Joseph Teller - The Tenth Case

MRS. GRISTEDE: No, I did not.

MR. JAYWALKER: Or a thud?

MRS. GRISTEDE: A thud?

MR. JAYWALKER: Yes, as though someone had just fallen to the floor.

MRS. GRISTEDE: I don't recall that.

MR. JAYWALKER: Now, you say you had to turn the volume up in order to hear the TV?

MRS. GRISTEDE: That's correct.

MR. JAYWALKER: Don't they show you everything in great big capital letters?

MRS. GRISTEDE: Yes.

MR. JAYWALKER: But you still turned the volume up to hear it?

MRS. GRISTEDE: I like to hear them say it. Be sides…

MR. JAYWALKER: Besides what?

MRS. GRISTEDE: Besides, my eyes aren't so good.

Great, thought Jaywalker. He finally gets the old bat to admit that while her hearing may be perfect, she's half blind. The only problem was that she'd never claimed to have seen anything, only to have heard his client arguing with the victim right around the time he was stabbed to death.

Jose Lugo took the stand. Lugo was a short man in his forties, with a dark mustache that accentuated the serious expression he wore. He sat on the edge of his seat and answered Tom Burke's questions as though his own free dom hung in the balance.

Yes, he said, he'd been the doorman on duty during the four-to-midnight shift on the day before he'd received a call from his boss, Tony Mazzini, to come in and talk to the detectives. Lugo knew Barry Tannenbaum, the occu pant of Penthouse A, and his wife, Samara. Asked by Burke if he could identify Samara, he hesitated for a split second, then pointed directly at her. Jaywalker couldn't be sure, but he thought he heard Lugo mumble an apology as he did so.

Lugo recalled that Mrs. Tannenbaum had arrived at the building early that evening, though he couldn't recall the exact time. But Burke was ready to help him out.

MR. BURKE: I show you what's been marked as People's Exhibit Seven for identification, and ask you if you recognize it.

MR. LUGO: Yes. It's the sign-in book, the log we keep at the doorman's station.

MR. BURKE: I offer it into evidence.

MR. JAYWALKER: No objection.

THE COURT: Received.

MR. BURKE: Will looking through that book help you remember what time Mrs. Tannenbaum ar rived that evening?

MR. LUGO: It should.

MR. BURKE: Please take a look.

MR. LUGO: Yes, here it is. She arrived at six-fifty. Ten minutes to seven.

MR. BURKE: Did she sign the book herself?

MR. LUGO: No, I signed in for her. I'm allowed to do that, so long as I know the person. Besides, she's Mr. Tannenbaum's wife. Was.

MR. BURKE: Did Mrs. Tannenbaum leave while you were still on duty?

MR. LUGO: Yes.

MR. BURKE: Do you recall what time that was?

MR. LUGO: It says here

MR. BURKE: You're not allowed to read.

MR. JAYWALKER: No objection to his reading. It's in evidence.

MR. BURKE: Thank you. Mr. Lugo, you may read.

MR. LUGO: Eight-oh-five.

MR. BURKE: That's what time she left?

MR. LUGO: Didn't I just say that?

MR. BURKE: I guess you did. Now, how late did you work that night?

MR. LUGO: Till midnight.

MR. BURKE: Were you at the front door the entire time?

MR. LUGO: The entire time. Except when I had to- (To the Court) Your Honor, can I say "pee"?

Laughter.

THE COURT: You just did.

MR. LUGO: Except when I had to pee. But then I locked the door, so nobody could come in or go out.

MR. BURKE: And from the time Mrs. Tan nenbaum left at eight-oh-five, until the time you went off duty at midnight, did anyone else come in to visit Mr. Tannenbaum, or leave after visiting him?

MR. LUGO: No.

MR. BURKE: Do you want to check the log book to make sure?

MR. LUGO: I already did. The answer is no.

On cross, Jaywalker asked the witness if he'd noticed anything strange about Samara, either when she'd arrived or when she'd left.

MR. LUGO: Strange?

MR. JAYWALKER: Yes. Like, was she covered with blood?

MR. LUGO: Blood?

MR. JAYWALKER: Blood.

MR. LUGO: I didn't see no blood.

MR. JAYWALKER: Not on her clothes?

MR. LUGO: No.

MR. JAYWALKER: Her face?

MR. LUGO: No.

MR. JAYWALKER: Her hands?

MR. LUGO: I didn't notice her hands.

MR. JAYWALKER: But you would have, if they'd been covered with blood, wouldn't

MR. BURKE: Objection.

THE COURT: Sustained.

MR. JAYWALKER: Do you recall what she was wearing?

MR. LUGO: Clothes.

MR. JAYWALKER: I was hoping for a bit more de tail. Other than clothes, do you remember anything specific?

MR. LUGO: No, I don't remember. It was a long time ago.

MR. JAYWALKER: It was. But there was nothing unusual about her clothes that you remember?

MR. LUGO: No.

MR. JAYWALKER: This was August, August in New York City, right?

MR. LUGO: Right.

MR. JAYWALKER: You don't remember, for exam ple, that Samara was wearing a long coat, for ex ample, or a jacket that seemed too warm for that time of year, do you?

MR. LUGO: No, I don't remember anything like that.

MR. JAYWALKER: When she left, was she carrying anything?

MR. LUGO: Like what?

MR. JAYWALKER: Oh, like a knife, or a bloody towel.

MR. LUGO: No, I don't remember anything like that.

MR. JAYWALKER: And did she seem upset when she left? Or in a hurry?

MR. LUGO: No, she seemed regular.

On redirect, Burke got Lugo to admit that Samara might have been carrying a handbag, and might have been wearing a lightweight jacket, although he really couldn't say one way or the other.

They broke for lunch.

"How's it going?" Samara asked, on the way downstairs.

Jaywalker put a finger to his lips. He didn't think there were any jurors in the elevator, but he didn't want to take a chance. Once, years ago, he'd gotten into trouble by mentioning to a colleague that he was on trial and "shov eling shit against the tide." A juror had overheard him and reported it to the judge. Luckily, the juror had been only an alternate.

"I don't know," Jaywalker lied, once they were safely out on Centre Street. "Things could be worse, I guess." He refrained from adding, And soon enough, they will be.

"But you don't think we're dead yet, do you?"

"What you mean we, white woman?"

It was an old joke, probably older than Samara. Which might have had something to do with why it didn't seem to strike her as particularly funny.

In the afternoon session, Burke called a young woman employed as a programming assistant at ABC. Armed with a thick binder, she testified that on the evening of the murder, a year and a half ago, Wheel of Fortune had aired at seven-thirty Eastern Standard Time, and had ended at eight.

Jaywalker asked her no questions.

Detective Bonfiglio was recalled and told that he was still under oath. Burke reminded him that when he'd been excused that morning, he'd just described how he'd had conversations with Mrs. Gristede of Penthouse B, and Mr. Lugo, the doorman who'd been called in.

MR. BURKE: Following those conversations, did you do something?

DET. BONFIGLIO: Yeah. By that time, CSU was finished and the morgue guys had come and taken the body. I ordered the crime scene sealed.

MR. BURKE: Meaning what?

DET. BONFIGLIO: Meaning the apartment was locked from the outside, crime scene tape was used, a notice was put on the door, and a seal was applied to it, so if anyone was to try to enter, they'd have to break the seal.

MR. BURKE: What did you do after that?

DET. BONFIGLIO: Me and my partner, we exited the premises, and we did thereafter proceed to the home of Samara Tannenbaum, to pay her a visit.

And in his best copspeak, Bonfiglio recounted their visit to Samara's. He described her initial claim that she hadn't seen her husband in about a week, followed by her admission that she'd been at his apartment the previous evening. Also her denial that the two of them had argued, similarly retreated from as soon as she'd been told that they had a witness who said otherwise.