“And what facts do you have that the defendant lured Felton into the woods?”
“One of the things we recovered was Felton’s cell phone. Two nights before the shooting, Jack Tobin had called Felton and he called him again moments before Felton was shot.”
The crowd started buzzing again. Judge Holbrook didn’t say a word. He simply smacked down the gavel and everything was quiet again.
“How did those facts add to your investigation?”
“Well, once we saw the claims bill and the contingency fee agreement, we knew Tobin had the motive to kill Felton. The telephone told us how. The first call two days before was probably to set up the meeting in the woods. The call moments before the shooting was to make sure Felton was there and to pinpoint his location.”
“But why the woods?” Merton was eliciting the testimony piece by piece as if he were solving a mystery right in front of his audience. It was working. The jurors and the gallery were on the edge of their seats.
“It set up a perfect alibi for Tobin. He was in the woods to protect Danni Jansen. Felton came by and he shot him—of course, after Felton supposedly pulled a gun.”
“But there was no gun?”
“No. We searched every inch of those woods within a thousand feet of where the body lay and found nothing.”
“I’m going to test you a little bit here, Chief Jeffries,” Merton, the quizmaster said. “If the scenario you laid out for the jury is true, and the defendant set Felton up for murder, why didn’t he plant a gun on Felton after he shot him? Wouldn’t that have cemented his story?”
“Yes, it would have. I think Tobin was planning on doing exactly that. Unfortunately, I showed up before he could plant the gun. So he went to Danni’s house instead, making up the story that he was concerned about her safety.”
“Objection, Your Honor. Speculation.”
“Overruled. You may proceed, Mr. Merton.”
“Why didn’t he just leave the scene?”
“He couldn’t. He had set up a camp there in the woods. We found his credit card and clothes. There was too much evidence that he was there for him to flee the scene. Besides, we could trace the bullet to his gun. It was quick thinking on his part to do what he did.”
“What about the gun you said he was going to plant—did you ever find that?”
“No.”
“Did you take him into custody that day?”
“Yes, we took him to the station for questioning.”
“Did you search him?”
“At the station, yes.”
“So, where did the gun go?”
“We believe he threw it away, sometime after he shot Felton and before we took him into custody—before he met up with Danni. Danni Jansen is an experienced police officer. He wouldn’t have been able to dispose of the gun in her presence.”
“Did you look for that gun?”
“We did but I have to explain the timing. We initially were searching for a gun that Felton supposedly had on his person, so we were searching in the neighborhood of the body. We only kept Tobin in custody a couple of hours. By the time we put all the pieces together and even considered the possibility of a planted gun, Tobin was free and had the opportunity to go back and retrieve the gun himself. So we never had any realistic expectation of finding it.”
At this point in the questioning, Merton walked to the far wall next to the prosecution table and picked up a large rectangular object that looked like, and in fact was, a piece of foam board. There was an easel leaning against the wall as well, and his assistant, the pretty brunette female lawyer who had been doing nothing up to this point, grabbed the easel and walked with Merton. At his direction, she set up the easel and he placed the foam board on it. There was an elaborate diagram on the foam board and it was now facing the jury so they could see it clearly. There was a house and a yard and woods and they were all in color. Tom had been at the scene several times so he recognized the diagram right away.
“Do you recognize this diagram that I have set up in front of the jury?” Merton asked Sam Jeffries.
“Yes. It shows Danni Jansen’s house, her backyard, and the woods surrounding her backyard.”
“Your Honor, I have marked a smaller version of this diagram as State’s Exhibit number ten. I’d like to introduce it into