Michael Gresham: Secrets Girls Keep Part 24

34.

Hector Rodriguez is the groundskeeper who found Amy's body the morning after the football game.

The State's Attorney calls Mr. Rodriguez as his second trial witness when we take up after lunch. Mr. Rodriguez is a short, dark Mexican national who was working at a job that normally had no involvement with police authorities. But this time around it did. Big time.

He testifies that he went beneath the stands with a wheeled trash barrel just after eight o'clock that morning. He was alone when he went under; the other three members of his crew were handling the restrooms and parking area and sidelines. As he was walking to the far end of the bleachers to begin, he noticed the body maybe ten feet off to the side of the under-pa.s.sage. Leaving his trash bin behind, he crept close enough to get a good look. He couldn't tell whether the girl was asleep, unconscious, or dead. But he had seen enough TV to know he shouldn't disturb or try to move the person. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, found he had no bars underneath the bleachers, and hurried back out to the open side where he dialed 911. In under ten minutes a police cruiser came roaring into the parking area, nosed up to the chain link fence and parked. The driver and his partner hit the ground running where Hector directed them.

Hector watched as the police officers checked the body for any signs of life. He watched as they carefully followed their footsteps back out of the high gra.s.s under the stands. Then he was told to leave the area, and he never went back. That was the last time he saw the dead girl and the crime scene.

There was no tactic available on cross-examination so I pa.s.sed on the witness and he was excused by the judge.

Next up was Erin Caulflo, a freshman girl from Amy Tanenbaum's home room at Wendover High. She was a sprite of a girl barely five feet tall, with a developing body and long, black eyelashes and fiery eyes that flashed when she described what happened to her friend that night.

"Tell us where you were sitting," the State's Attorney directed.

"About five girls, Amy included, were in the stands watching the boys straggle in. We had all come in one car and were excited because it was homecoming and there would be a huge dance the next night."

"Why was your game on a Thursday night?"

"The other team had several players whose holy day was Friday. So they arranged their entire schedule around that. All games were on Thursday. We didn't care, except there were lots of absences from cla.s.s the next day because lots of kids slept in."

"You were on the home team's side?"

"Of course. About two-thirds of the way up in the bleachers. There were people all around, young and old, and lots of other students. But we were a clique and we kept to ourselves."

"Describe Amy that night."

"What do you mean? How she was acting?"

"Yes. Whatever you can remember."

"She was in a great mood. She was showing off her bat mitzvah outfit that she was wearing. And it was cute and really showed off her figure."

"Was she upbeat?"

"Yes. We listened to some hip-hop on her iPhone. We shared ear buds."

"Did you eventually pair off with boys?"

"More or less. Boys came and sat with us. But no one was really dating or anything. We were mostly freshmen and soph.o.m.ores and everyone had known everyone else since like grade school. Except for Jana Emerich. He was from California and so he was kind of mysterious. I know Amy liked him lots and talked about him sometimes."

"Did she ever date him?"

"Like date date? Not that I know."

"What did you see happen between her and Jana that night?"

"They just watched the game and talked like all the rest of us. There was lots of talking. A popcorn fight broke out just before halftime. Five minutes before halftime all the girls left for the restrooms. We always left early to beat the crowds. Amy came too, naturally."

"What happened next?"

"Next? We peed. I mean we all went in the bathroom and used the facility then washed. Except some girls wouldn't wash. They didn't want to touch anything. No one did."

"Did Mr. Emerich accompany your group to the restrooms?"

"Not that I know of. Later on I heard he trailed behind us, but I never saw him."

"What happened after the restroom?"

"Our team scored a touchdown and the crowd began stamping their feet in the bleachers and clapping and whistling. So we came running out of the bathroom to see what the uproar was all about."

"Was Amy with you then?"

"I don't know. I don't have a memory of who was there."

"Then what did you do?"

"Walked back over to the snack shop. I bought an Almond Joy and a Mountain Dew. My girlfriends bought their drinks and food and we all went back up the steps."

"Back up the bleachers?"

"Yes."

"Who did you see at the snack shop?"

"I don't remember."

"Who went back up the bleachers?"

"Everyone except Amy."

"Did you think there was anything wrong at that time?"

"No, in fact we laughed. We laughed because we thought she'd snuck off somewhere with Jana Emerich. We knew she would if he asked her to go somewhere to talk."

"Did you see Amy again that night?"

"I never saw Amy again, period."

Tears start rolling down the schoolgirl's cheeks and she wipes at them with a tissue from the box on the witness stand shelf. She dabs carefully around her eyes as if to preserve her eye shadow.

"Have you talked to your friends about that night, Erin?"

"Lots of times."

"Did anyone else see Amy after the restroom?"

"Objection. Calls for hearsay."

"Sustained. Counsel, ask it another way."

"All right, Your Honor. Erin, did you ever become aware of any person who saw Amy after the restroom stop that night?"

"No. No one saw her again."

"Did you ever discuss that night with the defendant, Jana Emerich?"

"No, why would I? They arrested him right away. Everyone's parents called the school board about getting him kicked out of school, but they wouldn't. So we were ordered to stay away from him no matter what."

"Have I failed to ask you anything that might better help us understand what happened to Amy that night?"

"Objection. Vague and ambiguous."

"Overruled. You may answer."

"You've asked me everything. I really don't know anything else."

The witness is turned over to me for cross-examination.

35.

Erin Caulflo eyes me suspiciously as I step up to the lectern for her cross-examination. Her long black eyelashes flutter and her eyes dart from the State's Attorney to the jury and back to me. She grips the rail of the witness box shelf in front of her as if to lean against a coming storm.

I am anything but stormy.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Caulflo. May I call you Erin?"

"Sure, Erin is fine."

"I am Jana Emerich's lawyer. Jana has pleaded not guilty in this case. He says he had nothing to do with Amy's death. Do you understand this?"

"I understand. I may not agree, but I understand."

"Why do you say you may not agree?"

I know better than to ask a witness an open-ended question on cross-examination, but I do. I do because her direct examination hasn't yielded anything d.a.m.ning and so I'm going to take this opportunity to shoot down any theories she may have. This will impress on the jury yet another way of thinking of Jana's innocence.

"I don't agree because he was with her. I saw how he was looking at her."

"How was that?"

"Not normal. He looked like he wanted to jump her bones right there in the bleachers."

"Jump her bones?"

"You know. Make out with her."

"But you're not saying he looked like he wanted to murder her?"

She looks helplessly at the State's Attorney and it becomes clear that she is here to help her friend Amy.

"I don't know how someone looks when they want to murder someone. So I don't know if he was looking like he wanted to murder her or not."

So. That makes her feel safe. Here we go.

"Well, let's talk about his look. Did he appear angry?"

"No."

"Was he frowning?"

"No."

"Did he look threatening?"

"No."

"Was he raising his voice to Amy?"

"No."

"In all truth, he looked like he was enjoying being with Amy, didn't he?"

"I guess so. I didn't watch them all that much."

"But you did see enough to be able to tell us today that Jana looked like he was enjoying being with Amy, correct?"

"Yes."

"And while we're at, let's talk about Amy's look. Was she frightened?"

"No."

"Did she raise her voice?"

"No."

"Did she cry out for help?"