'You were in charge of the investigation which included Lieutenant Dorsey. Is that correct?'
'He was a peripheral figure.'
'I understand. Had you known or had any contact with Lieutenant Dorsey before you encountered him on this investigation?'
Hobbs doesn't even flinch; the son of a bitch lies through his teeth. 'No, I had not.'
'Did you have occasion to have any direct conversations with him during the investigation?'
'No.'
'How about since then?'
'No.'
As with Connolly, I ask Hobbs a few quick questions about Dorsey's activities during the investigation. My final question is, 'Are you familiar with a man named Roger Cahill, who also goes by the name Geoffrey Stynes?'
'No, I am not. Other than what you've told me and I've read in the paper.'
'Thank you,' I say. 'No further questions.' I want to add, 'I've got you, you son of a bitch,' but I control the impulse.
Dylan again declines to cross-examine, and I surprise him and Hobbs by asking Hatchet to keep Hobbs present and available for recall this morning. I can see a flash of worry across Hobbs's face, but he still has no real idea of the hole he has just dug for himself.
'Call Cindy Spodek.'
Cindy rises and walks to the witness stand, passing Hobbs on the way and staring him right in the eyes. If he didn't know he was in trouble before, he should now.
'Agent Spodek,' I begin, 'who is your immediate superior at the FBI?'
'Special Agent Darrin Hobbs.'
'The man who preceded you to the stand?'
'Yes.'
'Were you present in the courtroom during his testimony?'
'Yes, I was.'
Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Hobbs alert, listening intently. 'Did you listen to Special Agent Hobbs's testimony in its entirety?'
'I did.'
'To your knowledge, was he being truthful?'
'He was not.'
Dylan and Hobbs simultaneously jump to their feet. When Dylan gets there, he screams an objection. When Hobbs gets there, he has no idea what to do, so he looks around, a puzzled expression on his face, and sits back down.
Hatchet calls us over for a bench conference to discuss Dylan's objection. Dylan is steaming, and once the jury cannot hear us, he lets loose. 'Your Honor, Carpenter is making a mockery of this courtroom.'
Starting a conversation with Hatchet by telling him that his courtroom is a mockery is not a shrewd strategy. He didn't get the name Hatchet by treating lawyers with kid gloves, and it's possible we could have another beheading on our hands. I just stand there, well behaved and totally innocent.
Dylan realizes in an instant what he's said, and he backtracks. 'I apologize, Your Honor, but these tactics are truly reprehensible.'
'Which tactics do you mean, Dylan?' I ask with a voice as sweet as sugar.
Dylan is not about to be drawn into a conversation with me; he speaks only to Hatchet. 'Your Honor, the defense called Agent Hobbs under false pretenses.'
'Which pretenses do you mean, Dylan?' I purr.
Hatchet now turns his glare on me. 'I would say it's time you announced where this is going, before I stop you from going there.'
I nod. 'Your Honor, I said I would question these witnesses, including Hobbs, about their knowledge of Dorsey. I did that. I admit I suspected Hobbs would lie, but I couldn't know that for sure until he did. Those lies, as I will demonstrate, bear directly and crucially on this case.'
'He's impeaching his own witness,' Dylan complains.
'My own
I know for a fact that Hatchet is annoyed with me. He feels I manipulated the court for my own ends, and in fact I did. But I didn't lie, and there's no legal reason for him to prohibit me from going forward.
'Mr. Carpenter, I'm going to allow you to proceed, but be very careful. If I sense you are being dishonest with this court, you will find yourself in very unhappy circumstances.'
'Yes, Your Honor, I understand.'
I prepare to resume questioning Cindy, who has sat stoically on the witness stand, no doubt watching her career flashing before her. Hobbs has been staring at her, trying to intimidate her. Not a chance.
'Agent Spodek, you said that Special Agent Hobbs was being untruthful in his testimony.'
'He was lying, yes.'
'Which part was a lie?'
'Almost everything after he gave his name.'
The jury laughs, but Spodek doesn't crack a smile. This is one tough lady.
'I'm paraphrasing, but Special Agent Hobbs claimed never to have had contact with Lieutenant Dorsey. Was that a true statement?'
'No. I witnessed their meeting at least half a dozen times.'
'How did that come about?'
'Usually, we were out in the car, working on a case, and we would stop at an apparently prearranged location. Lieutenant Dorsey would be there, and they would talk.'
'Did you hear any of the conversations?'
She nods. 'Parts of two of them.'
'What were they about?'
'They were discussions of Lieutenant Dorsey's activities with certain criminal figures. About protecting Lieutenant Dorsey from prosecution by the local authorities.'
'Lieutenant Dorsey was worried about that?' I ask.
'Very worried.'
I steal a glance at Hobbs, who looks like a newcomer to acting class who has just been instructed by the teacher to 'show outrage.' The funny thing is, he thinks this is the worst part. Just wait.
'Agent Hobbs also said he did not know Roger Cahill. Was that a lie as well?'
'Absolutely.' She goes on to describe two meetings that he had with Cahill, though she hadn't known his name until she saw his picture in the paper after Barry's murder. It was a major reason she called me about Murdoch, another man whom she knew Hobbs was meeting with before he was sent to prison.
I take her through some more discussion about Hobbs's perjured testimony, then ask her if she knows anything about the original 911 call that implicated Garcia in the murder.
'Yes,' she says. 'I made that call.'
'Why?'
'Agent Hobbs instructed me to. He said that he had information that Garcia was guilty but that he didn't want to involve the Bureau.'
'Do you know why he didn't make the call himself?'
'No, I don't.'
'Could it be that he wanted the call to come from a woman so that the prosecution would accuse the defendant of making it?'
Dylan objects, and Hatchet sustains. I tell Hatchet I want to recall Hobbs, and Dylan reserves his cross- examination of Cindy until after Hobbs is finished. Dylan is smart enough to know he is walking into a minefield, and he's hoping Hobbs will at least provide him with a map.
Hobbs takes the stand again, a considerably less confident and self-assured man than he was last time he was there.
