The Lincoln Lawyer Collection

by Connelly, Michael

  “ ‘And how did you follow that lead?’ ”

  “ ‘We were able to obtain a list of city-licensed tow truck companies that operated in the Wilshire District. By this time I had called in more detectives and we split the list up. There were only three companies that were operating on that day. Each pair of detectives took one. My partner and I went to a tow yard on La Brea Boulevard that was operated by a business called Aardvark Towing.’ ”

  “ ‘And what happened when you got there?’ ”

  “ ‘We found that they were about to shut down for the day because they essentially worked no-parking zones around churches. By noon they were done. There were three drivers and they were securing things and about to head out when we got there. They all voluntarily agreed to identify themselves and answer our questions. While my partner asked preliminary questions I went back to our car and called their names into central dispatch so they could check them for criminal records.’ ”

  “ ‘Who were these men, Detective Kloster?’ ”

  “ ‘Their names were William Clinton, Jason Jessup and Derek Wilbern.’ ”

  “ ‘And what was the result of your records search?’ ”

  “ ‘Only Wilbern had an arrest record. It was an attempted rape with no conviction. The case, as I recall, was four years old.’ ”

  “ ‘Did this make him a suspect in the Melissa Landy abduction?’ ”

  “ ‘Yes, it did. He generally fit the description we had gotten from Sarah. He drove a large truck and wore overalls. And he had an arrest record involving a sex crime. That made him a strong suspect in my mind.’ ”

  “ ‘What did you do next?’ ”

  “ ‘I returned to my partner and he was still interviewing the men in a group setting. I knew that time was of the essence. This little girl was still missing. She was still out there somewhere and usually in a case like this, the longer the individual is missing, the less chance you have of a good ending.’ ”

  “ ‘So you made some decisions, didn’t you?’ ”

  “ ‘Yes, I decided that Sarah Landy ought to see Derek Wilbern to see if she could identify him as the abductor.’ ”

  “ ‘So did you set up a lineup for her to view?’ ”

  “ ‘No, I didn’t.’ ”

  “ ‘No?’ ”

  “ ‘No. I didn’t feel there was time. I had to keep things moving. We had to try to find that girl. So what I did was ask if the three men would agree to go to a separate location where we could continue the interview. They each said yes.’ ”

  “ ‘No hesitation?’ ”

  “ ‘No, none. They agreed.’ ”

  “ ‘By the way, what happened when the other detectives visited the other towing companies that worked in the Wilshire District?’ ”

  “ ‘They did not find or interview anyone who rose to the level of suspect.’ ”

  “ ‘You mean no one with a criminal record?’ ”

  “ ‘No criminal records and no flags came up during interviews.’ ”

  “ ‘So you were concentrating on Derek Wilbern?’ ”

  “ ‘That’s right.’ ”

  “ ‘So when Wilbern and the other two men agreed to be interviewed at another location, what did you do?’ ”

  “ ‘We called for a couple of patrol cruisers and we put Jessup and Clinton in the back of one car and Wilbern in the back of the other. We then closed and locked the Aardvark tow yard and drove ahead in our car.’ ”

  “ ‘So you got back to the Landy house first?’ ”

  “ ‘By design. We had told the patrol officers to take a circuitous route to the Landy house on Windsor so we could get there first. When we arrived back at the house I took Sarah upstairs to her bedroom, which was located at the front and was overlooking the front yard and street. I closed the blinds and had her look through just a crack so she would not be visibly exposed to the tow truck drivers.’ ”

  “ ‘What happened next?’ ”

  “ ‘My partner had stayed out front. When the patrol cruisers arrived, I had him take the three men out of the cars and have them stand together on the sidewalk. I asked Sarah if she recognized any of them.’ ”

  “ ‘Did she?’ ”

  “ ‘Not at first. But one of the men—Jessup—was wearing a baseball hat and he was looking down, using the brim to guard his face.’ ”

  Bosch flipped over two pages of the testimony at this point. The pages had been X-ed out. They contained several questions about Jessup’s demeanor and attempt to use his hat to hide his face. These questions were objected to by Jessup’s then-defense counsel, sustained by the trial judge, then resculpted and reasked, and objected to again. In the pretrial hearing, Breitman had agreed with Royce’s contention that the current jury should not even hear them. It was one of the only points Royce had won.

  Haller picked up the reading at the point the skirmish had ended.

  “ ‘Okay, Detective, why don’t you tell the jury what happened next?’ ”

  “ ‘Sarah asked me if I could ask the man with the hat to remove it. I radioed my partner and he told Jessup to take off the hat. Almost immediately, Sarah said it was him.’ ”

  “ ‘The man who abducted her sister?’ ”

  “ ‘Yes.’ ”

  “ ‘Wait a minute. You said Derek Wilbern was your suspect.’ ”

  “ ‘Yes, based on his having a record of a prior arrest for a sex crime, I thought he was the most likely suspect.’ ”

  “ ‘Was Sarah sure of her identification?’ ”

  “ ‘I asked her several times to confirm the identification. She did.’ ”

  “ ‘What did you do next?’ ”

  “ ‘I left Sarah in her room and went back downstairs. When I got outside I placed Jason Jessup under arrest, handcuffed him and put him in the back of a patrol car. I told other officers to put Wilbern and Clinton in another car and take them down to Wilshire Division for questioning.’ ”

  “ ‘Did you question Jason Jessup at this point?’ ”

  “ ‘Yes, I did. Again, time was of the essence. I didn’t feel that I had the time to take him to Wilshire Division and set up a formal interview. Instead, I got in the car with him, read him the Miranda warning and asked if he would talk to me. He said yes.’ ”

  “ ‘Did you record this?’ ”

  “ ‘No, I did not. Frankly, I forgot. Things were moving so quickly and all I could think about was finding that little girl. I had a recorder in my pocket but I forgot to record this conversation.’ ”

  “ ‘Okay, so you questioned Jessup anyway?’ ”

  “ ‘I asked questions but he gave very few answers. He denied any involvement in the abduction. He acknowledged that he had been on tow patrol in the neighborhood that morning and could have driven by the Landy house but that he did not remember specifically driving on Windsor. I asked him if he remembered seeing the Hollywood sign, because if you are on Windsor you have a straight view of it up the street and on top of the hill. He said he didn’t remember seeing the Hollywood sign.’ ”

  “ ‘How long did this questioning go on?’ ”

  “ ‘Not long. Maybe five minutes. We were interrupted.’ ”

  “ ‘By what, Detective?’ ”

  “ ‘My partner knocked on the car’s window and I could tell by his face that whatever he had was important. I got out of the car and that’s when he told me. They had found her. A girl’s body had been found in a Dumpster down on Wilshire.’ ”

  “ ‘That changed everything?’ ”

  “ ‘Yes, everything. I had Jessup transported downtown and booked while I proceeded to the location of the body.’ ”

  “ ‘What did you discover when you got there?’ ”

  “ ‘There was a body of a girl approximately twelve or thirteen years old discarded in the Dumpster. She was unidentified at that time but she appeared to be Melissa Landy. I had her photograph. I was pretty sure it was her.’ ”

  “ ‘And you moved the focus of your investi
gation to this location?’ ”

  “ ‘Absolutely. My partner and I started conducting interviews while the crime scene people and coroner’s people dealt with the body. We soon learned that the parking lot adjacent to the rear yard of the theater had previously been used as a temporary auto storage point by a towing company. We learned that company was Aardvark Towing.’ ”

  “ ‘What did that mean to you?’ ”

  “ ‘To me it meant there was now a second connection between the murder of this girl and Aardvark. We had the lone witness, Sarah Landy, identifying one of the Aardvark drivers as the abductor, and now we had the victim found in a Dumpster next to a parking lot used by Aardvark drivers. To me the case was coming together.’ ”

  “ ‘What was your next step?’ ”

  “ ‘At that point my partner and I split up. He stayed with the crime scene and I went back to Wilshire Division to work on search warrants.’ ”

  “ ‘Search warrants for what?’ ”

  “ ‘One for the entire premises at Aardvark Towing. One for the tow truck Jessup was driving that day. And two more for Jessup’s home and personal car.’ ”

  “ ‘And did you receive these search warrants?’ ”

  “ ‘Yes, I did. Judge Richard Pittman was on call and he happened to be playing golf at Wilshire Country Club. I brought him the warrants and he signed them on the ninth hole. We then began the searches, starting at Aardvark.’ ”

  “ ‘Were you present at this search?’ ”

  “ ‘Yes, I was. My partner and I were in charge of it.’ ”

  “ ‘And at some point did you become aware of any particular evidence being found that you deemed important to the case?’ ”

  “ ‘Yes. At one point the forensics team leader, a man named Art Donovan, informed me that they had recovered three hairs that were brown in color and over a foot in length each from the tow truck that Jason Jessup was driving that day.’ ”

  “ ‘Did Donovan tell you specifically where in the truck these hair specimens were found?’ ”

  “ ‘Yes, he said they were caught in the crack between the lower and upper parts of the truck’s bench seat.’ ”

  Bosch closed the transcript there. Kloster’s testimony continued but they had reached the point where Haller had said he would stop because he would have all he needed on the record.

  The judge then asked Royce if he wished to have any of the defense’s cross-examination read into the record. Royce stood to respond, holding two paper-clipped documents in his hand.

  “For the record, I am reluctant to participate in a procedure I object to but since the court is calling the game, I shall play along. I have two brief read-backs of Detective Kloster’s cross-examination. May I give a highlighted printout to Detective Bosch? I think it will make this much easier.”

  “Very well,” the judge said.

  The courtroom deputy took one of the documents from Royce and delivered it to Bosch, who quickly scanned it. It was only two pages of testimony transcriptions. Two exchanges were highlighted in yellow. As Bosch read them over, the judge explained to the jury that Royce would read questions posed by Jessup’s previous defense attorney, Charles Barnard, while Bosch would continue to read the responses of Detective Doral Kloster.

  “You may proceed, Mr. Royce.”

  “Thank you, Your Honor. Now reading from the transcript, ‘Detective, how long was it from when you closed and locked Aardvark Towing and took the three drivers over to Windsor, and returned with the search warrant?’ ”

  “ ‘May I refer to the case chronology?’ ”

  “ ‘You may.’ ”

  “ ‘It was about two hours and thirty-five minutes.’ ”

  “ ‘And when you left Aardvark Towing, how did you secure those premises?’ ”

  “ ‘We closed the garages, and one of the drivers—I believe, Mr. Clinton—had a key to the door. I borrowed it to lock the door.’ ”

  “ ‘Did you return the key to him after?’ ”

  “ ‘No, I asked if I could keep it for the time being and he said that was okay.’ ”

  “ ‘So when you went back with the signed search warrant, you had the key and you simply unlocked the door to enter.’ ”

  “ ‘That is correct.’ ”

  Royce flipped the page on his copy and told Bosch to do likewise.

  “Okay, now reading from another point in the cross-examination. ‘Detective Kloster, what did you conclude when you were told about the hair specimens found in the tow truck Mr. Jessup had been driving that day?’ ”

  “ ‘Nothing. The specimens had not been identified yet.’ ”

  “ ‘At what later point were they identified?’ ”

  “ ‘Two days later I got a call from SID. A hair-and-fiber tech told me that the hairs had been examined and that they closely matched samples taken from the victim. She said that she could not exclude the victim as a source.’ ”

  “ ‘So then what did that tell you?’ ”

  “ ‘That it was likely that Melissa Landy had been in that tow truck.’ ”

  “ ‘What other evidence in that truck linked the victim to it or Mr. Jessup to the victim?’ ”

  “ ‘There was no other evidence.’ ”

  “ ‘No blood or other bodily fluids?’ ”

  “ ‘No.’ ”

  “ ‘No fibers from the victim’s dress?’ ”

  “ ‘No.’ ”

  “ ‘Nothing else?’ ”

  “ ‘Nothing.’ ”

  “ ‘With the lack of other corroborating evidence in the truck, did you ever consider that the hair evidence was planted in the truck?’ ”

  “ ‘Well, I considered it in the way I considered all aspects of the case. But I dismissed it because the witness to the abduction had identified Jessup, and that was the truck he was driving. I didn’t think the evidence was planted. I mean, by who? No one was trying to set him up. He was identified by the victim’s sister.’ ”

  That ended the read-back. Bosch glanced over at the jury box and saw that it appeared that everyone had remained attentive during what was most likely the most boring stage of the trial.

  “Anything further, Mr. Royce?” the judge asked.

  “Nothing further, Judge,” Royce responded.

  “Very well,” Breitman said. “I think this brings us to our afternoon break. I will see everyone back in place—and I will admonish myself to be on time—in fifteen minutes.”

  The courtroom started to clear and Bosch stepped down from the witness stand. He went directly to Haller, who was huddled with McPherson. Bosch butted into their whispered conversation.

  “Atwater, right?”

  Haller looked up at him.

  “Yes, right. Have her ready in fifteen minutes.”

  “And you have time to talk after court?”

  “I’ll make time. I had an interesting conversation at lunch, as well. I need to tell you.”

  Bosch left them and headed out to the hall. He knew the line at the coffee urn in the little concession stand near the elevators would be long and full of jurors from the case. He decided he would hit the stairwell and find coffee on another floor. But first he ducked into the restroom.

  As he entered he saw Jessup at one of the sinks. He was leaning over and washing his hands. His eyes were below the mirror line and he didn’t realize Bosch was behind him.

  Bosch stood still and waited for the moment, thinking about what he would say when he and Jessup locked eyes.

  But just as Jessup raised his head and saw Bosch in the mirror, the door to a stall to the left opened and juror number ten stepped out. It was an awkward moment as all three men said nothing.

  Finally, Jessup grabbed a paper towel out of the dispenser, dried his hands and tossed it into the wastebasket. He headed to the door while the juror took his place at the sink. Bosch moved silently to a urinal but looked back at Jessup as he was pushing through the door.

  Bosch shot him in the back with his finger. Jessup
never saw it coming.

  Thirty-one

  Tuesday, April 6, 3:05 P.M.

  During the break I checked on my next witness and made sure she was good to go. I had a few spare minutes, so I tracked Bosch down in the line at the coffee concession one floor down. Juror number six was two spots in front of him. I took Bosch by the elbow and led him away.

  “You can get your coffee later. There’s no time to drink it anyway. I wanted you to know that I had lunch with your girlfriend from the bureau.”

  “What? Who?”

  “Agent Walling.”

  “She’s not my girlfriend. Why did she have lunch with you?”

  I led him to the stairwell and we headed back upstairs as we talked.

  “Well, I think she wanted to have lunch with you but you split out of here too fast so she settled for me. She wanted to give us a warning. She said she’s been watching and reading the reports on the trial and she thinks if Jessup is going to blow, it’s going to be soon. She said he reacts to pressure and he’s probably never been under more than he is right now.”

  Bosch nodded.

  “That’s sort of what I wanted to talk to you about before.”

  He looked around to make sure that no one was in earshot.

  “The SIS says Jessup’s nighttime activities have increased since the start of the trial. He’s going out every night now.”

  “Has he gone down your street?”

  “No, he hasn’t been back there or to any of the other spots off Mulholland in a week. But over the last two nights he’s done things that are new.”

  “Like what, Harry?”

  “Like on Sunday they followed him down the beach from Venice and he went into the old storage area under the Santa Monica Pier.”

  “What storage area? What’s this mean?”

  “It’s an old city storage facility but it got flooded by high tides so many times it’s locked up and abandoned. Jessup dug underneath one of the old wood sidings and crawled in.”