'Ms. Maher, do you recall contacting Staffpower Temporary Agency to
count Dress You Up's inventory last October?'
'Yes, I do. We do inventory twice a year, in April and October. I've
been using Staffpower for a few years now.'
At that point, Lopez handed me a piece of paper I'd never seen before
and then approached Geraldine Maher with a copy of the same document.
Defense attorneys are not required to show their documentary evidence
prior to trial. As I scanned the paper to make sense of it, panic set
in. But there was nothing I could do, and I was left watching Lopez go
to work.
'Ms. Maher, I'm showing you a document I've marked Defense Exhibit
One. What is it?'
Maher responded, seemingly as oblivious as I was about where this was
going. 'It's a letter from Staffpower notifying me of the individuals
they hired to conduct our inventory last October, with the amounts to
be paid to each of them for their work. We pay the lump total to
Staffpower to distribute and do wage withholding, but this acts as a
sort of itemization of the amount.'
Lopez continued. 'Please read for the jury the sixth name on the
list.'
There it was. Even Geraldine Maher was surprised. 'Oh, it's Frank
Derringer, or at least according to this.'
'And do you have any reason to doubt the accuracy of that list?'
'No, I do not. If it says that a Frank Derringer worked on our
inventory, then I suppose he did.'
'And, to be clear, an inventory requires the person doing the counting
to handle the merchandise, is that right?'
'Yes, generally. They'd need to move stock around to count it
properly.'
That was enough for Lisa. 'No further questions.'
Lopez had just managed to defuse my most compelling piece of evidence,
Derringer's fingerprint on Kendra's purse. Renshaw had already
testified that Derringer had worked various jobs, including
inventories, through temp agencies. And now Geraldine Maher's
testimony gave a plausible explanation for how Derringer's fingerprint
ended up on
Kendra's purse, if the jury believed that Andrea either bought or stole
the purse from Dress You Up.
Judge Lesh denied my request for a recess, so I tried my best to
control the damage. 'You testified, Ms. Maher, that the handbag
marked as State's Exhibit Three is a popular style of handbag, is that
right?'
'That's correct.'
'Where would I go if I wanted to buy a handbag just like that one?' I
asked.
'Oh, any number of stores. Like I said, we've got a few left, but so
would most of the major department stores and other women's boutiques
that carry that brand of purse. It wouldn't be hard to find one.'
'So Dress You Up is the not the exclusive seller of that purse in the
Portland area, is that right?' I asked.
'Far from it.' Good.
'Can you tell from looking at State's Exhibit Three whether it
originated in your store or in any one of the many other retailers who
stock it?'
'No, I cannot.'
'And you never actually saw Andrea Martin steal anything from your
store, let alone this purse, did you?'
'No, I did not.'
'So the purse marked as State's Exhibit Three could have come from any
number of stores other than Dress You Up?' She agreed. There wasn't
much more I could do for now.
During the break, I called MCT from my office. Ray Johnson picked up.
It took me awhile to explain the connection that Lopez was trying to
draw between Derringer and Kendra's purse.
Ray wanted to make sure he got it right. 'So one of Derringer's temp
jobs was doing inventory at Dress You Up?'
'Right.'
'And Lopez was able to show at least a possibility that Kendra's purse
came from there?' he asked.
'Right,' I said. 'A possibility. We know that the store carried the
