indicted, she was quick to admit her lies. She'd say, real
matter-of-fact, 'Oh, that. Well, yes, you're right, I wasn't exactly
honest with you on that one.' She always replaced it with some other
lie, but each time she dug herself a little deeper, giving us a little
more of the truth.' O'Donnell smiled and shook his head, recalling the
case, then suddenly seemed to remember he'd been talking about the
earrings. 'Same thing applied with the earrings. She admitted
planting them right away once she was confronted.'
'Did she say how she knew Jamie wore earrings like that?'
'Not until someone asked her. That's how everything worked with her.
She said she saw the earrings listed on her copy of the warrant when
the police went to the house to execute it, and she happened to have a
pair of earrings that fit the description, so she snuck into Taylor's
toolbox and put them there. We knew it was bullshit right off the bat.
First of all, the list of potential evidence in that case was long,
like it is in any homicide. The earrings were mentioned on one line
six pages back.
'Second, the only description in the warrant was for gold hoop
earrings. If Landry had planted real ones, we never would've known
they weren't Jamie's. The mom says they were identical same diameter,
same width of the metal.
'And finally, I was there when the police executed the warrant. Don't
get me wrong, here. Those MCT guys are as dim-witted as any other
Keystone Kop, but I was there and they at least know how to execute a
fucking warrant. Margaret Landry was not wandering around the house
planting evidence while we were there.'
I'll never understand why some people have to temper any comment that
could possibly be construed as a compliment with an insult. I suspect
they think it makes them look knowledgeable. I think it makes them
look mean. If I was lucky, O'Donnell would never feel compelled to
rise to my defense.
'So the only way she could've known to plant those particular earrings
would be if she had seen them,' I said.
'Exactly. In fact, of all the details Margaret provided that
corroborated her confession, it was the earrings that most convinced me
of her guilt. On a lot of the other facts, she tried to say at trial
that Forbes had coached her. But the earrings were such a perfect
match, she couldn't explain how Forbes could've coached her about a
pair of earrings in that kind of detail. And she admitted planting
them. I hammered on that in my closing argument, and I'm convinced
that the jury agreed there was no way for Landry to get around those
earrings.'
'So what happened when you found out the earrings weren't Jamie's?' I
asked.
'That's when this whole thing changed. I made the call to send Forbes
back in to talk to her. He was a rookie, but he'd developed a good
rapport with her, and we needed to know what the hell was going on.
Forbes told her that was it we were going to stop working with her. She
started crying, saying that he had to believe her and she knew Taylor
did the girl. Forbes did a good job, actually. Stayed tough, told her
he didn't want to hear any more from her, you get the drift. So then
Margaret blurts out that she knows Taylor did it, because she saw him.
Gives the whole confession right there, so no one but Forbes was there
to hear it.'
'How big of a problem was that for the case?' I asked.
O'Donnell shrugged his shoulders. 'Hell, in retrospect, it was a
problem. He seemed like a kid, didn't have a lot of experience, and
held too many pieces of the investigation together. The defense made
it sound like Forbes was a climber using this case to become a star in
the bureau. Fortunately, the defense didn't realize that Officer
Forbes was none other than Charles Landon Forbes, Jr. I think the jury
figured out that a governor's son doesn't need to manipulate an
investigation to get where he wants to go in city government.'
'What about physical evidence? Anything to corroborate the
confession?' I asked.
O'Donnell shook his head. 'Zilch. Zimmerman was missing for months
before the body was found. No DNA, no hair, no fibers. We were lucky
to have a firm ID and cause of death. Her license was in her pocket,
and we used dental records to confirm it. ME called the strangulation
based on damage to the small bones in her neck.' O'Donnell looked at
his watch. 'Hey, I hope this has been helpful, but I really gotta
run.'
'Shit, I was hoping you could tell me more about that confession. You
around tomorrow?'
'Nope.'
Asshole didn't even pretend to explain. The big boys around here take
off on dry days for golf, and the DA pretends he doesn't know about it.
I guess I'd gotten the maximum amount of help a person can get out of
Tim O'Donnell in a day. Actually, this might be it for the month.
'Alright, I can probably get the rest from Forbes. Thanks for the
help.'
