time you remember being around the worktable?'
'I put the car in the garage every evening. The people I'm renting from own the workshop furniture and the tools. I've never used them. Deems planted the strip and the shavings. Don't you see that? I'm being framed.'
'This is very bad,' Matthew said. 'Now I understand why Stamm felt he had to get off the case.'
Reynolds turned to Tracy. 'Do you remember seeing the three strips when we examined the physical evidence?'
'Of course, but I didn't think anything about them. They weren't together, I'm sure of that. If I recall, they were scattered among the other pieces of metal from the bomb and there were a lot of metal chunks on the table.'
'Geddes did that on purpose,' Matthew muttered. 'He set us up.'
'What are we going to do?'
Reynolds thought for a moment, then addressed the judge.
'Before I cross-examine, I have a matter I would like to take up with the court.'
Judge Baldwin looked up at the clock. Then he turned to the jurors.
'Ladies and gentlemen, this is a good time to take our morning recess.
Let's reconvene at ten forty-five.'
As the jurors filed out, Barry came through the bar of the court and stood next to Tracy.
'As soon as we break for the day,' Reynolds told them, 'I want you two to look at all of the physical evidence again, to make certain there aren't any more surprises.'
The door to the jury room closed and Judge Baldwin said, 'Mr. Reynolds?'
'Your Honor, I would like to reserve my cross-examination of Officer Torino. His testimony, and this exhibit, are a complete surprise to the defense.'
'Will you explain that to me? Didn't Mr. Geddes let you know that he was introducing it?'
'There are no written reports about the metal strips that were used in the bombs and the strip found in Mrs. Griffen's garage . . .'
Chuck Geddes leaped to his feet. He was fighting hard to suppress a smile of satisfaction.
'Exhibits 35, 36 and 37 were listed on evidence reports supplied to the defense, Your Honor. We also made all of the physical evidence available to the defense for viewing.'
'Is that so, Mr. Reynolds?'
Matthew cast a withering glance at Geddes, whose lips twisted into a smirk.
'Mr. Geddes may have listed the exhibits, Your Honor, but no report furnished to the defense explained the significance of the items. If I remember correctly, the strips Were noted on the evidence list simply as pieces of metal and the three metal strips were scattered among the remnants of the bomb that killed Justice Griffen, giving the impression that all three strips were unconnected and found at the crime scene.'
'What do you have to say about that, Mr. Geddes?'
'The discovery rules require me to list all the witnesses and exhibits I intend to introduce at trial. They do not require me to explain what I intend to do with the exhibits or what my witnesses have to say about them. I did what was required by law. If Mr. Reynolds was unable to understand the significance of the exhibits, that's his problem.'
'Your Honor, there is no way any reasonable person could have understood the significance of this evidence,' Matthew answered angrily. 'Mr.
Geddes made certain of that by scattering them among the other exhibits.
Ask him why he did that and ask him why he didn't have Officer Torino write a report about them.'
'If you're implying that I did anything unethical . . .' Geddes started.
'Gentlemen,' Judge Baldwin interrupted, 'let's keep this civilized. Mr.
Reynolds, if Mr. Geddes gave you notice that Officer Torino was testifying and he listed the strips as exhibits, he complied with the law. However, I want you to have a fair opportunity to cross-examine on this matter, which is of obvious importance.
What do you suggest we do?'
'Your Honor, I would like to have custody of the three strips so I can have them examined by a defense expert. I have someone in mind.'
'How long will you need the evidence, Mr. Reynolds?'
'I won't know until I talk to my expert. He may be able to accomplish what I want this weekend.'
'I object, Your Honor,' Geddes said. 'We're in the middle of trial. Mr.
Reynolds had ample opportunity to examine and test the evidence.'
'And I'm sure he would have if you'd given him some notice of the use to which you were putting it,' Judge Baldwin said sternly. 'Quite frankly, Mr. Geddes, while you're within the letter of the law on this, I don't think you're within its spirit.'
'Your Honor . . .' Geddes began, but Judge Baldwin held up his hand.
'Mr. Geddes, this could have been avoided if you had informed Mr.
Reynolds about Officer Torino's testimony in advance of trial. I'm going to let Mr. Reynolds have the metal strips, if he can find an expert to examine them.'
The rest of the afternoon was taken up with the testimony of several bomb squad members, who identified evidence taken from the crime scene and explained where each item was found.
Outside, a gentle rain was falling, but the heat was on in the courthouse and the drone of the witnesses was putting Tracy to sleep.
She sighed with relief when the judge called the weekend recess.
As soon as court was out, Matthew took custody of the three metal strips and left with Abigail Griffen. Tracy and Barry Frame looked over all of the evidence that was in the courtroom. When they were through, Neil Christenson escorted them to a conference room in the district attorney's office that was being used to store the physical evidence that had not been introduced. Some of the evidence was spread over the top of a long conference table. Other evidence was in cardboard boxes on the floor of the conference room. Christenson parked himself in a chair at the far end of the room.
'How about some privacy?' Barry asked.
'Sorry,' Christenson replied. 'If it was up to me, I'd be home with a cold beer, but Chuck told me to keep an eye on you.'
'Suit yourself.'
Tracy started with the items on the table, conferring with Barry in whispers if she saw anything that might be significant and making notes on a legal pad. When they were done with the items on top of the table, Barry cleared a space at one end and emptied the contents of the first cardboard carton, which contained items taken from Abbie's rented house.
Tracy's stomach was starting to growl by the time they finished with the evidence from the rented house and Barry emptied the first box of items from Justice Griffen's den. The box contained personal papers, household receipts, bills and other documents of this type. Tracy emptied a second box that contained papers found in the bottom right drawer of Justice Griffen's desk.
At first glance, the papers looked like they would be similar to the papers in the other box. Then Tracy spotted something that was out of place. At the bottom of the pile was a volume from a trial transcript.
A sheet from a yellow legal pad was jutting out from between two of the transcript pages. Tracy thought that Barry must have gone through this box when they looked through the evidence the first time, because she did not remember seeing the transcript before.
When Tracy saw the cover page of the transcript, she concealed her surprise. She was looking at Volume XI of State of Oregon, Plaintiff-Respondent v. Charles Darren Deems, Defeno dant-Appellant, the transcript Laura Rizzatti had been reading the day Matthew Reynolds and Abigail Griffen argued at the Supreme Court. Tracy remembered how nervous Laura had seemed when she found her reading it.
Tracy glanced over at Christenson. He was reading the sports section of The Oregonian and looked bored stiff. Tracy shifted her body to block Christenson's view, then opened the transcript enough to see what was written on the sheet from the legal pad.
The sheet was wedged between pages 1289 and 1290 of the transcript. It was a sheet from the legal pad on which Laura was writing in the library'on the day Justice Pope accosted her. The names of three criminal cases
