“Tread lightly, counsel,” the judge said.
“As a law clerk for the Supreme Court, it’s fair to say that you were in the building late at night all the time, isn’t that right?”
“Yes.”
“Later than most court personnel?”
“That’s correct.”
“You ever explore the building? I mean, it’s a historic place, didn’t you ever scout around late at night?”
Malik pressed his lips together. “When I first started at the court, I suppose I did that. All of the clerks did. It’s an interesting building, a lot of history.”
“As a clerk, you had access to the chambers of the justices? And the police offices? You knew the security codes to most spaces in the building, right?”
“Yes, me and at least a hundred other people who work at the court.”
Fallon seemed to ponder whether to ask the next question. She looked over to her hound-faced colleague, who nodded. Then: “Mr. Montgomery, I’m handing you what’s been marked as Government Exhibit One and ask you to look at it.” Fallon walked to Malik and handed him a sheet of paper. She then paced over to Hellstrom and slid a copy of the document across the defense table.
Sean noticed Hellstrom’s wrinkled brow as he examined the document.
“Do you know what that is?” Fallon asked.
Hellstrom was already on his feet, but Fallon managed to sneak in her last question. “Isn’t that an interview report from the Supreme Court Police showing that the day Abby was killed she’d alerted the police that a law clerk had been harassing her? Had threatened her?”
Before Malik said a word, Judge Chin said, “Don’t answer that.” She shook her head at Fallon: You know better than this, Patti. “I assume, Mr. Hellstrom, you’re going to object to this as lacking foundation, hearsay, and completely irrelevant to this motion?” the judge asked.
Hellstrom gave a nod: I should say so.
“Sustained.” The judge looked at Fallon. “And I take it that you have no more questions, Ms. Fallon?” Another question that answered itself.
Fallon opened her mouth to speak, but seeing the judge’s expression, she simply nodded and sat slowly back down in her seat. An unceremonious end, but Sean assumed that Fallon had made the calculated decision that, like Hellstrom, she too should play to the media in the courtroom. To put some cold water on whatever flames Hellstrom had stoked.
There was more prattle from the gallery. Abby’s visit to the police station the day she was murdered was truly damning for Malik. Sean wondered momentarily if it was true, thinking about how the police chief winked at him. But the chief wouldn’t be so foolish as to fabricate evidence, would he?
CHAPTER 74
Judge Chin excused Malik Montgomery from the witness chair. “I’ll take the motion to suppress under advisement and issue a decision shortly. Mr. Hellstrom, I understand you had one other matter you’d like to take up?”
Hellstrom stood. “Thank you, Your Honor. Yes, the defense requests that the court issue an order to allow the subpoena of records from Google concerning a Gmail account. The government recently advised us that Abby Serrat had an e-mail account that we had not been previously informed about. If you log on to the e-mail account, there are no sent or received messages. But there is one e-mail in the Drafts folder. The draft e-mail invited an unknown recipient to meet the drafter at the Supreme Court library on a Sunday, the same day Ms. Serrat was murdered. If I may approach the bench?”
Hellstrom was masterfully bringing the proceedings back to the question posed by Malik’s testimony: Who was in the library with Abby? Hellstrom walked to the bench and handed the judge a sheet of paper.
“I’ve marked as Defense Exhibit One a copy of the draft e-mail printed from the Gmail account,” Hellstrom said.
Judge Chin inspected the exhibit. Hellstrom continued, “It is a common practice, started by terrorists, that to avoid electronic detection or tracking of e-mails sent over the Internet, they will open an e-mail account, write an e-mail and place it in a draft folder, but never send it. The sender then gives the e-mail account login and password to the message’s recipient. The recipient logs onto the e-mail account, reads the draft e-mail, then deletes it. This reduces the electronic footprint since the draft e-mail never transmits over the Internet and is erased after it is read.”
Judge Chin eyed Hellstrom skeptically. “So you think Ms. Serrat was wise to the ways of al Qaeda?”
Hellstrom gave the judge a serious look. “It may not have been Ms. Serrat’s idea—she could have been the recipient of the message. The sender could have just given her the e-mail account information and told her what to do. That’s why we need information from Google.”