Perri O'Shaughnessy - Presumption Of Death

“That’s difficult. It’s hard to tell if burning occurred before or after. There was no inflammatory reaction, which might tend toward an assumption that the burns took place after death. I would expect soot and perhaps some evidence of internal burns to be found around the breathing passages if the person was breathing at the time of the burn and for the CO level to be higher. I therefore concluded that the burns occurred postmortem.”

“What, in your opinion, was the immediate cause of death?”

“A skull fracture caused by blunt-force trauma.”

“Nothing further. Thank you, Doctor.”

The Court took its afternoon recess. “You had a call from Megan Ballard,” Sandy told Nina from the office. “She says it’s very urgent. She wants a consultation.”

“What about?”

“She won’t go into it.”

“I’ll give her a call after court. Call her back and let her know.”

“Okay. I checked the hospital. Britta Cowan is conscious.”

Nina put her hand over the receiver. “Paul, Britta’s awake. Can you try to go and see her?”

“You don’t need me this afternoon?”

“I’ll bring you up to date tonight at dinner.”

“Okay. I’ll go over there right now.”

“Sandy, call David Cowan and see if Britta has said anything to him about who struck her.”

“Will do.”

“Anything else happening?”

“A couple of German tourists got into a fight at the Hog’s Breath. They knocked over a couple of tables. The cops came.”

“Stay with it.”

“I’ll be here.”

Nina returned to court without Paul, already missing his comforting presence.

“Your witness,” Judge Salas said. Dr. Rittenhauer had already taken her seat.

“Doctor, isn’t it true that no fingerprints were found on the camera?” Crockett had told her that in the beginning, so Nina felt she could make a point here.

“Not immediately,” Dr. Rittenhauer answered. “However, I just heard from Detective Crockett this morning. There was in fact one fingerprint found. Fortunately, the camera was found partly under the body, where a portion of the lens was protected from the flames.”

Nina turned to Jaime, who stood up and said, “I just heard about it myself. I had no intent of surprising Counsel with this new information. As we all know, one of the problems inherent in holding the prelim so quickly is-” While he went on excusing himself Nina was performing a lightning-fast calculation. She saw clearly that Jaime had let her walk into this trap. He could have told her right up to five seconds ago. No problem for him-if she hadn’t raised it on the cross-exam, he’d have slipped it in on the redirect. Therefore it was harmful to her case.

Therefore, the print was Wish’s.

“I will withdraw the question at this time, as the district attorney has apparently not shared new discovery with me,” she said.

But Salas wanted to know about the print. He said, “If you refuse to waive time, these things happen. Not everything can be finalized in ten days.” To Jaime he said, “You only received this information this afternoon? You have not withheld this information?”

“Absolutely not, Your Honor.”

“I am here as an examining magistrate to make a determination, and I wish to know this information. Counsel, any objection?”

“Most definitely, Your Honor. There is no question pending. It is a breach of the discovery rules-”

“There is good cause for the breach. The prosecutor didn’t know about it either. Are we searching for the truth here, or not?”

Nina didn’t have time to explain how she was not necessarily there to search for the truth, she was there to defend Wish. “Objection overruled,” Salas said. Huh?

“I withdraw the question,” she said again stubbornly.

Salas gave her a look and said to Dr. Rittenhauer, “Has this fingerprint been identified by a certified fingerprint technician?”

“Yes-”

Nina said, “Objection. Hearsay. Dr. Rittenhauer is not a law-enforcement officer with five years of experience and therefore cannot testify as to hearsay.”

“Overruled. What identification has been made?”

“The print on the camera matches that of the defendant, Willis Whitefeather.” Wish gestured to Nina and she sat down, burning with rage.

“It’s my camera, so of course it’ll have my prints,” he whispered. “But listen-”

“Just a second,” Nina said, and rose again, and said, “To your knowledge, has Mr. Whitefeather ever denied he brought the camera up the mountain?” Jaime would hammer on the fact that there was no other person’s print on the camera. That was the problem.

“No,” said Dr. Rittenhauer. She was so admirable, so impartial and calm, so machinelike, she could be so helpful if Nina could just figure out a way to use her-Wish was pulling her jacket sleeve.

“One moment,” she said to the judge, and he looked pointedly at the clock, then nodded his head. “What?” she whispered to Wish.

“What she said about the boots, it isn’t right.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Something. I forget. It’s all happening so fast.”

“Well, let me know if you think of it.” She said to the witness, “Thank you. Nothing further at this time.” If she needed Rittenhauer, she could call her in rebuttal later.

“The witness is excused.”

“The prosecution rests,” Jaime said. The air seemed to go out of him and Nina thought, He’s as tired as I am.

“It’s four o’clock,” Judge Salas said. “I am going to adjourn until tomorrow-that is, if you still intend to put your client on the stand?”

Nina nodded. “As our first witness.”

“Court is adjourned until 10:00 A.M. tomorrow.” He rapped once, hard, with his gavel.

“All rise,” the bailiff said as Salas went on to the next case.

Wish was still shaking his head. Nina said, “Are you ready for tomorrow?”

“After all the time you spent getting me ready, I feel pretty good about it.”

“You remember the sequence? How you’ll tell the story, then authenticate the photos I showed you?”

“I remember.”

“We’ll show them their third party,” Nina said. “It might be enough.”

“I can’t wait to get out of here. Then somebody’s going to pay. It’s not enough to get free, Nina. I have to find him. It’s horrible what he did to Danny. I’m going to have bad dreams tonight.”

“Hi, Megan.”

From her voice, Megan had lost her happy face. “Thank you so much for calling. I would like to make an appointment to see you as soon as possible.”

“I’m in the middle of a-”

“I know that. But this will interest you. Perhaps even help you with your current case. The problem is, you have to assure me the consultation will stay strictly confidential even if you decide not to represent us.”

“What’s it about, Megan?”

“About the fires. Please, we really need your help. Debbie and Tory and Jolene and I. We are worried about the children.”

“Megan, I’m beat,” Nina said. “I’m washing dishes after a good supper and I need to talk to my son and then go to bed. I’m worried too. I suggest you call Detective Crockett and try to get some help out there.”

“That won’t work.”

Nina said, “I’m sorry. If you were my client, I might try to meet you tonight. But you’re not and for the sake of the client I have, I need to get some sleep tonight.”

“We’ll come to you.”

“Tomorrow,” Nina said. “At the lunch break. Twelve noon at the law library at the courthouse. I’ll find us a conference room.”

“All right.”

“Meantime, I’m saying it again. If you have new information involving a threat to the children, please call the police.”