MS. TANNENBAUM: Yeah, Bonfiglio, the nasty one. He told me my husband was dead, that somebody had killed him. He said it just like that, to hurt me. Jaywalker knew he had to tiptoe here, in order to avoid revealing that at that point Samara had asked to call her lawyer, triggering an end to the questioning.
MR. JAYWALKER: Did there come a time, a minute or so later, when something happened?
MS. TANNENBAUM: Yes.
MR. JAYWALKER: What happened?
MS. TANNENBAUM: They put handcuffs on me, behind my back, real tight. And they told me I was under arrest for murdering my husband.
MR. JAYWALKER: Did you murder your hus band, Samara?
MS. TANNENBAUM: Absolutely not.
MR. JAYWALKER: Did you do anything to him physically that evening?
MS. TANNENBAUM: No.
MR. JAYWALKER: At any time while you were in Barry's apartment, did you have a knife in your hand?
MS. TANNENBAUM: Never.
MR. JAYWALKER: Did you stab him in the chest with a knife or any other sharp instrument?
MS. TANNENBAUM: No, absolutely not.
MR. JAYWALKER: Have you told us everything about that evening that you can recall?
MS. TANNENBAUM: Yes, except for what the fight-the argument was about. I still can't remem ber that.
Jaywalker was aware of the salty taste before realizing he'd bitten the inside of his cheek hard enough to draw blood. Had she really said f ight, instead of argument, before correcting herself? Shit, he thought. Shit, shit, shit. Burke would have a field day with that slip, he knew. Even a couple of the jurors could be heard mumbling over it. So into the breach he went.
MR. JAYWALKER: I noticed you used the word fight.
MS. TANNENBAUM: Fight, argument, whatever you want to call it. I've heard those two words so many times since that day that I'm dizzy. All I know is, I didn't touch Barry that night. And I certainly didn't stick a knife into him or anything like that. That I'd remember, I'm pretty damn sure.
For an impromptu recovery, it wasn't bad, and Jay walker left it at that. He walked over to Burke then and asked to borrow several of his exhibits. The first one he showed Samara was the towel.
MR. JAYWALKER: Do you recognize this?
MS. TANNENBAUM: I'm not sure. It looks like the towels I have, but there's no way for me to know for sure if it's mine or not. It might be. That's the best I can say.
MR. JAYWALKER: Did you ever wrap a blouse and a knife in it, and stick it behind the toilet tank in your upstairs guest bathroom?
MS. TANNENBAUM: Absolutely not.
MR. JAYWALKER: How about this blouse?
MS. TANNENBAUM: It's mine.
MR. JAYWALKER: How do you know?
MS. TANNENBAUM: I just do.
MR. JAYWALKER: Did you wear it to Barry's apartment that last evening you saw him? Or have it with you?
MS. TANNENBAUM: No, definitely not.
MR. JAYWALKER: You say definitely not. How can you be so certain?
MS. TANNENBAUM: It's part of a set I own, a blouse and a pair of slacks Barry bought me. Same pattern, same colors. I only wore them as an ensem ble. You know, together. Also, look at the material. It's silk, too heavy to wear in the summer.
MR. JAYWALKER: Did you ever wrap this blouse, along with a knife, in the towel I just showed you and hide it behind a toilet tank?
MS. TANNENBAUM: No, never.
MR. JAYWALKER: And this knife? Do you recognize it?
MS. TANNENBAUM: I do.
MR. JAYWALKER: How do you recognize it?
MS. TANNENBAUM: It's identical to a set of steak knives I own. It's the same size and shape and every thing else, as the others in my kitchen drawer.
MR. JAYWALKER: Did you have it with you at Barry's apartment the last time you were there?
MS. TANNENBAUM: I did not.
MR. JAYWALKER: Did you hide it behind your toilet tank?
MS. TANNENBAUM: I did not.
Jaywalker asked her if she could explain the dark stains on each of the three items. Samara replied that she had no idea how they'd gotten there. Yes, she'd heard Detective Ramseyer testify that they were bloodstains, specifically Barry Tannenbaum's. No, she hadn't stabbed Barry or cut him with that knife, any other knife, or anything else. Nor could she explain how the three items had ended up behind the toilet tank. Obviously someone had put them there, she said, but it definitely hadn't been her.
From his own exhibits, Jaywalker showed Samara the life insurance application and had her identify her signature. She had absolutely no recollection of having signed it, however, and she'd never sought to take out a policy on Barry's life or anyone else's. She often signed papers that were presented to her by Barry's accountant or lawyer, and rarely took the trouble to read them, instead trusting their as surances that it was in her interest to sign them. Shown the cancelled check that had paid for the six-month premium, she agreed with the testimony of William Smythe that it didn't bear her signature and denied that she'd ever seen it, either before or after it had been deposited by the insurance company. Nor had she noticed the significant dent it made in her account. She rarely if ever opened her bank statements or balanced her checkbook, leaving those tasks to others.
Jaywalker took a deep breath. It was four-thirty, and he was down to one or two remaining topics on his notes. The first of those involved Samara's discovery of the Seconal. Even though she adamantly denied any prior knowledge of it and claimed never to have heard of the phantom pre scribing physician, Jaywalker was afraid the whole thing looked too suspicious. Asking the jurors to believe that whoever had murdered Barry and framed Samara had also been diabolical enough to plant the Seconal in her spice cabinet, hoping the police would find it, was a stretch of immense proportions. Even to Jaywalker, it seemed much more likely that Samara herself had phoned in the prescrip tion, posing as someone from a doctor's office, had been surprised when the pharmacy had asked for the doctor's name, and in her haste had made up a name on the spot, a name that just happened to have the same initials as her own. What were the odds of that? He tried multiplying twenty-six by twenty-six in his head, but couldn't. But he was able to remember that twenty-five squared was six hundred and something. He took his pen and crossed the word Seconal off his list.
It was time to wrap it up.
MR. JAYWALKER: Samara, you've told us there were times you got angry at Barry, very angry. Is that correct?
MS. TANNENBAUM: Yes, I did.
MR. JAYWALKER: Did you ever, in all of your eight years of marriage, get angry enough to want to harm him physically?
MS. TANNENBAUM: No, never.
MR. JAYWALKER: Did you ever strike him, ei ther with part of your body or with something else?
MS. TANNENBAUM: Only once. One time, about five years ago, I threw a soda bottle at him. It hit him on the shoulder, I think.
MR. JAYWALKER: Did it break?
MS. TANNENBAUM: Break? It was one of those plastic ones that you can't break even if you try.
MR. JAYWALKER: Did it appear to injure him?
