12th of Never Page 8

  Chapter 32

  NICKY GAINES TAPPED on his keyboard and, after a couple of fumbles, the video projected onto the monitor in the courtroom. Yuki watched along with the jury as the time-and date-stamped recording started with Keith Herman getting into the undercover cop’s car.

  Oh, man, Yuki thought. No way Kinsela could discredit this.

  The images were black-and-white, medium quality, shot from the window on the driver’s side. The angle was across Meserve’s lap, and it took in Keith Herman’s face and upper torso. Herman had been bearded when the film was shot, and he had worn a blue baseball cap.

  On video, Floyd Meserve told Keith Herman that his name was Chester, then he listened as Keith Herman said, “My wife is mentally ill—schizophrenic, you know? She’s sweet as pie, then she turns on a dime. She beats our little girl for no reason, and abuses her in other ways you don’t need to know, but my little girl has also turned mental. I mean psycho. I don’t want her to go through the hell of being a mental case for her whole life. Or being drugged to the gills, either. It’s a crying shame.”

  Meserve said, “You thought of getting a divorce? Filing for custody of the child?”

  “Many times, but my wife is foxy. She’ll take everything, including the kid, and leave me broken and ruined. No. This is the best way. I want it to be quick, you know? Shots to their heads. No fear, no pain. Make it look like a robbery. Take my wife’s ring. It’s worth a ton. It cost thirty grand. I don’t know what you can get for it, but it’s a good bonus, anyways.”

  Meserve, a.k.a. Chester, said that he needed pictures of the wife and child, ten thousand dollars as a down payment, and that the client had to furnish the gun.

  Keith Herman agreed to the terms and agreed to meet Chester in twenty-four hours—“same time and place, and I’ll bring the stuff.”

  The video brightened as Herman opened the door and got out of the car. When he was alone, Meserve spoke through his microphone to the cops in the surveillance van. “Did everything come in clear?”

  The screen went dark and the lights came up in the courtroom. Yuki stood beside her witness and said, “Lieutenant Meserve, did you meet with this man again to receive the down payment and photos?”

  “I was there, but he failed to show,” Meserve said. “Later that day, my snitch informed me that someone had ratted me out. The deal was blown and so was my cover.”

  “Did you have enough to charge the suspect?”

  “I didn’t have his full name, so I couldn’t do anything but sweat. Even if I’d known him, no money changed hands, which woulda made an indictment impossible.”

  “Did you believe that he intended to have his wife and child murdered?”

  “Without a doubt.”

  “That’s all I have, Your Honor,” Yuki said.

  John Kinsela’s expression was unreadable, but he revealed his agitation by jingling the coins in his pockets.

  He said, “Lieutenant Meserve, you didn’t know the defendant’s name. He didn’t give you any money or pictures of the targets, and he didn’t give you a gun?”

  “No.”

  “So he hadn’t committed any crime?”

  “That’s correct.”

  “And you don’t know if he was looking for a hit man or if he was trying on an idea he never intended to go through with, or even if the man in your vehicle was my client.”

  “Objection. What is counsel doing, Your Honor? He seems to be arguing his case, not questioning the witness.”

  “Sustained. Stop doing that, Mr. Kinsela, or you will be fined.”

  “I’m sorry, Your Honor. I don’t have any other questions. This witness has completely satisfied my curiosity.”

  “Ms. Castellano. Redirect?”

  Yuki stood and addressed the witness from her table.

  “Lieutenant Meserve, when did you learn the full name of the man who tried to hire you to kill his wife and daughter?”

  “On March first of last year, when Jennifer Herman’s dismembered body was discovered.”

  “The man who contacted you about two weeks earlier, on February twentieth, and ordered a hit on his wife and child: Is he sitting in this courtroom?”

  “Yes.”

  “Will you point him out?”

  Keith Herman showed no emotion as Meserve pointed a finger at him as if it were a loaded gun.

  “The defendant. That’s him. I’m positive.”

  “Thank you, Lieutenant. You may step down.”

  Chapter 33

  AFTER THE UNDERCOVER cop stood down, Yuki introduced Lesley Rohan, a strikingly attractive and wealthy friend of Jennifer Herman’s, who told the court that Jennifer had been afraid of her husband.

  “Jennifer was sitting at my dining table, shaking her head and crying. She told me that if anything happened to her, I should call the police and tell them that Keith did it,” said Rohan. “Jennifer’s arms were bruised and she had a black eye. I suspected for a long time that Keith was abusing both Jennifer and Lily.”

  “Objection,” said Kinsela. “Speculation, Your Honor.”

  The judge said to the court reporter, “Ms. Gray, please strike the witness’s last sentence. Thank you. Just tell what you know, Ms. Rohan. Not what you think.”

  “I’m sorry, Judge Nussbaum.”

  “Please go on, Ms. Castellano.”

  Yuki said, “Ms. Rohan, did Jennifer ask you to do some-thing for her?”

  “Yes. She asked me to take pictures of her and keep them safe.”

  “Your Honor, I’d like to introduce these photos of Jennifer Herman, dated February fourth of last year.”

  After the pictures were entered into evidence and Yuki was sitting at the prosecution table, Kinsela addressed Ms. Rohan.

  “Do you know for a fact that those bruises were put there by Keith Herman?”

  “Jennifer told me he did it.”

  “But do you know that Mr. Herman inflicted those bruises on Jennifer? You didn’t see him do it, did you?”

  The witness squinted. She looked like she’d been struck across the face.

  “No. But why would Jennifer lie?”

  Kinsela said, “We just don’t know. Do we?”

  Yuki called Ty Crandall from the sanitation department, who told the jury about finding the bags of human remains and that ever since he found them he no longer could sleep through the night. Although he was healthy, he had resigned from the city at half pension.

  Kinsela had no questions for the sanitation man.

  Forensic pathologist Dr. Roy Barclay testified that he had examined the body parts that had been parceled into the eight construction-grade garbage bags. He said that the parts were conclusively from the body of Jennifer Herman.

  Barclay told the jury that he had determined the cause of death to be a bullet fired through the left eye at close range, the manner of death to be homicide, and that the time of death would have been within eight hours of the discovery of the parts. He sent the bullet to his ballistics department.

  Kinsela asked, “Did the bullet match a gun in the national ballistics database?”

  “No. It’s consistent with four or five firearms.”

  Kinsela thanked the witness and had no other questions.

  After the forensic pathologist stepped down, Judge Nussbaum called for a lunch recess. Nicky and Yuki had sandwiches at her desk, buttoned up every detail, and when they returned to the courtroom one hour and twenty minutes later, Yuki called her star witness, Lynnette Lagrande.

  Lagrande was critical to the prosecution’s case. And because she had been photographed by the press, and because Mr. Herman had a reputation for having witnesses threatened, terrified, and possibly killed, Yuki had kept her witness in a safe house with 24-7 security for the last two months.

  Now the bailiff called her name.

  As if they were at a church wedding, as if the organ music had just begun, the jurors, the attorneys, and the audience in the gallery turned as one to watch Lynnette Lagrande come up
the aisle.

  Chapter 34

  YUKI, LIKE EVERYONE else in Arthur R. Nussbaum’s courtroom, watched Lynnette Lagrande come through the wooden gate in the bar, which separated the gallery from the judge, jury, and prosecution and defense tables. She was wearing a black-and-white print dress with a high collar and a hem that hit midcalf. The thirty-year-old woman was so stunning that the simple dress only enhanced her spectacular figure.

  Lagrande swore to tell the truth, then took her seat and crossed her legs at the ankles. When she moved her wavy black hair away from her eyes, she revealed her beautiful, heart-shaped face.

  Yuki walked up to the witness and asked, “Ms. Lagrande, what kind of work do you do?”

  “I teach first graders at John Muir Elementary School. I’ve had this job for four years and I love it.”

  “Are you acquainted with the defendant?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  Lagrande didn’t look at Keith Herman, but he fixed his sharklike eyes on her.

  “How did you come to meet Mr. Herman?” Yuki asked.

  “Two years ago, Lily Herman, Mr. Herman’s daughter, was in my class. I met him one day when he came to pick her up after school.”

  Under Yuki’s questioning, Lagrande described the course of her relationship with the defendant: parent-teacher conferences, accidental meetings in town, then a lunch with Mr. Herman that turned romantic and was the start of a liaison that had continued for more than a year.

  “How would you characterize your feelings for Mr. Herman at this time last year?”

  “I loved him.”

  “And did he ever tell you how he felt about you?”

  “He claimed to love me.”

  Yuki brought a packet of letters and e-mails from the prosecution table to the witness stand and showed them to the witness.

  “Do these cards and printouts of e-mails belong to you?”

  “Yes. They’re mine.”

  “Your Honor, I’d like Ms. Lagrande to read some passages from this correspondence and then I’ll introduce all of it into evidence.”

  Kinsela said, “Your Honor, the defense concedes that the defendant expressed feelings of love for the witness.”

  “The tenor of the correspondence goes to motive, Your Honor,” said Yuki.

  The judge was attacked by a fit of sneezing. Everyone in the courtroom waited him out. A few people, including Yuki Castellano and John Kinsela, blessed him.

  The judge blew his nose. He thanked everyone, then he said, “I’m not going to deprive the jury of the opportunity to hear these communications, Mr. Kinsela. Ms. Castellano, please proceed.”

  Chapter 35

  YUKI SAID, “MS. LAGRANDE, will you please read these e-mails aloud, including the dates?”

  Kinsela leaned in and whispered to his client, but Keith Herman didn’t acknowledge his lawyer or seem to be aware of him at all. He seemed transfixed by the sight of his former lover.

  Lynnette Lagrande bent her head and read from the pages in front of her.

  “December twenty-fourth. Lynnie, I know I promised to be with you on Christmas and I am so sorry that I have to let you down. There is no place I’d rather be than in your arms and in your—”

  The witness looked up and said to Yuki, “He goes on to say how it makes him feel to have sexual relations with me, and if you don’t mind, I’d rather not read this out loud.”

  Yuki said, “You can skip that passage and just read the last paragraph.”

  “Okay.

  “When you open your present in the morning, I hope you will know how much I love you. With all my love, the K-guy.”

  “Please read your response, Ms. Lagrande.”

  The witness sighed.

  “December twenty-fourth. Keith—I don’t want presents. This is hurting me too much. It’s really unfair to all of us. Fondly, Lynnette.”

  “Please read the next e-mail.”

  The witness read e-mails for the next fifteen minutes. But the correspondence consisted, emotionally, of a two-step dance.

  The defendant wrote that he loved Lynnie without reservation and that he would do anything to be with her.

  Ms. Lagrande wrote back that she was suffering from his attentions, not because she didn’t return his feelings, but because she did.

  Yuki asked the witness to read the e-mail dated February 27, two days before Jennifer Herman’s dismembered body was recovered. The beautiful woman dabbed at her eyes, sipped from her water bottle, then read:

  “Lynnie, I know you don’t believe anything I say anymore, but actions speak louder than e-mail. We will be together by this time next week. I promise you that. All my love, Keith.”

  Lynnette Lagrande put the papers in her lap and put her hands to her eyes. Her sobs were soft but her shoulders shook.

  Yuki said, “Do you need to take a minute?”

  After a moment, the witness said, “I’m okay.”

  Yuki waited until Lynnette Lagrande seemed composed, keeping her own face composed as well. This entire day was going perfectly. Couldn’t be better.

  She asked, “Did you see Mr. Herman on February twenty-eighth, the day before his wife’s body was discovered?”

  “No, I did not.”

  “Did he write to you?”

  “I don’t know. I changed my e-mail address and my phone number. I left my apartment and moved in with my sister.”

  “To be clear, did you see the defendant at any time after he wrote to you on February twenty-seventh, saying that the two of you would soon be together?”

  “No. He wants me to give him an alibi, but, I can’t lie for him anymore. I didn’t see him in February at all.”

  “Thank you very much, Ms. Lagrande.”

  Chapter 36

  NICKY GAINES TYPED on his tablet, “Red Dog was standing in back. Caught yer amazing direct.”

  Yuki smiled at Gaines, deleted the message, and turned her attention to Kinsela, who, to date, hadn’t been worth the two grand an hour Keith Herman was paying him.

  Kinsela approached Lynnette Lagrande and put his hand on the witness stand, as if he were gently touching the witness herself.

  “Ms. Lagrande, what was the Christmas gift that Mr. Herman gave you?”

  “A diamond necklace.”

  “Do you know the value of that necklace?”

  “Not really. Maybe twenty-five thousand dollars.”

  “And do I understand correctly that you kept the necklace?”

  “I kept it. It was for pain and suffering.”

  “Really? A legal term. Well. Ms. Lagrande, did you also accept a new Lexus sedan from the defendant in January of last year?”

  “Yes. Keith gave me a car. It was a birthday present.”

  “I believe the going rate for that car is in excess of sixty thousand dollars, is that correct?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You kept the car.”

  “Yes.”

  “It’s worth more than your annual salary, isn’t that right, Ms. Lagrande?”

  “Yes. I suppose it is.”

  Kinsela walked to the witness stand, then asked loudly, “Did the defendant ever give you money?”

  The witness tossed her hair defiantly. Yuki leaned forward. Lynnette knew Kinsela was going to go after her, and Yuki had coached her to remain calm and matter-of-fact—take a moment to think before answering if she were attacked.

  But the witness answered angrily, “I’m not a whore, Mr. Kinsela. Do not call me a whore.”

  “Your Honor?”

  “Ms. Lagrande, you must answer the question or I will be forced to find you in contempt. Mr. Kinsela. Please ask the question again.”

  “Did you receive cash from the defendant? Yes or no.”

  “Yes. And so what?”

  “Did you tell him that you liked nice things?”

  “I don’t remember.”

  “Ms. Lagrande, were the expensive gifts and cash the reason you dated the defendant, who was, after all, a marri
ed man?”

  Yuki stood, said, “Your Honor, objection. Opposing counsel is badgering the witness.”

  “Overruled, but get to the point, Mr. Kinsela.”

  “Okay, Your Honor. Ms. Lagrande, were you looking for a big payday when Mr. Herman finally left his family? Is that why you accepted expensive gifts even though you plainly didn’t return the defendant’s feelings?”

  “I did return his feelings. I did love him. I still do.”

  “I believe that you do love Mr. Herman. That’s why you spent the weekend with him at the time someone else was murdering his wife and child. In fact, weren’t you making love with the defendant that entire weekend, Lynnette?”

  “No, no, no. I was not with him that weekend. No.”

  “When the murders were discovered, and Mr. Herman was arrested, and this whole sordid affair was coming to light, you decided to finally cut him loose so that your reputation wasn’t trashed, isn’t that right? You’d rather betray your lover than tell the truth about your actions, right, Lynnie? You say you’re not a whore, but exactly what kind of woman would you say you are? Would you say that you’re fickle? Or disloyal? Or would you just call yourself a user? Which is it?

  “What kind of woman are you?”

  John Kinsela continued to glare at Lynnette Lagrande even though Yuki objected loudly, even though the judge repeatedly slammed his gavel against the block and found Kinsela in contempt. Even though Kinsela’s questions were stricken.

  Kinsela looked triumphant and Yuki felt his triumph like an ax through her star witness’s credibility. Kinsela had bullied the first grade schoolteacher with the heart-shaped face, painted her as a gold digger, muddied her character, cast doubt on her testimony, and threw a bright light on the legal concept of reasonable doubt.

  Yuki felt blindsided.

  Nussbaum said, “Redirect, Ms. Castellano?”

  Lynnette had her head down and was sobbing into her crossed arms.

  Yuki didn’t know what she could do to rehabilitate the woman who had taken great big gobs of money from the man she said she loved.