The Victim's Wife Page 29
“In other words, there was a power struggle between Mason and Max?”
Vivian nodded her head slowly. “I don’t know if that’s exactly how I would put it, but in essence, that’s what it came down to. Mason and Max would sometimes butt heads. Whether they perceived it as such, it was a power struggle.” Vivian ended her statement while looking at Mason, who stared back with an unreadable look.
He looked as though he had been betrayed by her answer. I felt bad for him if he felt betrayed now because it would get much worse before this was all over.
His expression was severe, and unfortunately, most of the jury had glanced back and noticed.
The one time they look, they see this.
“Let’s go to the day of Max’s death,” Cindy said, turning over a page in her notebook. “Were there any interactions between Mason and Max that day prior to that evening?”
“Yes, we had a partner meeting.”
“What time was that?
“It started at three in the afternoon in our executive conference room.”
“What matters were discussed? A high level is fine.”
“We had a whole host of issues, but the primary discussion was whether or not to take venture capital from an outside firm.”
“Was there tension around this?”
“Yes, there was considerable tension between both Mason and Max.”
“Can you please elaborate?”
“As far as I know,” Vivian glanced at Mason again, “Mason was upset about our desire to take the venture capital money. However, in this matter, we could outvote him.”
“Why was that?”
“The terms of our partnership agreement gave us a few powers where we could outvote Mason. This is one of those instances.”
“Mason wasn’t happy with the vote?”
“No, he was not.”
“Did he make any threats at that time?”
Vivian hesitated, it was apparent what Cindy wanted her to say, but it didn’t look like she was going to get the answer she wanted.
That was always a problem with any witness. When you met with them in private, they would say one thing, but when you got them in front of the jury after taking an oath, they often diverged.
“He didn’t say anything that I would classify as a threat.” A glance at Cindy showed that she thought Vivian was hedging. When Cindy had interviewed her, she had probably said something different. “He did say we would regret this decision, but I think he meant that more as a general statement, not as something he was planning to do. In other words, he thought it was a bad decision, and we would all regret it later because it was a bad decision.”
“Were there any other overt displays of emotion at the meeting?”
Vivian shook her head. “Nothing that was out of the ordinary. People looking frustrated, and the occasional caustic remark here or there, but nothing that was over the top.”
“So you were not expecting what happened later in the evening?”
“No, that came out of the blue.”
“What happened after you finished the meeting?”
“We went to dinner. There’s a nearby restaurant we like to favor because we own the restaurant,” Vivian said with a sly smile. “We found ourselves there at 5:30 in the evening, taking our usual meal in our private room.”
“Is this a normal practice?”
“Yes, after every partner meeting, we always go out to dinner. This was a tradition that began before I came and continues to this day.” Vivian said this with a glance at Mason, who frowned
“Was business discussed in this meeting?”
“Yes, frequently, we have too many items to get it all done in just a couple of hours, so we take the rest to dinner to discuss over a meal.”
“Was there tension displayed there?”
Vivian cocked her head to the side as if remembering. “The tension was palpable, so much so that it was clearly on everybody’s mind, though we were all doing our best not to talk about it.
“Mason was bothered by the decision, and he wanted to change our minds.”
“Why?”
“I don’t want to get technical. And we have confidential information we must protect. Let it suffice to say that we had an opportunity to grow, and part of capturing that opportunity was finding appropriate capitalization.
“The venture capital firm would provide the money we needed; however, Mason believed we didn’t need to go that route. He wasn’t trying to stop us from capturing the opportunity, quite the opposite. He just wanted a share of the opportunity once we acquired it.” Vivian shook her head. “I couldn’t blame him for that, but I didn’t think it was likely unless we were properly funded, something we lacked.”
“Did he talk about that at dinner?”
Vivian closed her eyes as if in deep thought. “I don’t believe so. I think he focused mainly on trying to maintain good relationships with all of us.”
“Did Max bring up the venture capital at dinner?”
Vivian shook her head. “No.”
“What happened after that?”
“We went back to our conference room because we still had a few more matters. We got through them and adjourned.”
“What time did that meeting end?”
“It was approximately 7:30 or 8:00 PM.”
“Did you go home after that?”
“No, I had a couple of things to catch up on in my office, so I went in there to work.”
“Did you close the door behind you?”
“I think so.”
“Did you have a conversation with Mason after that?”
“Yes, I popped into his office for a few minutes. We chatted briefly, not about anything substantial. I just wanted to make sure he was doing okay. He looked fine to me. I didn’t have any reason to be worried.”
I took down a note of this for my own questions. She was contradicting what Mason had told me, so I would ask about it. Mason furrowed his brow.
“That’s not the end of the night’s activities. Can you tell us what you observed next?”
“I was in my office catching up on a few things when I heard shouting.”
Vivian paused as if reliving the memory. She shuddered before she continued.
“I came out and listened, trying to figure out the source. I finally identified that the noise was coming from Max’s office. I cautiously approached because I could hear yelling. I didn’t want to get drawn into anything. I remember that I pulled out my cell phone, thinking I might need to call the police. Just before I got there, it sounded like things had taken a turn for the worse. I heard a scream and what sounded like scuffling. I also heard something that I now believe was Mason plunging the knife into Max’s chest. I crept up to the door and saw Mason standing over Max, holding a knife.”
Cindy stared at Vivian with a look of shock, although she knew all this beforehand. It was done for the jury’s benefit to make sure the moment stuck with them.
“What did you do next?”
“I called the police,” Vivian said, closing her eyes as if to protect herself from the bad memory. “I stepped back quietly, walking swiftly until I returned to my office. I didn’t know if Max was alive, but I didn’t dare enter his office to resuscitate him, especially with Mason standing over him with a bloody knife. A couple of minutes later, the police showed up.
“Did you talk to Mason?”
“Not until after the police were there. I locked my office door until the security guard notified me that the police had arrived, and he was showing them up.
“Did you speak to Mason after the police arrived?”
“Not for long. I just asked him how he was doing. I didn’t quite know what to say. I’m good at making conversation, but not over the body of a dead partner.”
Cindy almost smiled. The testimony could not have come off any better than if she had given it herself.
She glanced at the judge. “I have no further questions for this witness.”
The judge banged his gavel.
57
“I’m going to jail, aren’t I?” Mason whispered in my ear, leaning over to avoid being overheard. “Our defense plan is not gonna work, is it?” He shook his head. “Did you see the look on all their faces? I’m as good as done. I’m going to jail for a long time. Maybe I should testify against Penny.”
I had quickly told him before the trial had started about Vivian’s offer to turn state’s witness in exchange for three years on a manslaughter charge.
He had shaken his head at the time.
“Do you think that offer is still good?” Mason asked.
I grimaced. He had spoken louder than I would have liked. “Maybe, but I wouldn’t start getting prison tattoos just yet.”
Cindy had not given me an expiration date for the offer. If we went to her now, I had a feeling she would try to up the number of years because Vivian’s testimony had obviously scared Mason.
“Let’s wait until after I get done with my cross-examination of Vivian. Then we’ll talk about it.”
Mason studied me. “Are you sure? That just seems like a mistake. What if it just gets worse from here? I’m sure your ex-girlfriend is watching the jury too. No way she’s missing all the head-nodding that is going on over there.”
“And that’s precisely why now is not the time to talk to her. If you’re serious about it, we need to score a few points on the cross-examination first.”
“But what if it gets worse?”
“Just give it a little more time.” I pulled out my phone to avoid any further discussions and saw that I had a text message from Winston.
“Call me when you have a moment,” he had written. “This is important.”
“I have to make a phone call. It’s likely about your case. I’ll be right back.”
As I stood, I looked at Mason, wondering if he would go over to Cindy when I left to strike up a conversation with her about a deal himself.
“Are you going anywhere?” I asked.
He shook his head, looking away as if he were considering that very thing. “I’ll stay here.”
I hesitated, wondering if maybe I should remind him that Cindy wouldn’t talk to him without me present, but decided that it might be interesting to see if he tried.
Mason couldn’t blame me if he screwed up his own case.
“Keep an eye on my briefcase.” I put my binder inside and locked it, setting it on top of the table so it was in clear view of everybody while I was gone.
I had never figured out how Cindy had managed to steal my notes that day, which was why I was doing my best now to make it difficult. I also had a scanned copy of my notes accessible from the cloud, so even if my notebook disappeared, I could still use my computer, phone, or tablet.
Belt and suspenders.
I glanced at Cindy, intending to give her a wry look as I left, but she was focused on a conversation with a young man in a suit, likely a paralegal or another District Attorney.
After I had found a quiet corner of the courthouse and dialed Winston’s number, I waited for him to answer. He picked it up on the first ring.
“How long do you have?” Winston asked.
“A minute,” I said. “What do you need?”
“Vern Goodman has an ax to grind. I’m going to email you some information on him. Turns out his brother used to work for Meridian Solutions. I reached out to the company and confirmed that his employment was terminated approximately five years ago. There is a newspaper article about it because he was fired for stealing company information.”
I knew there was something.
“Thanks for putting that together.” I looked around to make sure nobody would overhear me. “Anything on Karen Barr?”
“I’m looking into her now but haven’t found anything other than just perfunctory information that you probably already know.”
“Keep me apprised.”
“Will do.”
I took a quick trip to the bathroom and found myself coming into the courtroom just a moment before Judge Lewis entered.
I had just enough time to open my briefcase and pull out my notepad, which was surprisingly still there. I gave Cindy a knowing smile. She looked away, her cheeks turning pink.
“All arise.”
Court was in session.
I hid a smile as I approached the lectern and put my notepad down.
“How are you doing today, Vivian?”
“I am doing just fine,” she said, with a look of confidence. She was happy with how the prosecution’s questions had gone, and she expected my questioning would be a walk in the park.
I intended to set a couple of traps.
“I just have a few questions.” I looked at my notepad. “Let’s talk more about that meeting you had on January 23rd. You said that was at 3:00 PM in the afternoon, is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“At any point did Max yell at Mason during that conversation?”
Vivian gave it some thought. “I don’t know that I would say yelled, so much as raised his voice.”
I nodded. “Did Mason yell at Max?”
Vivian shook her head. “I wouldn’t describe it as yelling or raising his voice. There were some heated discussions, sure, but everybody kept it civil. There was no name-calling, no insults.”
I nodded. “At dinner, was it pretty much the same?”
“Yes.”
“And at that second meeting after dinner, was there yelling?”
“No, there was no yelling at any point that I can recall. At least not until the end of the day when Mason was in Max’s office.”
“Thank you.” I studied my notepad to give the jury a second to consider her testimony.
Was Mason angry?
Yes.
Was he at the point of harming somebody? Probably not.
That’s what I was trying to get across to the jury.
“You mentioned you stayed at work and that you later went into Mason’s office to check on him, is that right?”
“Yes. I was worried because he had been angry and subdued at dinner and during the second meeting.”
“What time did you check on Mason? Do you remember?”
Vivian shook her head. “I can’t be sure, probably around 8:30.”
I held Vivian’s stare. “Were there any food items in Mason’s office?”
Vivian closed her eyes to think about it as if trying to remember. “I think there might have been a jar on his desk that he kept candy bars in.” Vivian opened her eyes and nodded. “Yes, I think there was candy in there that night.”
A careful act?
Or was she trying to remember?
It was time to shift gears.
“Going back to the subject of the venture capital, did you talk about it with anybody else prior to that 3:00 PM meeting?”
“Sure, I talked about it with almost everybody, probably everybody except for Mason.”
“And why didn’t you talk with Mason?”
“Well, because I knew he was against it, so it didn’t seem to make much sense to talk to him about it.”
“You talked with everybody else?”
“Yes.”
“Just to be sure, you talked with Ronald, Frank, and Max, is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“Was there a consensus among the other partners before the 3:00 PM meeting?”
“Probably, I think we were all thinking about this large opportunity and whether we could meet it without bringing in venture capital.”
“Was Mason aware before that meeting at 3:00 PM that the other partners had all talked about the venture capital and had decided to go with it?”
Vivian cleared her throat and glanced over at Mason. “No, I don’t believe he was.”
“Was this by design?”
“No,” she l
ooked indignant. “He was opposed to it, and we thought it was the best thing for the business.”
“But at no time before that meeting did anybody talk with Mason about it.”
“No, we had no responsibility to do so. The formal place to discuss it was at the meeting.”
“How do you think Mason felt when he got to the meeting and realized you guys had basically made a decision without him?”
“Objection,” Cindy was on her feet, “calls for speculation.”
“Withdrawn,” I said before the judge had a chance to respond. Judge Lewis gave me a warning glance but didn’t say anything.
“How did Mason respond in the meeting when this was brought up as an agenda point?”
“He had a curious expression. He probably thought we were all in the same place we had been last time we had discussed it.”
“How did Mason look after you guys voted?”
“He was angry.”
“Were you expecting him to be angry?”
“Yes, I suppose I was.”
“Was there a reason why you didn’t speak to him about it beforehand?”
“I thought he would be furious. I didn’t want to confront him without the other partners.”
“When was the last time that this issue was discussed in the regular partnership meeting?”
“Several months before that—I don’t remember the exact date—we talked about it and decided not to go with it. The only person who was in favor at that time was Max.”
“What changed between those two meetings?”
“You know, I think everybody was looking at the size of the opportunity and recognized that Meridian Solutions, as big as it is, needed capital if we were going to bring it off.”
“To the best of your knowledge, did anybody else speak to Mason about this?”
“Objection,” Cindy stood, “hearsay.”
“Sustained.” Judge Lewis glared at me.
“Did Mason look surprised when this topic came up?” I asked without hesitation.
“Yes.”
“When you went into his office that night to check on him,” I said, “did you talk with him about the venture capital?”