Mortal Crimes: 7 Novels of Suspense (256 page)

"It does to her."

He turned and looked at Ronnie then, her eyes closed, her breathing shallow, her naked form curled up beside him. Clinging to him.

Had he made a mistake?

When he looked at Jenny again, she was gone, and a sudden ache filled his gut. He sucked in a sharp breath and held it, wondering if the pain would ever leave him.

Where were you, Ethan?

Why didn't you return my calls?

Then he opened his eyes, awake now, and tried very hard not to cry.

PART THREE

Objection Sustained

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

IT DIDN'T TAKE long to figure out what Waverly's trial strategy was.

Hutch had seen it before, when he was fifteen years old and OJ Simpson was foremost in the news. He and his parents had watched snippets of the spectacle on TV as Johnnie Cochran and company had turned the tables on their adversaries and put the LAPD itself on trial.

Ronnie's claims that she'd been set up played in Hutch's mind, and he no longer doubted this was true. It stood to reason that a couple of overzealous cops, getting pressure from above, had taken it upon themselves to ensure the conviction of a woman they thought was guilty, by planting the bloody sweatshirt in her garbage bin.

Who else would have done it?

Certainly not Langer, if Hutch was right about him. His motive was to
protect
Ronnie.

And Hutch doubted anyone alive today would have trouble with the notion that cops can sometimes be corrupt. Five minutes on YouTube would settle that argument.

The morning began with Detective Meyer on the stand, once again playing the cocky charmer, the smile on his face saying he was looking forward to his encounter with Waverly. Facing off with a defense attorney—especially a
female
defense attorney
—
was a sport for him. One he most certainly excelled at.

But if Waverly's body language was to be believed, she was more than up to the challenge. Once Judge O'Donnell reminded Meyer that he was still under oath, Waverly bounced to her feet and nearly charged the podium.

"Detective Meyer, when you're investigating a homicide—not just this one, but
any
homicide—how do you determine who might be a suspect?"

"How else?" Meyer said, then gave Waverly a look that suggested that this was possibly the dumbest question he'd ever been asked. "We follow the evidence and see where it leads."

"Isn't it true that statistics show most murders are committed by someone close to the victim, like a friend or a family member?"

"Objection," Abernathy said. "The witness isn't an expert in statistics."

"But he
is
a veteran homicide investigator, Your Honor, and is well aware of such things. I believe Mr. Abernathy made that very same claim during his direct."

"She has a point," the judge said to Abernathy. "Answer the question, Detective Meyer."

Meyer nodded, then looked at Waverly. "It all depends on the case, but yes, most murders are committed by someone close to the victim."

"Like a spouse or a lover?"

"Oftentimes, yes."

"And did you find such a person in Ms. Keating's life?"

"According to her family and friends, she wasn't attached to anyone at the time of her death."

"What about former boyfriends? Did you speak to any of them?"

Meyer's expression made it clear that this was another stupid question. "As I testified on Monday, we took a careful look at her exes."

"Including the most recent one?"

"Yes, of course."

"Can you tell the court his name?"

"Objection," Abernathy said. "What's the point of all this?"

"Your Honor, during direct examination, Mr. Abernathy spent a great deal of time having Detective Meyer recount the steps of his investigation. I'm merely trying to delve a little deeper into the subject."

"Overruled," the judge said.

"Thank you." Waverly turned to Meyer. "So can you tell us his name, Detective? The name of the victim's most recent boyfriend?"

"Warren Lutz," he said.

Waverly's eyebrows went up in surprise. It was an act, but an effective one. "Would that be Assistant District Attorney Warren Lutz?"

"It would."

"And when you spoke to him, did you consider him a suspect?"

Hutch knew that Jenny had dated this guy Lutz for several years, and remembered seeing a photo of them on a news site, having dinner and drinks at a local hot spot. As she looked into the camera, however, Jenny's smile had seemed forced—the same smile she wore whenever she was around her father. Based on that photo alone, Hutch had known that the relationship wouldn't last, but he'd never for a moment thought Lutz was her killer, and he doubted Waverly did either.

"Detective Meyer? Did you consider him a suspect?"

There was a flicker of movement in Meyer's eyes, a subtle glance toward Abernathy. He hesitated for what couldn't have been more than a couple milliseconds, then said, "In the early stages of an investigation like this, the suspect list tends to be very long."

"That doesn't answer my question. Did you consider ADA Lutz to be a suspect or not?"

"We entertained the notion, of course, but like most of the other possibilities, it didn't pan out."

"And why is that?"

Meyer shrugged. "Mr. Lutz and Ms. Keating hadn't been together for months, and their break-up was amicable."

"And you know this how?"

"Mr. Lutz told us."

"Really?" Waverly said. "And you believed him?"

"We had no reason not to. He seemed genuinely distraught over Ms. Keating's death. And when we checked with friends and colleagues, no one contradicted his statement."

"I assume you asked him where he was on the night of Ms. Keating's murder?"

"We did."

"And his response?"

"He was at home, preparing for a trial."

"Alone?"

Meyer nodded. "That's what he told us."

"And you, of course, believed him," Waverly said. "How would you characterize your relationship with ADA Lutz?"

"Objection," Abernathy said. "Relevance?"

Waverly didn't flinch. "I think that'll be clear in a moment, Your Honor."

The judge waggled a finger at her. "Proceed."

Waverly thanked him, then looked at Meyer and asked the question again. "How would you characterize your relationship with ADA Lutz?"

"Professional," Meyer said.

"You've worked together on cases?"

"Several. He's the head of the major crimes unit at the District Attorney's office."

"So is it possible you dismissed him as a suspect because of your relationship?"

"No," Meyer said. "When you're investigating a crime you learn very quickly that the evidence is all that matters."

"So you've said. Yet here you had a man who fit the statistical profile to a T. He had a prior intimate relationship with the victim, and no alibi for the night in question."

Meyer chuckled. "Like I told you, we follow evidence, not statistics. Besides, when you've been a cop as long as I have, you learn how to spot a liar very quickly. And not only is ADA Lutz
not
a liar, he's a man of great integrity. He recused himself from the case the moment he found out who the victim was."

"A man of great integrity," Waverly repeated with some doubt in her voice. Then she said, "What about Ms. Baldacci?"

"What about her?"

"When you arrested her and brought her down to the station, I assume you questioned her?"

"Yes," Meyer said. "Until she requested a lawyer."

"Did you ask her about her relationship with Ms. Keating?"

"Yes," Meyer said.

"And how did she characterize it?"

Meyer thought a moment. "She said they were friends and housemates in college, but hadn't really kept in touch. She claimed the last time she'd seen Ms. Keating was when they ran into each other at a play, about a month before the killing."

"And what about an alibi? Did she have one for the night in question?"

"On the contrary," Meyer said. "Her mother told us she'd gone out that night."

"And what did Ms. Baldacci say?"

"That she'd had a lot on her mind and went out for a drink. She couldn't remember the name of the bar, so there were no witnesses to corroborate."

"But your super-duper built-in lie detector told you she was lying, correct?"

"Objection, Your Honor."

"I'll rephrase," Waverly said, still looking at Meyer. "Did you think Ms. Baldacci was lying?"

"At that point I
knew
she was."

Waverly nodded, then said, "So let's explore this a moment. You had two people without alibis. Mr. Lutz had recently been intimately involved with Ms. Keating, while my client hadn't had any significant contact with her in years. Yet you targeted Ms. Baldacci as your prime suspect?"

Meyer nodded. "Based on the evidence, yes."

"Which evidence was that?"

"The forensics and the phone calls."

"Yet you've testified that, except for those calls, none of this evidence came to light until the day you arrested Ms. Baldacci."

"Which is
why
we arrested her."

"But you also previously testified that whenever you hit a dead end, you went
back
to Ms. Baldacci as a potential suspect, isn't that right?"

"I believe that's what I said, yes. Because of the phone calls."

"And when you checked the victim's phone records, did you notice any calls from ADA Lutz?"

Meyer hesitated. "A few, yes."

"What do you mean by a few? Two, three?"

"More than that."

"Five, ten or more?"

"I can't be sure. I'd have to check the records."

"Did you ask ADA Lutz about these calls?"

Meyer shook his head. "Like I said, they parted amicably, so they were still friends. Friends call each other."

"I see," Waverly said. "Yet you didn't feel Ms. Baldacci deserved the same benefit of the doubt?"

"Not when I saw the forensics."

"But you've now testified twice that you kept going
back
to Ms. Baldacci as your potential prime suspect. Which would indicate to me that you'd had her in mind even
before
you had the forensics report or found the sweatshirt in her garbage bin. Is that a fair characterization of your thinking?"

"We had several people in mind, but yes, she was the one who stuck out."

"But doesn't that contradict your earlier testimony, detective?"

Meyer frowned. "How so?"

"You've said several times that when you investigate a crime, you learn very quickly that the evidence is all that matters. That you follow it to see where it leads."

"That's right," Meyer said.

"Yet early in this investigation, when you had only a few phone calls to go on, it was Ms.
Baldacci
who, as you said, stuck out. And even though ADA Lutz had called the victim several times himself and fit the statistical profile to a T, you almost immediately dismissed him as a potential—"

"Is there a question in there somewhere?" Abernathy barked.

Judge O'Donnell said, "I assume you have one, Ms. Waverly?"

"I do, Your Honor." She looked at the witness. "Detective Meyer, prior to the discovery of the forensic evidence—in fact, prior to even
questioning
my client—why did you consider her a suspect over Mr. Lutz?"