Joseph Teller - Guilty As Sin

Again Jaywalker found himself double-teamed by Daniel Pulaski and Miki Shaughnessey. Though from the sullen expression on her face, Jaywalker guessed that Shaughnessey wasn’t happy about reprising her new role as a nonspeaking extra.

One more thing bears mentioning.

The average lawyer wouldn’t even dream of putting a witness on the stand without having spoken to him in advance. Jaywalker, of course, was about as far from average as possible in just about everything he did. So he’d called witnesses “cold” several times in his career and would continue to do so whenever the situation warranted it. But almost invariably those witnesses were minor players. An interpreter to testify to some nuance in translation from Spanish to English, a court clerk to read from a file, a corrections officer to describe a defendant as a model prisoner. Never before had he called a central figure in the trial without so much as a run-through of the questions he’d be asking and the answers he’d be expecting.

Lawyers have been suspended or even disbarred for such omissions, convictions overturned for ineffective assistance of counsel. Not to mention that no lawyer in his right mind would risk getting clobbered by a hostile witness he hadn’t taken the trouble to interview in advance.

Then again, no one had ever accused Jaywalker of being in his right mind. He paid attention to conventional wisdom about as much as he did to the daily horoscopes in the supermarket tabloids. His thinking on the subject tended to be simple and straightforward. If you’re winning, play it safe. If you’re not, what do you have to lose?

JAYWALKER: So who’s the asp?

PASCARELLA: The asp?

JAYWALKER: Yeah, you know. Asp, A-S-P. Like snake?

PASCARELLA: I have no idea what you’re talking about.

JAYWALKER: The word means nothing to you?

PASCARELLA: Nothing at all.

Jaywalker pulled a photo out of his pocket and handed it to the witness.

JAYWALKER: I show you Defendant’s Exhibit B in evidence. Do you know who that is?

PASCARELLA: I’m not sure. It looks like Clarence Hightower.

JAYWALKER: Very good. Have you ever seen that photo before?

Jaywalker watched as Pascarella turned it over, just as he himself had. Only where he’d seen writing on the back of it, he knew Pascarella wouldn’t. Jaywalker had seen to that.

PASCARELLA: No, not that I know of.

JAYWALKER: Yet you were able to recognize Mr. Hightower, weren’t you?

PASCARELLA: Yes.

JAYWALKER: From where and when?

PASCARELLA: From arresting him the same day we arrested Mr. Barnett. And from processing him later that day at the precinct house.

JAYWALKER: Anything else?

PASCARELLA: Like what?

JAYWALKER: Well, was that the only day you saw him? The day of his arrest?

PASCARELLA: Yes.

Jaywalker pulled out another photo. This one he’d retrieved earlier that morning, with the help of the same friendly court clerk who’d helped him early on in his investigation of the case. He had it marked now as Defendant’s C for identification and handed it to the witness.

JAYWALKER: How about this one? Recognize it?

PASCARELLA: I’m pretty sure that’s Hightower, too.

JAYWALKER: I offer it in evidence.

THE COURT: Mr. Pulaski? Or is it Ms. Shaughnessey today?

PULASKI: No objection.

THE COURT: Received in evidence as Defendant’s C.

JAYWALKER: What can you tell us about this photo, Detective?

PASCARELLA: Like I said, I’m pretty sure it’s Clarence Hightower. It looks like it’s his official arrest photo, taken at Central Booking, right downstairs in this building. You must have gotten it from his court file.

JAYWALKER: I’ll stipulate that the witness is correct. I did.

THE COURT: Mr. Pulaski?

PULASKI: So stipulated.

JAYWALKER: Let’s go back to Defendant’s B, the other photo of Mr. Hightower. What can you tell us about that one?

Pascarella put down C and picked up B again. Once more he turned it over and checked the back, almost as if he’d expected writing to have magically appeared since he’d last looked at it. Much the same way the Polaroid image on the front of it must have gradually appeared twenty-some months earlier. But no writing had appeared. Jaywalker watched as the witness seemed to struggle to absorb that fact, as if he was wondering if he could rely upon the blank piece of cardboard in front of him.

JAYWALKER: I’m sorry. We couldn’t hear your answer.

PASCARELLA: I’m afraid I can’t help you, Counselor. Like I said, I can’t remember ever seeing this photo here.

JAYWALKER: Ever?

PASCARELLA: Ever.

Well, thought Jaywalker, that was about as much as he was going to be able to pin Pascarella down on that point. Before moving on to his next area of questioning, he paused and drew a deep breath. This was going to be it, he knew, his last chance and Alonzo Barnett’s last hope. Jaywalker had a hunch, an idea that had come to him about four o’clock that morning. If it turned out he was wrong about it, the Fat Lady would have sung, and the case would pretty much be over. So here went nothing.

JAYWALKER: Detective, do you by any chance have a middle name?

PULASKI: Objection. Totally irrelevant.

THE COURT: Mr. Jaywalker?

JAYWALKER: Give me a minute and I’ll connect it.

THE COURT: You’ve got half a minute. We’ll take it subject to connection. You may answer the question, Detective.

PASCARELLA: Yeah, I have a middle name.

JAYWALKER: What is it?

PASCARELLA: Salvatore.

Jaywalker exhaled a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. He was two-thirds of the way there, but it was the easy two-thirds. The final third was going to be a serious leap.

JAYWALKER: And your first name?

PASCARELLA: Dino.

JAYWALKER: Isn’t that short for something?

PULASKI: Objection.

THE COURT: Overruled.

PASCARELLA: Everyone calls me Dino. I’ve been Dino for as long as I can remember.

JAYWALKER: So it’s not a nickname?

PASCARELLA: No.

JAYWALKER: It’s the name that’s on your birth certificate?

PASCARELLA: You mean officially like?

JAYWALKER: Yeah, officially like.

PASCARELLA: No, it’s not on my birth certificate.

JAYWALKER: So what’s the first name on your birth certificate?

PASCARELLA: On my birth certificate?

JAYWALKER: Yes, on your birth certificate.

And as he waited for an answer, Jaywalker held up a piece of paper for the witness to see. It may have been old and yellowed around the edges, but it was a genuine New York City Department of Health birth certificate, right down to its Old English type font, its official inked-in signature and its circular raised seal.

PASCARELLA: On my birth certificate it’s Andino. My mother’s family name. But like I’m telling you, everyone calls me Dino. Everyone.

JAYWALKER: Would you spell that for us, please?

PASCARELLA: Spell what?

JAYWALKER: Andino.

PASCARELLA: A-N-D-I-N-O. THE COURT: Excuse me, Mr. Jaywalker. Would you like to offer the document into evidence?

JAYWALKER: The birth certificate?

THE COURT: Yes.

JAYWALKER: My own birth certificate?

THE COURT: Never mind. I should have known.

Jaywalker approached the witness and took the photo from him. Gently he peeled away the backing from it. Not the original Polaroid backing, but the second one, the one he’d added that morning using double-faced tape but being careful to steer clear of the part where the lettering was. Then he handed the photo back to the witness.

JAYWALKER: Would you please read what’s written on the back of the photo?

PASCARELLA: It says “asp.”

JAYWALKER: How is that spelled?

PASCARELLA: A-S-P. JAYWALKER: Whose initials are ASP?