The Innocent Woman

doctor’s testimony will stand. Mr. Winslow, you may resume your cross-examination.”
    “I have no further questions, Your Honor.”
    “Any redirect, Mr. Dirkson?”
    “None, Your Honor.”
    “Very well. The witness is excused.”
    “Call Sergeant Stams.”
    Stams took the stand, testified to responding to a reported homicide at F. L. Jewelry on West 47th Street.
    “And what did you find when you got there?”
    “The defendant, Amy Dearborn, was already in the office.”
    “She met you at the door?”
    “That’s right.”
    “Can you tell us what happened then?”
    “Yes. I asked her if she was the one who reported the homicide. She said she was. I asked her where the body was, and she showed me.”
    “And where was that?”
    “An inner office, which I understand was the office of the deceased.”
    “And where was the body when she showed it to you?”
    “Lying face down on the floor.”
    “I see. And what did you do then?”
    “I instructed the crime scene unit to process the office and notify the medical examiner. Then I questioned the defendant.”
    “Where did you conduct this questioning?”
    “In another inner office, which I understand was the office of the other partner, Marvin Lowery.”
    “You took the defendant there to question her?”
    “That’s right.”
    “Why did you do that?”
    “I wanted to get her away from the body. So it wouldn’t upset her and distract her. And to get her out of the way of the crime scene unit.”
    “You chose this office because it was out of the way?”
    “That’s right.”
    “When you questioned the defendant, what did she tell you?”
    “She said she was a former employee. That she’d been employed at the office up until a month ago, when she’d been fired for stealing. That she’d been tried for the crime and acquitted. That she had therefore come to the office that evening to clean out her desk.”
    “Did she tell you how she intended to get in?”
    “Yes. She said she had a key from when she had previously worked there.”
    “She retained this key when she fired?”
    “That’s right.”
    “Did she show you this key?”
    “Yes, she did.”
    Dirkson took another plastic bag from the prosecution table. “I ask that this be marked for identification as People’s Exhibit Two.” When that had been done, Dirkson handed it to the witness, said, “Sergeant, I hand you a plastic evidence bag marked for identification as People’s Exhibit Two, and ask you if you recognize it.”
    “Yes, I do. It is a plastic bag containing the key I referred to. The one the defendant showed me at that time.”
    “How do you recognize it?”
    “I have written my name on the bag. As well as the date, and a description of the contents.”
    “The bag is sealed?”
    “That is correct.”
    “You say this is the key the defendant showed you at that time?”
    “Yes, it is.”
    “Did you do anything to verify this is indeed the key to the office?”
    “Yes. As a matter of fact, I tried it myself.”
    “It opened the outer door?”
    “Yes, it did.”
    “Thank you, Sergeant,” Dirkson said. He took the plastic bag, returned it to the court reporter’s desk.
    “Now then, Sergeant. Going back to your interrogation of the defendant on the night in question—”
    “Objection to the word interrogation. As I understand it, the police were there at Miss Dearborn’s request.”
    “Sustained. Rephrase the question.”
    “Going back to the time you questioned the defendant at the scene of the crime—I believe you stated she intended to get into the office with her key, is that right?”
    “That’s right.”
    “Did she in fact use a key to get in?”
    “She says she didn’t. According to her, she arrived and found the door open.”
    “The front door to the office?”
    “That’s right.”
    “The door the key People’s Exhibit Two fits?”
    “Yes, sir. That door was open.”
    “That’s what she told you at the time?”
    “That’s right.”
    “This is when you questioned her in the office of the partner, Marvin Lowery, on the night you were summoned to the crime scene?”
    “That’s right.”
    “She said the door was open?”
    “Yes.”
    “Wide open?”
    “No. Not wide open. But enough that she could tell it was open. In other words, she didn’t have to try the key. According to her statement, the door was ajar, that was readily apparent, so she didn’t use her key, she just pushed her way in.”
    “When did this happen? According