Bury the Lead - By David Rosenfelt Page 0,71
on the stand.
In terms of the impact on our case, it can be enormous. Eddie provides a way to introduce Lassiter into the courtroom. Our alternate theory will be before the jury and might well create the reasonable doubt necessary to get Daniel off.
I have my doubts about Eddie’s veracity, but on its face his story stands up. As a lawyer, I cannot introduce testimony I know to be false, but I do not have to have an affirmative belief in its truth. That is for the jury to decide after they hear our side of the story.
And starting tomorrow they will.
• • • • •
TUCKER GOES MORE than a little nuts when we meet in Calvin’s chambers before the start of the court day. I can’t blame him: I’ve just announced that we intend to call Eddie Gardner as a surprise witness.
“Your Honor,” says Tucker, “we’ve had the defense witness list for weeks, and the day they are to begin their case we have this bomb dropped on us? It’s outrageous.”
Calvin turns to me, but I put up my hands as if it’s not my fault, which in fact it isn’t. “Your Honor, the witness came to us yesterday, as a result of the publicity from my television appearance Friday night.”
He interrupts me. “An appearance which I am not at all happy about.”
That’s too bad, Calvin, is what I’m thinking. What I say is, “In the last two months Mr. Zachry has been on television more than Oprah Winfrey, and far more than I have. Perhaps Your Honor would like to issue a gag order; the defense would certainly have no objections.” Especially since we’ve already got Lassiter’s picture out to the public.
He lets it drop and gets me to agree that I won’t put Eddie on the stand before tomorrow, an easy concession, since that was my plan anyway. I want to give Laurie a chance to dig further into his background.
I make time to talk with Daniel before court, and he’s more optimistic and excited than he’s been since this started. Eliot told him about the Walter Castle connection, and he’s embarrassed that he hadn’t seen it, but he didn’t know Castle had been a target of Linda Padilla. He considers it very promising, but not nearly as large a cause for celebration as Eddie’s appearance on the scene.
My first witness is Cheryl Kelly, a reporter for Vince’s newspaper who happened to be in Daniel’s office when he got the first call from the killer.
I get her to recount the events, then ask her about Daniel’s reaction. “What did he say when he got off the phone?”
“That somebody just confessed to a murder,” she says. “Told him how it was done and where the body was.”
“Did he seem surprised?”
Tucker objects, but I counter that I am merely asking for the witness’s impressions. Calvin lets her answer. “Yes. But he wasn’t sure he believed it. He said it was probably a crank.”
“Did you at any time think Mr. Cummings was putting on an act, that the call wasn’t real?” I ask.
She shakes her head firmly. “Absolutely not.”
I turn her over to Tucker. “Did you hear a voice on the other end of the phone?” he asks.
“No.”
“Are you and Mr. Cummings very close friends?”
“No, not really. We just work together.”
“Has he ever lied to you?” Tucker asks.
“No. I mean, I don’t think so,” she says. “Not that I’m aware of.”
“So he could be lying and you might not be aware of it?”
Backed into a corner, Cheryl has to admit that she might not be able to tell if Daniel is lying. It’s a nice move by Tucker and partially negates a witness of already modest significance.
The rest of the day is taken up by similar witnesses who spent time with Daniel during the period when he was in contact with the killer. All of them completely believed, and still believe, Daniel’s story.
Tucker takes the same approach with each, which is to demonstrate that they have no certain knowledge that Daniel was telling the truth. He does not spend much time on each, signifying to the jury that he doesn’t consider their testimony very important.
He’s right about that.
Our nightly meeting is devoted to how we will handle Eddie on the witness stand tomorrow. Laurie has checked him out as best she can, though she warns that she had little to go on and little time to dig.
Kevin’s view is that we just let him tell his story, quickly and concisely.