Steve Martini - Undue Influence

‘Where was her purse?’

‘It was on a chair a few feet away.’

‘Did you obtain identification for the suspect?’

‘Yes. We found a wallet inside the purse with a driver’s license. It identified the suspect as Laurel Jane Vega, the same name as that on the warrant.’

‘And do you see that woman in court here today?’

‘Yes. She’s sitting right there.’ He points to Laurel in the chair next to me.

‘Your honor, we’d like the record to reflect that the witness has identified the defendant, Laurel Vega.’

‘So ordered,’ says Woodruff.

‘Did you then take Laurel Vega into custody?’

‘We did. We read her her rights and handcuffed her.’

‘Now, during this time, as you confronted the defendant, while you were reading her rights and cuffing her, did she say anything to you? Make any statement?’

‘Yes. She wanted to know how we found her.’

‘What was her exact statement? Do you recall?’

‘I made a note of it,’ he says. He refers to a copy of the arrest report. ‘How did you guys find me?’ That’s what she said.’

‘ “How did you guys find me?” ’ Cassidy repeats this slowly, standing, facing the jury square-on. ‘And what did you tell her?’

‘We told her she could talk to a lawyer if she had any questions.’

‘Officer, I’ve asked you to bring some documents with you to court today. Do you have them?’

‘I do.’ He reaches inside a folder and pulls out a sheaf of papers. He hands several to Cassidy. She pages through them, hands a set to the clerk, who passes them to the judge, then sashays by our table and drops a set unceremoniously in front of me.

‘I’m referring to the form that’s entitled “Prisoner’s Inventory.” Do you find that one?’

‘Yes.’

‘Can you tell the court what this form is?’

‘This is a standard form that is completed at the booking station in our department whenever an arrest is made. It’s used to inventory the items found in the possession of the person who is taken into custody and booked. The items are held, sealed in an envelope, and initialed by the prisoner to be returned if they make bail or whenever they’re released.’

‘And the particular form we have here?’

‘It’s for the suspect in this case, Laurel Vega.’

‘I take it that this was prepared at the time she was booked in Reno.’

‘Yes.’

‘Who completed this form, officer?’

‘As the arresting officer, I did.’ He points to his initials at the bottom of the form.

‘A lot of small personal items,’ says Cassidy. She’s reading from the form. ‘ “Handkerchief, car keys, lipstick.” Where were these items found?’

‘Those were the contents of the defendant’s purse,’ he says. He points to a notation on the form which verifies this.

‘I call your attention to item number eleven on the inventory sheet: “Woman’s gold compact with initials M.L.H.” Do you see that?’

‘Yes.’

‘Was that one of the items found in the purse?’

‘It was.’

Cassidy retreats to the evidence cart, fishes for a second through a couple of paper bags, and a moment later is back with an object in her hand.

‘May I approach the witness, your honor?’

Woodruff snorts, gives a little nod.

‘Officer Demming, I ask you to look at this compact and tell me if you’ve ever seen it before.’

He turns it over in his hand, examines it closely, then looks up at Morgan.

‘It’s the compact I found in the defendant’s purse at the time of her arrest.’

‘The one marked as item eleven on this sheet?’

‘Yes. You can see the initials right here.’ He points.

‘Thank you.’ Cassidy wants it identified as People’s Exhibit next in order.

I have no objection. She will wait until Jack identifies it as belonging to Melanie, something stolen on the night of the murder, and then move it into evidence, one of the crowning pieces of her case, leaving us to answer the question of how it came to be found in Laurel’s purse three days later when she was arrested in Reno.

‘One more item,’ she says. She’s looking for it on the list.

‘Try number seventeen,’ I say.

Morgan looks at me, a condescending smile, as if to say, How do you know what I’m looking for?

On this stuff she is very methodical. The surprises will come later and from left field. Knowing Cassidy, I can only try to brace myself.

‘Sure enough,’ she says. ‘Officer Demming, I call your attention to item seventeen on the list: “One decorative three-by-five-foot rug.” Do you see it?’

‘Yes.’

‘Where was this found?’

‘It was at the laundromat, in her possession, actually being laundered at the time we made the arrest.’

While he’s talking, Cassidy’s moved to the evidence cart. The rug is no problem to find, it is rolled and tied with twine, an intricate design in blue thread woven through it. She asks the bailiff to give her a hand. He picks the rug up and carries it over to the witness box.

‘Officer Demming, can you identify the carpet that the bailiff is now showing you?’

He looks at it, checks a tag that’s been affixed to one corner.

‘Yes. That’s the rug that we found in the defendant’s possession when we took her into custody. The one she was laundering.’

All the little pieces lining up in Morgan’s case. Whatever ground Lama has lost, Demming has more than made up. Cassidy has visions of Jack on the stand, identifying the rug as part of the murder scene that night, confirmation that Laurel was there. How else could she have acquired it?

‘Let’s get into the question of the laundry for a moment,’ says Cassidy. ‘You say that the defendant was washing this rug. Was this in an ordinary washing machine?’

‘No. It was a large commercial unit of some kind. The manager told me that it was one of the last ones left in the city. It uses chemical dry-cleaning solvents to clean woolen goods, other fabrics that you can’t clean in soap and water.’

‘So this would be pretty caustic stuff, these chemicals?’

‘Objection,’ I’m intoning to Woodruff, who seems like he’s dozing on the bench. His eyes suddenly open.

‘Unless the officer has a degree in chemical engineering that we haven’t heard about, the question calls for speculation.’

‘I beg to differ,’ says Cassidy. ‘This goes to the appearance of the chemicals as well as the defendant when she was using them.’

I get a quiver down deep inside. She’s nibbling around the edges of that which is verboten, the inference that Laurel was busy destroying evidence, though her question is just inside the foul pole for the moment.

‘Maybe counsel could clarify the question,’ says Woodruff.

Morgan makes a face, like if she has to, fine.

‘Could you smell these chemicals, officer?’

‘You bet.’

‘And what did they smell like?’

‘The vapors were very strong,’ he says. ‘They burned your nose and left a few of us coughing for a couple of minutes until we could get out of there, into the fresh air.’

‘Was the machine open at the time that you confronted the defendant?’

‘No.’

‘Then I don’t understand. How did the vapors escape?’

‘The defendant apparently had opened the machine during one of its cycles and had managed to get her hands into the solvent.’

‘Were you concerned about this?’

‘Enough to ask the manager what the stuff was.’

‘What did she say?’

‘Objection. Hearsay.’

‘Sustained.’

‘Well, let me ask you. Did you have occasion to look at the defendant’s hands?’

‘Oh, yes.’

‘And what did they look like?’