bottle so that you could determine what was taken?”
“No, there was not.”
“Any way for you to have known how many pills had been in there?”
“No.”
I hand Ferrara a transcript of his radio conversation with Coast Guard command on shore. “Please read the passage where you say that you are treating the boat as a crime scene.”
He looks at it but knows the answer. “I did not mention that.”
“You didn’t think it was important?”
“I considered Mr. Evans’s health to be my first priority.”
“And mentioning that this might be a crime scene would in some way jeopardize his health?”
He doesn’t have an effective answer for that, so I move on. “Please read the passage where you instruct the people on shore to have forensics ready to check out the boat.”
“I did not so instruct them.”
I feign surprise. “Do you have training in forensics?”
“No.”
“Do you at least watch CSI?”
Hawpe objects, and Judge Gordon sustains. I then take Ferrara through the process by which Coast Guard personnel boarded the boat. A total of nine people did so, including Ferrara.
“Nine people? How big is this boat?” I ask.
“Forty feet.”
“And you and your people had your eighteen feet tromping all over it?”
“We were very careful not to contaminate the scene.” I frown with disdain at the very thought. “A storm was approaching, so you were in a hurry; your first priority was the man’s health; you had virtually no reason to suspect a crime, but you and your army of men were careful?”
“Yes.”
“Did you stop what you were doing to put on booties?”
The jury and most of the gallery laugh at this, which is the reaction I was hoping for.
“No.”
Finally, I take him through the bloodstains and ask him why they were not washed away by the rain.
“One was under cover, and the other was on the bottom of the railing.”
“That was convenient for you and your crack forensics team, wasn’t it?”
Before Ferrara can answer, Hawpe objects and Judge Gordon sustains. I let Ferrara off the stand, having accomplished as much as I could with him. Kevin’s nod as I head back to the defense table indicates that he is pleased with the result.
Judge Gordon adjourns court for the day, and I turn to Richard before they take him away. “You okay?” I ask. Sitting quietly and watching the State of New Jersey attempt to take your life away can’t be easy, even the second time around.
He grins. “Are you kidding? Compared to what I’ve been doing every day for the last five years, I feel like I just saw a Broadway show.”
TOMORROW IS STACY Harriman’s day in court.
Daniel Hawpe is going to parade a series of witnesses in front of the jury who know nothing about the night of the murder but who will talk about Stacy. It is Hawpe’s way of humanizing the victim and making the jury feel as if they knew her.
It is a standard and perfectly logical strategy. Human nature is such that the more the jury likes Stacy, the more likely they are to exact revenge on her behalf. Unfortunately, the only one around to get revenge against is Richard.
For me it should be a relatively easy day. All the witnesses on Hawpe’s list for tomorrow were called during the first trial, so I know what they are going to say.
The truth is, they aren’t going to say that much. Stacy may have been a wonderful person, but she was not yet well known in the community and seemed to live a very private life. The witnesses will talk about her in positive generalities, but it is clear from the transcript of the first trial that none of them counted her among their close friends.
As I do every night during a trial, I review every piece of information we have that in any way relates to the next day’s testimony. So tonight I gather everything we have about Stacy, including information from the first trial, notes from my interviews with Richard and Karen, and the material that Sam came up with when he checked her out.
Sam had described her as relentlessly normal, and there’s nothing here to contradict that. Actually, she seems disconcertingly normal. I’m reading page after page about her, but I don’t have a real sense of who she was.
Sam’s background check provides some of the facts of her life but not much more. It tells me where she lived before coming here, where she worked, what credit card accounts she had, and how much she owed on