The Innocent Woman

she would say about it.”
    “What did she say?”
    “She continued to lie. She—”
    “Objection!”
    “Sustained. Sergeant, please don’t testify to conclusions.”
    “That’s no conclusion, Your Honor. I saw the drawer and it was shut.”
    “Which is all you can testify to,” Judge Wylie said. “Don’t draw the conclusion that someone was lying. That statement will go out. Jurors will disregard. Proceed, Mr. Dirkson.”
    “Yes, Your Honor. I believe the question was what did the defendant say? After you had observed that the drawer was shut.”
    “She continued to maintain that she had found it open.”
    “And when was this that she had found it open?”
    “At ten o’clock, when she arrived.”
    “You pinned that down?”
    “I certainly did. According to her, she arrived at ten, found the drawer open, the cash box open, and the money gone. That was the first thing she found, and that was what led her to find the body.”
    “After she found the body, what did she do?”
    “She called the police.”
    “From what phone?”
    “The one on her desk.”
    “The same desk where the petty cash drawer was?”
    “That’s right.
    “I see,” Dirkson said. “Tell me, sergeant, did you make any attempt to learn how she could have made a phone call from that desk without noticing that the drawer was shut?”
    “Yes, I did. I questioned her about the phone call. According to her, she didn’t sit at her desk when she made the phone call. She didn’t even go behind it. She was too upset. According to her, she came out of the decedent’s office, went straight to her desk, picked up the phone, and dialed nine one one standing there in front of her desk.”
    “In front of her desk?”
    “That’s right.”
    “Tell me, Sergeant. After she made that statement, did you subsequently make the experiment of standing where the defendant said she stood in front of her desk, to see if you could see the petty cash drawer from that angle?”
    “Yes, I did.”
    “With what result?”
    “I couldn’t see it.”
    “You couldn’t tell whether it was open or not?”
    “No, I couldn’t.”
    “Did you try the experiment with the drawer open?”
    “I tried it with the drawer open and with the drawer closed.”
    “With what result?”
    “I couldn’t tell. Standing in that position, I couldn’t see the drawer at all.”
    “Getting back to your conversation with the defendant, after you pinned down the fact that that was where she was standing when she made the phone call, what did you do?”
    “I asked her to show me the desk that had been robbed.”
    “What did she do?”
    “She took me in the outer office and showed me her desk.”
    “What happened then?”
    “I asked her to point out the petty cash drawer.”
    “Did she?”
    “She started to. She walked around her desk. Started to point. Stopped. Stared at it.”
    “Did she say anything?”
    “No, she did not.”
    “She made no comment on the fact the drawer was shut?”
    “No, she just stood there, looking at it.”
    “What did you do then?”
    “I asked her again to show me the drawer.”
    “Did she do so?”
    “No. She said she wanted to call her lawyer.”
    “What did you do then.”
    “I arrested her on suspicion of murder.”
    “Thank you, sergeant. No further questions.”
    Steve Winslow stood up, smiled. “A rather neat sequence, sergeant. She asked to call her lawyer. You arrested her on suspicion of murder.”
    “That’s not unusual,” Stams said. “When they’re arrested, most criminals call their lawyer.”
    “I was referring to the sequence,” Steve said. “Which was the other way around. She asked to call her lawyer, so you made the arrest.”
    Stams shrugged. Said nothing.
    “I’m somewhat interested in the basis for the arrest, sergeant. What was it that led you to believe you had probable cause?”
    Though Sergeant Stam’s face remained impassive, there was a shrewd gleam in his eye. “In my opinion?” he said.
    “Yes, sergeant. In your opinion.”
    “She was lying,” Stams said. “She stated flat out that she had arrived at ten and found that drawer open. That drawer was shut. An out and out lie. Obviously the defendant was not telling the truth, she was there in the office specifically for the purpose of building up an alibi for herself. In my opinion, if she thought the drawer was open, the only way she could have seen that it was open was if she was there earlier when she was committing the