The Innocent Woman

that’s how I got the story. They got an industrial type sink in the back room. Big mother. Holds a shitload of water.”
    “Don’t tell me.”
    “That’s right. It overflowed, leaked into the music store downstairs. Ruined some valuable guitars.”
    “Branstein sued?”
    “Sure did.”
    “What happened to the suit?”
    “Still pending.”
    Tracy, who’d been sitting in the corner taking notes, put up her hand. “Whoa. Time out. You’re saying Oliver Branstein had a reason to kill Frank Fletcher?”
    “I’m not saying anything. I’m just reporting the facts.”
    “What about it, Steve?” Tracy persisted. “How does that add up?”
    Steve shrugged. “I don’t know. But it’s interesting as all hell. Branstein and Fletcher had an adversarial relationship. It may mean something, then again, it may not. But there’s one nice thing about it.”
    “What’s that?” Tracy said.
    “It’s something I can bring out in court.”

36.
    W HEN COURT RECONVENED , J UDGE Wylie said, “When we left off yesterday, Sergeant Stams was on the stand and Mr. Winslow had just completed his cross-examination. Do you have any redirect, Mr. Dirkson?”
    “As a matter of fact, I do,” Dirkson said. He got up and crossed to the witness stand. “Sergeant, going back to when you questioned the defendant in Mr. Lowery’s office. Could you refresh our recollection as to what the defendant told you was her reason for coming to the office on that night?”
    “Yes. She said she came to clean out her desk.”
    “That’s the only reason that she came? According to her statement?”
    “That’s right.”
    “Just briefly, could you explain the time schedule once more. According to her statement. With regard to when she left the restaurant, went home and went to the office.”
    “Yes,” Sergeant Stams said. “According to her, she left the restaurant at seven-thirty and went directly home to her apartment, which was two blocks away. She remained home until sometime later in the evening, when she got the idea to clean out her desk. She took a taxi down to the office for that purpose, arriving there at approximately ten o’clock. Whereupon she found the body and called the police.”
    “Let me be sure I’ve got this straight,” Dirkson said. “According to her, she left the restaurant at seven-thirty and arrived at the office at ten o’clock.”
    “That’s right.”
    “At seven-thirty she went directly home and remained home until she left for the office?”
    “That’s right.”
    “And the reason she went to the office was because she had decided to clean out her desk?”
    “That’s right.”
    “Thank you, sergeant. No further questions.”
    “Any recross?”
    “No questions, Your Honor,” Steve said.
    “The witness is excused.”
    “Call Officer Hanson.”
    Officer Hanson took the stand and testified to obtaining a warrant and searching the defendant’s apartment.
    “And what, if anything, did you find?”
    “I found a message on her answering machine.”
    “A message?”
    “That’s right.”
    “Could you tell if this message had been picked up?”
    “Objection.”
    “Sustained.”
    “Officer Hanson, could you describe the answering machine in question with regard to its function?”
    “Yes. It was the type of machine with a small red light. When the light is on, the machine is on, ready to receive calls. When the light is blinking, it means there’s been a call. One blink for one call, two blinks for two calls, and so on. If the light is steady, it means there have been no calls since the last time the answering machine was set.”
    “What was the condition of the light when you discovered the answering machine?”
    “It was on, but not blinking. It was steady.”
    “What did that indicate?”
    “That no one had called and left a message since the last time the answering machine was set.”
    “What, if anything, did you do with the answering machine?”
    “I pushed the play button to play back the messages.”
    “Despite the fact the light indicated there were none?”
    “Yes.”
    “And why was that?”
    “Because unless they had been deliberately erased, the last series of messages would be there. The way the machine works, when it’s reset, a new call will erase the old messages. Since no new call had come in, this hadn’t happened. So, unless someone had taken the time to erase the messages before resetting the machine—which people rarely do—the old messages would be