MS. TANNENBAUM:
MR. BURKE: I'm not sure I said 'sexual favors,' but yes, it was a short time after that. So whatever you want to call it, you'd stopped doing it. That's right. I'd turned eigh teen, finally, and I was get ting a paycheck. And then one night you spied Barry Tannenbaum.
MS. TANNENBAUM: Right. Although I didn't
MR. BURKE:
MS. TANNENBAUM:
MR. BURKE:
MS. TANNENBAUM:
MR. BURKE:
MS. TANNENBAUM: know he was Barry Tan nenbaum, or who Barry Tannenbaum was. I see. Tell us, did he initiate contact with you, or did you initiate contact with him? I'm not sure what you mean by initiate contact. Did he approach you first, or did you approach him? I approached him. In fact, you began bringing him drinks. Diet Cokes.
MR. BURKE: Those are drinks, aren't they?
MS. TANNENBAUM: Not in Vegas, they're not.
A ripple of laughter from the jury box signaled that Samara had scored a point. More importantly, it suggested that they were still willing to like her. But Jaywalker also detected a danger sign in Samara's answers. She was sparring with Burke, trying to get the better of him whenever she could, even in little ways. Jaywalker had warned her against that, but now he was seeing how hard it was for her to suppress her natural feistiness. Chill out, he told her subliminally, and just answer the questions. But even as he sent her the message, he doubted that she was fully capable of hearing it.
MR. BURKE: And isn't it a fact, Mrs. Tan nenbaum, that when your shift ended that night, you and Barry went out?
MS. TANNENBAUM: Went out? No, that's not a fact.
MR. BURKE: Where did you go?
MS. TANNENBAUM: To his apartment, upstairs in the hotel.
MR. BURKE: Ah. That's not going out, is it?
MS. TANNENBAUM: Here's the problem I'm having, Mr. Burke.
Jaywalker cringed in his seat. The last thing he wanted from Samara was combativeness. Sixty seconds into her cross-examination, she was about to deliver a lecture to Burke, to tell him what was wrong with his questions. Jay walker tried to think of a basis on which to object, but couldn't. Besides, the jury would only see it for what it was, an attempt to shut up his own client. He slid down in his seat, gritted his teeth and waited for the worst.
MS. TANNENBAUM: (Continuing) Where I come from, and especially in Las Vegas, some of these terms you're using have special meanings. Drinks have alcohol in them. P artying means doing cocaine. Dating means having sex. And going out means hav ing sex on a regular basis.
There was actually an audible clap from somewhere in the jury box. Jaywalker felt his teeth unclench ever so slightly, and his body began to relax a bit. He allowed himself to straighten up in his chair and exhale a breath he suddenly realized he'd been holding so long he could feel his pulse pounding in his temples. Maybe, just maybe, Samara had what it took to pull this off, after all.
But Burke had a nice way of rolling with the punch. Instead of taking issue with Samara's speech and trying to pick it apart, he genuinely seemed to get a kick out of it. He quickly established that whatever one wanted to call it, she had indeed spent a number of hours in Barry's hotel room that first night. He left it to the jurors to decide pre cisely what they were doing. Then he took Samara to the point where she'd learned who Barry was, and how much money he was reported to have.
MR. BURKE: When did you learn about that?
MS. TANNENBAUM: I'm not sure. Maybe two weeks after we'd met. Something like that.
MR. BURKE: From an article in a magazine, right?
MS. TANNENBAUM: Right.
MR. BURKE: And how soon after that did
MS. TANNENBAUM: You're doing it again.
MR. BURKE: Excuse me? you fly to New York to be with him?
MS. TANNENBAUM: I need to know what you mean by 'be with him.'
MR. BURKE: Touche. T o visit him. Is that better?
MS. TANNENBAUM: Much better. I came to New York about two weeks after I found out.
MR. BURKE: And within six months, you were married.
MS. TANNENBAUM: That's right.
Burke left it there. The timing of the events made the implication clear enough. Jaywalker had spent hours pre paring Samara for a barrage of questions about how much Barry's wealth had to do with her marrying him. It was a factor, she was readily prepared to admit, but so were his tenderness, his gentleness and his interest in the things she had to say, which were all novel concepts to her. But Burke was smart enough to know that Jaywalker would have primed Samara with just that sort of response, and he wasn't about to give her an opening.
He showed her a copy of the prenuptial agreement, which bore a date one week before the wedding, and asked her if the signature at the bottom was hers.
MS. TANNENBAUM: Yes, it is.
MR. BURKE: Do you remember signing it?
MS. TANNENBAUM: Not specifically, but I can
MR. BURKE: I'll offer it as People's
MR. JAYWALKER: No objection.
THE COURT: Received. see that I did. It's my hand writing. Eleven.
MR. BURKE: Do you recall who pre sented it to you for your sig nature?
MS. TANNENBAUM: I really don't. It might have been Barry, it might have been Bill Smythe.
MR. BURKE: Did you read it before sign ing it?
MS. TANNENBAUM: I'm sure I didn't. It's, let me see, twenty-two pages long.
MR. BURKE: Did you understand what you were agreeing to?
MS. TANNENBAUM: Basically, yes.
MR. BURKE: And what was that?
MS. TANNENBAUM: That if I ever divorced Barry, I would get abso lutely nothing.
MR. BURKE: Did you believe that to be true?
MS. TANNENBAUM: Sure. I didn't think they'd go and waste twenty-two pages on it if it wasn't.
MR. BURKE: Over the years since, did you ever come to rethink the subject and decide it wasn't true?
MS. TANNENBAUM: No, I've always assumed it was true.
MR. BURKE: Even after eight years of marriage?
MS. TANNENBAUM: Yes. I figured 'ever' meant exactly that.
Nice job, Jaywalker had to admit. Question by question, Burke had painted Samara into a corner. Even though no judge in the world would have strictly enforced a prenup tial agreement after eight years of marriage, Burke had gotten Samara to say that she didn't know that. So as far as she was concerned, divorce wasn't an option, not unless she wanted to be out on the street again. From there, Burke shifted gears and moved on to other avenues by which Samara might hope to end up with a chunk of Barry's money.
MR. BURKE: Did you know anything about your husband's will?
MS. TANNENBAUM: No, I didn't.
