She nudged him. Jack leaned over. “They can’t do this,” she said. He held up a hand to shush her and turned his attention back to Scholl.
“Well, I felt that she wasn’t-I guess you would say, systematic. She rushed in at the last minute. She showed up late once or twice, as a matter of fact. She would try anything to get her clients off. Tricks. She had a reputation.”
“Jack!”
He gave Nina a nod, nothing more.
“A reputation in the police department?”
“Yes.”
“And can you describe that reputation?”
“Everyone said she would do just about anything to get her clients off. She attacked the officers in court, gave us a hard time and made us go over each and every detail hoping to find something wrong. She was-well, fly-by-night, always looking for some jazzy way to slip by the facts.”
“Can you give the court any specific example of this irresponsibility?”
“Objection,” Jack said, finally jumping up like his nimble namesake. About time. None of this would have been admissible in the courts Nina knew. Jack had entered the game late, but he would put a stop to this ridiculous character-bashing.
“Counsel should rephrase that,” was all Jack said, and sat down. Nina gave him an incredulous stare.
“I’ll decide that,” Judge Brock said. To Nolan, he said, “The word ‘irresponsibility’ calls for a conclusion. So I’ll sustain that objection.”
“Thank you, Your Honor,” Nolan kowtowed. “Did you observe how Ms. Reilly related to her clients?” Boggled as a kid in a toy store by the myriad possibilities for character assassination that appeared available to her, Nolan seemed to have forgotten her question about the specific acts of irresponsibility she’d been trying to learn about a second earlier.
“You bet I did,” Officer Scholl said. “She was much more friendly with them than the other attorneys, I thought. She’s a toucher. There were physical intimacies. She would hug them, set a hand on their shoulders right in the middle of the hearing. I saw her put an arm around one of her clients. She acted more like a friend than a person in a business relationship.”
Nina’s mouth dropped open. Now she knew exactly what Scholl had been thinking during those long days in court when she picked at Scholl’s police reports, looking for ways out for her clients. Now she understood the broader picture. She had won against Officer Scholl, and Officer Scholl did not forgive or forget. Nina no longer harbored doubts about whether Scholl had it in her to frame Nina and run her out of town. Scholl detested her.
Nolan cleared her throat. “So the defendant called you to her home. What did she tell you?”
“That her vehicle, a Ford Bronco, had been stolen during the night.”
“Could you summarize her statement to you?”
“She said she drove home from her office in the rain the night before about six P.M. and ran inside. She had not been able to locate her key earlier in the day, so she used a spare one. Later that night she remembered that she had some important files out in her car but she was sleepy so she went to bed instead of going out to retrieve them. Around seven the next morning she discovered the vehicle and its contents were gone.”
“Okay, let me back up a little. She said she lost her key?”
“Yes.”
“And that whole evening she knew that she had left it somewhere. Meanwhile, the vehicle sat outside unguarded and unprotected-”
“We’re leading just a little bit here,” Jack said.
“I withdraw that question. What exactly did the defendant say about what she did for the time period between six P.M. and seven A.M. with regard to locking her truck or removing the key from the ignition?”
“She claimed she locked the truck with her spare key. Is that what you mean? She said she knew the truck was out there and her key was gone and her files were in the back in the briefcase but she basically couldn’t be bothered.”
“She knew the main key was missing by then? In the hands of absolutely anyone?”
Officer Scholl had the character at least to glance down at her report on that one. “Well, she claimed she didn’t think about that.”
“All right. Now, she mentioned some important files had been left in the Bronco.”
“Yes. She was very insistent about us finding the files. They were in a burgundy leather briefcase, she said. She cared more about the files than the stolen vehicle.”
“And what did she tell you about these files?”
“She described them as client files, which had labels and names. She said the files held confidential information. Different information in each file. And what she called client-intake forms.”
“And did she give you the names of the clients?”
“No, she wouldn’t give us the names. She stated that the names were confidential. She wouldn’t say what the cases were about or if there was anything in the cases that might make somebody want to get at the files. I warned her that that would hinder our investigation but she wouldn’t budge.”
“And was the failure of the defendant to provide information about the files a hindrance to your work?”
“I asked right away, could the thief be after the files? She said she didn’t see how. I said, how can we find out if you won’t give us any details? I had to leave it at that.”
“What else did she tell you?”
“That her son had an ongoing friendship with an individual named Nicole Zack, who stayed at the house now and then. Nicole Zack is known to local law enforcement. She has had several arrests as a juvenile and a conviction for shoplifting. She was arrested for murder last year, which is how the defendant got to know her. She got her off.”
“The defendant in this instance had a close relationship with her client?”
“Obviously. Close enough that they hang out together at night at her house.”
The comment didn’t make a point, it slashed like a machete. Fussy adherence to petty concerns, reckless disregard for issues of serious import, and suggestive interactions with notorious lowlifes-Nina had done it all. The prosecution’s entire case relied on nothing more substantial than the imaginative slanders of this officer who hardly knew her.
“Do something!” Nina whispered to Jack. He shook his head sharply, warning her to stay out of it. As the questioning went on, Nina’s hands shook with frustration.
“The son had no car? He had to ride around on a bicycle?”
“He’s underage for a license.”
“And Nicole Zack?”
“She doesn’t have one yet. Not that that would stop her.”
“Did the defendant tell you anything else?”
Officer Scholl examined her report again. “Not until later. She called and gave us the names of three files. She said she had checked with the clients and they had allowed her to do that.”
“And what were those names?”
“Angel Guillaume and Brandy Taylor. Kao and See Vang. Kevin Cruz. But she claimed it was all confidential. She wouldn’t tell us anything about the contents of the files.”
“Now, Officer Scholl, were you also assigned the investigation of this theft?”
“I was. I located the vehicle several days later at the Heavenly parking lot. It looked like somebody had a long joyride and dumped the vehicle there. The defendant couldn’t identify any damage. I had it examined for forensic evidence and fingerprints. There were a number of prints of the defendant and her son. Dog hairs all over. Trash in the backseat, half-empty Gatorade and water bottles, a coffee cup that had been there awhile.”
Oh, great. Now she bad-mouthed Nina’s domestic inadequacies.
“Nothing that would help identify the perpetrator,” Scholl added.
“What about the missing key?”
“Left on the seat. Wiped clean of prints.”
“Were the files found in the vehicle?”
“No. The files were missing, and so was the briefcase.”
“Were the files ever located to your knowledge?”
“Not to my knowledge. I did interview Nicole Zack and the boy. I put out an APB on the truck. I did what I could, but without the defendant’s full cooperation, I couldn’t mount a full-scale investigation. I just had to wait until the truck got dumped. The auto-theft case is still open.”
“Let me ask you something now, Officer. Do you have any independent knowledge that these files were ever in the defendant’s stolen vehicle?”
“No.”
“The defendant could have accidentally left her briefcase in a supermarket or lost them in some other, even more egregious fashion?”
Officer Scholl looked thoughtful. “For all I know.”
“And used the auto theft as an excuse to claim she wasn’t totally responsible for the loss?”
“I never saw any files. I don’t know if there were in fact any files in a briefcase in that vehicle.”
“And has the perpetrator of the theft been identified at this time?”
“Not at this time. As I say, I’m still in charge of an open investigation.”
“Thank you. Nothing further.”
“We will take the midmorning break,” said Judge Brock. Nolan left. The clock stopped. The clerk took off her headphones and disappeared.
Jack nodded at the door.
“I’ll stay here for a minute,” Nina said, “and try to remember how hardworking and innocent I looked to myself only yesterday.”
“I warned you. They trowel on the accusations. Hearsay, opinion evidence, all sorts of character-battering is an integral part of the proceedings. You’ll get a better crack at showing a balanced picture of your career, who you are, how well you’ve done in your work, during the next phase, the mitigation hearing. This is a different kind of court.”
“Yeah, it’s a quasi-court practicing quasi-law with quasi-rules of procedure. And quasi-protection for the defendant.”
Jack said, “You’re right. Welcome to the Bizarro universe of law.”
“I read the rules, but I can’t believe the way they play out in practice. This is not supposed to be a criminal action, but it sure feels like one.”
“If only it were a criminal matter,” Jack said. “Then you might have the statutory presumption of innocence. You don’t get that here. You already know that the technical rules of evidence in criminal cases aren’t applicable. The case doesn’t even have to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. It’s unclear how much hearsay evidence can come in, and Hugo likes to hear it all.”
“Then why do I need an attorney?” Nina said rather rashly. “You don’t object. You can’t keep the worst slimeballing out. You can’t do anything but sit there.”
“I haven’t cross-examined yet.”
“Is that when you start defending me?”
“Look, we got off to a rough start this morning. I’ll take some of the blame.”
