Sleeping Beauty

by Phillip Margolin

  “Who killed your mother, Ashley?” Delilah asked. “Who tried to kill you?”

  “Him. Joshua Maxfield. He tried to kill me. He killed my mother.”

  Ashley began to sob.

  After a recess, Delilah had Ashley recount her recovery on the Academy grounds and the attack in the dormitory that followed Maxfield’s escape. Eric Swoboda’s cross-examination was mercifully short, and her testimony ended just before five o’clock. Judge Shimazu adjourned court for the day. Delilah, Jerry Philips, Larry Birch, and Tony Marx formed a protective circle around Ashley and helped her get through the crowd outside the courtroom. Delilah stopped in front of the elevators and faced the cameras and microphones. Her body shielded Ashley from the glare of the lights and the questions shouted at her by the reporters.

  “Miss Spencer will not answer any questions. She is exhausted. These past five years have been a terrible ordeal for her and I ask you to respect her privacy. She has been very brave today. Let her have some peace.”

  Several reporters shouted questions at Delilah. She answered them while Jerry and the detectives hustled Ashley into the elevator.

  “You were fantastic,” Jerry said when the elevator doors closed.

  “I don’t feel fantastic,” Ashley said.

  “Well it’s over now and Swoboda didn’t lay a glove on you.”

  “I didn’t see it as a boxing match, Jerry.”

  “No, no. I meant that your testimony was basically unchallenged. It was everything Delilah could have hoped for. You’re going to be a major reason that Maxfield will be convicted. He couldn’t even look you in the eye. The jury saw that.”

  Ashley felt no elation, only exhaustion, although there was also a feeling of peace because her part in the trial was over.

  The elevator stopped and Jerry and the detectives brought Ashley to Delilah’s office. A few minutes later, Delilah joined them. There was a huge smile on her face.

  “Come here, girlfriend,” she said as she wrapped Ashley in a warm embrace. After a moment, she stood back and held her witness at arm’s length.

  “You can be mighty proud of yourself, young lady. You have single-handedly brought a terrible murderer to justice. I know we have a way to go but I was watching the faces of those twelve jurors and they are converted. It would take the intervention of the Almighty to work an acquittal for Joshua Maxfield, and he only has Eric Swoboda and Satan on his side.”

  Ashley blushed at Delilah’s effusive praise.

  “How you feelin’?” Delilah asked. “You feelin’ relieved?”

  Ashley nodded.

  “You’ll sleep good tonight, child, because you done good. You avenged your parents. You did them proud.”

  “I’m so glad I don’t have to come to court anymore.”

  Delilah’s smile disappeared. “I know you want to stay away and put this behind you, but I need you in court every day until the trial ends.”

  Ashley looked stricken. Delilah looked right at her. When she spoke her tone was firm.

  “Your parents need you in court to face down their killer. You represent Norman and Terri Spencer and Tanya Jones. It’s important that the jury see you every day. They have to know that you’re watching them and holding them to account.”

  “All right.”

  Delilah gave Ashley’s shoulders a gentle squeeze. “Your day of rest will come soon, but you have to play your part to make sure that Joshua Maxfield never has another peaceful day.”

  Chapter Thirty

  Jerry couldn’t go to court with Ashley the next day because he had an appearance in Washington County in a divorce case. He offered to try to set over the case, but Ashley wouldn’t hear of it. When she walked into the courtroom, Miles Van Meter was already in his front-row seat.

  “I didn’t get a chance to talk to you yesterday,” Miles said. “Your testimony was excellent. I was watching the jurors. They hung on every word. I hope Casey holds up as well as you did.”

  “I’m sure she will. She’s a very strong woman.”

  “I appreciate the time you’re spending with her. It’s helped her recovery tremendously.”

  “She is my mother,” Ashley responded. Thinking of Casey as her mother was getting easier.

  “The way she treated you, you don’t owe her anything. That’s what makes what you’re doing so great.”

  “Getting to know Casey has helped me, too. It’s like I’m starting to build a family again.”

  Miles was about to respond when the bailiff rapped the gavel and called the courtroom to order.

  Delilah began the day by calling three members of Joshua Maxfield’s writing seminar. They told the jurors how upset Terri Spencer was during Maxfield’s reading of the excerpt from his serial-killer novel. Delilah’s next witness was Dean Van Meter’s secretary, who established that Terri had met with the dean on the day of her death. After the secretary, Delilah called a representative of the phone company to prove that the dean had phoned Ashley’s mother within an hour of the meeting at the Academy.

  During the testimony, Ashley would glance at Joshua Maxfield when a witness made an important point. He never looked back. His shoulders were hunched and he stared at the tabletop. It appeared to Ashley that he had given up.

  Delilah’s next witness was Dr. Sally Grace, the medical examiner. It took a good part of the morning for her to explain the cause of death for Tanya Jones and Ashley’s father and mother. Dr. Grace’s explanation was accompanied by graphic photos, which were passed to the members of the jury. Fortunately for Ashley, the spectators could not see the autopsy and crime-scene photographs. The testimony about her parents’ and her friend’s injuries was gruesome enough. Even though Delilah had warned her about what she would hear, it took all of Ashley’s self-control to stay in the courtroom.

  After the lunch break, Delilah used Tony Marx to introduce evidence that had been gathered at the boathouse and Joshua Maxfield’s cabin. Then she called Detective Birch, who introduced the evidence that had been discovered at the Spencer home crime scene. After an hour of this, Delilah asked a question about another subject.

  “At some point in your investigation did you develop a theory that the man who committed these murders had committed murders in other states?”

  “Yes,” Birch answered.

  “What steps did you take to find out if you were right?”

  “We sent information about the case to the FBI.”

  “Why did you do that?”

  “There is a division of the bureau that tracks serial killings from around the country.”

  Delilah addressed Judge Shimazu. “I have no further questions of Detective Birch at this time. But I plan to recall him, Your Honor.”

  “You may cross-examine, Mr. Swoboda.”

  “May I reserve my cross until Detective Birch has completed all of his testimony?”

  “Any objection to that, Miss Wallace?”

  “No, Your Honor.”

  “Call your next witness, Miss Wallace.”

  “The State calls Bridget Booth, Your Honor.”

  A moment later, a woman with short gray hair and a pale complexion walked down the aisle. Her bearing was military and she wore a gray business suit, white blouse, and practical shoes.

  “What is your occupation, Mrs. Booth?” Delilah asked as soon as her witness had been sworn.

  “I’m a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”

  “Where are you headquartered?”

  “ Quantico, Virginia.”

  “Would you please tell the jury your educational background?”

  “I received a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in behavioral science from the University of Missouri.”

  “Where did you work after obtaining your degrees?”

  “I was a policewoman and a homicide detective in St. Louis, Missouri, for seven years. Actually, I obtained my master’s while I was on the force. During my seventh year in St. Louis, I applied to the FBI
and was accepted. I completed basic training at Quantico, Virginia, and served four years as a special agent assigned to the Seattle office. Then I applied for VICAP and I’ve been there for thirteen years.”

  “What is VICAP?”

  “It’s an acronym for the FBI’s Violent Criminal Apprehension Program. The program originated from an idea developed in the 1950s by the late Pierce Brooks, a detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. Detective Brooks was investigating the murders of two Los Angeles women who were found bound by rope in the desert. They had both answered an ad for photographic models. Detective Brooks was convinced that this was the work of a killer who had murdered before and would strike again, so he used his off-duty hours to read out-of-town newspapers in hopes of finding an account of another similar murder. He did find such a case and it led to an arrest and conviction.

  “Detective Brooks became convinced that putting information about open homicide cases on a computer would enable law enforcement officers from around the country to solve cases with similar modus operandi. In 1983, the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime was created and placed under the direction and control of the FBI training center at Quantico. VICAP is a part of the center. Its goal is to collect, collate, and analyze all aspects of the investigation of similar-pattern multiple murders on a nationwide basis.”

  “Approximately five years ago, did you receive a call from Detective Larry Birch of the Portland Police Bureau concerning some homicides that had occurred in Oregon?” Delilah asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Why did Detective Birch contact you?”

  “The crimes were unusual, and he wondered if we were aware of other crimes with similar modus operandi. He was also in possession of an unpublished novel…”

  “Objection, Your Honor,” Swoboda said. “We object to any evidence about that book. It’s irrelevant. It’s made-up fiction.”

  “I’ve ruled on this pretrial, Mr. Swoboda,” Judge Shimazu said. “I have decided that evidence concerning the book can be introduced for certain limited purposes. So I will overrule your objection and you can have a continuing objection. You may proceed, Miss Wallace.”

  “Thank you, Your Honor.”

  Delilah turned back to the witness. “Agent Booth, let’s leave the novel aside for the time being. Did you find other murders that were similar to the murders Detective Birch was investigating?”

  Booth turned toward the jurors. “We have identified murders in Iowa, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Ohio, Michigan, Arizona, Montana, and Idaho that have been committed over a period of several years that may be the work of the same serial killer.”

  “What led you to that conclusion?”

  “In each instance, the killer broke into a home in the early-morning hours. In each household there were parents and a teenage daughter. The killer bound the victims with duct tape and tortured the parents by cutting them to death slowly.” Several members of the jury blanched. “He then raped the daughter before stabbing her to death.”

  “Did these murders have other things in common?”

  “Yes. In more than one, there was evidence that the killer ate a snack at the home. For instance, the murderer ate a piece of pie at the home in Connecticut. A candy bar was consumed in the Montana case. During the Spencer and Jones murders-this case-the killer ate a piece of cake and drank some milk.

  “Another thing they had in common was that the duct tape used in every case was manufactured by the same company. Furthermore, the tape used in the Michigan and Arizona cases came from the same roll.”

  “Has the FBI constructed a profile of the person who is responsible for theses crimes?” Delilah asked.

  “Objection,” Swoboda said. “This would be sheer speculation.”

  “I’m inclined to agree, Miss Wallace,” Judge Shimazu said. “The police can use certain tools in an investigation, like a lie detector, that are not sufficiently reliable to use as evidence in court. Unless you can lay a foundation for the scientific reliability of profiling, I’m going to sustain Mr. Swoboda’s objection.”

  “Very well, Your Honor. Agent Booth, have you had an opportunity to read two drafts of a novel that the defendant was writing at the time of his arrest?”

  “Yes I have.”

  “Was this novel about a fictional serial killer?”

  “Yes.”

  “Were there any similarities between the details of the crimes committed in the novel by the fictitious serial killer and evidence found at the real-life crime scenes created by the real serial killer you were profiling?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did the similarities between the novel and real life involve evidence in the real cases that the police had not revealed to the public?”

  “Yes.”

  “Will you outline the similarities for the jury?”

  “In the novel, the killer breaks into a home in the early-morning hours and murders the parents of a teenage girl. He plans to rape and murder the girl, but before following through he eats a dessert in the kitchen of the crime scene. As I’ve testified previously, all of the real murders occurred in the early-morning hours and involved families with two parents and a teenage daughter. Furthermore, the murderer in Montana and Connecticut ate a snack at the crime scene, and the person who murdered Tanya Jones and Norman Spencer ate a piece of cake and drank some milk in the kitchen of the Spencer home.”

  “Did the police organizations in Montana, Connecticut, and Oregon release information about these snacks to the public?”

  “No.”

  “Why did they keep these details secret?”

  “Investigators keep unusual details of crimes secret to guard against false confessions. They want to be sure that they have arrested the right person for the crime. A person who knew a detail of a crime that was not made public is probably the perpetrator.”

  “Your Honor, I move to introduce Exhibit 75, pages from the defendant’s novel, which contain the scene with the snack that Agent Booth just discussed.”

  “Objection,” Swoboda said.

  “Is this objection on new grounds, Mr. Swoboda?” the judge asked.

  “No, Your Honor.”

  “Overruled. You’re deemed to have a continuing objection to all similar exhibits. You don’t have to object every time the novel is mentioned. Go on, Miss Wallace.”

  When Agent Booth was finished testifying about other scenes in Joshua Maxfield’s book that were similar to the real crimes, Delilah turned her over to Eric Swoboda.

  “Agent Booth, you testified that the police organizations that investigated the crimes in places like Montana, Oregon, and Connecticut kept certain information secret.”

  “Yes.”

  “These are big organizations, are they not?”

  “Yes.”

  “Have you ever heard of information that was supposed to be secret leaking from big police organizations?”

  “Yes.”

  “There would be many people at a crime scene who would learn about a killer eating a snack during the commission of his crime, would there not?”

  “There could be.”

  “Any one of these people could make this secret information public?”

  “Yes.”

  “Agent Booth, are the crimes about which you’ve just testified the only ones of which you are aware in which the perpetrator used duct tape to bind a victim?”

  “No.”

  “Isn’t the use of duct tape common in crimes where a victim is tied up?”

  “Duct tape is used by criminals.”

  “As part of your duties with VICAP or out of a personal preference, do you read fictional books about make-believe serial killers?”

  “Yes.”

  “Have you ever read a novel that had a plot that mirrored aspects of a real case?”

  “Yes.”

  “And there are many true-crime books about real serial killers, aren’t there?”

  “Yes.”

  “
And these true-crime books describe in great detail how serial killers operate?”

  “Yes.”

  “Novelists use their imagination to make a living, don’t they?”

  “Yes.”

  “And they do research? They read about real serial killers to make their characters come alive?”

  “I suppose so.”

  “And novelists who write about serial killers would naturally develop ideas about how to kill someone or how a killer might act that might be very close to the way a real murderer might act?”

  “I suppose so.”

  “Are you aware of novels involving serial killers where the killer uses duct tape to bind his fictional victims?”

  “Yes.”

  “Agent Booth, you admitted that novelists frequently research real cases to make their fictional stories more believable, didn’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Has any author ever contacted VICAP to get background for a made-up story about a serial killer?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you know if Mr. Maxfield ever spoke with someone at VICAP or an FBI agent in another division or a police officer or a detective about serial killers for background?”

  “He never spoke to me.”

  “That’s not what I asked.”

  “I have no knowledge one way or the other about the defendant talking to someone at the FBI or other law enforcement officers about his book.”

  “Now, I believe that you testified that the duct tape in all of the cases came from the same manufacturer.”

  “Yes.”

  “How many rolls of this duct tape does the manufacturer make every year?”

  “I don’t have the exact figures with me.”

  “Is it safe to say that the company manufactures a lot of duct tape every year?”

  “Yes.”

  “Thousands of rolls?”

  “Probably.”

  “And these rolls are distributed nationally?”

  “Yes.”

  “So it’s quite possible that a murderer in Michigan and another totally unconnected murderer in Arizona could have purchased rolls from the same company?”