Philip Margolin - Gone ,but not forgotten

"It could be."

"There is no evidence connecting Mr. Darius to the roses or the notes?"

Barrow looked like he was going to say something, but he choked it back and shook his head.

"And you stand by that statement, even though officers of the Portland Police Bureau made a thorough search, pursuant to a warrant, of Mr.

Darius's home."

"We found nothing connecting him to the roses or the notes," Barrow answered tersely.

"No murder weapons either?"

"No."

"Nothing in the trunk of the BMW connecting him to the crimes?"

"No."

Betsy turned to Darius. "Anything else you want me to ask?"

Darius smiled. "You're doing just fine, Tannenbaum."

"No further questions."

Barrow hoisted himself out of the witness box and walked quickly to the back of the courtroom as Page called his next witness.

"Dr. Susan Gregg," Page said. An attractive woman in her early forties with salt-and-pepper hair, wearing a conservative gray suit, took the witness stand.

"Will counsel stipulate to Dr. Gregg's qualifications for purposes of this hearing?" Page asked Betsy.

"We assume Dr. Gregg is well known to the court," Betsy said, "so, for purposes of this hearing only, we stipulate that Dr. Gregg is the state medical examiner and qualified to give opinions on cause of death."

"Thank you," Page said to Betsy. "Dr. Gregg, were you called to a construction site owned by Darius Construction, earlier this week, to examine the remains of four individuals who were found buried there?"

"I was."

"And you conducted the autopsies of all four victims?"

"Yes."

"What is an autopsy, Dr. Gregg?"

"It's an examination of a body after death to determine, among other things, cause of death."

"Will you explain what your autopsy involved?"

"Certainly. I examined the bodies carefully for serious injuries, natural diseases and other natural causes of death."

"Did any of the victims die a natural death?"

"No."

"What injuries did you observe?"

"All four individuals had numerous burns and cutting injuries on various parts of their bodies. Three of the male's fingers had been severed.

There was evidence of sharp cuts on the women's breasts. The nipples on the women had been mutilated, as had the genitalia of the man and the women. Do you want me to go into detail?"

"That won't be necessary for this hearing. How did the three women die?"

"Their abdomens had been deeply cut, resulting in serious injuries to their bowel and abdominal viscera."

"When a person is disemboweled, do they die quickly?"

"No. A person can stay — alive for some time in this condition."

"Can you give the court a rough estimate?"

Gregg shrugged. "It's hard to say. Two to four hours.

Eventually they die from shock and loss of blood."

"And that was the cause of death of these women?"

"Yes."

"And the male?"

"He suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the back of his head."

"Did you order laboratory tests?"

"Yes. I had the blood tested for alcohol. The results were negative for all of the victims. I ordered a urine screen for drugs of abuse. This involves testing the urine for the presence of five drugs; cocaine, morphine, marijuana, amphetamine and PCP. Our results were all negative."

Page studied his notes and conferred with Highsmith before turning the witness over to Betsy. She reread a portion of the autopsy report and frowned.

"Dr. Gregg, I'm confused by some remarks you made on page four of your report. Were the women raped?"

"That's hard to say. I found bruises and tears around the genitalia and rectum. Tearing that would indicate invasion by a foreign object."

"Did you test for semen?"

"I did not find any traces of seminal fluid."

"So you can't say conclusively that the women were raped?"

"I can only say there was penetration and violent injury. There was no evidence of male ejaculation."

"Did you draw a conclusion concerning whether the women were murdered at the construction site?"

"I believe they were killed elsewhere."

"Why?"

"There would have been a large amount of blood at the murder scene because of their massive cutting injuries. There were also organs removed from two of the women."

"Would the rain obscure traces of their blood?"

"No. They were buried. The rain would have washed away the blood on the surface, but we should have found larger quantities the bodies in the graves."

"So you believe the women were killed someplace else and transported to the site?"

Yes.

"If they were transported in the trunk of a BMW, could you erase all traces of blood from the trunk?"

"Objection," Page said. "Dr. Gregg is not qualified to answer that question. She is a medical doctor, not a forensic chemist."

"I'll let her answer, if she can," the judge ruled.

"I'm — afraid that's outside my area of expertise," the doctor answered.

"The male was not disemboweled?"

"No."

"Nothing further."

Alan Page stood. He looked a little unsure of himself.

"Your Honor, I'm going to call myself Mr. Highsmith will examine." as a witness.

"Objection, Your Honor. It's unethical for an attorney to testify as a witness in a case he's trying."

"That might be true in a trial before a jury, Your Honor," Page replied,

"but the court is not going to have any trouble deciding my credibility as a witness, if that comes into question, simply because I'm also arguing the State's position."

Norwood looked troubled. "This is unusual. Why do you have to testify?"

"what's he up to?" Darius whispered in Betsy's ear Betsy shook her head.

She was studying Page. He looked ill at ease and grim. Something was troubling the district attorney.

"Your Honor, I'm in possession of evidence you must hear if you are going to make a reasoned decision on the issue of bail. Unless I testify, you'll be without the most important evidence we have that Martin Darius is the man who killed Laura Farrar, Wendy Reiser and Victoria Miller."

"I'm confused, Mr. Page," Norwood said testily.

"How can you have this evidence? Were you an eyewitness?" Norwood shook his head. "I don't get it."

Page cleared his throat. "Your Honor, there is a witness. Her name is Nancy Gordon." Darius took a deep breath and leaned forward intently.

"Ten years ago, an identical series of murders occurred in Hunter's Point, New York. The day before we found the bodies, Detective Gordon told me about those murders and why she believed Martin Darius committed them."

"Then call Detective Gordon," Norwood said.

"I can't. She's missing and she may be dead. She checked into a motel room after leaving me. I called her several times starting around eight, eight-thirty, the next morning. I think something happened to her shortly after she checked in. It looks like she was unpacking when something interrupted her. All of her possessions were in the room, but she hasn't come back for them. I have a team of detectives looking for her, but we've had no luck so far."

"Your Honor," Betsy said, "if Mr. Page is going to testify about this woman's statements to prove my client murdered some women ten years ago, it will be pure hearsay. I know the court is giving Mr. Page leeway, but Mr. Darius has state and federal constitutional rights to confront the witnesses against him."

Norwood nodded. "That's true, Mrs. Tannenbaum.

I'll tell you, Mr. Page, this bothers me. Isn't there another witness from Hunter's Point you can call who can testify about these other crimes?"

"Not on such short notice. I know the names of the other detectives who worked on the case, but they don't work for the Hunter's Point police anymore and I haven't traced them."

Norwood leaned back and almost disappeared from view. Betsy was dying to know what the missing detective had told Page, but she had to keep the testimony out if it was the ammunition Page needed to keep Martin Darius in jail.