The Fifth Witness Part 38

"Detective, you have testified about what you didn't find in the garage. The hammer. What can you tell us that you did find?"

Freeman turned to me after asking it as if to get my approval. I nodded at her and smiled. The fact that she would even acknowledge me was a sign I had gotten to her with the last two objections.

"We found a pair of gardening shoes and got a positive reaction for blood when we conducted a Luminol test."

"Luminol being one of the agents that reacts to blood under ultraviolet lighting, correct?"

"That's correct. It is used to detect locations where blood has been cleaned or wiped away."

"Where was the blood found here?"

"On the shoelace of the left shoe."

"Why were these particular shoes tested with Luminol?"

"First of all, it is routine to test all shoes and clothing when you are looking for the possibility of blood evidence. There was blood at the scene of the crime so you work under the a.s.sumption that some must have gotten on the a.s.sailant. Secondly, we had noticed in the backyard that the garden had been recently worked. The soil had been overturned and yet these shoes were very clean."

"Well, wouldn't someone clean their gardening shoes before going into the house?"

"Possibly, but we weren't in the house. We were in the garage and the shoes were in a cardboard box that contained a lot of loose dirt, presumably from the garden, and yet the shoes were quite clean. It drew our attention."

Freeman forwarded the video to the point where the shoes were shown. They were sitting side by side in a box that said COCA-COLA COCA-COLA. They were on a shelf under the workbench. Not hidden by any means. Just in the spot where they were probably routinely stored.

"Are these the shoes?"

"Yes. You can see one of the forensic techs collecting them there."

"So you are saying that the fact that they were so clean but stored in a dirty box made them suspicious?"

I objected, stating she was leading the witness. I won the point but the message got to the jury. Freeman moved on.

"What made you think the shoes were Lisa Trammel's?"

"Because they were small, obviously a woman's shoes, and because we found a framed photograph in the house that depicted Lisa working in the garden. She was wearing the shoes."

"Thank you, Detective. What became of the shoes and the spot on the one shoelace that initially tested as showing blood?"

"The shoelace was turned over to the regional crime lab at Cal State for DNA testing."

"Why didn't you use the private lab for this?"

"The sample of blood was quite small. We decided not to risk that we might lose the sample in an outside lab. My partner and I actually hand-delivered it to the Cal State lab. We also sent along other exemplars for comparison."

"Other exemplars for comparison-what does that mean?"

"Blood from the victim was sent under separate delivery to the lab as well so that it could be compared to what was found on the shoe."

"Why separate delivery?"

"So there would be no chance of cross-contamination."

"Thank you, Detective Longstreth. I have no further questions at this time."

The judge called for the mid-afternoon break before cross-examination would begin. My client, unaware of the true purpose of my lunch invitation, invited me to join her and Dahl for coffee. I declined, saying I had to write out my questions for cross. The truth was I already had my questions ready. While before the trial I had thought Freeman would use Kurlen to introduce and testify about the hammer, the shoes and the search of Lisa Trammel's home, I was nonetheless ready because the direct examination had gone exactly as I had expected it would.

Instead, I spent the break on the phone with Cisco, preparing him for the meeting with Dahl at seven. I told him to clue in Bullocks and have Tommy Guns and Bam Bam outside the Victory Building for security. I wasn't sure whether Dahl was going to play it straight or not, but I was going to be ready either way.

Thirty-five.

After the break, Detective Longstreth retook the stand and the judge turned it over to me. I threw no softb.a.l.l.s and got right to the points I wanted to make in front of the jury. Primarily, this was testimony that informed the jury that the neighborhood surrounding WestLand was searched by police on the day of the murder. This included the house and presumably the landscaping where the hammer was eventually found.

"Detective," I asked, "did it trouble you that this hammer was found so long after the murder and yet so close to the murder scene and in a spot that was inside a rather intense search perimeter?"

"No, not really. After the hammer was found I went out and looked at the bushes in front of that house. They were big and very dense. It didn't surprise me or trouble me at all that a hammer could have been in there all that time. In fact, I thought we had been pretty lucky that it had been found at all."

Good answer. I was beginning to see why Freeman had broken things up between Kurlen and Longstreth. Longstreth was d.a.m.n good on the stand, maybe even better than her veteran partner. I moved on. One of the rules of the game was to distance yourself from mistakes. Don't compound things by dwelling.

"Okay, let's move to the house in Woodland Hills now. Detective, wouldn't you agree that the search of the house was a bust?"

"A bust? I'm not sure I would call it a bust. I-"

"Did you find the defendant's b.l.o.o.d.y clothes?"

"No, we did not."

"Did you find the victim's blood in the shower or bathtub drains?"

"No, we did not."

"What about in the was.h.i.+ng machine?"

"No."

"What evidence has the state presented during this trial that was obtained from inside the defendant's home? I am not talking about the garage. Just the home."

It took Longstreth a few long moments of silence as she conducted an internal inventory. Finally, she shook her head.

"I can't recall anything at the moment. But that still doesn't mean the search was a bust. Sometimes not finding evidence is just as useful as finding it."

I paused. She was baiting me. She wanted me to ask her to explain. But if I did that I had no idea where she would go. I decided to pull back, not take the bait and move on.

"Okay, but the real treasure-the evidence you did find-was found in the garage, right? The evidence that has has been or will be brought to court in this trial." been or will be brought to court in this trial."

"I would think so, yes."

"We're talking about the shoe with the blood on it and the tool set missing the hammer, correct?"

"That is correct."

"Am I missing something else?"

"I don't think so."

"Okay, then let me show you something here on the overhead screens."

I grabbed the remote, which Freeman had conveniently left on the lectern. I reversed the search video, keeping my eyes on the rewinding images. I ran it right by the images I wanted and stopped it, then moved forward to the right spot and paused.

"Okay, can you tell the jury what is happening at this point in the video?"

I hit the play b.u.t.ton and the image on the screen started to move. It showed Longstreth and one of the forensic techs leaving the main house and crossing the portico to the door that led to the garage.

"Uh, this is when we go into the garage," Longstreth said.

Then her voice came from the recording.

"We might need the key from Kurlen," she said.

But on the video she reached a gloved hand to the doork.n.o.b and it turned.

"Never mind, it's open."

I let the video run until Longstreth and the forensic tech had entered the garage and turned on the lights. I then paused it again.

"Was this the first time you had entered the garage, Detective?"

"Yes."

"I see you turned on the lights here. Had anybody else from the search team entered the garage before you?"

"No, they had not."

I slowly backed up the video to the point where she had opened the door to enter. I started the playback again and asked my questions as it played.

"I notice you don't use a key to enter the garage, Detective. Why is that?"

"I tried the door, as you can see here, and it was unlocked."

"Do you know why?"

"No, it was just unlocked."

"Was anybody at the home when the search team arrived?"

"No, the house was empty."

"And the door to the house itself was locked, correct?"

"Yes, Ms. Trammel had locked it when she agreed to accompany us to Van Nuys."

"Did she want to lock it or did you have to tell her?"

"No, she wanted to lock up."

"So at the time that she locked the house she left the outside door that led into the garage unlocked, correct?"

"It would appear so."

"It's safe to say that it was unlocked at the time you and the others arrived with the search warrant, correct?"

"That is correct."

"Meaning anyone could have entered the garage while its owner, Lisa Trammel, was in police custody, correct?"

"I guess it's possible, yes."

"By the way, when you and Detective Kurlen left the house with Ms. Trammel that morning, did you leave a police officer on post at the house to sort of watch over it, make sure nothing was disturbed or taken from inside?"

"No, we did not."

"Didn't you think that would be prudent, considering that the house might contain evidence in a murder investigation?"

"At the time she was not a suspect. She was just someone we wanted to talk to."

I almost smiled and Longstreth almost smiled. She had tiptoed past a trap I had set for her. She was good.

"Ah," I said. "Not a suspect, that's right. So how long, would you say, was that side door left unlocked and the garage available for anyone to enter?"

"That would be impossible for me to tell. I don't know when it was left unlocked in the first place. It's possible she never locked the garage."

I nodded and put a pause under her answer.

"Did you or Detective Kurlen instruct the forensics team to see if there were any fingerprints on the door leading to the garage?"

"No, we did not."

"Why not, Detective?"

"We didn't think it was necessary. We were searching the house, not holding it as a crime scene."

"Let me ask you hypothetically, Detective. Do you think that someone who has carefully planned and carried out a murder would then leave a pair of b.l.o.o.d.y shoes in their unlocked garage? Especially after taking the time to get rid of the murder weapon?"