The Glass House

by Nancy Lynn Jarvis

  “No questions at this time, Your Honor.”

  Syda whispered in Pat’s ear, “What’s he up to?”

  “I have no idea,” Pat whispered back.

  The Prosecution called Kandi Crusher.

  “Mrs. Crusher, were you the sister of Peter Frieberg?’

  “Half-sister, yes.”

  “Was your brother involved in a business relationship with the deceased, Garryn Monteith?”

  “Yes, he was.”

  “Were they still in business at the time of your brother’s death?”

  “No. Their business dealings ended years ago.”

  “During the time your half-brother and Mr. Monteith were in business together, did your brother tell you that he was aware of a long-term relationship between the wife of the defendant and Mr. Monteith, one that continued after her marriage to Joe Wentner?”

  Mark rose again. Pat expected him to proclaim whatever Kandi said about conversations with her brother would be hearsay. Instead he said, “Your honor we have already stipulated to that fact.”

  Once again the courtroom was left with nothing but the assistant district attorney’s, “Nothing more, Your Honor,” and Mark’s, “No questions at this time, Your Honor.”

  “The Prosecution calls Roberta Grumm, Your Honor.”

  Roberta marched to the stand and raised her right hand even before she was asked to do so. She was dressed in a tailored suit and wore sensible shoes. She wore glasses, too, but they weren’t thicker than the glasses worn by the assistant district attorney and several members of the jury.

  “Mrs. Grumm…”

  “Ms. Grumm.”

  “Ms. Grumm, did you see Lillian Wentner and her husband Joe Wentner in Carmel a few days before the class at which Garryn Monteith was murdered began?”

  “I did.”

  “Did you speak to them?”

  “No.”

  “Did you hear the conversation they were having?”

  “I did.”

  The Prosecution must have coached Roberta Grumm on how to answer the question, Pat thought, since she didn’t ramble or go off track on the stand like she had on the phone with her.

  “Could you tell the Court what they said?”

  “They were arguing, and Joe Wentner said he’d ‘had it and wasn’t going to put up with it anymore.’ Lillian Wentner said he wouldn’t have to because she wanted a divorce.”

  “Are you absolutely certain the couple you heard were Lillian and Joe Wentner?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because I recognized them when I came to the class at their studio.”

  Pat waited eagerly for Mark to start his cross-examination. Roberta Grumm’s last statement wasn’t exactly true and he knew it. Surely if he caught her in even a slight misstatement, he could weaken her testimony.

  Instead of impugning her, however, Mark stated once again that the Defense had no questions at the present time. Why hadn’t he tried to impeach her testimony?

  “I’ll meet you outside, Syda,” Pat said when the lunch break came. “I want to talk to Mark.”

  She walked toward the Defense table, dodging the rest of the courtroom observers and witnesses headed in the other direction. The reaction she received from the three morning’s witnesses as she passed them was varied. Roberta gave her a big smile, Kandi’s reaction was friendly but subdued, and Suzanne’s was indignant. She blocked Pat’s way.

  “What’s wrong with that defense attorney?” she demanded. “Joe’s not guilty. Why doesn’t he defend him?”

  “That’s what I’m going to ask him. Excuse me, Suzanne.”

  The courtroom was almost empty by the time she reached Mark Bellows at the Defense table. He was seated, reviewing notes before putting them into his briefcase.

  “Mark?’

  He spun in his seat to greet her, flashing one of his perfect smiles. “Pat, hi. I noticed you’ve been in the courtroom from the beginning, but I don’t think the Prosecution is going to call you after all, so you can head out until tomorrow—not that I want to chase you away; I enjoy seeing your pretty face. You’ll be my last witness.”

  “I have been here from the beginning, and I’ve been watching and getting worried. You do have a plan to save Joe, don’t you?”

  He laughed out loud. “Of course I do.”

  “Why aren’t you questioning witnesses?”

  “Trust me. You’ll see.”

  He rose and snapped his briefcase closed. “I’d invite you to lunch, but it would be unseemly to be seen with a witness, so dinner as soon as the trial is over?”

  He didn’t wait for her answer. Instead he strolled down the aisle and out of the courtroom.

  The afternoon session was technical and after two more hours, the Prosecution rested.

  “The hour is late enough that we’ll call it a day,” the judge said. “We’ll hear from the Defense beginning at 8:30 tomorrow morning.”

  “I’ve been told to be in court tomorrow for some possible redirect. Will that bother you?” Tim asked as he and Pat sipped wine after a quiet dinner at her house.

  “I’ll be fine as long as you don’t sit near me and don’t look at me. I find you quite distracting,” Pat giggled.

  “I’ll sit in the last row and wear a bushy beard.”

  “That should work.”

  Tim took a long sip of wine and grew serious. “Not that I’m counting, but I think this is our ninth or tenth date. I’m tired of hiding us from Syda and Greg. I want to keep seeing you, maybe for the rest of my life. Is that okay with you?”

  “More than okay. And if you don’t mind, I want to exercise my woman’s prerogative tonight.”

  ※※※※※※※※※※※

  Pat couldn’t get Syda to give court one more day, even though she promised day three might be exciting.

  “I have all the material I need to write a court scene, and sitting there until my bum gets numb and my brain goes dead isn’t like watching something dramatic on TV. Unless you need me there for moral support, I’ll stick with Judge Judy from here on out.

  “No, I’ll be fine without you,” Pat promised.

  Mark wasted no time once Judge Blaine called the Court to order. “The Defense calls Angela Grinardi,” he said in a crisp tone of voice.

  Angela was seated in the last row, the place where Pat was trying not to look because she knew Tim would be there, and she hadn’t noticed her when she came in.

  Angela looked distressed as she was sworn in. Jet lag—Pat wondered—or something more?

  “Mrs. Grinardi, I have just a few questions for you and then I’ll let you fly back home to New York,” Mark said in his most charming and friendly manner. “You were present when Garryn Monteith was murdered, weren’t you?”

  “Yes, I was.”

  “Was this the first time you took a class Mr. Monteith taught?”

  “Yes, it was.”

  “Did you know Mr. Monteith prior to attending his class?”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “Could you tell the Court how you knew him?”

  Angela pulled herself up straighter in the witness seat than seemed possible. She hesitated for a few seconds before answering, weighing her words.

  “He stole a patent from my late husband.”

  “Were you angry with the deceased because of that?”

  Angela’s eyes narrowed. “Of course I was.”

  “Mrs. Grinardi, did you have Super Glue with you for the class?”

  “Yes.”

  “Were you aware that Super Glue contains cyanide?”

  “It has a warning label saying it does, so yes, I was.”

  “Thank you, Mrs. Grinardi. No further questions.” Mark nodded to the jury before he nodded to Judge Blaine.

  The assistant district attorney asked Angela only one question: “Did you use Super Glue to kill Garryn Monteith?”

  “I did not,” she replied decisively.

  “The Defense
calls Kandi Crusher.”

  Kandi held her head high as she was reminded she was still under oath.

  Mark Bellows asked her the same first four questions he asked Angela Grinardi and then settled back to let her answer how she knew Garryn Monteith. Her answer was as insolent as Angela Grinardi’s had been.

  “I knew him because of my brother. Garryn Monteith swindled him out of a great sum of money.”

  “Your brother, Mrs. Crusher, did he tell you about the lethality of Super Glue, or did you figure that out yourself?”

  Assistant District Attorney Smith was on his feet with an objection, which the judge upheld. Judge Blaine instructed the jury to disregard Mark’s question. Mark didn’t need the jury to hear Kandi’s answer. Juries could be told to disregard a question, but they never did.

  “Thank you, Mrs. Crusher. No further questions at this time, but we reserve the right to recall the witness, Your Honor.”

  “So noted,” Judge Blaine replied.

  “The Defense calls Suzanne Cummings.”

  Pat felt as much anguish at what was about to befall Suzanne as the woman must have felt herself. Suzanne approached the witness stand like Anne Boleyn on her way to her beheading.

  Mark began his questions as he had with the other women, but by the time he asked, “Was this the first class you took from Garryn Monteith?” everything changed.

  “No.”

  “Miss Cummings, could you speak more loudly, please,” the judge requested.

  Suzanne cleared her throat. “No,” she repeated.

  “Approximately how many classes did you take from Mr. Monteith?”

  “I don’t know exactly.”

  “More than ten?”

  “Yes.”

  “More than fifteen?”

  “Yes,” Suzanne’s voice began to fade again.

  Mark chocked his head, “More than twenty?”

  “Probably.”

  “More than—”

  The assistant district attorney was on his feet with another objection.

  “Question withdrawn, Your Honor. I’m sure the jury understands my point. It’s safe to say Miss Cummings was a regular in Garryn Monteith’s classes.”

  Mark paused and held up a finger as if what he asked next had just occurred to him. “Did you take glass-related classes from other instructors, as well?”

  “No.”

  Suzanne was admonished again to speak up.

  “No.”

  “Miss Cummings, in the many classes you took from Garryn Monteith, did you learn how firing in a kiln works?”

  “Yes.”

  “Would you say you have knowledge of when a kiln might be opened early in the firing program without causing damage to the process?”

  “Yes, I guess I would.”

  “Miss Cummings, did you ever have an intimate relationship with Garryn Monteith?”

  Color rose in Suzanne’s face.

  “A long time ago.”

  “Miss Cummings, did you threaten any women in the classes that you attended?”

  “On occasion.” She thrust out her chest and spoke so loudly, everyone could hear her easily. “But I never hurt anyone, if that’s what you’re going to ask me next. I only sent letters and did little things. I never hurt anyone. And I only did things to women if they led Garryn on. He was a flirt; everyone knew he was—I didn’t care—but I only did things if they flirted back. Some of them slept with him. I know they did. They deserved having little things done to them.”

  Pat understood what Mark was doing and understood he had to defend his client in any way he could. She didn’t have to like watching it, though.

  “Thank you, Miss Cummings. I think we’ve heard enough.”

  “Don’t you want to hear about Lillian Wentner and what she did?” Suzanne shouted.

  Mark smiled slyly. Assistant District Attorney Smith was apoplectic. “Your Honor,” he pleaded.

  “Since the witness opened that door, Your Honor,” Mark stated calmly, “yes, Miss Cummings, I would.”

  “Objection,” Robert Smith tried once again.

  “I’ll allow,” Judge Blaine replied.

  “Garryn and Lillian had been having an affair for a long time, every time he taught at the Glass House. I heard Lillian tell Garryn that she was going to leave her husband and go back to New York with him. But Garryn didn’t want her to. He broke it off. He told her he just used her for ‘booty calls.’ That’s what he said. Lillian went crazy. Ask her if she had Super Glue. Ask her if she knew when to open the kiln to put it in. Ask her!”

  “Thank you, Miss Cummings.”

  “I think we need a break before the Prosecution questions Miss Cummings,” the judge said.

  “The Defense wishes to recall Kandi Crusher.” Mark was back in crisp mode.

  “Mrs. Crusher, would you tell the Court about the exchange you heard between Lillian Wentner and Garryn Monteith on the night before his murder?”

  “I returned to the studio after class because I forgot my purse. I heard them in the alcove part of the studio. They were fighting. Lillian told Garryn she was going to leave her husband so she could go back to New York with him. Garryn said he didn’t want her to. He did say what Suzanne Cummings said he said. He told her she had been a ‘lucrative booty call’ but that he wouldn’t be teaching any more classes at the Glass House.”

  “What was Lillian Wentner’s reaction to what he said?”

  “She was furious.”

  “Was she angry enough to kill him?”

  “Calls for speculation, Your Honor,” Assistant District Attorney Smith protested.

  “I’ll withdraw the question, Your Honor. Thank you, Mrs. Crusher, no further questions. At this time the Defense calls Pat Pirard.”

  As she was being sworn in, Pat glanced toward the back of the courtroom. Tim was in the last row. He was not wearing a bushy beard. She maintained the solemnity befitting the situation with great difficulty; after last night she desperately wanted to smile at him.

  Pat’s testimony began with a surprise. Mark made sure no one could see him do it, and then he winked at her.

  “Ms. Pirard, you were hired by my firm to do research for this trial, were you not?”

  “I was, at least for a while before I was terminated.”

  If she could have kicked herself, she would have. She knew the drill: witnesses needed to answer the question posed and then stop talking.

  Mark didn’t react. “During your time of employment, did you discover that about one in four women in the class had some connection with Garryn Monteith that might have caused them to, at the very least, dislike the man?”

  “Objection.”

  “Overruled. You may answer the question, Ms. Pirard,” Judge Blaine instructed.

  “Yes.”

  “Have you been in the courtroom since jury selection?”

  “Yes.”

  “And during that time, did you hear the testimony of Roberta Grumm, Angela Grinardi, Kandi Crusher, and Suzanne Cummings?”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “Did you have conversations with those witnesses during the course of your investigation in which they told you the same things they testified to in court today?”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “Did you also have a conversation with Lillian Wentner while no longer in my office’s employ in which she told you details about her and Joe Wentner’s marriage?”

  “Yes.”

  “What did Lillian Wentner say about her husband’s knowledge, or lack of knowledge, about her relationship with Garryn Monteith?”

  “She said he knew about it all along.”

  “What did she say about the nature of their fidelity within their marriage?”

  “She said her husband knew about her relationship with Garryn Monteith and accepted it because they had an open marriage.”

  There was so much noise in the courtroom that Pat felt like she had thrown a hand grenade among the spectators and jury.

 
; “Did you tell her she had been overheard asking Joe for a divorce?”

  “Yes.”

  “What did she say to you in regard to that?”

  “She said that divorce was an idle threat which they sometimes directed at one another, but that they were still married after eighteen years.”

  “Thank you, Ms. Pirard. No further…well just one more question. You were present for the class Garryn Monteith taught at the Glass House, weren’t you?”

  “Yes, I took the class.”

  “Officer Tim Lindsey, as lead investigator, stated it is the conclusion of the investigation that the tubes of Super Glue which killed Garryn Monteith were introduced in the kiln during the preceding day’s lunch break. Do you recall where Angela Grinardi, Kandi Crusher, Suzanne Cummings, and Lillian Wentner were during lunch that day?”

  “Let me think,” Pat faltered. “I spoke with Kandi Crusher for some of the lunch break…”

  “But not all of it?”

  “No, not all of it. I think Suzanne Cummings was in the bathroom. She usually spent breaks in there.”

  “Did you see her enter or leave the bathroom?”

  “No. I just assumed that’s where she was. I’m sorry. I don’t remember where Angela Grinardi or Lillian Wentner were.”

  “And what about Joe Wentner? Do you remember where he was?”

  “I do,” Pat said brightly. “He was serving lunch. I spoke with him for a long time.”

  “Thank you. Now, no further questions, Your Honor.”

  Assistant District Attorney Smith spoke next. “Ms. Pirard, you seem to have a very good and very detailed memory of many conversations and observations you made during the class you took. You must remember, then, did you speak with Joe Wentner for the entire lunch break?

  “No, not all of it.”

  “So it is possible he could have slipped out to the studio—”

  “Objection, Your Honor. Calls for speculation.”

  Pat thought Assistant District Attorney Smith had just scored a win for the Prosecution.

  “What did Joe Wentner have to say about Garryn Monteith?”

  “Well, he said Garryn was a fussy eater and demanded gluten-free food.” There was an undercurrent of chuckling in the courtroom. “Joe wasn’t very happy that Garryn Monteith didn’t want to eat the special breakfast rolls he made for him on the morning of the murder and insisted that he at least taste them. That’s all I remember about his interaction with Garryn Monteith.”