A change had come over Judge Holbrook ever since Merton had tried to suggest Jack had something to do with the killing of a federal judge.
“Nobody picked up on this major problem with the evidence?”
“Nobody discovered what had happened until Jack Tobin came along and read Felton’s file.”
“Thank you, Ms. Jansen. I have—”
“There’s more,” Danni interrupted him.
“I apologize. Were you not finished with your answer?”
“No. When Alice Jeffries was killed, I went to the scene. Sam was in his room and he was as upset as he could be. I was concerned about him. I didn’t know what he would do so I asked him to give me his gun. He then gave me his Glock service revolver and I asked him if he had other guns. Reluctantly, he took a key from his top drawer and opened a hidden door in the back of his closet. He had a room back there with a number of guns in it—”
That was enough for Merton. Judge or no judge, he couldn’t let this woman go on. He interrupted Danni in the middle of her sentence.
“Objection, Your Honor. Relevancy.”
The judge thought about it for a moment. “Counsel, approach.”
When the two lawyers reached sidebar, the judge asked Tom a question.
“Where is this leading?”
Tom had to come clean. “I don’t know, Your Honor. I hadn’t talked to her before she testified here today. However, I suspect she is about to tell us something very important.”
“Well, it could also be objectionable and prejudicial. We’ve already had a little too much of that in this trial.”
Tom knew the judge had a point, but he also knew this was an opportunity that could not be wasted.
“Your Honor, let me make a suggestion. Let’s remove the jury and I’ll proffer the testimony outside the presence of the jury. Counsel can make any objections and you can rule on them.”
The judge thought about it for a minute. “I’d have to remove the gallery, too. I don’t want this testimony floating out there if I deem it inadmissible.”
Merton finally spoke up. “Your Honor, this is highly unusual and inappropriate. I have a client here, the State of Florida, and my client will be prejudiced by this last-minute surprise testimony.”
Judge Holbrook glared at Merton. “You opened this door, Counselor. You brought in what happened ten years ago. Besides, this was your witness, you can’t claim surprise. And one last thing: Your client is justice. Remember that. A man’s life is at stake here.
“Okay, Mr. Wylie, I’m going to let you make your proffer.”
He called the bailiffs over. “I want the jury removed and I want the gallery removed. Put the gallery in another courtroom and stay with them. I don’t want anybody walking in here. In fact, lock the doors when you leave. But first, let me make a few remarks to the jury.”
Everybody returned to their respective places while Judge Holbrook addressed the jurors.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we have some legal issues we need to address so I’m going to ask you to step out into the jury room. It should only be a few minutes.”
As one bailiff marched the jurors out, two other bailiffs started removing the gallery. In a few minutes, the courtroom was again empty except for the judge, court personnel, the lawyers, Jack, and Danni.
When the jurors were gone but before the gallery was totally empty, Danni stole a glance at Jack, who met her eyes. She pursed her lips in a slight smile to let him know she felt good about what she was doing. Jack gave her an ever so subtle nod. Nobody in the courtroom noticed except Robert Merton, who leaned over to his pretty assistant. “Find Chief Jeffries,” he said to her. “Ask him if there was ever anything between Jansen and Tobin. Get as much detail as you can. And make sure the guard at the door knows you’re coming back so you can get in.”
The woman gave him a look as if to say, I can figure that out. I’m a lawyer, you know, not some ornament to make you look better in front of the jury. She didn’t verbalize her feelings, however. She quickly left the courtroom.
“What are we doing, making a proffer?” Jack asked Tom when Tom returned from sidebar.
“Yeah. I don’t know what she’s going to say though.”
“I’m sure it’s going to be good. I can’t believe the judge is letting you do this.”
“I can’t either. He’s done a complete one-eighty since Merton’s big gaffe.”