'Special agent Riggio,' Mills began with the next witness, 'how did the FBI get involved in the Khalil case?'
Marcia Riggio had short, cropped dark hair. She wore a navy-blue suit that would not have looked out of place on a man. But the severe look was mitigated by a tan open-necked blouse of some soft and shimmery material, as well as by a plain gold chain necklace. She sat upright in the witness chair, her hands folded in her lap, and spoke with a formal and flat inflection. 'Many witnesses at the scene reported hearing an explosion, which the arson inspectors concluded was consistent both with the damage to the bedroom and with the cause of the ensuing fire. Mr. Khalil and his wife were both naturalized citizens from Iraq, and so because of a possible terrorist angle, local officials deemed it prudent to contact Homeland Security, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobaccco and Firearms, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Subsequently, analysis of the shrapnel from the explosion revealed that the blast was caused by a device called a fragmentation grenade, probably of domestic manufacture, the possession of which is against federal law. Effectively, the FBI took jurisdiction of this case, although we of course shared our findings with local police.'
'And what were your findings?'
'Very little in the first few days. Besides the fragmentation grenade, we discovered that both victims had been shot before the explosion, with nine-millimeter caliber bullets which, when we found them, were too badly formed for comparison to a firearm. We interviewed several family members, of course, in the wake of the attack, and were beginning to process that information when my partner, Jacob Freed, and I received an envelope in the mail that contained a computer diskette with a photograph file that focused our attention in a different direction. Among the pictures in that file were photographs of the Khalils' home taken from several angles, with a handwritten note that the pictures had been downloaded from a computer belonging to a Mr. Ron Nolan. Subsequently, Mr. Freed obtained Mr. Nolan's telephone number and left him a message that we would like to have a discussion with him on a matter that might involve national security. There was no mention of the Khalils, or of the photograph.'
'Did you in fact interview Mr. Nolan?'
'Yes.'
'What did he tell you?'
Washburn was on his feet. 'Objection. Hearsay.'
Tollson looked at Mills. 'Counsel?'
'You've already ruled on this, Your Honor,' Mills said. 'When Mr. Nolan's accusations to the FBI are repeated to Mr. Scholler, they give Mr. Scholler yet another motive to kill him.'
Tollson looked over to Washburn. 'She's right, Counsel. We did talk about this, and it's coming in. Objection overruled.'
She went on in the same vein, meticulous as to every detail and nuance. Nolan's call to the FBI, his theory that his romantic rival, the defendant, might have broken into his house, his discovery of the frag grenades and 9mm Beretta weapon in his closet, the record of computer usage while he'd been away; then, following up on Nolan's theory, the FBI's discovery a day later of the defendant's fingerprints on the computer diskette. Finally, she came to an end.
'Trying to get the timeline correct, do you recall the day or date that you made the discovery about Defendant's fingerprints on the diskette?'
'Yes. Both. It was Thursday, June fourth.'
Mills waited for more of a reply until she realized that Special Agent Riggio had answered her question and didn't need to deliver a speech about it. 'And after you had that information, did you try to contact Defendant?'
'Yes, we did. We attempted to reach him through his job as a police officer in Redwood City, but he had not come into work that morning.'
'Had he called in sick?'
'No.'
'All right. Where did you try next?'
'We called him at his home, but there was no answer there. So we left a message on his answering machine.'
'Did he ever answer that message?'
'No, he did not.'
'Were you planning to place Defendant under arrest at that time?'
'No. At that time, we wanted to question him.'
'Did you stake out his apartment?'
'No. We had no reason to suspect that he was avoiding us. We thought it likely that he would either call us or we would otherwise locate him in a day or so.'
'Did you attempt to locate Mr. Nolan during this time?'
'No. He said he would call us if he got any more information. Beyond that, we had no reason to try and contact him during this period.'
'So what did you do next?'
'We ran the fingerprints we'd picked up in Mr. Nolan's townhouse and determined that he had been correct. The Defendant had been in his house. Further, the defendant's prints were on the Beretta that was in Mr. Nolan's backpack.'
'Did you find his prints on the fragmentation grenades?'
'No. They have a rough surface and did not contain usable fingerprints.'
'But the Beretta with Defendant's prints was in the backpack with the fragmentation grenades, was it not?'
'Yes.'
'And could you tell if that gun had been fired recently?'
'We could only say that it had not been fired after its last cleaning. But we have no way to tell when it had last been cleaned.'
Mills, in a rhythm, kept it going. 'Was the gun loaded?'
'Yes. There was a full magazine and a round in the chamber.'
Mills knew she had covered a lot of ground with Riggio, who was in many ways the ideal witness, an uninflected, just-the-facts-ma'am kind of presence. But she still had a ways to go. 'Special Agent Riggio, how did you discover that Mr. Nolan had been killed?'
Spinoza and Riggio ate up the whole morning, and court didn't resume until nearly two o'clock in the afternoon.
Washburn, who'd remained silent throughout the lengthy direct, showed little of the enthusiasm he'd displayed the day before as he slowly rose from his chair and advanced to make his cross. 'Special Agent Riggio,' he began sonorously, 'you've testified that in the immediate aftermath of the Khalils' shootings, you interviewed several family members. What did you talk to them about?'
'We had the usual preliminary interviews following this kind of event.'
'And what are these interviews comprised of?'
'Developing knowledge of the relationships between the family members and the deceased, as well as business, personal, political, or any other issues that might throw light on the investigation of the crime.'
'How many of these interviews did you have?'
Mills spoke from behind him. 'Objection. Relevance.'
'Sustained.'
Washburn couldn't entirely camouflage a disappointed grimace. 'The Khalils have widespread business interests, do they not?'
Again: 'Objection. Irrelevant.'
This time Washburn replied. 'Not at all, Your Honor. The People, while never charging Mr. Scholler with the murder of the Khalils, are attempting to insinuate without proof that he was somehow involved in their deaths. I'm wondering if Special Agent Riggio had interviewed anyone among Mr. Khalil's vast business interests who had any connection to Mr. Scholler.'
