The Lawyer's Lawyer

CHAPTER Sixty-Eight



Judge Holbrook re-convened the proceedings at one o’clock. Neither the gallery nor the jury was in the room.

“Do we have anything else to discuss before we bring everybody back here?”

“No, Your Honor,” said Merton.

“No, Your Honor,” said Tom.

“Just for the record, Mr. Wylie, you are going to ask questions about the proffered testimony, specifically about Ms. Jansen’s breaking into Chief Jeffries’s home and finding a gun and her belief that the gun belonged to Thomas Felton.”

“Yes, Your Honor,” Tom replied.

“And you have no objection to that testimony, Mr. Merton?”

“That’s correct.”

“Okay,” said the judge, obviously a little exasperated. “Let’s bring in the gallery first and the witness. Then when everybody is seated, we’ll bring in the jury.”

It took fifteen minutes to get the gallery seated and a couple more for the jury. Eventually, everybody was seated and ready.

“Mr. Wylie, you may proceed.”

Tom went to the podium and proceeded to ask Danni the same questions he had asked that morning. She told the jury in a straightforward fashion how she broke into Sam’s house, found the gun, and why she believed it was Felton’s gun. Robert Merton did not raise an objection. When Tom was finished, the judge turned to Merton.

“Cross-examination, Mr. Merton?”

“Yes, Your Honor.”

Merton walked to his favorite spot close to the witness but between the witness and the jury so that his questions could be statements to the jury and they could see the witness behind him answering the statements.

“So let me get this straight, Ms. Jansen. You broke into Felton’s home ten years ago, took the bowie knife, planted it at the last murder scene, and told nobody about that until this morning—is that right?

“That’s correct.”

“The burning question for me, as I’m sure it is for everyone here, is why—why now?”

“I didn’t want to see an innocent man go to jail.”

“You didn’t want to see an innocent man go to jail. You testified last week for the prosecution; you knew they were prosecuting this man for murder—did your feelings change between last week and today?”

“Frankly, yes. I thought about it some more and I decided to tell the whole truth.”

“Did you talk to anybody about this between your testimony for the prosecution last week and your new testimony this week?”

Danni hesitated—not a good thing when you were on cross-examination. “Yes. I spoke to Henry Wilson.”

“You spoke to Henry Wilson. Did he help persuade you?”

“He helped. The decision was mine.”

“Now before you testified last week, you spoke to me on several occasions and you never told me, the state attorney for this county, that you had planted evidence in the Felton case, correct?”

“That’s correct.”

“So you talked to Henry Wilson, you made your decision, and then you woke up this morning and decided to break into Sam Jeffries’s house, that’s what you want this jury to believe?”

“It’s the truth.”

“The truth.” Merton picked up the Ruger that Tom had introduced into evidence. “The truth is that you, me, anybody can buy this exact gun at Walmart, Kmart, or even better, at some obscure gun show that blows through town.”

“That’s correct.”

“The truth is that this gun is clean, meaning there are no prints or any other evidence to connect this gun to Thomas Felton?”

“That’s correct.”

“The truth is that anyone could make the claim that they got this gun from Sam Jeffries’s house and there would be no way to disprove it.”

“Not everybody would know about Sam Jeffries’s hidden gun room.”

“A little gem to make your story more credible? And you want the jury to believe that the key to that room was in the same place that it was ten years ago, correct? And that just allowed you to walk right in?”

“I don’t want them to believe anything. That’s where it was. Otherwise I couldn’t have gotten the gun.”

“Unless you bought it at Walmart?”

Danni did not answer the question.

“That’s a question, Ms. Jansen.”

“I did not buy the gun at Walmart or Kmart or anywhere else.”

“You were a homicide detective for twenty years, is that correct?”

“No, I was a homicide detective for approximately fifteen of my twenty years on the force.”

“You interviewed witnesses, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“And you were constantly required to evaluate who was a credible witness and who wasn’t, weren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve always heard it said that the worst witnesses are criminals who have their own self-serving reasons for offering their testimony: rats, prison snitches—those type of people. Do you agree?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Now, what you did—breaking into Thomas Felton’s apartment without probable cause—was criminal, wasn’t it?”

“That’s for the State to decide.”

“Breaking and entering is a crime, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“You broke and entered into Chief Jeffries’s house this morning, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“That’s a crime, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“You are a criminal?”

“Yes.”

“So now in evaluating your testimony as a criminal, our next step is to determine if you have any self-serving motive. Do you?”

“No.”

“You’re just here as a citizen, a criminal citizen, finally deciding to straighten up and do the right thing, is that what you’re telling us?”

“I wouldn’t put it quite that way. I don’t have an agenda though.”

“Aren’t you having a love affair with Jack Tobin?”

The room erupted with that question. Judge Holbrook stood up as he banged his gavel. “I will have order in this courtroom.”

The gallery settled down.

“Would you like me to repeat the question, Ms. Jansen?”

“No. I am not having a love affair with Jack Tobin.”

“Have you ever had a love affair with him?”

Danni hesitated again. It was not going well. “Yes, we did have a brief affair two years ago.”

“Two years ago? He shot Felton and ran to your house. You went to the crime scene with him. He went back to your house the same night. His best friend showed up at your house and you now come in here and tell this incredible story—two years ago?”

Tom was on his feet. Merton had asked the questions in machine-gun fashion. “Objection, Your Honor; he’s badgering the witness. He’s asking compound questions.”

“Sustained. Mr. Merton, ask one question at a time.”

“I’ll withdraw that question, Your Honor.

“Didn’t Henry Wilson tell you that Jack Tobin still loved you?”

“No.”

“Ms. Jansen, can you look at this jury and tell them that you do not love that man?” He pointed at Jack, causing Danni to look at Jack.

“Object,” Jack said to Tom.

“I can’t,” Tom replied. “I have no grounds.”

“Object anyway.”

“Can’t do it, Jack. It’s too late for that.”

It had taken Danni so much to get to this place. So many walls had to come down. She had to admit that what she did ten years ago had led to everything that had followed, including the death of Kathleen Jeffries. It wasn’t Jack who got Tom Felton released, it was her. She also had to finally see that Sam was on a warped quest to avenge the murder of his wife and daughter. And last but not least, when she had to decide to put her life on the line, she had to come to grips with her feelings about Jack Tobin. Now that the walls were down, she couldn’t put them back up again.

The silence had been deafening. There was almost no need to answer the question anymore, but Merton felt it needed repeating.

“Can you look at this jury, Ms. Jansen, and tell them you are not in love with Jack Tobin?”

“No, I can’t.”

“I have no further questions, Your Honor.”

“Redirect?” the judge asked Tom.

Tom started to stand. Jack grabbed his arm. “No,” he said. “Let her go.”

“No, Your Honor.”

“The witness may leave the stand. Ms. Jansen, I am ordering you not to leave the jurisdiction, do you understand?”

“Yes, Your Honor.”

Even though her answer to the last question had cemented his conviction, Jack wanted to go to her as she walked out of the courtroom. If he had one last moment of freedom, he wanted to hold her and thank her and tell her that he loved her too.