Barbara Holloway: Desperate Measures Part 25

"We conducted tests to see how long it would take to burn up two pork chops and gravy. We videotaped the experiments, one with the stove set just above the medium point of the dial, and one a little higher than that. For the lower setting it took twenty-four minutes for the chops to be reduced to cinders and stop burning. In the other test it took twenty minutes for the same final outcome to be reached. From the amount of smoke in the room when Mr. Bakken opened the back door, we estimate that the alarm had been on for about ten minutes."

Novak nodded, well pleased. "Your Honor, at this time the state would like to show the video that Lieutenant Whorley has produced."

"Objection," Barbara said. "We conducted the same test, and stipulate as to the results."

"You accept the results of the state's tests?" Judge Mac asked.

"Yes, Your Honor."

He was surprised, and Novak was alarmed-or if not alarmed, then more wary than ever. She smiled at him and sat down.

Novak turned once more to his witness, and Whorley's face never changed a wrinkle or line. Stolid at the start, stolid now, waiting patiently.

"Did you reach a conclusion about which setting was more likely to have been used?"

"Yes, we did." He talked about the blistering of the cabinet finish, and concluded, "We decided the lower of the two settings was the one that was on."

"And did this give you an indication of when the time of the murder might have been?"

"Yes, it did. The murder took place between six-thirty and six-thirty-five or six-thirty-six."

Barbara did not say a word, although Novak paused as if antic.i.p.ating her objection.

When she rose for her cross-examination, she glanced down at the notebook in front of Alex, and realized he was sketching the lieutenant, drawing a caricature of him. She leaned toward him as if in consultation, and whispered, "Hide that right now."

He started in surprise and looked down, and she thought he hadn't been wholly aware of what he was doing. He turned the page of the notebook, and she straightened and faced the witness stand.

"Lieutenant Whorley, in your testimony you said the criminologists collected evidence. Did they collect any fibers that could be traced to Mr. Feldman?"

"Not directly."

"Lieutenant, you've been very precise in your answers. Please be as precise now. Did they collect any fibers that could be traced to Mr. Feldman? Just a yes or no, if you will."

"No."

"Did they collect any hair that could be traced to Mr. Feldman?"

"No."

"Did they collect any physical evidence that could be traced to Mr. Feldman?"

"No, not directly."

"Is that a no answer?"

"It's no." He remained as unrattled and stolid as ever.

She nodded. "When you make a preliminary survey of a crime scene and come up with a possible series of events to recapitulate the crime, is that what you put in your early report?"

"Yes, it is."

"And that guides you and your team in what lines of investigation to follow?"

"It gives us a starting place."

"If new evidence surfaces, or if there is something that comes to light that you paid little attention to at the beginning, do you modify that report?"

"Yes, always. We go where the evidence takes us."

"If the new evidence or neglected item doesn't fit your first recapitulation of the crime, do you modify the reconstruction to take it into account?"

"Yes."

"Even if it means a totally new reconstruction?"

"Yes."

"Did you modify your report or your reconstruction in this case?"

"No. There was no need to do so."

"I see. From your observations of the Marchand house, would you say it was well organized, clean and neat?"

"Extremely clean and neat."

"No clutter of shoes by the door, or clothes out of place, things of that sort?"

"Nothing like that. Everything put away where it belonged."

"Did you collect evidence in the lavatory just inside the back door?"

"Yes."

"What did you find there?"

"The usual bathroom items, towel, soap, washcloth."

"Did your criminologists find anything on the towel or washcloth in the lavatory?"

"The towel had traces of linseed oil. And the water faucets had linseed oil on them."

"Is it in your report that Mr. Marchand probably washed his hands in the lavatory, and not in the kitchen?"

"No. I didn't see the necessity of including that."

"All right. Now, back in the kitchen, was everything there neat and orderly?"

"Yes."

"No dirty dishes in the sink, or sc.r.a.ps of lettuce, anything like that?"

"No. Everything was clean."

"What about these various items on the table? Would you identify them for the court?" She found the photograph of the entire table and showed it to him.

"Objection," Novak said, jumping to his feet. "May I approach, Your Honor?"

Judge Mac beckoned him to come forward. He turned off his microphone and waited until Novak and Barbara were together before the bench. "What is it, Mr. Novak? On what grounds?"

"Immaterial. It has nothing to do with the murder, and there's no point in dragging the personal, private lives of the two deceased people out in the open. It's to no end, except sensationalism. Those are Mrs. Marchand's birth-control pills and condoms. What's the point in making an issue of them?"

Judge Mac turned to Barbara. "I tend to agree with him. Do you have a point to make concerning those items?"

"I do, but it can wait until the defense presents its case and has laid a solid foundation. However, at that time I will have to recall Lieutenant Whorley to identify the items on the table."

"And I'll make the same objection," Novak said heatedly. "Irrelevant and immaterial."

"Mr. Novak, at that time will you stipulate as to the ident.i.ty of those items?" Judge Mac asked calmly.

"Yes. If they're admitted at all," he said, but not with good grace.

"Very well. Ms. Holloway, will you withdraw your question at this time with that understanding?"

"Yes, Your Honor. Thank you."

He waved them away and Barbara withdrew the question. When she turned back to her table, she saw Dolly Feldman gazing at her with undisguised hostility.

She faced the lieutenant again. "Did you recover fingerprints on the lid of the skillet?"

"Just smudges."

"How about the control for the stove burner? Did you recover fingerprints from it?"

"No. Just smudges."

"The oven control?"

"Leona Marchand's prints were on it."

"Did you find more than one dish towel out and in use in the kitchen?"

"No. Just the one."

"The one on the counter? Is that the one that had linseed oil on it?"

"Yes."

"All right. Since you recapitulated the crime earlier, I'd like you to do it again, and this time add some of the new evidence. For example, Mr. Marchand washed his hands in the lavatory. Then what?"

"He went to the stove and turned on the burner," Whorley said, possibly bored and certainly indifferent.

"Did he remove the cover of the skillet first?"

"I don't know."

"Was it on the counter nearby, not on the skillet?"

"Yes."

"Did you lift it at any time?"

"Yes. We picked it up to test for fingerprints."

"Was the counter moist under it?"

He thought about this for a moment, then said, "I don't recall."

"Had the lid been used? Was it spotless, or did it have food stains, moisture, even grease on it?"

"It had been used," he said after a moment. "It was a little greasy."

"All right. Now, if someone took the lid from the skillet, wouldn't you expect to find that person's fingerprints on it?"

"He might have used a mitt, or even the dish towel to pick it up."

"What would that suggest?"

"Objection," Novak said, rising. "This line of questioning is irrelevant and immaterial. Obviously, the lieutenant can't be held accountable for every single action that took place in that kitchen."

"You opened that door," Barbara said, "when you invited Lieutenant Whorley to speculate about the sequence of events on which he based his entire investigation. I am merely exploring the events he left out of his account."

"Her point," Judge Mac said. "Overruled. Proceed, Ms. Holloway."

"Thank you, Your Honor. The question, Lieutenant, is: Did you at any time speculate about why there were no fingerprints on the skillet lid?"

"No. I didn't attach any importance to the lid."

"Did you speculate about why there were no fingerprints on the dial to the burner that was turned on?"

"No, I didn't. He probably was carrying the towel at the time."

"I see. Lieutenant Whorley, please continue recapitulating the events as you did before, but include some of the things you neglected the first time."

His att.i.tude said clearly, It's a waste of your time and mine, but here goes. "Mr. Marchand entered the house by the back door-"

"Let's stop a moment," she said. "Did you find linseed oil on the doork.n.o.b? Or the screen door?"

"On the screen-door pull," he said. "Not on the doork.n.o.b."