The first witness was Bob Barkley, the county medical examiner.
Barkley had been the lead witness in every case of murder or serious injury Ben had tried in Tulsa county for many years, ever since the supremely distinguished-and impossible to work with-Dr. Koregai had passed away. Barkley apparently had the Dick Clark gene: he didn’t seem to age at all. He had a full shock of blond hair and a trim figure. One could almost see the abs rippling through his bright blue shirt. Ben still had a hard time convincing himself there hadn’t been confusion back at headquarters and someone switched a surfer dude for a coroner.
Barkley had nothing controversial to say. His job was simply to establish that a murder had occurred. This was not in dispute; nonetheless, if the prosecution didn’t establish it, the whole case could be dismissed on the technicality that no crime had been proven. This was the sort of potential technical gaffe that kept lawyers awake at nights.
Patterson, Guillerman’s assistant, competently established his credentials and that he had examined the remains after Sentz’s body was brought to the coroner’s office. He conducted the autopsy and filed his report. Death was caused by a gunshot wound to the frontal lobe. There was not much more to say about it. Ben normally didn’t even bother cross-examining this sort of witness, but today he thought he saw an opportunity to score a few points, or at least to plant a few seeds of doubt in the minds of the jurors.
After Patterson rested, Christina began her cross-examination. To some it would probably appear that, since Guillerman used his assistant on this witness, Ben would do the same, rather than let it appear that he was concerned about a witness Guillerman thought so unimportant that he passed him off to an underling. But Ben had a much better secret motive. He knew Barkley had a crush on Christina, and he doubted her recent marriage had changed that. He would be easy for her to lead around.
“Dr. Barkley, I’ve heard you testify about the cause of death,” Christina began. “You said death was caused by a gunshot wound, correct?”
“That’s correct.”
“But I noticed you didn’t say anything about how the wound occurred, did you?”
“Well, the fingerprints-”
“Dr. Barkley, are you a fingerprint specialist?”
“No.”
“So why don’t we leave that to them and let you testify about what you learned from the autopsy, okay?”
Barkley was just too affable to be stung, especially when that cute redhead was asking the questions. “Sure. Whatever you want.”
“Your examination didn’t yield any information regarding who might have inflicted the wound, did it?”
“There was only one person in the room-”
“Were you there?”
“Well, no, but-”
“So let’s stick to what you personally know. Because in point of fact, there were two people in the room, weren’t there? At least. Counting the victim?”
“Well, yes, but-”
“Doctor, is it possible this wound could have been self-inflicted?”
Behind him, Ben sensed the stirring in the gallery. This was a line they were not expecting. But he didn’t fool himself into thinking he’d surprised Guillerman. The DA was smart enough to know that Ben’s job was to create doubt whenever and wherever possible. Technically, since their primary defense was temporary insanity, the testimony of these fact witnesses wasn’t relevant-all that mattered was whether Dennis understood the nature and quality of his actions. But of course, that wouldn’t stop Guillerman from calling fact witnesses any more than it would stop Ben from refuting them. They both knew that doubt worked to Dennis’s advantage, that the jury was much more likely to accept the temporary insanity plea if they found him sympathetic and if they had doubts about his actual guilt.
“The bullet struck him square in the center of the forehead. It would be extremely awkward to do that to yourself.”
“In your opinion. But is it possible?”
“I doubt it.”
“I can do it.” Christina reached a hand around and pointed a finger at her forehead. “You look pretty limber, Doctor. Can’t you do it?”
“The question is whether Detective Sentz could do it. He suffered a gunshot wound to the right shoulder several years ago that restricted his mobility.”
“Could he have used his left hand?”
“I suppose he might have. But why would he? He had no reason-”
“You’re not answering the question, Doctor. Is it possible he could have done it?”
Barkley sighed. “Yes, I suppose it is possible. But why-”
“Thank you. Were you close to Detective Sentz, Doctor?”
“No.”
“Do you have any knowledge regarding his mental state?”
“I have no reason to believe-”
“Please answer the question, sir.”
Barkley still wasn’t showing the slightest irritation, but Ben sensed he might at least be getting marginally closer. “No, I was not familiar with his mental state. But why would he want to kill himself?”
“Maybe because he was responsible for the death of Dennis Thomas’s wife?”
Guillerman sprang to his feet. “Objection!”
Christina turned toward the bench. “The witness did raise the issue of whether Detective Sentz had any motivation for suicide. And this is cross-examination.”
Judge McPartland nodded. “The objection is overruled. But counsel-don’t waste my time with a lot of nonsense that serves no purpose other than confusing the jury.”
“Of course not, your honor.” Why on earth would they want to confuse the jury?
Christina returned to the witness. “All we know for certain is that there was at least one person in that hotel room who believed Sentz killed Joslyn Thomas. What if there were two? What if Sentz was racked with guilt, guilt that only became even more profound when he met the bereaved husband face-to-face?”
“Your honor,” Guillerman said, “I object again. This is not closing argument.”
“This time I agree with him,” McPartland said. “Sustained.”
Which was fine, because Christina had already made her point, and any further remarks from the witness would only mess it up.
“Thank you, your honor.” Ben smiled. Christina had learned to always thank the judge, whether she won an objection or not, because jurors often didn’t understand the meaning of the judge’s rulings. If she said thank you, they thought she’d won. Even when she hadn’t. “Dr. Barkley, can you tell this jury that you can absolutely rule out the possibility of suicide in this case? To a medical certainty?”
“Well, gosh, Christina, if you put it that way, I guess not.”
“Thank you. No more questions.”
The next witness was Detective Sentz’s dentist, who presented the victim’s dental records and showed that they matched the impressions produced by Dr. Barkley from the autopsy. In other words, the victim was definitely Christopher Sentz, a point never in dispute, but another fact the prosecution had to prove to make their case. Ben didn’t cross this witness. He knew he could play with these quickie tech witnesses once and get away with it, but twice would be pressing his luck with both the judge and the jurors. He had no reason to interrogate the man, and Ben had learned some time ago about the danger of going on a fishing expedition during cross-examination. You might not like what you catch.
“Well, that went well enough,” Dennis said during the lunch break. “I don’t think they’ve laid a glove on us yet.”
“They haven’t tried,” Christina said bluntly. “But they will.”
“I thought your cross was excellent.”
She shrugged as she scarfed down a french fry. “I don’t believe for a minute that Sentz killed himself. But doubt is doubt. And you never know what evidence might turn up later to support it.”
Dennis stared down at his meal. He hadn’t taken a bite. “I was so worried last night I couldn’t sleep.”
Ben and Christina looked at one another. “Imagine that.”
“I was so angry before, but… now all that seems to have gone away. I think Joslyn took it away. That was her last wish for me. Took it a while to sink in, but it’s starting to become clear. And now that I’m getting my head on straight, I’m afraid… I’m afraid it won’t matter because-”
Christina patted his hand. “It’s much too early for this kind of talk. Eat your lunch. You need to keep up your strength.” She inhaled another fry. “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”