After Dark

by Phillip Margolin

  "That's a shot of the garage." Torino held up the photograph so the jury could see it and pointed to the left side of the picture.

  "You can see the workbench over here."

  Geddes took the photograph and handed Torino the last plastic bag. It contained a clean strip of metal. It was not charred or twisted. One end was flat and obviously shaped by a machine.

  The other end came to a point. The point was jagged and appeared to have been cut by hand.

  "This is State's Exhibit 37. Can you tell the jury what it is?"

  Torino took Exhibit 36 in one hand and Exhibit 37 in the other and fit the jagged point from Exhibit 37 into the notch at the end of Exhibit "Exhibit 37 appears to be the other part of the longer strip from which Exhibit 36 was cut. They don't fit exactly because Exhibit 36 was mangled in the explosion."

  Geddes paused and turned toward Abigail Griffen.

  "Did you find Exhibit 37, Officer Torino?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "Where did you find it?"

  "Under the workbench in Abigail Griffen's garage. You can see the strip in the bottom right corner of Exhibit 52. We also have a close-up in another photo."

  Tracy suddenly felt sick. Torino's testimony was devastating.

  She glanced quickly at the jurors. Every one of them was leaning forward and several were writing furiously on their notepads.

  Then she looked at Matthew. If he was feeling any stress as a result of Torino's testimony, Tracy could not see it.

  "Officer Torino, there are what appear to be metal shavings in the plastic bag that we've been using to hold Exhibit 37. Where did they come from?"

  "They were found on the floor under the vise."

  Geddes went back to counsel table and pulled a plastic Clorox bottle from a shopping bag.

  "Can you tell the jury where State's Exhibit 42 was found?"

  "It was also found in Mrs. Griffen's garage."

  Tracy glanced at Reynolds. He still appeared to be unconcerned.

  "Your Honor, at this time I move to introduce State's Exhibits 35, 36, 37, 42 and 52," Geddes said. "Any objection, Mr. Reynolds?"

  "May I see 42, please," Reynolds said calmly as he climbed to his feet.

  Tracy could not believe how well he concealed the shock he had to be experiencing. Geddes handed Reynolds the Clorox bottle.

  "May I ask a question in aid of objection, Your Honor?"

  "Go ahead."

  "Officer Torino, this Clorox bottle is in one piece, is it not?"

  "Yes."

  "Then it could not be the bottle from which was cut the plastic strip used in the detonating device?"

  "That's true."

  Matthew turned toward the bench. "I object to the admission of State's Exhibit 42. It has no relevance."

  "Mr. Geddes?" the judge said.

  "It is relevant," Geddes answered. "This is obviously not the bottle from which the strip was cut, but it proves that the defendant uses the brand."

  "I'll let it in. It has limited relevance, but as long as it has some, it meets the evidentiary threshold for admissibility."

  "I have no further questions of this witness, Your Honor. Mr. Reynolds may examine."

  "Mr. Reynolds?" Judge Baldwin asked.

  "May I have a moment, Your Honor?"

  Baldwin nodded. Matthew turned to Abbie. His features were composed, but Tracy could tell that he was very upset.

  "What was that metal strip doing in your garage?" he asked in a tone low enough to keep the jurors or Geddes from hearing what was said.

  "I swear, I don't know," Abbie answered in a whisper. "My God, Matthew, if I made that bomb in the garage, don't you think I'd have the brains to get rid of anything that could connect me to it?"

  "Yes, I do. But we're stuck with the fact that the strip was found in the garage of the house you were renting together with metal shavings that would be created when it was sawed off the rest of the strip. When was the last time you remember being around the worktable?"

  "I put the car in the garage every evening. The people I'm renting from own the workshop furniture and the tools. I've never used them. Deems planted the strip and the shavings. Don't you see that? I'm being framed."

  "This is very bad," Matthew said. "Now I understand why Stamm felt he had to get off the case."

  Reynolds turned to Tracy. "Do you remember seeing the three strips when we examined the physical evidence?"

  "Of course, but I didn't think anything about them. They weren't together, I'm sure of that. If I recall, they were scattered among the other pieces of metal from the bomb and there were a lot of metal chunks on the table."

  "Geddes did that on purpose," Matthew muttered. "He set us up."

  "What are we going to do?"

  Reynolds thought for a moment, then addressed the judge.

  "Before I cross-examine, I have a matter I would like to take up with the court."

  Judge Baldwin looked up at the clock. Then he turned to the jurors.

  "Ladies and gentlemen, this is a good time to take our morning recess.

  Let's reconvene at ten forty-five."

  As the jurors filed out, Barry came through the bar of the court and stood next to Tracy.

  "As soon as we break for the day," Reynolds told them, "I want you two to look at all of the physical evidence again, to make certain there aren't any more surprises."

  The door to the jury room closed and Judge Baldwin said, "Mr. Reynolds?"

  "Your Honor, I would like to reserve my cross-examination of Officer Torino. His testimony, and this exhibit, are a complete surprise to the defense."

  "Will you explain that to me? Didn't Mr. Geddes let you know that he was introducing it?"

  "There are no written reports about the metal strips that were used in the bombs and the strip found in Mrs. Griffen's garage . . ."

  Chuck Geddes leaped to his feet. He was fighting hard to suppress a smile of satisfaction.

  "Exhibits 35, 36 and 37 were listed on evidence reports supplied to the defense, Your Honor. We also made all of the physical evidence available to the defense for viewing."

  "Is that so, Mr. Reynolds?"

  Matthew cast a withering glance at Geddes, whose lips twisted into a smirk.

  "Mr. Geddes may have listed the exhibits, Your Honor, but no report furnished to the defense explained the significance of the items. If I remember correctly, the strips Were noted on the evidence list simply as pieces of metal and the three metal strips were scattered among the remnants of the bomb that killed Justice Griffen, giving the impression that all three strips were unconnected and found at the crime scene."

  "What do you have to say about that, Mr. Geddes?"

  "The discovery rules require me to list all the witnesses and exhibits I intend to introduce at trial. They do not require me to explain what I intend to do with the exhibits or what my witnesses have to say about them. I did what was required by law. If Mr. Reynolds was unable to understand the significance of the exhibits, that's his problem."

  "Your Honor, there is no way any reasonable person could have understood the significance of this evidence," Matthew answered angrily. "Mr.

  Geddes made certain of that by scattering them among the other exhibits.

  Ask him why he did that and ask him why he didn't have Officer Torino write a report about them."

  "If you're implying that I did anything unethical . . ." Geddes started.

  "Gentlemen," Judge Baldwin interrupted, "let's keep this civilized. Mr.

  Reynolds, if Mr. Geddes gave you notice that Officer Torino was testifying and he listed the strips as exhibits, he complied with the law. However, I want you to have a fair opportunity to cross-examine on this matter, which is of obvious importance.

  What do you suggest we do?"

  "Your Honor, I would like to have custody of the three strips so I can have them examined by a defense expert. I have someone in mind."

  "How long will you need the evidence, Mr. Reynolds?"

/>   "I won't know until I talk to my expert. He may be able to accomplish what I want this weekend."

  "I object, Your Honor," Geddes said. "We're in the middle of trial. Mr.

  Reynolds had ample opportunity to examine and test the evidence."

  "And I'm sure he would have if you'd given him some notice of the use to which you were putting it," Judge Baldwin said sternly. "Quite frankly, Mr. Geddes, while you're within the letter of the law on this, I don't think you're within its spirit."

  "Your Honor . . ." Geddes began, but Judge Baldwin held up his hand.

  "Mr. Geddes, this could have been avoided if you had informed Mr.

  Reynolds about Officer Torino's testimony in advance of trial. I'm going to let Mr. Reynolds have the metal strips, if he can find an expert to examine them."

  The rest of the afternoon was taken up with the testimony of several bomb squad members, who identified evidence taken from the crime scene and explained where each item was found.

  Outside, a gentle rain was falling, but the heat was on in the courthouse and the drone of the witnesses was putting Tracy to sleep.

  She sighed with relief when the judge called the weekend recess.

  As soon as court was out, Matthew took custody of the three metal strips and left with Abigail Griffen. Tracy and Barry Frame looked over all of the evidence that was in the courtroom. When they were through, Neil Christenson escorted them to a conference room in the district attorney's office that was being used to store the physical evidence that had not been introduced. Some of the evidence was spread over the top of a long conference table. Other evidence was in cardboard boxes on the floor of the conference room. Christenson parked himself in a chair at the far end of the room.

  "How about some privacy?" Barry asked.

  "Sorry," Christenson replied. "If it was up to me, I'd be home with a cold beer, but Chuck told me to keep an eye on you."

  "Suit yourself."

  Tracy started with the items on the table, conferring with Barry in whispers if she saw anything that might be significant and making notes on a legal pad. When they were done with the items on top of the table, Barry cleared a space at one end and emptied the contents of the first cardboard carton, which contained items taken from Abbie's rented house.

  Tracy's stomach was starting to growl by the time they finished with the evidence from the rented house and Barry emptied the first box of items from Justice Griffen's den. The box contained personal papers, household receipts, bills and other documents of this type. Tracy emptied a second box that contained papers found in the bottom right drawer of Justice Griffen's desk.

  At first glance, the papers looked like they would be similar to the papers in the other box. Then Tracy spotted something that was out of place. At the bottom of the pile was a volume from a trial transcript.

  A sheet from a yellow legal pad was jutting out from between two of the transcript pages. Tracy thought that Barry must have gone through this box when they looked through the evidence the first time, because she did not remember seeing the transcript before.

  When Tracy saw the cover page of the transcript, she concealed her surprise. She was looking at Volume XI of State of Oregon, Plaintiff-Respondent v. Charles Darren Deems, Defeno dant-Appellant, the transcript Laura Rizzatti had been reading the day Matthew Reynolds and Abigail Griffen argued at the Supreme Court. Tracy remembered how nervous Laura had seemed when she found her reading it.

  Tracy glanced over at Christenson. He was reading the sports section of The Oregonian and looked bored stiff. Tracy shifted her body to block Christenson's view, then opened the transcript enough to see what was written on the sheet from the legal pad.

  The sheet was wedged between pages 1289 and 1290 of the transcript. It was a sheet from the legal pad on which Laura was writing in the library'on the day Justice Pope accosted her. The names of three criminal cases were written on the page. Tracy remembered how quickly Laura had turned over the yellow pad to prevent Tracy from seeing what was on it. Tracy wrote down the names of the cases and the volume numbers of the Oregon reporters in which they were published.

  What was so special about the transcript and these cases, and what were this transcript and Laura's notes doing in Justice Griffen's den? The transcript was part of the official record of the Deems case and should be with the rest of the transcripts in the case in the file room of the Supreme Court.

  Twenty minutes later, Barry stretched and announced, "That's the lot."

  Christenson showed them out, then returned to the conference room. Barry pressed the down button on the elevator. As they waited for it to arrive, he asked, "Any brilliant insights?"

  Tracy was tempted to tell him about the transcript, but there was nothing to tell. She had no idea what was in Volume XI.

  Whatever was there wouldn't have anything to do with Abbie's case anyway.

  "I didn't see anything I didn't spot the first time we went through this stuff. If there are any more surprises, Geddes slipped them past me."

  "I agree. Are you up for dinner?"

  Tracy wanted to get to the office so she could read Volume XI in the set of transcripts she'd taken from Bob Packard.

  "I'll pass. I'm going to grab some takeout and head for the office.

  There are a few things I have to go over tonight."

  "Hey, it's the weekend. Casablanca is on. I thought we'd whip up some gourmet popcorn, crack open a bottle of wine and watch Bogie. You don't want to pass that up, do you?"

  Barry sounded disappointed. The elevator doors opened. They stepped into the empty car. Tracy touched him on the arm.

  "I'll tell you what. I'm big on Bogie myself. When's the movie start?"

  "Nine."

  "Save me a seat. I should be able to finish by then."

  Barry grinned. "I'll be waiting. Do you like red or white wine with your popcorn?"

  "Beer, actually."

  "A woman after my own heart. I'll even spring for imported."

  Neil Christenson showed Barry Frame and Tracy Cavanaugh out of the district attorney's office, then he returned to the conference room and emptied the box with the evidence that had been found in the bottom right drawer of Justice Griffen's desk onto the conference table.

  Christenson had only been pretending to read the paper while Barry and Tracy went through the evidence and he noticed that Tracy was intentionally blocking his view when she went through this box.

  Christenson was determined to discover the piece of evidence that had created so much interest.

  The transcript and yellow paper attracted his attention immediately because they were out of place. Christenson frowned when he saw that the transcript was from the Deems case. Then he remembered that Justice Griffen had written the opinion that reversed Deems's conviction. How ironic, he thought, that the person Justice Griffen had freed from prison was going to help convict the judge's killer.

  Christenson flipped through the transcript, but found nothing that looked important. He put it down on the table and started on the other documents. There were miscellaneous papers, a file filled with correspondence between Justice Griffen and his stockbroker, another file with paperwork about his beach property and an envelope stuffed with credit card receipts. Christenson went through the receipts. Several were from a restaurant in Salem that was close to the court, a few were from stores in Salem and Portland, three were from a motel called the Overlook and a number of receipts were from gas stations. Nothing relevant to the case.

  Christenson went through the contents of the box once more, then gave up. It was late and he was tired. If Tracy Cavanaugh had spotted something important, it had gone right by him.

  Christenson yawned, closed the door to the conference room and headed home.*

  As soon as she was alone in the office, Tracy found Volume XI.

  To her great disappointment, it was incredibly dull. It contained the testimony of the police officers who searched Charlie Deems's apartment after his arrest. They told ab
out items they had discovered during the search. Tracy could not imagine why Laura Rizzatti would have been interested in anything she read.

  The sheet from Laura's yellow legal pad had been stuck between pages 1289 and 1290. Tracy wondered if that meant those pages contained something important or if the yellow sheet with the list of cases had ended up there by chance. When she reached pages 1289 and 1290, she found nothing that helped clear up the mystery.

  Portland police detective Mark Simon's testimony started on 7 and continued past the two pages. He was the detective in charge of the search of Deems's apartment. In the early part of his testimony, he outlined the assignments of the officers who searched the apartment.

  Then he talked about various items found during the search and their significance to the homicide investigation. Deems had been arrested at a nightclub. Several people had phoned him while he was out. The direct examination by Abigail Griffen on pages 1289 and 1290 concerned messages found on Deems's answering machine.

  "GRIFFE: So these were messages that were waiting for the defendant, which he was unable to return because he was arrested?"

  SIMON: Yes ma'am.

  "Q: The jury has heard the message tape. I'd like to go through the messages with you and ask you to comment on their significance, if you can."

  "A: All right.

  "Q' The first message is from 'Jack." He leaves a number.

  What significance do you attach to that call?"

  "A: I don't have enough information to comment on that call.

  The number was for a pay phone. We did send someone to the phone, but there was no one there when the officers arrived."

  "Q: Okay. Message number two was from Raoul. He leaves a pager number and asks the defendant to call him when he gets in.

  What is the significance of that call?"

  "A: Okay. Well, with this one, I can comment. Subsequent investigation revealed that the pager was rented from Continental Communications by Ram6n Prez, a known associate of Raoul Otero. Mr. Otero is reputed to be one of the major players in an organization that distributes cocaine in Oregon, Washington, Texas and Louisiana. I believe this call indicates a connection between the defendant and this organization."