Mickey Haller 4 - The Fifth Witness

for this and took over the narrative.
    “Judge, we obviously had to confirm what we had and the chain of custody. We immediately turned it over to the Scientific Investigation Division for processing and only received the lab reports yesterday evening after court.”
    “And what do those reports conclude?”
    “The only fingerprints on the weapon belonged to—”
    “Wait a minute,” I said, risking the judge’s ire again. “Can we just refer to it as the hammer? Calling it ‘the weapon’ on the record is a bit presumptuous at this point.”
    “Fine,” Freeman said before the judge could respond. “The hammer. The only fingerprints on the hammer belonged to Mr. Meyers and his landscaper, Antonio Ladera. However, two things tie it solidly into the case. A small spot of blood found on the neck of the hammer has been conclusively matched through DNA testing to Mitchell Bondurant. We rushed this test with an outside vendor because of the protest counsel made over the precautions taken with the other test. The hammer was also turned over to the medical examiner’s office for comparison to the wound patterns on the victim. Again, we have a match. Mr. Haller, you can refer to it as the hammer or the tool or whatever you want. But I’m calling it the murder weapon. And I have copies of the lab reports to turn over to you at this time.”
    She reached into the manila envelope, removed two paper-clipped documents and handed them to me with a satisfied smile on her face.
    “Well, that’s nice of you,” I said in full sarcasm. “Thank you very much.”
    “Oh, and there’s also this.”
    She reached into the envelope again and withdrew two eight-by-ten photos, giving one to the judge and one to me. It was a photo of a workbench with tools hung on a pegboard on the wall behind it. I knew it was the workbench from Lisa Trammel’s garage. I had been there.
    “This is from Lisa Trammel’s garage. It was taken on the day of the murder during the search of the premises under the authority of a court-ordered search warrant. You will notice that one tool is missing from the pegboard’s hooks. The open space created by this corresponds to the dimensions of a claw hammer.”
    “This is crazy.”
    “SID has identified the recovered hammer as a Craftsman model manufactured by Sears. This particular hammer is not sold separately. It comes only in the two-hundred-thirty-nine-piece Carpenter’s Tool Package. From this photograph we have identified more than a hundred other tools from that package. But no hammer. It’s not there because Lisa Trammel threw it into the bushes after leaving the scene of the crime.”
    My mind was racing. Even with a defense based on the theory that the defendant was set up, there was a law of diminishing returns. Explaining away the blood drop on the shoe was one thing. Explaining away your client’s ownership of and connection to the murder weapon was not just a second thing. There was an exponential increase in the odds against setup as each piece of evidence is revealed. For the second time in three weeks the defense had been handed a devastating blow and I was left almost speechless. The judge turned to me. It was time to respond but I had no comeback that was worthy.
    “This is very compelling evidence, Mr. Haller,” he prompted. “You have anything to say?”
    I had nothing but I picked myself up off the mat before he reached the ten count.
    “Your Honor, this so-called evidence that just sort of conveniently dropped from heaven should have been announced to the court and the defense the moment it was brought forward. Not three days later, not even a day later. If only to allow the defense to properly inspect the evidence, conduct its own tests and observe those of the prosecution. It was supposedly in the bushes undiscovered for what, three months at this point? And yet—voilà!—we have DNA to match to the victim. This whole thing stinks of a setup. And it’s too damn late, Your Honor. The train has left the station. We might have opening statements as early as tomorrow. The prosecution has had all week to think about how to drop the hammer into hers. What am I supposed to do at this point?”
    “Were you planning to give your statement at the beginning or reserve until the defense phase?” the judge asked.
    “I was planning on giving it tomorrow.” I lied. “I already have it written. But this is also information I could have used while picking the jurors we already