Brian Freeman - Goodbye to the Dead (Jonathan Stride Book 7)

‘You have no idea what happened at the house after you left, do you?’

‘No.’

‘If a car drove up to the house thirty seconds after you turned onto Skyline Parkway, you would have no way of knowing that, is that right?’

‘That’s true.’

‘Thank you. Mrs. Stride, did Dr. Snow ever threaten her husband in your presence?’

‘No.’

‘Did she ever tell you that she wished she could kill him? Or that she wished he was dead?’

‘No, nothing like that.’

‘Did she ever seem desperate to you about her marital situation?’

‘Janine? Desperate? No.’

‘Thank you, Mrs. Stride,’ Gale said. He began to sit down, but then he stopped. ‘Oh, I’m very sorry, could you tell the jury — did you have a frightening experience at Miller Hill Mall this spring?’

Dan stood up immediately. ‘Objection, your honor. This line of questioning is outside the scope of direct examination, and it’s not relevant to the case.’

Judge Edblad waited. ‘Mr. Gale?’

‘Your honor, the incident I’m asking about arose because of the witness’s relationship with Lieutenant Stride of the Duluth Police — a relationship that Mr. Erickson inquired about under direct examination. In addition, the incident arose because of Lieutenant Stride’s investigation into this specific case, which certainly makes it relevant.’

‘I’m overruling the objection,’ the judge replied.

Gale continued to Cindy: ‘You can answer the question.’

‘I — yes, I did,’ Cindy said.

‘Please tell us what happened.’

‘I followed a man at the mall, and he confronted and threatened me. He had a gun.’

‘What was the nature of his threat?’

‘He said I shouldn’t stick my nose into his business. He said bad things happened to people who did that. And then he showed me a gun.’

‘I’m so sorry,’ Gale said. ‘What a terrifying experience for you. Please tell the jury, Mrs. Stride, why did you follow this man in the first place?’

Cindy felt herself flushing. ‘I believed that he was a man that my husband, Lieutenant Stride, was looking for.’

‘Why did you believe that?’

‘I saw a set of photographs in a stack of evidence that Jonny — that Lieutenant Stride left on our kitchen table. The photos showed a man in the woods carrying an assault rifle, and there was a note about trying to find him. This looked like the same man.’

‘This stack of evidence that the Lieutenant brought home to study, do you know what case it was part of?’

‘Yes, it was evidence connected to the murder of Jay Ferris,’ Cindy said.

Gale nodded as he sat down. ‘Thank you, Mrs. Stride.’

‘Mrs. Stride, how long did you look at these photographs?’ Dan Erickson asked on his redirect examination.

‘A few seconds, I guess.’

‘Ten seconds? Twenty? Thirty?’

‘Closer to ten,’ Cindy admitted.

‘Were these crisp, clear, high-resolution photos?’

‘No, they were blurry.’

‘And how long after you saw these photographs did you follow this stranger at the mall?’

‘Several days.’

‘You saw a couple of blurry pictures for maybe ten seconds, and days later, you saw someone that you thought might be the same man — do I have that right?

‘Yes,’ Cindy said.

‘Can you say for sure that this was the same man, Mrs. Stride?’

‘Not for sure, no.’

‘Thank you, Mrs. Stride. That’s all.’

Stride had sat in the same witness chair in the same courtroom many times before. Testifying in court was one of the few tasks for which he wore a suit. He owned only two suits, and today he wore the navy blue one, freshly dry-cleaned. He’d tried to tame his restless hair, and he’d shaved. Appearances mattered. Trials were about evidence, but they were also about perceptions. Finding facts meant deciding whom to believe. Whom to trust.

Dan guided him through a review of his experience, including nearly twenty years with the Duluth Police and nearly ten in charge of the Detective Bureau. Stride talked about his background in felony investigations, including dozens of homicide cases. It was all prologue.

‘Lieutenant, were you called to the home of the defendant on the evening of January 28 of this year?’ Dan asked finally.

‘Yes, I was.’

‘Is this house located in the city of Duluth in St. Louis County?’

‘Yes, it is.’ Stride gave the specific address and described the location of the house. Dan introduced a map of the area enlarged on foam core, and Stride pointed out the residence and described the access in and out — specifically, that Janine’s home was located on a dead-end street at the summit of a sharp hill.

‘What did you find inside the house?’ Dan asked.

‘We found the body of Jay Ferris,’ Stride said. ‘He had a single gunshot wound to the forehead.’

‘Can you tell us exactly where the body was located?’

‘There’s a large marble foyer inside the front door that leads to the living room. The body of Mr. Ferris was located in the living room, approximately ten feet from the edge of the foyer.’

Dan introduced photographs of the crime scene and an enlarged floor plan of the house. Stride identified the photos and matched them with positions on the floor plan for the jury. He also pointed out the wine glass found near Jay’s body and the other lipstick-smeared wine glass on the coffee table. He noted a pair of stiletto heels belonging to Janine that had been left on the floor of the foyer.

‘Did you find a gun near the body or in the house?’

‘No, we conducted a search of the area but did not locate the murder weapon.’

‘During your investigation, did you determine whether the victim, Jay Ferris, held a Minnesota permit to carry a handgun?’

‘Yes, he did.’

‘Did the defendant make a statement to you about whether her husband in fact owned a handgun?’

‘She claimed that Mr. Ferris used to own a handgun but that she made him get rid of it when they got married,’ Stride said.

‘Did you nonetheless uncover physical evidence during your investigation that Mr. Ferris continued to own a handgun long after his marriage to the defendant?’

‘Yes, Mr. Ferris’s brother provided us with a photograph that showed a gun in his possession.’ Dan introduced the photo of Jay and Clyde Ferris, and an enlargement showed a close-up of the portion of the gun visible in the holster.

‘Were you able to confirm when this photograph was taken?’

‘Yes, it was taken last October 27, three months prior to the murder.’

‘Were you able to locate this gun during your investigation?’ Dan asked.

‘No, we weren’t.’

‘Thank you, Lieutenant. Now when you arrived at the house that night, was the defendant present?’

‘Yes, Dr. Snow was there, along with her counsel, Mr. Gale.’

‘And did Dr. Snow make a statement to you with her counsel present?’

‘She did. Dr. Snow told us that she was dropped off at her house that evening by my wife. This was about 9:45 p.m. She told us that she had some wine with her husband, and they argued. She said she then left her husband to take a shower. Her bathroom is adjacent to her bedroom, two floors down from the living room. She was in the shower for a long time, she said, but she couldn’t tell us exactly how long. When she got out of the shower, she said she noticed that two drawers in a jewelry box in her bedroom were open, and several expensive items were missing. She told us that she went back upstairs and found her husband’s body.’

‘At that point, did the defendant tell you that she called 911?’ Dan asked.

‘No, she said that some time passed before she called the police.’