“That’s better,” Graham said smiling.
“And second it’s also illegal. These high-risk mortgage-backed securities were probably the main reason for the financial industry meltdown of ’07 and ’08.”
“Could three hundred forty million dollars worth of these cause that to happen again?” Marc asked.
“No, it would take a lot more than that. CAR Securities bought them from somewhere else. If CAR bought them, they’re probably being sold to others,” Metcalf blurted out before Gondeck could object.
“Do you have any personal knowledge that these securities are as Robert Judd described them to you?”
“Yes, I checked fifty million dollars worth myself and what I found was worse than what Rob told me.”
“In your opinion, would it be safe to say CAR Securities would not want this information to get out?”
“Objection, speculation plus she has no idea what someone else might think,” Gondeck rose and said.
“She can give her opinion,” Graham said. “The jury can decide for itself what that is worth.”
“Absolutely,” Metcalf answered.
“Ms. Metcalf, where are you currently living?”
“In a hotel. I’m in fear of my life,” she replied.
Marc glanced over at Gondeck expecting an objection. When one did not happen he continued.
“What happened this past Friday afternoon?”
Metcalf described being taken to her home and what she found when she got there. When she finished, there was more stirring and another murmur that went through the courtroom.
“Just a couple more questions. When you saw Robert Judd at the Fourth of July party was my client, Madeline Rivers, with him?”
“Yes, she was.”
“How did they seem to you? Were they getting along all right?”
“Yes, they seemed very happy together.”
With that, Marc turned her over to Gondeck.
Gondeck politely, but quite forcefully as well, went right at her. He wasted no time with preliminary questions. Instead, he used yes and no questions to get her to admit she had no evidence of any kind as to the guilt or innocence of Maddy Rivers. In fact, he went over it so much Marc finally objected and Graham told Gondeck to move on. Then Gondeck went into an area Marc had hoped he would.
“Ms. Metcalf, why didn’t you go to the police with this? Why did you wait so long?”
“Because the newspapers were so sure Madeline Rivers did it. I didn’t think the things Rob found at CAR had anything to do with it. Plus,” she paused and looked around feeling a little awkward, “I had a bit of a crush on Rob and well, I was probably a little jealous of Madeline Rivers and was maybe a little angry at her and hoped she’d go to jail.”
Having been slapped with an answer he did not expect and having obtained her admission that she had no real knowledge of the case, Gondeck ended his cross-examination.
“Redirect, Mr. Kadella?” Graham asked.
“Yes, your Honor. After coming forward and finding your townhouse trashed, what do you think of Madeline River’s guilt now?”
“Objection…”
“Overruled.”
“Now, I don’t believe it.”
“Nothing further, your Honor.”
FORTY
Tony Carvelli had interviewed several more employees of CAR Securities over the weekend. Only a couple of them would even speak with him. One of the salesmen from the bond department, Turner Smith, told Carvelli the word was out from their bosses. If you value your job, no one is to cooperate with the defense in the Rob Judd trial. Smith did say that neither Rob nor Pat McGarry ever spoke to him about any problems they suspected. As he was getting ready to leave, Carvelli warned Smith without saying why, to get out of CAR Securities.
Unable to find anyone to corroborate Gloria Metcalf’s story, Marc put Dale Kubik on the stand after the lunch break. Marc wanted the jury to hear from another witness, this time the actual source, that others had a motive to kill Rob Judd.
Kubik was Marc’s witness and ordinarily Marc would not be allowed to ask leading, yes and no, type questions. It took less than ten minutes for Kubik’s hostility to be made very apparent. Because of this, Graham agreed to allow Marc to treat him as hostile and allow him to use leading questions.
Marc methodically walked him through the case that caused Kubik’s downfall; the drug case Marc defended when Kubik planted drugs on a young man. Kubik did his best to deny any wrongdoing until Marc focused in on his dismissal from the St. Paul Police Department. By that point it was obvious that Kubik had an axe to grind against both Marc and Maddy Rivers.
“It’s fair to say, Mr. Kubik, that you blame Madeline Rivers for being fired by the police department, isn’t that true?”
“Well, her and…” he stammered.
“Yes or no, Mr. Kubik.”
“In part, yeah,” he replied.
“Before I ask this next question, Mr. Kubik, let me warn you, you are still under oath and I have the names of two St. Paul police detectives who were there and heard you say this.
“Isn’t it true, you were at Stout’s, a bar in Roseville, bragging that you had gotten even with a certain private investigator, a woman that you referred to as a disgusting word that rhymes with punt?”
“I don’t recall,” Kubik nervously answered.
“Okay, I’ll bring the detectives in and…” Marc started to say.
“Okay, yeah, I guess I did.”
“You also said you did something to get even with her, something really bad that she was going to take a hard fall for, yes or no?”
Kubik hesitated and glared at Marc as if he wanted to leap over the rail and go after him. Marc sat impassively staring back at him waiting for an answer.
“Your Honor, please have the witness answer,” Marc said after a long fifteen seconds of silence.
“Yeah, I guess maybe I did but…” Kubik said before Graham could order him to answer.
“Thank you, Mr. Kubik,” Marc said abruptly cutting him off. “I have nothing further.”
Gondeck spent less than fifteen minutes on his cross-exam of Kubik. He asked him to explain his behavior on the night he was at the bar bragging and just let him go. A very relieved Dale Kubik readily admitted he was drunk, running his mouth and there was nothing to it.
“Did you ever meet Robert Judd?” Gondeck asked.
“No, I had never heard of him until the day she murdered…”
“Objection!” Marc jumped to his feet.
“Sustained. The jury will disregard that last statement,” Graham ruled. He looked at Kubik and said, “As a former police officer, you should know better.”
“Sorry, your Honor.”
“Did you murder Robert Judd and frame Madeline Rivers for it?” Gondeck asked.
“Of course not,” Kubik answered.
Gondeck ended his cross and Graham asked Marc if he wanted to redirect.
“Isn’t it true, Mr. Kubik, you were dismissed by the St Paul Police because you planted drugs on a suspect, you have a drinking problem, use drugs yourself and were found to be unfit to be a police officer, yes or no?” Marc forcefully asked.
“Well, I…”
“Yes or no!”
“I suppose, yes,” Kubik admitted.
“In fact, you hate both myself and Madeline Rivers, don’t you?”
“Objection. Argumentative,” Gondeck said.
“Goes to credibility, your Honor,” Marc replied without moving his stare from Kubik.
“Overruled,” Graham said.
“Don’t bother,” Marc told Kubik. “We all know the answer.”
Special agents Mike Anderson and Holly Byrnes walked through the door of Joel Dylan’s office. The two FBI agents greeted the Assistant U.S. Attorney, then took chairs in front of his desk.
“What are we gonna do about Walter testifying in this trial?” Anderson asked Dylan.
Dylan shrugged his shoulders then held up both hands, p
alms up and said, “I’m open to suggestions.”
“Can we go to the judge and try to get the subpoena, what’s the word?” Holly Byrnes said.
“Quashed,” Dylan replied. “And no, I don’t see how, not without giving up our case.”
“He’s going to get on that witness stand and lie like hell,” Holly said. “Commit more perjury. That doesn’t sit well with me.”
“It doesn’t sit well with me either, Holly,” Dylan said. “But it’s not our problem.”
“Better he lies than tells the truth,” Anderson said.
“And help put a woman in prison who may be innocent?” Holly asked.
“We don’t know that,” Dylan reminded her. “In fact the evidence points right at her. The question here, for us today is: what can we do to keep him off the stand? I could get a federal court order to prevent it, but it would get out and these guys at CAR Securities…”
“Or the Mexican cartel people they’re dealing with,” Anderson put in.
“…would probably kill him.”
“And blow our case,” Anderson added. “The bigger worry is if he gets on the stand and the lawyer goes after him and gets him to admit something.”
“Like what?” Holly asked. “You guys think they murdered Robert Judd?”
“It doesn’t matter what we think or even if we know they did it,” Dylan said. “Our case takes precedence.”
Pablo Quinones was admiring his naked body in the full-length mirror. Always a vain man, he had done an impressive job, at least to his eye, of taking care of himself over the years. Even in his mid-forties he looked great and never met a mirror he didn’t fall in love with. On the lengthy list of reasons he secretly despised his psychopath boss, El Callado’s hedonism and slovenliness were near the top.
While he finished brushing his hair he heard his private phone go off in the living room. Although there was no one else in the Cancun beach house, he quickly wrapped a towel around his waist while hurrying to take the call.
“Yes, Victor, what happened?” he quickly asked without even saying hello.
Quinones knew about the subpoena for Walter Pascal. He also knew that lawyers for CAR Securities were going to see Judge Graham this morning. Quinones had been waiting for Victor to call with the news.
“The judge turned them down. Pascal will have to testify. But they did learn from the county attorney herself that any documents this Metcalf woman had will not be admitted into evidence. And Metcalf testified and said nothing about our arrangement. I believe she knows nothing about it.”
“Yes, I know. I watched her myself. What can we do about Walter Pascal? Should we simply eliminate the problem? That’s what Javier will want to do.”
“That would be a bad idea. At this point it would cause too much suspicion, bring too much attention. Better to let him testify and deny everything. Without the documents to back up Metcalf’s story, it’s her word against his,” Espinosa replied.
“I agree but with Javier, well, he only sees one solution to every problem. He is also starting to grumble about pulling his money out of your business. So far, I have convinced him not to but….” By now Quinones was standing in front of the huge, bulletproof bay window overlooking the Gulf of Mexico.
“We’re not ready yet, are we?”
“No, we’re not. At least not on my end. Could you do what you need to do?” Quinones replied.
Espinosa remained silent while thinking over the question. Finally, he said, “I could probably get some of it but not all. It would be noticed and ring alarm bells up here. So, it is best to stay on course. Your end is the most important. We would have no place to hide.”
“I agree. My plans are made, I’ll be ready,” Quinones said. “What about Pascal?”
“Corbin and Ethan Rask had a serious talk with him. I was there but only listened. Rask scares everybody but I’m beginning to think he’s just a bully. All talk. Walter will lie his ass off, don’t worry.”
“Yes, he’ll lie, but will the jury know he’s lying?” Quinones asked.
“Pablo, he knows nothing. He doesn’t know you sent someone to silence Rob Judd. What can he say? Have you heard from your man?”
“No, he goes to ground for several months after a job. He’s very cautious, very professional.”
Espinosa heard Quinones deeply inhale, heavily sigh then say, “There’s nothing we can do now. Don’t worry, I will handle Javier, el cerdo, the pig,” Quinones said.
“Be careful my friend,” Espinosa said
“Adios, amante,” Quinones replied.
Marc opened the hallway door and let Maddy enter the offices first. Marc walked in with Carvelli trailing him and said, “See, I told you they’d all still be here.”
“Because we love you,” Carolyn told Maddy as she gave her a warm hug.
Maddy said to Connie, “More pizza?”
“There’s no such thing as too much pizza,” Carvelli said walking to the table where the still-warm pizza boxes were waiting.
When everyone had filled a plate and found a seat, Barry Cline sat next to Marc and asked, “How did it go today?”
Marc shrugged, swallowed, took a drink from his Pepsi, “Who knows? You know how this goes. We’ll see. I have a reasonable ‘some other dude did it’ claim to present. Will the jury buy it? That’s always the question.”
“How are you holding up, kid?” Connie asked Maddy.
“Okay except for the fact that I’m a nervous wreck and scared to death. Once, when I was a cop in Chicago, I was in a gunfight and I wasn’t this scared. I don’t know how you do it.”
The last statement she made while looking at her lawyer.
“We don’t normally represent people we care about,” Marc said. “At least not this much. Trust me, I’m not sleeping very well.”
“Is that supposed to give me confidence?” Maddy smiled.
“Normally,” Barry interjected, “you do your job. Set aside your personal feelings, do your very best and when it’s over you can look yourself in the mirror and know you gave your client the best representation you could. And if you lose, which is almost always the case despite what you see on TV and what the media tells us, then well, you lose. Go home, hug your kids and be glad you’re not the one going to jail.”
“Wow,” Sandy said, “that is really cynical.”
“Sandy,” Marc said to her, “you can’t live their lives for them. You do your best to help them. That’s all you can do. If you bleed for every one of them, you’re in the wrong business.
“As for you,” Marc continued looking at Maddy, “When it’s over, you’re going to get your life back. You’ll see.”
FORTY-ONE
“I thought you were going to put Walter Pascal up next,” Maddy said.
It was the morning of the second day of Marc’s case. They had arrived at the courtroom a little early and except for a couple of deputies who came in, looked around and left, they were alone.
“I changed my mind,” Marc replied. “I’m going to put him on last.”
“Wouldn’t it have made more sense to put him on today right after Gloria Metcalf testified?”
“Maybe, probably, I don’t know,” Marc said. “There’s some guesswork involved in this, sometimes. I decided I wanted him to be the last witness the jury hears from. If I can get them to believe he’s lying, well, we’ll see.”
“What if he takes off?” Maddy asked.
“I have Tony and his guys on him round-the-clock. He’s not going anywhere. Relax, it’ll be okay.”
“Easy for you to say,” Maddy said.
At 9:05, before Judge Graham was on the bench but after the gallery had filled up, a large, bald, older black man with the look of a cop came into the courtroom. Most of the spectators turned to watch him as he quickly went through the gate and to the defense table. He leaned down and whispered to Marc.
“Everyone’s lined up and ready in the order you wanted. I got them all out in the hall ready to go,” Frank
lin Washington, another one of Tony’s ex-cop buddies said.
“Thanks, Franklin,” Marc replied.
“Hello, sweetheart,” the man said to Maddy flashing a big smile. “How you holding up?”
“Okay, Franklin. Thanks for your help,” she replied.
Still looking at Maddy, he said, “Anything you need, we’ll be there.”
At that moment Graham came on the bench. When Graham told everyone to be seated, Washington quickly went back through the gate and left the courtroom.
The people Franklin was referring to were CAR employees who were in attendance at the Fourth of July party and saw Rob and Maddy together.
The morning session was taken up by them testifying that Maddy and Rob Judd were getting along splendidly. Two of them, women about the same age as Gloria Metcalf, testified they seemed to be very much in love and both of the women witnesses even admitted to a twinge of jealousy.
Marc also had each of them testify that CAR Securities had a secret office across the hall. Each admitted that they believed there was something odd about this. All had previous employment histories with other investment and financial firms and had not seen anything like this before; a secret room where employees were not allowed to go or know what took place in them. Marc tried to elicit speculation from them as to what might be taking place across the hall in room 2007 but Gondeck’s objections stopped him every time. Marc knew his prodding into the secret coming and going of Room 2007 would be objected to and sustained. He didn’t care. He accomplished what he wanted just by bringing it up and planting another seed of suspicion on CAR.
“Have you decided if I’m going to testify?” Maddy asked Marc. They were in Marc’s car driving south on Lyndale to get back to Marc’s office. The trial was recessed for the afternoon. Graham had previously blocked out the afternoon session to attend a conference for young black lawyers. Graham had been invited to speak and was looking forward to the opportunity.
“Yes, I have,” Marc replied.
“And?” Maddy asked leaning toward him but restrained by the seatbelt.
“I think not,” Marc replied. “You can’t get on the witness stand and absolutely deny doing this. Gondeck knows this. Or, at least, because you were drugged, he can get you to admit that you are not positive you didn’t do this.”
Marc Kadella Legal Mysteries Vol 1-6 (Marc Kadella Series) Page 248
