Mickey Haller 4 - The Fifth Witness

Bondurant?”
    “What?”
    Kurlen didn’t answer. He just stared at Trammel as her mouth came open in a perfect O. I checked the jury. All eyes were still on the screens. I hoped they saw what I saw. Genuine shock on my client’s face.
    “Is that—Mitchell Bondurant was attacked? Is he all right?”
    “No, actually, he’s dead. And at this point I want to advise you of your constitutional rights.”
    Kurlen read Trammel the Miranda rights warning and Trammel said the magic words, the smartest four words to ever come out of her mouth.
    “I want my attorney.”
    That ended the interview and the video concluded with Kurlen placing Trammel under arrest for murder. And that was how Freeman ended Kurlen’s testimony. She surprised me by abruptly saying she was finished with the witness and then sitting down. She still had the search of my client’s house to cover with the jury. And the hammer. But it looked like she wouldn’t be using Kurlen for these.
    It was 11:45 and the judge broke for an early lunch. That gave me an hour and fifteen minutes to make final preparations for Kurlen. Once more we were about to do the jury dance.

Twenty-seven
    I stepped over to the lectern carrying two thick files and my trusty legal pad. The files were superfluous to my cross-examination but my hope was that they would make an impressive prop. I took my time organizing everything on top of the lectern. I wanted Kurlen to dangle. My plan was to treat him in the same manner he had treated my client. Bobbing and weaving, jabbing with the left when he was expecting the right, a hit-and-run mission.
    Freeman had made the smart play, breaking up the testimony between the partners. I wouldn’t get the chance to make a cohesive attack on the case through just Kurlen. I would have to deal with him now and his partner Longstreth much later. Case choreography was one of Freeman’s strong points and she was showing it here.
    “Anytime, Mr. Haller,” the judge prompted.
    “Yes, Your Honor. Just getting my notes in order. Good afternoon, Detective Kurlen. I wonder if we could start by going back to the crime scene. Did you—”
    “Whatever you want.”
    “Yes, thank you. How long were you and your partner at the crime scene before you went off to chase down Lisa Trammel?”
    “Well, I wouldn’t call it chasing her down. We—”
    “Is that because she wasn’t a suspect?”
    “That’s one of the reasons.”
    “She was just a person of interest, is that what you call it?”
    “That’s right.”
    “So then how long were you at the crime scene before you left to find this woman who was not a suspect but only a person of interest?”
    Kurlen referred to his notes.
    “My partner and I arrived at the crime scene at nine twenty-seven and one or both of us were there until we left together at ten thirty-nine.”
    “That’s… an hour and twelve minutes. You spent only seventy-two minutes at the crime scene before feeling the need to leave to pick up a woman who was not even a suspect. Do I have that right?”
    “It’s one way to look at it.”
    “How did you look at it, Detective?”
    “First of all, leaving the crime scene was not an issue because the crime scene was under the control and direction of the homicide squad coordinator. Several technicians from the Scientific Investigation Division were also on hand. Our job was not the crime scene. Our job was to follow the leads wherever they took us and they led us at that point to Lisa Trammel. She wasn’t a suspect when we went to see her but she became one when she started giving inconsistent and contradictory statements during the interview.”
    “You’re talking about the interview back at Van Nuys Division, yes?”
    “That’s correct.”
    “Okay, then what were the inconsistent and contradictory statements you just mentioned?”
    “At her house she said she made no stops after dropping the kid off. At the station she suddenly remembers getting coffee and seeing the victim there. She says she wasn’t near the bank but we had a witness who put her a half a block away. That was the big one right there.”
    I smiled and shook my head like I was dealing with a simpleton.
    “Detective, you’re kidding us, right?”
    Kurlen gave me the first look of annoyance. It was just what I wanted. If it was perceived as arrogance it would be all the better when I humiliated him.
    “No, I am not kidding,” Kurlen said. “I take my job very seriously.”
    I asked the judge to