Michael Gresham: Secrets Girls Keep Part 23

"The killer left a mouse in her mouth. It tried to gnaw its way out did serious damage to her cheek, then died."

A hand immediately shoots up from the jury box and juror number eight rushes toward the restroom door without seeking the court's permission. Next to me I can feel Jana stiffen and inhale sharply when the mouse details come out. He stops doing his art. Judge Lancer-Burgess takes a ten-minute recess. The other jurors file out of the courtroom. They are clearly in shock.

Once the judge disappears through her door in the wall, the courtroom erupts in pandemonium. This is the mayor's blessed daughter we're discussing here. Phones are produced and frantic calls made to media outlets and offices. Voices are raised: "Yes, a mouse in her mouth! Yes, you heard me right!"

AFTER ANOTHER DOZEN questions about the scene and tasks undertaken, State's Attorney d.i.c.kinson begins asking questions about Jana.

"Did you have a chance to interview the defendant?"

"We asked some questions and he gave some answers."

"Was he under arrest when this happened?"

"No. We were down at the station, but there was no arrest. We were just investigating."

"Investigating what?"

"Actually, we were investigating the murder of Franny Arlington. This investigation happened several weeks after Amy was killed."

"Was Jana Emerich a suspect?"

"Objection!" I cry and leap to my feet. "Relevance."

"Sustained. Counsel, you know better."

"Was Jana Emerich a person of interest?"

"Same objection!" I shout. "This is purposeful and grounds for reversal, Your Honor."

"Counsel," the judge says to d.i.c.kinson, "let's move it along. Ask something else."

"Why was Jana Emerich at the police station?"

"Because he had said something to the football security people. He was taken by the uniforms to the station and that's where we asked him a few questions."

"What did you ask him?"

"We asked about mice, for openers. Whether he had any mice."

"What did he say?"

"All he would say is he wanted to see his lawyer."

"Did you then cease asking questions?"

"Yes. We took him with us to identify another person of interest."

"In the Franny Arlington case? Not this case?"

"Correct. It had nothing to do with Amy Tanenbaum."

"Very well, I think that's all for right now, Your Honor."

"Counsel? You may cross-examine."

I stand and step up to the lectern. Laying my yellow pad on its surface, I immediately ask, "Detective Ngo, isn't it true you know of no evidence linking my client to the death of Amy Tanenbaum?"

"No, that's not true."

"Well, tell the jury what links you know about, please."

"Mouse hair. Mouse hair in her mouth that matched mouse hair taken from your client's mouse cage."

I decide to open the Franny Arlington case; it has already been referenced and I might as well clear the air.

"Could that mouse hair also have come from Rudy Gomez's mouse cage?"

The detective shoots a look at the State's Attorney. Knowing he is being watched by the jury, the SA makes no move to suggest an answer.

"Without looking at the State's Attorney, please answer my question."

"Would you repeat it?"

"I asked whether the mouse hair removed from Amy's mouth might also have matched mouse hair at Rudy Gomez's house."

"I don't know."

"Did you investigate that possibility?"

"Yes. We searched Mr. Gomez's house."

"Why did you do that?"

"He admitted being present when Franny Arlington hit her head and died."

"Did he admit killing her?"

"Killing her? No, you couldn't say that."

"What could you say?"

"He was there when she fell and struck her head."

"Did he cause her to fall?"

"He says not. He says she tripped and fell."

"Do you believe he killed her?"

"We have a working hypothesis. We always do."

"Which is what?"

"That he was with her under the bleachers and he killed her by pushing her against the bleacher metal. She hit her head and died. We also believe he held a knife to her throat."

So we're getting the mouse hair at Rudy's into evidence and we're learning Jana had nothing to do with Franny's death. To top it off, we have another student who might have killed a cla.s.smate. If he did, then he might also have killed Amy. This is a good first witness for the defense and the questions and answers have definitely not been what the State's Attorney expected, at least not on cross.

"Why do you believe he held a knife?"

"We seized a knife when we frisked him. We had it tested. Franny's blood was found along its blade."

"Detective Ngo, I want to suggest another hypothesis to you. What if you worked up the Amy Tanenbaum case from the same starting point as the Franny Arlington case? What if you went in with the idea that Rudy Gomez killed them both? After all, he admitted the second, so why not the first too?"

"I don't know. Because your client's m.u.f.fler was found near Amy's body."

"Speaking of which, the m.u.f.fler proves what, exactly?"

"That it was near her body. He might have been under the stands with her."

"He might just have easily have lost his m.u.f.fler when it fell through the bleachers, correct?"

"Correct."

"Did Jana Emerich ever admit killing Amy Tanenbaum?"

"No."

"But Rudy Gomez admitted being with Franny Arlington when she died beneath the same bleachers as Amy?"

"Yes."

"Do you see a pattern there?"

"I knew you would see one. That's your job."

"What about you? Do you see a pattern?"

"Maybe. Maybe not."

"Well, doesn't it seem supremely coincidental that two high school boys would suddenly go off on killing sprees in the same month of football season?"

"I don't know."

"I mean, what are the odds of that happening?"

"I don't know."

"Have you ever known it to happen before?"

"No."

"And how long have you been a cop?"

"Fifteen years, give or take."

"And during those fifteen years you've never seen two murders in close proximity at the exact same location like we have here by two different a.s.sailants?"

"No. But that doesn't mean it didn't happen. It could be a conspiracy."

"But you have no proof, correct?"

He draws a deep breath.

"We have the m.u.f.fler, the mouse hair, and the Superglue that sealed her mouth."

"Would it surprise you to hear that my investigator will testify the company that manufactured that tube of Superglue you told the jury about shared that it actually was sold along with twenty thousand other tubes in Chicagoland over the past two years?"

"It wouldn't surprise me."

"So your Superglue theory has twenty-thousand ways it's possibly wrong, true?"

"I guess."

"So what proof do you really have that my client and not Rudy Gomez murdered Amy Tanenbaum?"

"I've said what our investigation uncovered."

"Asked and answered," says the State's Attorney, arriving late to the party.

"Sustained. Please move along, counsel."

The remainder of the morning is spent with me covering and recovering the same ground again and again as much as possible, given that the second time around the State's Attorney is on his feet objecting that I'm re-asking the same questions. I am, truth be told, but I'm enough of a trial lawyer to phrase them just differently enough the second and third time through that his objections are mostly denied. Good on me.

When I at last take my seat, I am feeling much better about our defense.

The next witness is late in showing, so we break for lunch.