Mickey Haller 4 - The Fifth Witness

same blood on it found in my client’s garage. He was part of the crime scene crews that handled both places. But I was guessing she wouldn’t do it. She had choreographed the delivery of her case to the last piece of evidence and to change things now would be to knock the case out of rhythm, threatening her momentum and the ultimate impact when all things came together. She was too good to risk that. She would take her lumps now, knowing that she would eventually deliver the knockout punch later in the trial.
    “Ms. Freeman, redirect?” the judge asked, once I had returned to my seat.
    “No, Your Honor. No redirect.”
    “The witness may step down.”
    I had Freeman’s witness list stapled to the inside flap of a case file on the table in front of me. I drew a line through the names Abbott and Roberts and scanned the names that were left. The first day of trial wasn’t even quite over and she had already put a sizable dent into the list. I scanned the remaining names and determined that Detective Kurlen was most likely the next witness up. But this presented a bit of a problem for the prosecutor. I checked my watch. It was 4:25 and court was scheduled to end at 5. If Freeman put Kurlen on the stand she would just be getting started when the judge recessed for the day. It was possible she could lead him toward a revelation that would be nice to have the jury considering overnight, but this might entail shuffling the delivery of his testimony and again I didn’t think Freeman would consider it a worthy trade.
    I scanned the list again to see if she had a floater, a witness who could be dropped in anywhere in the prosecution’s case. I didn’t see one and looked across the aisle at the prosecutor, unsure what move she would make.
    “Ms. Freeman,” the judge prompted. “Call your next witness, please.”
    Freeman rose from her seat and addressed Perry.
    “Your Honor, it is expected that the witness I planned to call next will be providing lengthy testimony on both direct and cross-examination. I would like to ask for the court’s indulgence and allow me to call the witness first thing in the morning so that the jury will not feel a disruption in testimony.”
    The judge looked over Freeman’s head at the clock on the rear wall of the courtroom. He slowly shook his head.
    “No,” he said. “No, we’re not going to do that. We have more than a half hour of court time left and we are going to use it. Call your next witness, Ms. Freeman.”
    “Yes, Your Honor,” Freeman said. “The People call Gilbert Modesto.”
    I had been wrong about the floater. Modesto was head of corporate security at WestLand National and Freeman must have believed his testimony could be dropped into the trial at any point and not be detrimental to momentum and flow.
    After being sworn in and taking his seat on the stand, Modesto proceeded to outline his experience in law enforcement and his current duties at WestLand National. Freeman then brought the questioning around to his actions on the morning of Mitchell Bondurant’s slaying.
    “When I heard it was Mitch, the first thing I did was pull the threat file to give to the police,” he said.
    “What is the threat file?” Freeman asked.
    “It’s a file we keep that contains every mailed or e-mailed threat to the bank or bank personnel. It also contains notes on any other kind of threat that comes in through phone or third party or the police. We have a protocol for weighing the severity of the threat and we have names that we flag and so forth.”
    “How familiar are you personally with the threat file?”
    “Very familiar. I study it. It’s my job.”
    “How many names were in that file on the morning of Mitchell Bondurant’s murder?”
    “I didn’t count but I would say a couple dozen.”
    “And these were all considered legitimate threats to the bank and its employees?”
    “No, our rule is that if we get a threat it goes into the file. Doesn’t matter how legitimate it is. It goes into the file. So most of them are not considered serious, just somebody blowing off steam or a little frustration.”
    “In the file that morning, what name was on the top of the list in terms of seriousness of the threat?”
    “The defendant, Lisa Trammel.”
    Freeman paused for effect. I studied the jury. Almost all eyes looked toward my client.
    “Why is that, Mr. Modesto? Did she make a specific threat against the bank or any bank employee?”
    “No, she didn’t. But