New Tricks - By David Rosenfelt Page 0,56

the murder. They were doing it from a distance, and that doesn’t seem to fit with an elaborate frame-up.

“Whoever hired Jimmy Childs had to know a lot about Walter Timmerman’s life, not just his work,” I say. “For instance, he had to know all about Steven, about his knowledge of explosives, about his being written out of the will.”

“If you have the resources to pay Childs half a million dollars, then you have ways of finding out those things,” Laurie points out.

I nod. “Maybe. But I’ve been thinking of some Middle Eastern jillionaire. Don’t forget, twenty million dollars was wired to Timmerman a few weeks before he died. Yet this feels more intimate than that.”

“Charles Robinson has that kind of money, and he knows so much about Timmerman’s life that Steven called him Uncle Charlie,” Kevin says. “And the FBI is interested in him.”

I nod. “But we’re not close to connecting the dots.”

Nothing Sam and Kevin have come up with on Robinson has moved our case forward. He originally earned his fortune as an energy trader, sort of a one-man Enron. His reputation has long been as sort of a shady operator, but if the authorities were ever close to catching him at anything, we can find no evidence of it.

He made worldwide contacts that enabled him to be a facilitator of many things, most of them energy-related. The trading of energy across countries obviously involved huge fortunes, and Robinson has usually put himself in position to get a piece of it.

In recent years he has entered other businesses as well, everything from magazines to a retail clothing chain. But these seem to be secondary to his real business, and showing dogs and racing horses are just hobbies for him.

Kevin and I spend the rest of the evening preparing for tomorrow’s witnesses. These are the toughest days in a case like this. One witness after another will lay a solid foundation of apparent proof that Steven is guilty. We’ll put a few dents in it, but if we’re going to win, it’s going to be on the strength of our own case in chief.

I only wish we had a case in chief.

Richard’s first witness today is Captain John Antonaccio, the chief of ordnance at Camp Lejeune, in North Carolina. Antonaccio is the person under whom Steven trained in explosives when he was in the service.

Richard takes Antonaccio through his qualifications as an explosives expert. I offer to stipulate as to his expertise, but Richard asks Hatchet to let him detail it for the jury, and Hatchet reluctantly agrees.

To hear Antonaccio tell it, pretty much the only bomb in the last twenty years that he was not responsible for was Waterworld. His résumé is impressive, and he is clearly well aware of it.

Next Richard introduces a map of the Timmerman property, and a diagram of the house itself. He gets Antonaccio to show where the bomb went off, near the center of the house, and Antonaccio says that this is where an expert would have planted it, so as to cause maximum damage.

The demonstration is jarring to me, because it reminds me of something that I missed. I will not be able to bring it up on my cross-examination, because I haven’t learned enough about it to risk asking a question I don’t know the answer to. It’s a frustrating mistake on my part, and it’s not the first.

Eventually, Richard questions him about his time working with Steven. “Was he competent working with explosives?”

Antonaccio nods. “Very much so. One of my best students.”

“What qualities did he have that make you say that?”

“He was smart, he was careful, and he had a healthy respect for the materials he was dealing with.”

“Some people don’t respect the explosives?” Richard asks.

“You’d be amazed how many; they become complacent, overconfident. But Lieutenant Timmerman followed the correct procedures every time.”

Richard introduces a document stating that the explosive used at the house was Cintron 321. I don’t object, because I know that he could bring in an expert witness to say the same thing.

“Did Mr. Timmerman ever work with Cintron 321?” Richard would never call Steven “Lieutenant,” as Antonaccio does. To do so could inspire respect from the members of the jury; I’m surprised Richard hadn’t told Antonaccio not to do it as well.

“Absolutely… all the time. He knew everything there was to know about it.”

“And the detonator that was used, which was set off remotely by a cell phone—to your knowledge he would have the requisite expertise