“Spontaneous utterances, Captain,” said Jenkins. She and Vega had already been through the transcript before they arrived this evening. “Detective Vega was under stress—”
“I’m not talking about what he said,” said Waring. “I’m talking about where he was standing at the time of the shooting. Officer Franklin seems to believe Detective Vega was much closer to the suspect than fifteen feet when he shot him.”
“Detective Vega and I have discussed the matter,” said Jenkins. “He stands by his original statement.”
Waring looked at Vega but directed his question to Jenkins. “Does the detective have any explanation he’d like to offer as to why one of the bullets entered beneath the suspect’s chin?”
Vega fought the urge to defend himself. He silently counted to five and waited for Jenkins to answer.
“Detective Vega fired at the suspect’s center mass, as per departmental training and policy,” said Jenkins. “We believe the first three shots caused the suspect to collapse. The final bullet caught him under the chin as he was in the process of falling backward. My client is confident that ballistics will vindicate any suggestion that he aimed his weapon beneath the suspect’s chin and fired at point-blank range.”
“Confident, hmm,” said Waring. He and Lorenzo traded quick glances. “The district attorney’s office has uncovered a witness, Vega. Someone who swears they saw you shoot Ponce point-blank in the head.”
“That’s impossible!” Vega couldn’t contain himself any longer. “I was never closer than fifteen feet from him!” He caught Jenkins scowling at him and sat on his hands—something he hadn’t done since he was a kid in parochial school and Sister Margarita was trying to get him to sit still.
“Has the district attorney released the witness’s name?” asked Jenkins.
“Yes,” said Waring. “She lives on Perkins Road in Wickford. Her house is adjacent to the woods behind Ricardo Luis’s estate. It was her spotlight that was shining into the woods where Ponce was shot.”
Vega pictured a snoopy old dowager, wheelchair-bound, skin like an oyster, half-addled with dementia, looking out her window and mistaking a deer for him. She was probably confused. Maybe a little lonely. Those big estates in Wickford had to get pretty lonely.
Jenkins must have been thinking the same thing because she asked Waring if he had a description of the witness.
“I have a few notes from the DA’s office.” Waring put on his glasses and read a printout before him. “The witness is a thirty-eight-year-old former bond trader for Goldman Sachs. She’s now a stay-at-home mom with two boys, ages three and five. Her husband is a managing partner at Morgan Stanley.” Waring put the sheet of paper down and stared at Vega. “And for the record? Her vision is twenty-twenty, courtesy of LASIK surgery she underwent about a month ago.”
Vega felt the rope slowly tightening around his neck. Jenkins, ever the good defense attorney, began exploring other angles. “So her mental and visual acuity are not in question, I take it. How about her politics? Would she have any reason to lie about what she saw?”
“She’s on the board of a number of volunteer groups in Lake Holly,” said Waring. “The hospital. The Junior League. A few other local charities. Her politics might be sympathetic toward immigrants. But her background seems pretty solid and community-oriented.”
“In other words,” said Jenkins, “her mere presence as a witness, coupled with all the media attention, is likely to force this shooting in the direction of a grand jury.”
Waring and Lorenzo didn’t answer. No answer was needed. They were all familiar with New York State law and protocol in police shootings. Most police shootings never went before a grand jury because the use of lethal force was considered legally justified. If the suspect brandished a weapon or was in the process of committing a violent crime. If there were witnesses who could verify that the officer reasonably feared for his life or the lives of others. If there was video that backed up any of the same assertions. In these cases, the DA and the police wrote up their paperwork, cleared the shooting in-house and that was the end of it.