“No, I haven’t. But not for lack of trying.”
Wiggan smiled ruefully. This part of the testimony, right down to the self-deprecating comment, had been carefully planned by Kretzler earlier. He needed to limit the potential for damage to Wiggan’s testimony by walking him through the weak spots on direct.
“What do you mean by that, Mr. Wiggan?”
“Oh, I would say that in the last five years or so I have pitched film projects to David directly or to people in his production company maybe six or seven times. He never bought any of them.”
He hiked his shoulders in a sheepish gesture.
“Would you say this created a sense of animosity between you two?”
“No, not at all — at least not on my part. That’s the way the Hollywood game is played. You keep pitching and pitching and hopefully somebody eventually bites. It helps to have a thick skin, though.”
He smiled and nodded to the jury. He was giving Bosch a full set of the creeps. He wished Kretzler would end it before they lost the jury.
“Thank you, that’s all, Mr. Wiggan,” Kretzler said, apparently getting the same vibes as Bosch.
Wiggan’s face seemed to fall as he realized his moment was ending.
But then Fowkkes, who had passed on cross-examining the first three witnesses of the day, stood up and went to the lectern.
“Good morning, Mr. Wiggan.”
“Good morning.”
Wiggan raised his eyebrows in a what-do-we-have-here look.
“Just a few questions. Could you list for the jury the titles of films that you have written that have been produced?”
“Well . . . , so far, nothing’s been made. I’ve got some options and I think in a few —”
“I understand. Would you be surprised to know that in the last four years you have pitched Mr. Storey or submitted film treatments to him on a total of twenty-nine occasions, all of which were rejected?”
Wiggan’s face flushed with embarrassment.
“Well, I . . . I guess that could be true. I . . . don’t really know. I don’t keep a record of my rejections, as Mr. Storey apparently does.”
He delivered the last line in a snippish manner and Bosch almost winced. There was nothing worse than a witness on the stand who is caught in a lie and then gets defensive about it. Bosch glanced at the jury. Several of them were not looking at the witness, a sign that they were as uncomfortable as Bosch.
Fowkkes moved in for the kill.
“You were rejected by the defendant on twenty-nine occasions and yet you say to the jury that you bear him no malice, is that correct, sir?”
“That’s just business as usual in Hollywood. Ask anyone.”
“Well, Mr. Wiggan, I am asking you. Are you telling this jury that you bear this man no ill will when he is the same man who has constantly and repeatedly said to you, your work is not good enough?”
Wiggan almost mumbled his answer into the microphone.
“Yes, that is true.”
“Well, you’re a better man than me, Mr. Wiggan,” Fowkkes said. “Thank you, Your Honor. Nothing further at this time.”
Bosch could feel a good bit of the air go out of the prosecution’s balloon. With four questions and less than two minutes Fowkkes had put Wiggan’s entire credibility into question. And what was so absolutely perfect about the defense attorney’s skillful surgery was that there was little Kretzler could do on redirect to resuscitate Wiggan. The prosecutor at least knew better than to try and perhaps dig the hole deeper. He dismissed the witness and the judge called for the mid-morning break of fifteen minutes.
After the jury was out and people started working their way out of the courtroom, Kretzler leaned across Langwiser to whisper to Bosch.
“We should’ve known that this guy was going to blow up,” he said angrily.
Bosch just looked around to make sure no reporters were within earshot. He leaned toward Kretzler.
“You’re probably right,” he said. “But six weeks ago you were the one who said he would do the vetting on Wiggan. He was your responsibility, not mine. I’m going to get coffee.”
Bosch got up and left the two prosecutors sitting there.
• • •
After the break the prosecutors decided they needed to come back strong immediately after the disastrous cross-examination of Wiggan. They dropped plans to have another witness testify about seeing Storey and the victim together at the premiere party and Langwiser called a home security technician named Jamal Hendricks to the stand.
Bosch walked Hendricks in from the hallway. He was a black man wearing blue pants and a light blue uniform top, his first name embroidered over one pocket and the Lighthouse Security emblem over the other. He was planning to go to work following his testimony.
As they went through the first set of doors to the courtroom Bosch asked Hendricks in a whisper if he was nervous.
“Nah, man, piece of cake,” Hendricks replied.
On the stand Langwiser took Hendricks through his pedigree as a service technician for the home security company. She then moved specifically to his work on the security system at David Storey’s house. Hendricks said that eight months earlier he had installed a deluxe Millennium 21 system in the house on Mulholland.
“Can you tell us what some of the features are on the deluxe Millennium Twenty-one system?”
“Well, it’s top of the line. It’s got everything. Remote sensing and operation, voice recognition command software, automatic sensor polling, an innkeeper program . . . you name it and Mr. Storey got it.”
“What is an innkeeper program?”
“Essentially, it’s operation recording software. It lets you know what doors or windows have been opened and when, when the system has been turned on and off, what personal codes were used and whatnot. It keeps track of the whole system. It’s primarily used in commercial-industrial applications but Mr. Storey wanted a commercial system and it came included.”
“So he didn’t specifically ask for the innkeeper program?”
“I don’t know about that. I didn’t sell him the system. I only installed it.”
“But he could have had this program and not known about it.”
“Anything’s possible, I guess.”
“Now did there come a time when Detective Bosch called Lighthouse Security and asked for a technician to meet him at Mr. Storey’s home?”
“Yeah, he made the call and it was given to me because I had installed the system. I met him there at the house. This was after Mr. Storey had been arrested and was in lockup. Mr. Storey’s lawyer was there, too.”
“When was that exactly?”
“That was November eleventh.”
“What did Detective Bosch ask you to do?”
“Well, first he showed me a search warrant. It allowed him to collect information from the system’s chip.”
“And did you help him with that?”
“Yeah. I downloaded the innkeeper data file and printed it out for him.”
Langwiser first introduced the search warrant — the third executed during the investigation — as an exhibit, then she introduced the printout Hendricks had just testified about.
“Now Detective Bosch was interested in the innkeeper records for the evening of October twelfth going into the morning of October thirteenth, is that correct, Mr. Hendricks?”
“Right.”
“Can you look at the printout and read the entries for that time period?”
Hendricks studied the printout for several seconds before speaking.
“Well, it says the interior door leading to the garage was opened and the alarm system was engaged by Mr. Storey’s voiceprint at seven-oh-nine the night of the twelfth. Then nothing happened until the next day, the thirteenth. At twelve-twelve A.M. the alarm system was disengaged by Mr. Storey’s voiceprint and the interior garage door was opened again. He then put the alarm back on — once he was in the house.”
Hendricks studied the printout before continuing.
“The system remained at status until three-nineteen, when the alarm was shut off. The interior garage door was then opened and the alarm system was engaged once more by Mr. Storey’s voiceprint. Then, forty-two minutes later, at four-oh-one A.M., the alarm was disengaged by Mr. Storey’s voiceprint, the garage door was opened and the alarm system was engaged again. There was no other activity until eleven A.M., when the alarm was disengaged by the voice print of Betilda Lockett.”
“Do you know who Betilda Lockett is?”
“Yes, when I installed the system I set up her voice acceptance program. She’s Mr. Storey’s executive assistant.”
Langwiser asked permission to set up an easel with a board displaying the times and activities Hendricks had just testified to. It was approved over objection and Bosch helped Langwiser set up the display. The poster board had two columns on it showing the record of the house alarm’s engagement and the usage of the door between the house and the garage.
ALARM
INTERIOR GARAGE DOOR
10 / 12
7 : 09 P.M. — engaged by D. Storey. opened/closed
10 / 13
12 : 12 A.M. — disengaged by D. Storey opened/closed
10 / 13
12 : 12 A.M. — engaged by D. Storey
10 / 13
3 : 19 A.M. — disengaged by D. Storey opened/closed
10 / 13
3 : 19 A.M. — engaged by D. Storey
10 / 13
4 : 01 A.M. — disengaged by D. Storey opened/closed
10 / 13
4 : 01 A.M. — engaged by D. Storey Langwiser continued her questioning of Hendricks.
“Does this illustration accurately reflect your testimony about the alarm system in David Storey’s home on the evening of October twelfth going into October thirteenth?”
The technician looked at the poster carefully and then nodded.
“Is that a yes?”
“It’s a yes.”
“Thank you. Now, because these activities were instigated with the system’s recognition and approval of David Storey’s voiceprint, are you telling the jury that this is the record of David Storey’s comings and goings during the time period in question?”
Fowkkes objected, saying the question assumed facts not in evidence. Houghton agreed and told Langwiser to rephrase or ask another question. Her point made with the jury, she moved on.
“Mr. Hendricks, if I had a tape recording of David Storey’s voice, could I play it into the Millennium Twenty-one’s station microphone and receive clearance to engage or disengage the alarm?”
“No. There are two fail-safe mechanisms. You must use a password recognized by the computer and you must say the date. So you need voice, password, correct date or the system won’t accept the command.”
“What was David Storey’s password?”
“I don’t know. It’s private. The system is set so that he can change his password as often as he likes.”
Langwiser looked at the poster on the easel. She went up and took a pointer off the easel’s ledge and used it to underline the entries for 3 : 19 and 4 : 01 in the morning.
“Can you tell from these entries whether someone with Mr. Storey’s voice left the house at three-nineteen and returned at four-oh-one, or if it was the other way around; someone came in at three-nineteen and then left at four-oh-one?”
“Yes, I can.”
“How is that?”
“The system also records which transmitter stations are used to engage and disengage the system. In this house the stations are set on either side of three doors — you know, outside and inside the door. The three are the front door, the door to the garage and one of the doors to the rear deck. The transmitters are on the outside and the inside of each door. Whatever one is used gets recorded in the innkeeper program.”
“Can you look at the printout from Mr. Storey’s system that you looked at earlier and tell us what transmitters were used during the three-nineteen and four-oh-one entries?”
Hendricks studied his paperwork before answering.
“Uh, yes. At three-nineteen the exterior transmitter was used. That means somebody was in the garage when they turned the alarm on in the house. Then at four-oh-one the same exterior transmitter was used to turn the alarm off. The door was then opened and closed, then the alarm was turned back on from the inside.”
“So someone came home at four-oh-one, is that what you are saying?”
“Yes. Right.”
“And the system computer registered this someone as David Storey, correct?”
“It identified his voice, yes.”
“And this person would have to have used Mr. Storey’s password and given the correct date as well?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Langwiser said she had no further questions. Fowkkes told the judge he had a quick cross-examination. He bounded to the lectern and looked at Hendricks.
“Mr. Hendricks, how long have you worked for Lighthouse?”
“Three years next month.”
“So you were employed by Lighthouse on January first a year ago, the so-called Y-two-K changeover?”
“Yes,” Hendricks said hesitantly.
“Can you tell us what happened to many of Lighthouse’s clients on that day?”
“Uh, we had a few problems.”
“A few problems, Mr. Hendricks?”
“We had system failures.”
“What system in particular?”
“The Millennium Twos had a program malfunction. But it was minor. We were able to —”
“How many clients with Millennium Twos were affected in the Los Angeles area?”
“All of them. But we found the bug and —”
“That’s all, sir. Thank you.”
“We got it fixed.”
“Mr. Hendricks,” the judge barked. “That’s enough. The jury will disregard the last statement.”
He looked at Langwiser.
“Redirect, Ms. Langwiser?”
Langwiser said she had a few quick questions. Bosch had known about the Y 2 K problems and reported them to the prosecutors. Their hope had been that the defense would not learn of them or raise them.
“Mr. Hendricks, did Lighthouse fix the bug that infected the systems after Y-two-K?”
“Yes, we did. It was fixed right away.”
“Would it in any way have affected data gathered from the defendant’s system a full ten months after Y-two-K?”
“Not at all. The problem was resolved. The system was repaired.”
Langwiser said that was all she had for the witness and sat down. Fowkkes then rose for re-cross.
“The bug that was fixed, Mr. Hendricks, that was the bug they knew about, correct?”
Hendricks gave a confused look.
“Yeah, that was the one that caused the problem.”
“So what you’re saying is that you only know about these ‘bugs’ when they cause a problem.”
“Uh, usually.”
“So there could be a program bug in Mr. Storey’s security system and you wouldn’t know about it until it creates a problem, correct?”
Hendricks shook his shoulders.
“Anything’s possible.”
Fowkkes sat down and the judge asked Langwiser if she had anything else. The prosecutor hesitated a moment but then said she had nothing further. Hendricks was dismissed by Houghton, who then suggested an early break for lunch.
“Our next witness will be very brief, Your Honor. I’d like to get him in before the break. We plan to concentrate on one witness during the afternoon session.”
“Very well, go on.”
“We recall Detective Bosch.”
Bosch got up and went to the witness stand, carrying the murder book. This time he did not touch the microphone. He settled in and was reminded by the judge that he was still under oath.
“Detective Bosch,” Langwiser began. “At some point during your investigation of the murder of Jody Kreme
ntz were you directed to drive from the defendant’s home to the victim’s home and then back again?”
“Yes, I was. By you.”
“And did you follow that direction?”
“Yes.”
A Darkness More Than Night (2000) Page 32