“I wanted to get her away from the body. So it wouldn’t upset her and distract her. And to get her out of the way of the crime scene unit.”
“You chose this office because it was out of the way?”
“That’s right.”
“When you questioned the defendant, what did she tell you?”
“She said she was a former employee. That she’d been employed at the office up until a month ago, when she’d been fired for stealing. That she’d been tried for the crime and acquitted. That she had therefore come to the office that evening to clean out her desk.”
“Did she tell you how she intended to get in?”
“Yes. She said she had a key from when she had previously worked there.”
“She retained this key when she fired?”
“That’s right.”
“Did she show you this key?”
“Yes, she did.”
Dirkson took another plastic bag from the prosecution table. “I ask that this be marked for identification as People’s Exhibit Two.” When that had been done, Dirkson handed it to the witness, said, “Sergeant, I hand you a plastic evidence bag marked for identification as People’s Exhibit Two, and ask you if you recognize it.”
“Yes, I do. It is a plastic bag containing the key I referred to. The one the defendant showed me at that time.”
“How do you recognize it?”
“I have written my name on the bag. As well as the date, and a description of the contents.”
“The bag is sealed?”
“That is correct.”
“You say this is the key the defendant showed you at that time?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Did you do anything to verify this is indeed the key to the office?”
“Yes. As a matter of fact, I tried it myself.”
“It opened the outer door?”
“Yes, it did.”
“Thank you, Sergeant,” Dirkson said. He took the plastic bag, returned it to the court reporter’s desk.
“Now then, Sergeant. Going back to your interrogation of the defendant on the night in question-”
“Objection to the word interrogation. As I understand it, the police were there at Miss Dearborn’s request.”
“Sustained. Rephrase the question.”
“Going back to the time you
“That’s right.”
“Did she in fact use a key to get in?”
“She says she didn’t. According to her, she arrived and found the door open.”
“The front door to the office?”
“That’s right.”
“The door the key People’s Exhibit Two fits?”
“Yes, sir. That door was open.”
“That’s what she told you at the time?”
“That’s right.”
“This is when you questioned her in the office of the partner, Marvin Lowery, on the night you were summoned to the crime scene?”
“That’s right.”
“She said the door was open?”
“Yes.”
“Wide open?”
“No. Not wide open. But enough that she could tell it was open. In other words, she didn’t have to try the key. According to her statement, the door was ajar, that was readily apparent, so she didn’t use her key, she just pushed her way in.”
“When did this happen? According to her?”
“She said she arrived at the office at approximately ten o’clock.”
“Ten o’clock?”
“That’s right.”
“Did she give you any explanation for why she would have come by the offices at that time?”
“Yes, she did.”
“Please tell us, Sergeant, what the defendant told you. With regard to her movements on the day in question.”
“Yes, sir,” Stams said. “As I say, she’d been in court. On the charge of petty theft. The jury brought back a verdict in the late afternoon. After that, the defendant left court and went uptown to her apartment on West 107th Street to change for dinner. She went out to a restaurant in the neighborhood with a man by the name of Larry Cunningham. According to her, they had intended to go to the movies, but it turned out he had to work. She went home around seven-thirty. According to her, she watched TV, puttered around the apartment for a while, then got the idea of cleaning out her desk. She went out to Broadway, hailed a taxi, took it the office, and went upstairs, arriving at approximately ten o’clock.”
“And what happened then? According to the defendant’s statement?”
“She found the door unlocked and the lights on. She pushed the door open and went inside.”
“What did she find?”
“The office was apparently empty. She looked around, then she went over to her desk and discovered the office had been robbed.”
“Robbed?” Dirkson said. “What did she mean by robbed?”
“According to her,” Stams said, “the petty cash drawer of her desk was open, the petty cash box was open, and the money was gone.”
“Let me be sure I understand this,” Dirkson said. “This was the defendant’s desk?”
“Yes.”
“The one she said she went to the office to clean out?”
“That’s right.”
“She went over to the desk to clean it out and found one of the drawers open?”
“That’s right.”
“The petty cash drawer?”
“Yes.”
“And what about the petty cash box?”
“According to her, the petty cash box was in the petty cash drawer, but it was open.”
“What do you mean, open?”
“I mean the top was up. The petty cash box was a simple metal cash box with a hinged top. That top was up. And the box was empty.”
“This box was sitting in the petty cash drawer, which was also open.”
“That’s right.”
“According to the defendant’s statement?”
“Yes. According to the defendant’s statement.”
“This was the statement that she made to you at the time on the night in question?”
“That’s right.”
“She claimed she discovered this when she came to the office?”
“That’s right.”
“She discovered this before or after she discovered the decedent’s body?”
