calmly answer only the questions she was asked.
“You got it, boss,” she said.
I did not like the way she said it. But it was time to go in.
121
CHRISTA WAS SWORN, and I began my direct examination. “You work at the Flintridge Shooting Range, is that correct?”
“Yes,” she said. “Going on six years.”
“Describe what your duties are there.”
“Oh, a little of everything. I check people in, I police the range, I give lessons, and I slap people around if they need it.”
Some laughter from the gallery. Christa smiled wide. Terrific. She was in performance mode.
Since I could not stop and wag my finger at her, or slap her myself, I stated my next question slowly. “When you say you check people in, you mean you’re in the office when people come up to do some shooting?”
“That’s right.”
“How does that work, when someone comes in to book a time?”
“They pay for time, they sign a sheet and show a picture ID, and I tell ’em where to go. And if they hassle me, I also tell ’em where to go.”
More laughter. I had to make this quick.
“How many people do you see a day, on average?”
“During the week, maybe twenty. About twice that on weekends.”
“All right, taking you back to January twenty-third of this year, were you working at the range?”
“Yes, I was.”
“And did two men of, shall we say, larger stature sign in?”
“Yes.”
“Is one of those men in the courtroom?”
“Oh, yeah. He’s right there.” She pointed to Eric.
“Let the record reflect the witness has pointed to Eric Richess.”
“It will so reflect,” Judge Hughes said. “Continue.”
“Do you know who the other man was, with Eric?”
“Yep. His name was Carl.”
“How do you know that?”
“I signed him in.”
I went to the table and got the copy of the sign-in sheet. “Showing you now Defense Exhibit Three for identification, can you tell me what this is?”
Christa took it and gave it a scan. “Yeah, that’s one of the sign-in sheets from January twenty-third. It shows Carl Richess signed in for two people.”
“And is that your handwriting?”
“Yep. Big boys, they were. A couple of trees.”
Some more laughs. I thought I’d better wrap this up. “Move that Defense Exhibit Three be admitted into evidence.”
“Without objection,” the judge said.
122
RADAVICH STOOD. “Ms. Cody, you signed these two in, but you did not see them after that, did you?”
“Well, no. They went out to shoot.”
“You don’t know what they said or did on the range, do you?”
“They shot.”
“Listen carefully. You did not personally witness them shooting, did you?”
“Um, no, but you don’t come up there to play Donkey Kong.”
She waited for a laugh, but the courtroom was silent.
Radavich pounced. “This is not a show, Ms. Cody.”
I objected and the judge sustained me. But I could see some of the jurors shifting in their chairs.
“You did not,” Radavich said, “with your own eyes, see the two men you have identified as the Richess brothers, actually shooting on the range, did you?”
“No,” Christa said. She folded her arms.
“You don’t know what happened out there on that range then, do you?”
“No, but it doesn’t take a genius to—”
“Just answer the questions I put to you, Ms. Cody. I’ll make them real simple. At no time after they left the office did you go to the shooting range, did you?”
“All right, no.”
“They could have had a fight out there and you never would—”
“Objection,” I said. “Calls for speculation.”
“Sustained.”
Radavich didn’t care. He’d floated the words out for the jury. “And obviously you never saw the gun that was allegedly fired, correct?”
“That’d be correct, boss.” Christa looked out for some feedback, but now she was just annoying.
“Well, you’ve been oh so helpful, Ms. Cody. No more questions.”
I didn’t even look at her as she walked out of the courtroom. At least we had established the brothers were at the range a week before Carl’s death. And that could explain the blood on the gun.
If the jury would buy it. But they didn’t look in a buying mood.
123
“CALL YOUR NEXT witness,” Judge Hughes said.
I didn’t have a next witness. It was 2:30 p.m.
“I wonder if we might recess until tomorrow,” I said. As I spoke I saw Sister Mary looking at her cell phone. Like she had a call.
The judge didn’t look pleased. But he stroked his chin and said, “Well, in view of the fact that Mr. Radavich rested early, we’ll wrap up for today. But I want everyone ready to go tomorrow. Let’s finish the week strong.”
He admonished the jury not to talk about the