The witness looked uncertain and embarrassed for the first time. “I may have made a mistake or two, but Mr. Shelby was arrested.”
“If we don’t include Mr. Shelby, would it be correct to say that all of your crime reports turned out to be mistakes?”
“I, well, that may be true.”
“Is it fair to say that you frequently
“I . . . I guess so.”
“Thank you for your honesty, Miss Bauer. Moving on, you testified that you saw Mr. Shelby carrying a body to his car?”
“Yes, he put it in his trunk.”
“Did you see the body?”
“Well, yes. The car was blocking my view a little, but I could see he was carrying a body.”
“Did you see a limb, an arm or a leg?”
“Well, no.”
“A head or a foot?”
“No, but he definitely put poor Mrs. Shelby in the trunk. May she rest in peace.”
Hamilton nodded to the clerk and he rolled out a television set and positioned it so the judge, Miss Bauer, and the spectators could see the screen.
“I would like to show a brief video, Defense Exhibit Two.”
“Objection,” the DA said.
“We’ve been over this in chambers, Mr. Payne,” Judge Young said. “I’m going to allow it.”
Jake and Madison exchanged glances and leaned forward. Madison could feel the anticipation of the other people in the courtroom as well. Hamilton pressed Play on the remote and a picture of the front of a house appeared. A station wagon was parked in the driveway with the front of the car pointing to the street. Its rear gate was down, and there was a short space between the gate and the garage. Hamilton hit Pause.
“Do you recognize this scene, Miss Bauer?” Madison’s father asked.
“It’s Mark Shelby’s house as seen from my front yard.”
“And this is the view you had when you saw Mr. Shelby put his wife’s body in the trunk of his car?”
“Yes.”
Hamilton pushed Play and a man who was roughly the size of the defendant stepped out of the garage with his back to Miss Bauer’s house. He was carrying something large, and he put it into the trunk of Shelby’s car. Hamilton hit Pause again.
“Is this what you saw on the day Mr. Shelby murdered his wife, Miss Bauer?”
“Oh yes, that is exactly what I saw!”
Hamilton then pressed Play. The actor pulled the large object out of the car and showed a set of golf clubs to the camera.
“Wow!” whispered Jake into Madison’s ear. “This is like a Max Stone novel!”
Madison’s head snapped toward Jake. “You like Max Stone?”
“My dad loves those books. I’ve read a couple. They’re pretty good.”
Thelma Bauer’s heavily rouged cheeks turned redder, and she gripped her skirt with her hands.
“That’s . . . It was a body.”
“You may have thought you saw Mr. Shelby put a body in his car, but might it not have been a set of golf clubs? A golf bag is about the size of a body, and you testified that you never saw any part of the body.”
“I saw a body,” the witness insisted stubbornly.
“I wonder when Miss Bauer had her eyes checked last,” Madison whispered to Jake.
“Can you admit that you might have been mistaken?” Hamilton asked. “After all, it was early morning and you were awakened from your sleep.”
Miss Bauer looked at the DA, but Mr. Payne was not allowed to coach his witness. He couldn’t do anything but sit with a stone face.
“I guess it’s possible,” Miss Bauer conceded.
“No further questions, Your Honor.”
“Anything more you’d like to ask, Mr. Payne?”
“I have nothing further of this witness,” the DA said. “May she be excused?”
“Miss Bauer, you may step down,” Judge Young said.
Thelma Bauer had looked confident and excited when she entered the witness box, but her head was down and her shoulders were hunched when she rushed out of the courtroom.
You got her, Dad! Madison thought. She loved watching her father take apart a witness, and she looked forward to the day her dad would get to watch her do the same. That would impress him way more than soccer.
“Your Honor,” the district attorney said. “Before I call the next witness, I have an exhibit I’d like to offer. It’s a stipulation between the parties that, if called, William Hubert, Jesse Marks, and Bruce Thomas would testify that Mr. Shelby spent the day of this incident and the two days following playing golf at a resort in southern Oregon. They would also testify that Mr. Shelby drove himself to the resort and the other members of the foursome did not see him until he arrived.”
“What’s a stipulation?” Jake whispered.
“Dad had these witnesses, and the DA was nice enough to agree that he and Dad would just tell the judge what they would say so they wouldn’t have to take time away from work to testify,” Madison explained. “They’ll testify in person when there’s a jury.”
“It is also stipulated that it takes approximately four and a half to five hours to drive from Portland to the resort,” the DA told the judge. “Attached to the stipulation is a map of Oregon showing the route Mr. Shelby took to get to the resort from his house.”
“Do you agree to the stipulation, Mr. Kincaid?” The judge turned to look at Madison’s father.
“Yes, Your Honor.”
“Then call your next witness, Mr. Payne.”
“The State calls Officer Barry Jensen, Your Honor,” the DA said.
“Your dad sure made Miss Bauer look ridiculous,” Jake said.
“Dad may have more trouble with this witness,” Madison answered, her voice heavy with concern.
As Officer Jensen walked up to take the stand, the old lady with blue hair shushed them again.
“Who are all these people?” Jake asked, lowering his voice and looking around the packed room.
“Most of them are ‘court watchers,’ retired people who watch court cases for entertainment. See those three women over there?” Madison pointed discreetly behind her to a group of elderly women. “They show up every time Dad has a case. They’re his fan club. And the younger people with notepads are reporters.”
Madison was about to turn back toward the front of the courtroom when she noticed a slender woman with curly blond hair who was sitting in the farthest corner of the spectator benches. Her hair reminded Madison of Ann, but it was the fact that the woman wasn’t taking notes like the reporters and was too young to be retired that kept Madison looking her way.
Officer Jensen began telling the judge what he had found when he arrived at the Shelbys’ house in response to the 911 call. Madison returned her attention to the front of the courtroom.
“Once you found the crime scene . . . ?” the DA started to ask.
“Objection!” Hamilton said, rising to his feet. “The prosecution has yet to establish that a crime has been committed.”
“Your Honor,” the DA said, “there was blood all over the kitchen, including on the blade of a large knife, and Mrs. Shelby is missing.”
“If a crime occurred every time blood was found on a kitchen knife, the police would be at my house every time I tried to cut a bagel.”
A few of the court watchers chuckled. Judge Young was not amused. She slammed down her gavel and glared at the spectators, but she upheld Hamilton’s objection.
“What did you do after you found the knife and blood?” the DA continued.
