’s weapon’ theory goodbye,” says Harry.

  “We need to find out if either Ben or Talia owned a small-caliber handgun. If they did, it might be registered. That means the cops know about it.”

  Harry makes another note, then lays his pen on top of the pad and rubs his hands together. “All things being equal,” he says, “I’d rather have the other side of this one.” Harry means the state’s case. “Whadda you think?”

  “It doesn’t look good.”

  “Try this on,” he says. “Potter comes home early from the office, stumbles onto Sheena and the Jungle Boy swinging through the vines. They fight and Potter buys it, a quick shot to the head from a small piece. Maybe something in a bedside stand They put Potter in the car and take him for a ride.” Harry wrinkles his nose a little, like this story fits the state’s case. “They run him over to the office and pop him with the shotgun where the janitor hears it. The shot takes out the rest of the slug. Or maybe it fragmented on the way in, on some bone, and now passes for pellets, all except for this monster thing in the ganglion.”

  I shake my head.

  “Why not?” says Harry.

  I’m not denying the plausibility of this scenario. I’m shaking my head in futility, for I have nothing with which to counter it.

  “And it fits the fiber analysis of forensics,” says Harry.

  Forensics has found traces of two carpet fibers on Ben’s clothing, an inexpensive manmade fiber used chiefly in some outdoor carpets and an array of recreational vehicles and trailers, and a more expensive nylon fiber. The second matches exactly the burgundy carpet in the trunk of Ben’s Rolls-Royce.

  “We need to talk to Talia,” I say. “There must be something to confirm where she was that day.” She’s already told us she has no alibi for the time of death. According to Talia she was off alone looking at some property at the time of Ben’s murder, a house from an estate sale down in Vacaville. I’ve come up with nothing that can place her there, no telephone calls she made, no gasoline purchases with credit cards. She entered the deserted house alone using a lockbox key and let herself out when she was finished. For all intents she slipped off the face of the earth during those hours immediately preceding and following Ben’s death. It’ll play well for the state in showing that Talia possessed one of the vital ingredients of any murder, the opportunity to kill.

  One of the double French doors behind us opens. We’re treated to the smiling countenance of Ron Brown. He swaggers in, all poise in a gray pinstripe with French cuffs a mile long darting from the sleeves. With one hand he fingers the center button of his coat, which is closed over a trim stomach. His upper lip ripples under the pencil-thin mustache, a sure sign that he knows something we don’t.

  “I’ve got some good news,” he says. “In fact it’s a major coup for our side.”

  “Fine, I can handle some good news,” I say.

  I can see by the look on his face that Harry’s about to puke.

  Brown hesitates briefly, relishing the moment. “I couldn’t tell you earlier. Sensitive negotiations were going on,” he says.

  “Spare us,” says Harry.

  I wonder what Cheetam and the eunuch have been up to. Then it hits me. They’ve cut a deal with the DA, a plea bargain to save Talia. Maybe Cheetam’s not as dumb as I think.

  “Gil,” he says. “Mr. Cheetam has just landed a six-figure deal with a New York publishing house for the book rights to Talia’s case. Seems they’re interested in the inside story—the death of a high court nominee.”

  I look at Harry in disbelief. I can feel my face fall on the table. “You’re kidding.”

  Brown’s voice goes up an octave. “Would I joke about something like this? Cheetam is a real operator,” he says. “Why not make the most of an opportunity?”

  He looks over at the tangled mass of pages on the table in front of us. “Now tell me,” he says, “what little stones of wisdom have you two found?”

  Harry’s seething. I can see the cords standing out on his neck like steel cables.

  “Would I could put them in your kidneys,” he says.

  “Emm?’ It has sailed over Brown’s head.

  CHAPTER

  15

  BY the time I arrive at Talia’s it’s nearly eight in the evening. I’ve called and asked for this meeting outside the office, where Cheetam and Skarpellos won’t interfere.

  I ring the bell and discover that Talia has yet to learn the meaning of discretion. The door is opened by her young friend Tod Hamilton. The only thing brighter than the light over the front door is his broad smile. It seems he’s now providing comfort and support around the clock. I can feel the eyes of a thousand neighbors on us as we stand there. I am beginning to play the state’s game. I am wondering where Tod Hamilton was on the night Ben was killed.

  Hamilton holds up a large brandy snifter, tea-colored liquid swirling in the bottom.

  “Come in,” he says. “Something to drink?”

  “Scotch if you got it. No ice, a little water.”

  He leads me to the living room, where Talia is waiting. She’s wearing a pair of black lace lounging pajamas, sitting with her legs curled under her on the sofa, like the prized wife in some harem.

  Tod brings my drink and sinks into the oversized wicker chair across from my own. We sit like two end pieces at an angle, facing Talia on the couch. Hamilton crosses a leg at the knee, a Boston loafer dangling from one foot, a button-down shirt open at the collar. He is in all respects the vision of preppiness. Here, I think, is a body well suited to a leopard-skin G-string.

  Talia makes no pretence of sociability but instead goes straight to the core of our meeting, what I’ve found in the state’s evidence. I open my note pad and start at the top.

  After my first question she thinks for a moment, then says: “Yes, it was a cute little thing.” She motions with the first finger of each hand, about three inches apart. “Ben bought it for me, white handles, very shiny. It was really quite beautiful.” This is how Talia describes the small semiautomatic handgun presented to her by Ben two years ago, when an assailant known as the “woolly rapist” terrorized the east side of town.

  “What caliber?” I ask. This is important, since the fragment found in Ben may show signs of steel jacketing. This would mean a larger-caliber semiautomatic load, like a nine-millimeter. Maybe I can distinguish the round from the gun she owned.

  “I don’t know. The bullets were very small,” she says. “Tiny.”

  I guess a twenty-five caliber or a twenty-two. A woman’s weapon.

  “Do you have the gun?”

  “I haven’t seen it—it must be over a year now. We used to keep it up in the bedroom in Ben’s side table.” Harry’s got clairvoyance, I think.

  “Ben moved it last Christmas. Some young children came to visit; his niece and her kids were here for the holidays. He thought it wasn’t safe to have the gun where the childr
en might find it. To tell you the truth, I wouldn’t have known how to use it. He took me out to this shooting range one time, loaded it, and made me shoot it several times. I really didn’t think it was necessary. But you know Benjamin.”

  “Did the police search for a gun the day they came to the house, the day after Ben was killed?”

  “They might have. I didn’t pay much attention.”

  “Did they have a search warrant?”

  “I don’t think so. They rang the doorbell, asked if they could look around. I said sure. I was confused, upset with Ben’s death. Thought it best to cooperate. I had nothing to hide,” she says. “At least I didn’t think so.”

  Ordinarily it would be good news for our side, the lack of a warrant. If they found anything it could be suppressed. But given Talia’s consent to the search and the fact that at that early stage, suspicion had probably not begun to focus on her, it is a moot point.

  “Did they take anything from the house?”

  “I don’t remember.” There’s a moment of pained silence as she thinks back to that day. “They left with a couple of small plastic bags, I think. I don’t know what was in them. No gun. I would have remembered that.” Talia’s now certain either they weren’t looking or, if they were, they didn’t find the gun. “I think they took some bullets from the study. Said something about wanting to compare them with the bullet from the gun”

  “The shotgun?”

  “I think so. I can’t remember. It’s been so long. You have to remember, I had a few other things on my mind.” She says this with more than a little sarcasm.

  “Is it important?” asks Tod.

  “It could be. I’d like you to look for the gun. If you find it, don’t touch it. There may be prints. Just call me.”

  I think Talia’s right on this point. It is a virtual certainty the cops didn’t find the gun the day they searched the house. It hasn’t shown up on the inventory of evidence held in the police locker. Under the circumstances a missing gun is as good as one in the hand, as far as the state is concerned. The minute bullet fragment found in Ben is unlikely to be sufficient for any serious ballistics analysis. Given its size and the damage sustained by what is left of the round, a match to the gun would be next to impossible. But it may be enough to show that the fragment was indeed part of a small-caliber bullet. That, coupled with proof of registration showing that either Ben or Talia possessed such a weapon, fills an important gap in their case. It leaves us in the position of dealing with a double negative, that the bullet fired into Ben’s head didn’t come from a gun Talia can’t find. It is from just such deficits that jurors form damning conclusions.

  “We’ll look for it,” says Tod. “I’ll help her.” There’s a genuineness in his tone. Tod is one of those souls who is either very slick or naive in the extreme. It’s difficult to tell.

  “I assume that this gun is important or you wouldn’t be looking for it,” he says. “But …”

  “But what?”

  “Mr. Potter wasn’t shot with a handgun,” he says.

  “You know that for a fact?”

  He’s perceptive enough not to say the obvious—that it was in all the newspapers. “You have evidence showing that a handgun was used?”

  The man is not naive, I decide. “Let’s just say that there may be some conflicting evidence. Right now we’re exploring a number of different leads, which takes me to the next point—an alibi. We need more information on your whereabouts the day of the killing. I know we’ve been through this before. But one more time.”

  Talia’s getting a little testy on this. We have been over it so many times, but she humors me. “Well, as I’ve said, I was down in Vacaville, looking at property. I didn’t get home until around ten. The police were here at the house waiting for me when I arrived.”

  There are knowing looks exchanged here, between Talia and Tod, the kind that make normal people paranoid and lawyers nervous. I tell myself it may be simply that they have realized the obvious. The absence of any plausible evidence confirming an alibi makes Talia the perfect defendant.

  I gamble a little and press. “No, no. None of this,” I say. I look somewhat bug-eyed at them, exaggerating their glances. There’s more than a little aggression in my tone, and the message is clear: Don’t waste my time with lies. “Either you tell me the truth, all of it now, or I can’t help you.”

  “We are,” she says. “I mean I am. I’m telling you all I know.”

  “Well, then it’s just not good enough,” I say. It’s a delicate line, attempting to draw out a client, getting her to help herself without suborning perjury. “There must be something you’ve forgotten. Somebody you talked to. A stop along the way that’s slipped your mind. Think.”

  There comes a long moment of pained silence as she racks her memory. I’ve already taken signed consent forms from Talia and sent them to all of the companies from which she holds credit cards on the off chance that she made a credit purchase that day, a transaction she’s forgotten about.

  “I’m sorry.” She can read the frustration in my expression. “It’s that bad?”

  I nod. “You can tell ’em you heard it here first—Tony and Cheetam.” Seeing how Cheetam’s been glossing it with her, I am here in part to let her know the truth. “We could try to cut a deal with the DA.” I’m breaking new ground now. No one has yet dared to discuss the possibility of a plea bargain with Talia.

  “You aren’t serious?” Tod plants both feet on the floor. He’s now leaning forward in his chair, looking at me incredulously.

  “I do mean it. I couldn’t be more serious. We’re looking at the gas chamber,” I say. To Tod these words may be chilling, but still, for him, it is an abstraction. I wish I could say the same. I have been waking in a cold sweat at night, behind the crystal vision of Brian Danley twisting under the straps in that chair, his voice howling for mercy. I wonder after all these months why it is now that these thoughts are visiting me. But after viewing the state’s evidence it is no longer a quantum leap to envision Talia’s softer, feline, terror-stricken eyes in that place. I can tell by the look on Talia’s face that this thought is now finally beginning to settle on her.

  “I know what Cheetam’s been telling you,” I say. I wait for a moment, to make my point stand out. “A lot of pixie dust and happy thoughts I’ve checked him out. He wins one in ten, publicizes the shit out of it until it makes him bigger than life itself.” My inquiries into Cheetam have confirmed my worst fears. “On the civil side it’s bad enough. Some poor slob with a leg off has to spend his life sitting on a littered street corner with a can of pencils.”

  Talia’s expression turns hard. I know that to her such a scene makes her own situation appear merciful. She would always choose a quick death over poverty.

  “To Gilbert Cheetam this is just one more case,” I say. “An opportunity to fill a few more pages in his scrapbook When it’s over he’ll go on to the next case, and then the one after that. Sure he’d like to win. But the Cheetams of this world don’t look back, or cry over lost causes. They forget them as quickly as possible. They remember only their victories, and they tell their publicists to do the same thing.” I can’t tell if I’m getting through to her.

  “Did you know that he’s already sold book rights to the story of your case?”

  This snaps Talia’s head in my direction.

  “No, I didn’t,” she says.

  I nod. “It’s true.”

  Tod laughs. “Well, there it is,” he says. “He wouldn’t sell a book on a case he thought he was going to lose. The man would have to be a fool.”

  “You think so?” I say. “Whether Talia wins or loses, you can be sure of one thing. Gilbert Cheetam will win the hearts and minds of any reader who pokes his nose between the covers of that book. He will offer her up as a sacrifice to justice, and himself as its high priest. There’s an old saw, Charlie”—I am looking directly at Tod now—“ ‘It doesn’t matter what they say about you as long as they spel
l your name right.’ And you can be sure that the biggest thing in that book will be Cheetam’s name on its cover. And inside, it will be repeated more times than there are periods.”

  “I disagree,” he says. “The man must have confidence in the case or he wouldn’t …”

  “Tod, shut up.” Talia’s heard enough.

  I have the stage. “This brings us to the sorry fact that the chances of beating this thing in the preliminary are slim and none. I’ve seen their best evidence.” I hesitate a moment before dropping the hammer. “If you want my assessment, you will be bound over for trial on a charge of first-degree murder.”

  Talia appears shaken, not so much by the news as by the blunt manner in which it is delivered. “I didn’t do it,” she says.

  “It pains me to tell you this, but that doesn’t matter. The evidence says you did. And in the prelim, all they have to show is criminal agency, that Ben died at the hands of another, and that there is a reasonable basis to believe that you’re guilty of the crime.” I focus all the urgency possible in my voice, the clarity of my words. “Believe me, unless you can give me something more, they’re certain to make their case in the prelim.”

  “Could they convict me?” she asks.

  To this I don’t give an answer, except for the arching of eyebrows and a slight tilt of my head, like the odds-makers are still out.

  Both of them are astounded. It appears that they’re heavily invested in Cheetam’s fairy tale of exoneration at an early stage.

  Talia, it seems, is on the verge of taking offense, as if I am saying these things only because I do not believe her protestations of innocence. She vents her spleen, then closes. “You’re just a bundle of confidence,” she says.

  Tod is more subdued, his gaze cast down into the brandy snifter cradled in his hands. I can see gyrations of liquid in the glass, like little temblors on a seismograph. Reality is beginning to settle on him.

  He looks at her. “Talia, maybe we should …”

  “No,” she says.

  I think maybe he is counseling a deal with the DA.