April Smith - Good Morning, Killer

The bailiff called the court to order. As the attorneys sniffed and pissed (Devon yawning ostentatiously during Rauch’s opening statement), a cold disappointment seized my heart. Smart and skilled as they were, they were about as inspiring as two mongrel dogs squaring off. You knew exactly what was going to happen. The ruffs went up, the growls and snaps. Justice had nothing to do with it. This was blood sport, and the goal was to win at all costs.

I had my game face on, and my heart was hammering. Andrew, on the other hand, was looking more and more relaxed, joking with the prosecutor, with whom, as a detective testifying in a criminal court, he would have often waltzed to the same tune. Although forbidden to look at him, I was still foolishly hoping he would sneak a helpless glance at me, and when there was not the slightest subtle nonverbal acknowledgment, I felt a flare of anger and betrayal, as Devon’s theory that he had attempted to murder me began to work on this paler, more languorous Andrew, who was seeming somehow not quite so delicate as cunning.

“Is that him?” whispered one of the courthouse secretaries who had gathered in a giggly group in the front row. “He is pretty cute.”

You still look good, Andrew, I agreed, darting my eyes away. You could still do it to me, old pal.

The girls in their nylon dresses and cheap platform heels were all aflutter with their game. When hunks were sighted anywhere in the building they would call one another and duck away from their desks and rush courtroom to courtroom to check out the goods, their flushed childlike excitement revealing how much they did not yet know about men and women.

CRIMINAL COURT OF LOS ANGELES

PRELIMINARY HEARING

DEPARTMENT C

444-8743—Bailiff — H. Solanas

The Honorable Wolfson H. McIntyre

Attempt 187

Transcript of Proceedings page 4

BERRINGER: I told her I wanted to do the right thing.

RAUCH: What was the right thing, Detective Berringer?

BERRINGER: To end the relationship. I knew it would be hard for her because she had become dependent on me.

RAUCH: Can you give us an example?

BERRINGER: She’d call all the time when I was on duty. Show up at my house. Have a breakdown and come to me for solace — which I was happy to give — but then it started to get crazy, and I realized, this woman is obsessed, she’s making it impossible.

RAUCH: What kind of breakdowns, Detective?

BERRINGER: Angry, saying she was depressed and life wasn’t worth living, she didn’t want to be a federal agent anymore.

RAUCH: How did you react to that? When she said she wanted to kill herself because things were bad at work?

DEVON: Objection.

JUDGE: I can hear what the witness is saying without embellishment from you, Mr. Rauch.

RAUCH: Sorry, Your Honor.

BERRINGER: I worried about her. I talked to her about not quitting her job. I said we’d break the case. But it got to the point where I couldn’t deal with it inside myself anymore. Toward the time of the shooting incident, I was becoming extremely uncomfortable with the relationship.

RAUCH: Have you witnessed this sort of behavior before, in your professional life?

BERRINGER: Sure, I’ve seen depressed people, suicidal people, schizophrenics, alcoholics, the whole gamut.

RAUCH: Did Agent Grey fit any of these categories?

DEVON: Your Honor, Detective Berringer does not hold a degree in psychiatry.

JUDGE: Get to the point, Mr. Rauch.

BERRINGER: I think I can short-circuit this, Your Honor.

JUDGE: Do us all a favor.

BERRINGER: Ana was having a lot of trouble at work. We were both involved in a very stressful case. It was a case of rape and kidnapping of a juvenile, and it would be upsetting to anyone. It was upsetting to me. The victim was brutalized, we believe by a sadistic serial rapist, and quite frankly, the Bureau wasn’t getting anywhere close to solving this thing, and Ana was the lead agent, so she was under a lot of pressure. I understand that, I really do.

RAUCH: As a law enforcement professional, you’ve been there?

BERRINGER: I’ve been there, but she couldn’t handle it. She was falling apart.

RAUCH: What did you observe?

BERRINGER: As I stated, she became obsessed with me.

RAUCH: Why you?

BERRINGER: Well, I’m such a handsome guy. Sorry, Your Honor, I don’t mean to joke, it’s not a joke by any means, but — I don’t really know. I was there, I guess. We were working together. You know how it is.

RAUCH: You mean the long hours, the forced intimacy …

BERRINGER: She’s an intelligent, attractive woman, and I guess — we got along. We understood each other. We were both uninvolved, free adults, and we knew what we were doing — or at least, I thought she knew. It was just a casual thing.

RAUCH: Did Agent Grey agree it was casual?

BERRINGER: I don’t know.

RAUCH: Can you go back to this obsession? Give us more examples, if you would, please.

BERRINGER: She’d show up at bars, where I went to unwind after work with my fellow officers, and she was … demanding …

RAUCH: Are you all right, Detective?

BERRINGER: Yes. I’m sorry, I—

RAUCH: Take a moment. Is this testimony difficult for you?

BERRINGER: Give me a minute.

RAUCH: I’m surprised, Detective. You often testify in court. In fact, that’s part of your job. Is this case different?

BERRINGER: I’m fine, let’s go on.

RAUCH: Why is it different, Detective Berringer? Is it because you cared about Ana Grey?

JUDGE: We’ll take a fifteen-minute recess.

RAUCH: Are you ready to resume, Detective Berringer?

BERRINGER: Yes, I apologize, Your Honor.

JUDGE: No need. Go on.

RAUCH: You were giving an example of Ana Grey’s obsession with you.

BERRINGER: Ana said she wanted the nine hundred dollars back that she loaned me to fix my Harley. She picked the time to tell me this while I was at the Boatyard Restaurant in Santa Monica with my fellow officers, relaxing after work. She confronted me in front of them and the other patrons. It was embarrassing for the Santa Monica Police Department, which I take a lot of pride in, and to me personally. She verbally abused a woman friend of mine, also a police officer, who was known to everyone at the table, and made remarks about this woman’s character that were potentially damaging to her professional reputation.

RAUCH: This is Officer Sylvia Oberbeck?

BERRINGER: Officer Oberbeck.

RAUCH: What is your relationship to Officer Oberbeck?

BERRINGER: We are friends, colleagues, we came up together, she’s an excellent policewoman, and I have the highest respect for the way she does her job.

RAUCH: Are you romantically involved?

BERRINGER: We have been. In the past.

RAUCH: Did Ana Grey know you were romantically involved with Officer Oberbeck in the past?

BERRINGER: Yes.

RAUCH: What was her reaction?

BERRINGER: She went out of control.

RAUCH: What do you mean by “out of control”?

BERRINGER: She followed Officer Oberbeck and me in her car — her official Bureau car — and tailgated us up to speeds of one hundred miles per hour on the Marina Freeway. She pulled up behind us to the bumper of my car. She was very aggressive, revving her motor and honking the horn, forcing us onto the shoulder. When she got out of her car she was agitated. She said, “I know you were fucking this bitch and this is a perfect example.” Officer Oberbeck was terrified. I was pretty scared myself. She was pounding on the window and throwing rocks and ultimately tried to scald Officer Oberbeck with hot coffee.

RAUCH: I’m sorry, I’m lost, you were on the freeway and she had hot coffee …