Illegal Alien

'Two hours?'

'Yes, possibly.'

'Three hours? Four hours? Five hours?'

'Conceivably.'

'Six hours? Eight hours? Ten hours?'

'Possibly — but it’s a reasonably big object. Surely someone would have picked it up off the floor.'

'Did you know Dr. Calhoun?'

'No, sir. Not at all.'

'Would you like to be admitted as a character witness?'

'I— no, sir.'

'Would you like to testify to his personal habits? His approach to cleanliness? His fastidiousness?'

'No, sir.'

'Then please confine your testimony to areas you’re competent in. You do not know whether or not Dr. Calhoun would have bent over to pick up a small piece of litter on his bedroom floor, and not knowing that, you can only say that the scale was definitely on the ground before Dr. Calhoun started bleeding, and might have been on the ground since — ten hours, you said — since perhaps eleven a.m. on December twenty-second, isn’t that right?'

'I suppose.'

'Thank you. Now, speaking of matters about which you are supposedly competent to testify, Mr. Feinstein, you told us your credentials at the outset — no doctorate, but a couple of master’s degrees, correct?'

'Correct.'

'And certifications from two different forensics organizations, correct?'

'Correct.'

'You are obviously expert in chemistry — one of your master’s degrees is in that subject.'

'Yes.'

'Any other areas of expertise?'

'I’ve had extensive training in fingerprinting, in fiber analysis, and in glass-shard analysis.'

'What about footprints?'

'What about them?'

'Do you have expert qualifications in the area of footprint analysis?'

'Well, no.'

'So, when you tell this jury that the U-shaped bloody mark is a Tosok footprint, you’re not offering a considered, expert opinion. It’s just a layman’s observation — of no more value than my own, or anyone else’s, casual comparison.'

'I am a trained criminalist.'

'But not expert in this specialized area. There are experts in footprinting, are there not? Jacob Howley in Boston is this country’s top person in this field, isn’t he?'

'Yes, I suppose so.'

'And Karen Hunt-Podborski of the San Francisco PD, she’s probably this state’s top footprint expert, isn’t she?'

'Yes. Her or Bill Chong.'

'But you’re not in the league of Doctor — Doctor! — Howley, are you, in the area of footprints?'

'No.'

'Nor in the league of Ms. Hunt-Podborski, or Mr. Chong, are you?'

'No.'

'So that U-shaped bloody mark might be a Tosok footprint, but then it might be — well, we could have the court reporter read it back, but I believe you yourself likened it to a horseshoe?'

'Yes, I did, but—'

'Indeed, the mark is blurred and indistinct, isn’t it? And the blood that made it was still wet enough to flow a bit, wasn’t it? And so, really, you can’t to a scientific degree of certainty say what made that mark, can you?'

Feinstein let his breath out.

'Can you?'

'No. No, I suppose I can’t.'

'Thank you,' said Dale. 'Thank you very much.'

It was pouring rain the next day. The courtroom was filled with the smell of moist clothing, and umbrellas were lined up against one of the wood-paneled walls.

'State and spell your name, please,' said the clerk.

'My name is Jesus Perez, J-E-S-U-S, P-E-R-E-Z, and I will ask the court reporter to note with phonetic spelling that Jesus is pronounced ‘Hay-soos,’ not ‘Jesus.’ '

The Latino clerk winked at Perez.

Ziegler rose and moved over to the lectern, depositing a sheaf of notes on it. 'Mr. Perez, what is your current job?'

'I’m a detective lieutenant with the homicide division of the Los Angeles Police Department.'

'In that capacity, did you have cause to visit the University of Southern California on December twenty-second of last year?'

'I actually arrived after midnight, so it was early on the morning of December twenty-third.'

'Why were you called there?'

'A police officer assigned to provide security for the Tosok delegation had found a badly mutilated body there.'

'Did you ascertain whose body this was?'

'Yes.'

'How did you do so?'

'Well, initially by the identification found on the body, and—'

'Excuse me, did you say identification?'

'Yes.'

'Where was this identification?'

'In the man’s wallet.'

'This body still had a wallet on it?'

'Yes.'

'Was there anything besides identification in the wallet?'

'Yes, there were four credit cards — Visa Gold, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover. There was also a phone card; an American Airlines frequent-flier card; a library card; a discount coupon for Bo-Jays, which is a pizzeria in Santa Monica; and the deceased man’s driver’s license.'

'Did the wallet contain anything else?'

'Yes. It contained two hundred and fifty-three dollars in cash, plus one British twenty-pound note.'

'Is it unusual to find cash on a murder victim?'

'Yes.'

'Why?'

'Because many homicides occur during robberies. Clearly, that was not the motive in this case, and—'

'Objection!' said Dale. 'Speculative. Move to strike.'

'Sustained,' said Pringle. 'The jury will disregard the detective’s comment as to motive.'

'Lieutenant Perez, you said the wallet was only part of the identification.'

'Yes, the body was also identified by two of Dr. Calhoun’s associates, Dr. Packwood Smathers of the University of Toronto — who was part of the international entourage accompanying the Tosoks — and Dr. Frank Nobilio, science advisor to the president.'

'And who did the dead man turn out to be?'

'One Cletus Robert Calhoun.'

'Detective, were you the person who arrested Hask?'

'Yes.'

'Was the arrest warrant sworn out in your name?'

'It was.'

'Your Honor, we introduce that warrant now, as People’s thirty-one.'

'Mr. Rice?'

'No objection.'

'Introduced and marked,' said Pringle.

'Detective, is it therefore safe to say that it was you who made the determination that Hask was the most likely suspect in this crime?'

Rice nudged Michiko Katayama. 'Objection!' she said. 'Prejudicial.'

'I’ll rephrase: you made the decision to arrest Hask, correct?'

'In consultation with District Attorney Montgomery Ajax, yes.'

'We’ve already heard compelling evidence that the crime was committed by a Tosok, and—'