The Attorney
Page 31
“I don’t know if I can remember all of it,” says Susan.
“Then tell us about the parts you can remember.”
“He wanted me to meet him at his office.”
“Mr. Madriani?”
“Yes.”
“Did he say why?”
“He said it had to do with a client.”
“Did he say who the client was?”
“I don’t know if he said at that time or not.”
“Did you later come to learn who this client was?”
“Yes.”
“Who was it?”
“Jonah Hale,” says Susan.
“The defendant?”
“Yes.”
“What else did Mr. Madriani tell you on the phone?”
“I can’t remember.”
“Did he tell you that he’d just come from a meeting with the victim, Zolanda Suade?”
“Objection. Counsel’s leading his witness.”
“I just asked her if she can remember.”
“Yes,” says Susan.
“Don’t answer the question when there’s an objection pending,” says Peltro.
“Sorry,” she says.
“She knows the answer, Your Honor.” Ryan making the point.
“Go ahead,” says Peltro.
“I think he might have told me that.” Susan speaking before Ryan can restate the question.
“Did he tell you what they talked about, Mr. Madriani and Ms. Suade, at this meeting?”
“No. Not on the phone.”
“He didn’t tell you that it didn’t go well?” Now Ryan is guessing.
“He might have said that.”
Before I can object.
Ryan smiles.
“Did he tell you about a press release that Ms. Suade had prepared regarding Mr. Madriani’s client?”
“Objection.”
“Sustained. Rephrase the question.”
“Did he tell you about anything else that transpired at this meeting with Ms. Suade?”
“I can’t remember if he told me about the press release then or after.”
“After?”
“I mean when I went to his office.”
“When did you go to Mr. Madriani’s office?”
“Later that same morning.”
“That’s the morning of the seventeenth, the day Ms. Suade was killed?”
“Yes.”
“And who was at this meeting?”
“Mr. Brower . . .”
“That would be John Brower, your investigator?”
“That’s right.”
“Why was he there?”
“I just thought it would be a good idea.”
“So you brought him along?”
“Yes.”
“Why did you bring him?”
“They were trying to find a child. Mr. Hale’s granddaughter . . .”
“So you knew who the client was before you got to the meeting? A moment ago you said you couldn’t remember whether Mr. Madriani told you the client’s name on the phone or not.”
Susan looks perplexed, caught in her own confusion. “I guess he did. I must have known.”
“I guess so,” says Ryan.
Susan is nervous. Not a good witness. She keeps talking with no question. “I guess I’d been told at some point that she, the granddaughter, had been taken in violation of a court order by the mother. . . .”
“At some point?” says Ryan. “Did you have more than one conversation with Mr. Madriani concerning Mr. Hale and his granddaughter?”
“I believe so.”
Harry looks at me. I’m starting to sweat. Chapter and verse. Where and when?
“How many times did you talk to Mr. Madriani, before this telephone call on the seventeenth?”
“He might have mentioned it to me once.”
“Do you remember where that conversation took place?”
I have visions of the jury looking on as Susan describes the scene on the chaise lounge at my house with sunscreen on my hands, down the back of her bikini. This is a near-death experience.
“I can’t remember.” She looks at me, a kind of guilty glance as she says it.
“Do you remember when this conversation took place?”
“No.”
“Do you remember why Mr. Madriani discussed this with you?”
“The child. Mr. Hale’s granddaughter was missing. Taken in violation of a court order. I assumed he wanted my department’s help to try to find her.”
“And you saw nothing inappropriate in this?”
“There was nothing inappropriate. You asked me why I brought Mr. Brower to the meeting. That’s why.” Susan recovers, puts him back a little, on his heels.
“Of course,” says Ryan. “Isn’t it a fact that you’d rather not talk about this? Isn’t that true?”
“What?”
“This whole thing. Isn’t it a fact that you’d rather not say anything that harms Mr. Madriani or his client?”
“I’d rather not be testifying, if that’s what you mean.”
“That’s not what I mean,” says Ryan. “Isn’t it a fact that you’d rather help Mr. Madriani than hurt him?”
“I’ve never thought about it.” Susan looks off to the side, away from the jury as if the question is beneath her, perhaps so they can’t read her eyes, which at this moment are filled with fury.
“Who else was at this meeting besides yourself and Mr. Brower? The meeting on the seventeenth?” Ryan has not lost his place. Picks up without missing a beat.
“Mr. Hinds.” Susan nods toward Harry at the table. “And Mr. Hale.”
“The defendant?”
“Yes.”
“Was that it?”
“And Mr. Madriani,” she says.
“Oh, of course,” says Ryan. “We can’t forget Mr. Madriani. Can you tell the jury what was discussed at this meeting?”
“Most of it was about Mr. Hale’s granddaughter.”
That and charges of scandal in the county, though Susan is not about to mention it. Neither is Ryan, unless I miss my bet.
“She was missing, and Mr. Hale wanted to find her,” says Susan.
“That’s all you talked about? How to find Mr. Hale’s granddaughter?”
“Mostly,” says Susan.
“What about the Suade press release?” Ryan reminds her about her testimony earlier, that I had mentioned the press release during our phone conversation earlier that morning.
“I remember.”
“Was the press release discussed during the meeting?”
“It might have been,” says Susan.
“Did you ever get a chance to see this press release?”
“Yes.”
“Did you read it?”
“I think I did.”
“Can you tell the jury what it said?”
“It was rambling,” says Susan. “A lot of incoherent charges.”
“What kind of charges? Against who?”
“Against Mr. Hale.” To listen to her, Susan has blocked out the allegations of scandal in the county.
“What did those charges say?”
“I can’t remember the details.”
“Oh, come now, Ms. McKay. Didn’t you read the press release?”
“Yes.”
“These were pretty serious charges, weren’t they?”
“I suppose.”
“Would you like me to get the press release to refresh your recollection?”
“That’s not necessary,” she says. “There were some ugly allegations of child molestation.”
“B
y whom?”
“You mean who made the allegations?”
“I mean who was alleged to have committed the acts?”
“Mr. Hale.”
“The defendant?”
“Yes.”
“And you read this press release in his presence?”
“As I recall. Yes.”
“What else was alleged?”
Susan thinks for a moment. “I can’t remember how she couched it.”
“The victim, Ms. Suade?”
“I assume she wrote it,” says Susan.
“Isn’t that what Mr. Madriani told you?”
“I think so.”
“Do you remember the other charge?”
“I think she alleged sexual assault.”
Ryan looks at the jury, arched eyebrows. “By whom?”
“By Mr. Hale.”
“Who were the alleged victims of these acts?”
There is nothing I can do to prevent this. Ryan is arguing it goes to Jonah’s motivation for the murder. The fact is, it’s poisoning the jury.
“Mr. Hale’s daughter and granddaughter.”
“They were the alleged victims.”
“Yes.”
“Did Mr. Hale see this press release at the meeting in Madriani’s office?”
“He might have been given a copy. I can’t remember.”
“And what was his reaction to all of this?”
“He wasn’t happy,” says Susan.
Ryan laughs, bellicose, for the jury. He turns toward them. “I can understand that,” he says. “Was he angry?”
“You could say that,” says Susan.
“Was he furious?”
“I don’t know if I’d go that far.”
“Did he make any statements?”
“I can’t remember,” says Susan.
“He didn’t say anything?”
“He said something, but I can’t remember what.”
“Isn’t it a fact, Ms. McKay, that Mr. Hale, after hearing about the information in this press release and during this meeting, made death threats against the victim, Zolanda Suade?”
Susan’s eyes flash toward me, just for an instant, a signal for help.
It is a shamelessly leading question, but I don’t object. Brower has aleady testified about the death threat. I’m projecting my most practiced expression of indifference, the best I can do with our case vertical, and in flames.
“He might have.”
“Are you in the habit of hearing people make death threats against others? I mean, is this a normal, everyday occurrence in your life such that you wouldn’t remember it?”
“It happens,” she says. “There’re a lot of angry husbands out there.”
“So it’s not likely you would remember this one? Is that what you’re telling us?”
Susan doesn’t answer. Instead she looks at Ryan as if maybe she is silently uttering death threats in her own mind at this moment.
“Is there something about the question you don’t understand?” he says.
“No.”
“Then answer it.”
“I usually remember threats.”
“And what about this one?”
“Mr. Hale probably made threats.”
“What did he say, when he probably made these threats?”
“He was frustrated that the law was unable to deal with Zolanda Suade and her activities.”
“Then he believed Suade was responsible for the disappearance of his granddaughter, is that correct?”
“She probably was.” Susan is now digging us in.
“That’s not what I asked you. I asked you if Mr. Hale believed Ms. Suade was involved?”
She looks at Jonah. It gives her no pleasure to say it, but she does. “Yes.”
“Did he say as much at the meeting?”
“Yes.”
“And you say he was frustrated that the law couldn’t deal with Ms. Suade?”
“That’s right.”
“Did he ask you or your agency to do anything, specifically?” Ryan is doubling back on Brower’s testimony, tying it all in a neat knot.
“He wanted us to go over and question her.”
“How? Did he say how he wanted you to question her?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Isn’t it a fact that he asked you to use force in questioning Ms. Suade as to the whereabouts of his granddaughter?”
“He might have. As I said, he was very frustrated.”
“Did you tell him you were going to do anything?”
“There was nothing to do. We had no evidence of her involvement.”
“Did you tell Mr. Hale this?”
“Yes.”
“And what did he say?”
“I can’t remember his exact words.”
“As close as you can recall?” says Ryan.
“Something like ‘there ought to be ways to deal with her.’ ”
“That’s what he said?” Ryan’s got something in front of him, numbered and lined pages I cannot read from this distance, but I’d be willing to bet it’s a transcript of Brower’s earlier testimony, checking it against Susan’s recollections.
“I think so. As I said, I can’t remember his exact words.”
“Would you say the defendant was angry when he said this?”
“I suppose.”
“You don’t know if he was angry?”
“He was upset,” says Susan.
“Would you be surprised if I told you that your investigator, Mr. Brower, said he was ‘ballistic’—his word? That Mr. Hale was so angry he was ‘ballistic’ after hearing Mr. Madriani tell him that he, Mr. Hale, was accused of raping his daughter and molesting his granddaughter in that press release? Would you be surprised by that?”
“John sometimes exaggerates,” she says.
“Is that right? Is that why you demoted him?”
“I didn’t demote him.”
“What do you call it?”
“Mr. Brower was assigned to other duties,” says Susan.
“Ann.” Ryan now nodding for effect. “This meeting in Mr. Madriani’s office. During this meeting, did you tell Mr. Hale that your department had investigated Ms. Suade and that you were unable to do anything, either to get an injunction to stop her activities or to bring criminal charges?”
“I might have.”
“Did you or didn’t you?”
“I think I did.”
“And do you remember Mr. Hale’s response?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Did Mr. Hale ever suggest that your department go over to Ms. Suade’s office and employ force to find out what happened to his granddaughter?”
“I already said he might have done that.” Susan swallows hard. “He might have. I can’t remember.”
“Did Jonah Hale during that meeting ever threaten to kill Ms. Suade?”
“He may have said some things. . . .”
“Did he ever threaten to kill her?”
“He made a threat.”
“I’m going to ask you one more time, and remind you that you’re under oath. Did Jonah Hale in your presence at this meeting in Mr. Madriani’s office threaten to kill Zolanda Suade?”
Susan’s gaze suddenly drops toward the floor. Chin buried in her chest. She says something, but it’s not audible beyond the clerk’s desk.
“What did you say?”
“I said yes.”
“Thank you.” Ryan heaves a big sigh. He has now established two important points: the death threat, confirming Brower’s earlier testimony, and more damaging, Susan’s clear bias.
�
��When you left Mr. Madriani’s office that morning, following the conclusion of the meeting, did you leave alone?”
“No.”
“Who was with you?”
“Mr. Hale.”
“The defendant.”
“That’s right.”
“Where were you going, you and Mr. Hale?”
“To my office.”
“To do what?”
“After we had talked to Mr. Hale for a while at Paul’s office. Mr. Madriani’s,” she corrects herself, but the jury’s already picked up on it. “After the meeting,” she says, “I thought that based on information he had given us . . .”
“Who?”
“Mr. Hale. I thought we might have a chance to get a court order to compel Ms. Suade to provide information as to the whereabouts of Amanda Hale.”
“Why did you believe you could get a court order then, when you’d failed previously?”
“Mr. Hale told us that Ms. Suade had appeared at his house a few weeks earlier, just days before the child disappeared, and had made what he, Mr. Hale, had called threats.”
“Suade had made threats?”
“That’s what he said.”
“What kind of threats?”
“He said that Zolanda Suade warned him that unless he and his wife gave up legal custody of the child, they would lose her. And a few days later, that’s exactly what happened. The mother came, took the child, and neither of them has been seen since. Mr. Hale said that both he and his wife could swear to these facts. They were willing to sign affidavits.”
“But you never talked to his wife about this?”
“She wasn’t there. We were going to call her. Bring her to the office.”
“Did you do that?”
“No.”
“Why not?” Ryan already knows the answer.
“Because he left.”
“Who?”
“Mr. Hale.”
“Let me get this straight,” says Ryan. “You offered to help Mr. Hale, using legal means, and he just walked out of your office?”
“When we got to my office, the lawyers in the department indicated that they didn’t feel the information Mr. Hale gave would be sufficient for a court order.”
“And what did Mr. Hale say to this?”
“He wasn’t happy.”
“Was he angry?” Ryan is into this again, smiling at the jury this time. “Come on,” says Ryan. “Isn’t it a fact, Ms. McKay, that Jonah Hale lost his temper when he heard this news from your lawyers, and stormed out of your office?”