The Victim's Wife Read online

  “Yes.” Detective Thompson now pulled out a notebook from the pocket of his suit, flipping to a page that it looked like he had dogeared. “He said that they had fought and that Max had come at him with a knife.”

  “Where did the knife come from?”

  “He told us that it belonged to Max.”

  “Were you able to confirm that the knife was indeed Max’s property?”

  “Yes, we confirmed the knife belonged to Max. It was a souvenir he had purchased while on a trip to South America. Before its use that night, it had been displayed prominently in his office on the back wall.” Detective Thompson flipped a page over in his notes. “It had been in a display case.”

  “At what point did you start to suspect that this was murder?”

  “We always remain open to the possibility that it could be murder, don’t we? After we reviewed the physical evidence, we decided Mason had the requisite mens rea to be charged.”

  “What do you believe gave him the mens rea?”

  “Mason had been angry at the time he had gone to confront Max. That much is clear from our questioning of Vivian Fuger.”

  “Objection!” I stood up. “Hearsay.”

  “Sustained.” Judge Lewis looked at Cindy, who was already nodding.

  “We will introduce Vivian’s testimony later,” she said. “I will make sure to have her testify about this directly.”

  I sat down. It was obvious that Cindy had done that on purpose to try to get the idea into the minds of the jurors early on since she probably wouldn’t get to her other witnesses until later tomorrow or possibly the next day. She wanted the idea planted so they could ruminate it now.

  “When you arrested Mason for murder, what did he say to you?”

  “He said, ‘I can’t believe I killed him.’”

  There was no objection I could make to this, and I wouldn’t have if I could. It fell squarely within the rules of evidence about excited utterances. And I had already admitted that Mason had stabbed him, so there wasn’t much point to quibble about this.

  “Did he say anything else?”

  “Not about that.”

  “At what point did you start to suspect that Penny might’ve had something to do with the death of her husband?”

  I leaned forward, my ears perking up. “When we checked Mason’s call logs, we discovered that Penny called Mason the day after Max was killed, the afternoon after he was released on bail.” Detective Thompson looked like he was about to go on but then thought better of it. I imagined this was a discussion point between him and Cindy during the prep. They had decided to let this statement stand alone.

  Cindy stared at Detective Thompson as if surprised by his answer and glanced over the jury. “Really? How long did the conversation last?”

  “For almost twenty minutes.”

  “Detective, I’m just want to make sure I understand this. The victim’s wife, Penny Moyer, reached out to Mason the day after Max died and had a twenty-minute conversation with him. Is this accurate?”

  “Yes, it is accurate. It might even be helpful to think of it in terms of hours instead of days. Max had been killed the night before at approximately 11:30 PM. Penny called Mason at about 1:45 PM the next day. It had not even been a full twenty-four hours.”

  “What did you think when you discovered this?”

  “That was the first thing that tipped us off that there might be something more going on than we initially thought. As we began to dig, we found that Penny and Mason had been involved with each other on and off over the last decade. This started prior to her relationship with Max, and we found instances of them rendezvousing within the last year and a half.”

  “Detective, some people have illicit liaisons outside of their marriage, that does not necessarily lead to murder. What was it about these liaisons that made you think there was a conspiracy that had arisen between the two?”

  “There were several text messages exchanged about a year ago where they talked about killing their spouses so that they could get together.”

  I had read those same messages and had not interpreted them in the same way, at least for Mason’s part. I hesitated, thinking of an objection but decided against it. I would handle this during my cross-examination.

  “How many messages did you find that talked about this?”

  “Four. Two from Penny, two from Mason.”

  “Let’s start with the first two messages,” Cindy said, touching something on her computer and nodding to the bailiff who dimmed the lights while also lowering the projection screen.

  Cindy cleared her throat. “Detective Thompson, what are we looking at?”

  “This message was sent on April 16 of last year. Penny sent it to Mason.”

  “Would you please read it?”

  “Sure thing. ‘I really wish we could be together. Perhaps if something were to happen, there might be an opportunity for us to get back together. I miss you.’”

  This was hardly the smoking gun Cindy was trying to make it out to be. I’d already figured out Penny was crazy, so I had not been surprised when I’d come across this. Besides, this was not what I was interested in. It was Mason’s reply that I needed to mitigate.

  “And here is the response from Mason,” Detective Thompson continued. “‘It would be nice to come out into the open, but for now we have to keep hidden.’”

  I glanced at the jury to see what they made of this. If they wanted to blame Penny for Max’s murder, fine, I just didn’t see how it implicated my client in any way. He had not responded, saying, “Hey, let’s kill ‘em.” He had just wished that they could be together.

  “I believe you mentioned there were two exchanges?” Cindy prompted.

  “Yes, that is correct.”

  “Can you walk us through the other instance?” Cindy asked, pushing a button on her computer.

  “Two weeks after this message was sent, Penny sent another.” Detective Thompson looked up at the screen. “Here is the message. ‘Max came home today and accused me of having a relationship again with you. I told him that it was over between us long ago. If he confronts you, you’ll want to hold the line. Wouldn’t it just be so much easier if he and Justine were out of the picture? Imagine what that would be like?’”

  “And here was Mason’s response. ‘It would be nice.’”

  I had pondered both of these messages during my review of the materials disclosed by the prosecution and had talked with Mason about them at length. At the time, he had been besotted with Penny. He had been considering a divorce from Justine. The two had still been separated.

  It was a month after these last messages that Mason ended things with Penny for good.

  Or so he said.

  I glanced at the jury, trying to figure out what they thought of this whole line of testimony. One nodded their head as if they could see Detective Thompson’s point. Several others stared at the messages with dubious looks on their faces, as if they couldn’t pick up exactly what it was that Detective Thompson was trying to say.

  Vern Goodman nodded, a glare on his face as if he would’ve expected nothing less of Mason than to plan a murder.

  That guy has a bias, I thought.

  When I got back to my office, I would review his questionnaire to see if anything stuck out to me.

  “So based on these messages and the fact that Penny called Mason within twelve hours of Max’s murder, you figured that something was going on that you needed to investigate, is that correct?”

  “Yes, that is accurate.”

  “What else did you find?”

  “We looked at all their communication during the six months prior to the victim’s death and was surprised to find that there was not any. I wondered if maybe they had a plan to “break up,” so they wouldn’t be suspects when they executed their plan.”

  “Objection,” I said, standing, “Officer Thompson is speculating. Does he have any evidence to support this theory?”

  “Sustained.”
r />   “Were there any eyewitnesses to Max’s death?”

  “No, but Max and Mason were not the only people working that night. Vivian Fuger was working too with the door shut. She heard fighting and approached just as Mason finished stabbing Max. When this happened, Mason pivoted and tried to tell a story that fit the facts.”

  “Objection,” I said, jumping up, “speculation and hearsay.”

  “Sustained.”

  Mason stirred when I sat. I glanced over. He shook his head and leaned toward me. “I walked by her on my way to Max’s office. The door was open, she called out, but I didn’t answer.”

  I nodded and looked at the jury to see if they had overheard what Mason had said. His whisper had not been that quiet. Judging by how Vern Goodman was looking at us, it was an easy assumption to think he might have overheard part of it. The rest of the jurors were transfixed on Detective Thompson’s testimony.

  The one guy I didn’t want to hear it is the one who did. I didn’t expect him to pass it onto the other jurors. If anything, he would twist it around to make Mason seem worse than he was.

  I shook my head as the questioning continued. I might have to put Mason on the stand, after all.

  “Was there other evidence that supported your conclusion that there was a conspiracy between Penny and Mason to kill Max so that they could be together?”

  “We found proof that things between Penny and Max had deteriorated. They were sleeping in separate bedrooms. Penny was using the master bedroom, and Max had taken up residence in one of the guest bedrooms in their home. Their home is big enough that it is possible for two people to live there and not run into each other very often, particularly if they are not living in the same rooms.”

  Detective Thompson fell silent. Cindy stared at him with a curious expression on her face. “How long after Max’s death did you search Penny’s home?”

  “Three months later.”

  “What makes you so sure that they were sleeping in different bedrooms?”

  “Max’s room appeared to have remained untouched during that time. His DNA was found all over. It didn’t even look like she had been in there to clean.”

  “Was there anything else?”

  “She didn’t have pictures up of Max anywhere in the home. We went through that entire place with a fine-tooth comb and did not find one single picture.”

  Cindy arched an eyebrow. “Why was this alarming to you?”

  Alarming? I nearly sputtered and glanced at Steve, who was looking at his phone.

  “If she were mourning her husband as she pretended to be when she had opened the door to let us in, things would have been different inside. There were places on the wall where the paint had faded. It was obvious pictures had been taken down.

  “In her front room, we counted eleven such places.”

  You guys missed one. I counted twelve.

  Cindy nodded. “And why did you think that this was significant?”

  “If my wife were to die, the last thing I would do is remove her pictures.”

  “Objection,” Steve was on his feet, having just put his phone back in his pocket, “the detective is giving us speculation. He doesn’t know what Penny was thinking.”

  “Sustained.”

  “Do you believe that this suggests a guilty conscience?”

  “Objection,” Steve was still on his feet, “calls for speculation. Again. There’s no way that they can deduce the mind of my client based upon this evidence.”

  “Sustained.” Judge Lewis glanced over at Cindy. “Please be careful in your questioning, counselor.”

  Cindy took a moment to review her notes. She had never intended for Detective Thompson to answer any of these question. She had only been trying to get the idea into the minds of the jury. Steve had been distracted for the first question, letting the detective get out an answer, but faster on the follow up questions.

  “What else did you find in Penny’s home?”

  “We also discovered several books on poisons that were hidden underneath a guest bed in one of the rooms.”

  “Was this Max’s room?”

  Thompson shook his head. “No.”

  “Why did you find this significant?”

  “It looked like they had been purchased on the black market. You can’t find books like this on Amazon. We also found trace elements of poison throughout Penny’s home as well. We did not find anything in a bottle, or in other words, we did not find a source for the poison, but it was clear somebody had been experimenting with poisons.” Detective Thompson shrugged. “The master bathroom was where we found most of the poison, particularly the medicine cabinet.”

  “What poisons?”

  “Arsenic and cyanide, among others.”

  “How did you interpret this?”

  “Let me start out by saying this is not something we can prove; it’s more of a suspicion or an instinct.”

  I glanced over at Steve. He looked ready to object.

  “There is a practice from ancient times, where people would intentionally ingest small amounts of poison so they could build up a supposed immunity. We believe she was trying to inoculate herself against poisons. It might be she thought Max was out to poison her, and she was trying to develop immunity in case she ingested something.”

  “Objection, Your Honor,” Steve said, slowly getting to his feet, “this is all speculation. How do we expect the jury to sort this all out since we’re just going off of Detective Thompson’s feelings here? Is there any evidence to suggest that Penny was ingesting any of this poison? Couldn’t we also believe that Max might have been trying to poison her, but she was on to him and was careful about what she ate or drank?”

  Judge Lewis looked at Cindy. “I will direct the jury to ignore this testimony and have this line of questioning stricken from the record.” He focused on Detective Thompson. “I suggest you keep your speculations out of your testimony. We are here in search of facts.”

  “I understand, Your Honor.” Cindy looked at Detective Thompson and then at her notes.

  “I have no further questions for this witness.

  Judge Lewis looked at me. “Counselor.”

  51

  I studied Detective Thompson as I walked up to the lectern. It was my professional responsibility to make sure that I did a good job representing Mason, but I also had to weigh that against the relationship Detective Thompson and I had built up over the years.

  I had to make sure that I walked both roads as well as I could. I didn’t want to open myself up to a malpractice lawsuit, but I also wanted to maintain the relationship I had built with Detective Thompson.

  He had done me several solid favors, and I wanted to make sure I did nothing to jeopardize receiving help from him in the future.

  Sure, his recent favor had been done in exchange for another favor. And even though he had said that the favor had been returned, he and I both knew how this worked. I would need something, or he would need something. So it would not do anything for me to destroy the reputation of this man. I also wanted to avoid coming off as abrasive or caustic.

  “Detective Thompson,” I said as I took my place behind the lectern and placed my notepad down in front of me, “thank you for being with us here today. I just have a couple questions. Then we’ll let Steve take his turn.” I gave him what I hoped came across as a congenial smile. “I want to talk a little bit more about your appraisal of my client when you first met him. Are you sure he did not seem to be inebriated?”

  Detective Thompson nodded. “Positive. Mason was able to carry on a cohesive conversation, he answered questions readily, and there was not any hesitation on his part when he did.”

  “Are you aware that Officer Johnston was under the impression that Mason was drunk when he tried to speak with him just a few minutes before you?”

  “Yes, I am aware of that. I read Officer Johnston’s police report during the course of this investigation.”

  “Detective Thompson,” I said, “d
id it ever cross your mind to run a breathalyzer test on Mason?”

  “No, it did not.”

  “Did it ever cross your mind to ask for a blood sample to test his system for any other kinds of drugs?”

  “No, as I’ve already expressed, he appeared to be in his right state of mind.”

  I nodded as I looked down at my questions, trying to decide which one I wanted to tackle next.

  “You have testified today that you believe a conspiracy existed between Penny and Mason to kill Max and that this was the theory of the case you proceeded with after Penny’s inclusion into the criminal complaint.” I paused, giving him a questioning look to see if he were going to say something, but he just waited, knowing that I had not actually asked him a question. “Outside of the text messages and the fact that a prior relationship had existed between Penny and Mason, what other evidence did you find that led you to believe there was a conspiracy here?”

  “For one, it was not a prior relationship. There was an ongoing relationship between Penny and your client, Mason, at Max’s time of death.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “Even though it had been six months since there was a text message, email, or other cell phone communication between the two of them, that’s not the only way to communicate these days, is it?”

  I opened my mouth, but he cut me off.

  “What if they messaged each other through a social media app such as QuickSend that deleted their messages as soon as they had been viewed?”

  I felt a sinking in my stomach. I tried to think quickly, but Detective Thompson continued before I could stop him.

  “Both of them had QuickSend installed on their phones. Both had added the other as a friend. That is certainly one way they could have communicated that we could not bring as evidence into court because QuickSend deletes the communication right after it has been viewed.”

  I felt like I had stepped in it.

  I almost growled but somehow managed to suppress the urge. It looked like things were about to get strained between Detective Thompson and me. I could not let this pass without digging it to make sure the jury saw the missing logical connections.