Presumed Guilty, page 21
And he immediately tore into her.
“Now, Ms. Whitmore, you admitted on direct examination that you did not really believe your eyes when you saw there was a new girl who taken the place of Aria, isn’t that correct?” he demanded.
“Right. That’s right. I really didn’t believe there was a new girl there.”
“And you admit that during that period of time you were having issues with your mental balance. Isn’t that right?”
“Right. That’s exactly what I said.”
“Now isn’t it possible you imagined the entire thing? Is it possible you imagined Aria was murdered? Maybe you had a nightmare or something like that, or maybe your schizophrenia, which you admitted was late onset, was made manifest with no triggering event, and so you lost touch with reality and only thought your daughter was murdered?”
“You mean, is it possible my schizophrenia wasn’t brought about by my daughter being murdered, but that it just randomly happened, and that made me imagine my daughter was murdered?”
“Exactly. I know I worded that question awkwardly, but that’s what I’m getting at. Is that possible?”
“Yes. That’s possible.”
“So, you admit it’s possible you imagined the entire thing? You just imagined your daughter was killed by a large rock and you just imagined she was replaced by somebody new?”
“Yes. That’s possible. But I don’t think so. I’ve come across some information that made me know exactly why my husband would’ve killed Aria in the first place.”
My ears perked up. Christian had gotten ahold of that Ancestry.com test result, so I knew why Jacob had killed Aria. I couldn’t get these records on my own, however. I could not put them into evidence, because they were obtained illegally. When I asked the judge if I could subpoena the records, he refused. Which was unfortunate, because I thought that maybe he would allow me that since he was so liberal about everything else.
I was holding my breath. I wondered if she’d come across something she hadn’t yet told me about.
She nodded. “I have in my possession some DNA test results that my daughter got from that organization called Ancestry.com. And it clearly shows my husband had something to hide.”
Chapter Forty
What? She had the test results? She never even told me that. And she didn’t bring it up on direct examination, either. I knew chances were good they couldn’t come into evidence but this was a possible game changer.
I thought Brent recognized the implications of her having those test results. And he wouldn’t ask her about them at all. He wouldn’t open the door and I could hardly blame him. In fact, he wanted to shut down questioning after she mentioned that, right away.
“I have nothing more for this witness,” he said.
I stood up. “I would like to ask for a short recess, because I need to speak with my witness.”
Judge Warner nodded and banged the gavel. “Actually, it’s time for lunch. So this is a good time for a break, anyway. It is now 12:15. I would like to ask the jury to be back here at 1:30. Please do not be late. There are lots of great restaurants in the vicinity you can go to, but don’t forget, none of you can discuss this case. I’ll see everybody in a little over an hour.”
I motioned to Lauren to come with me.
“Let’s go to lunch, my treat.”
She smiled and put her arm around my shoulder. “Avery, I owe everything to you. You got me into that wonderful place in the Pacific Palisades. It has literally meant everything to me. I mean, I’m not cured. I’ll never be cured. But I’ve had a longer period of lucidity than I’ve ever had, at least since I first started coming down with the symptoms of this disease. I have hope now that maybe I can live a normal life, and it’s all thanks to you.”
“Well, you did the hard work. But I need to talk to you about what you just said on the stand. So let’s get some lunch. Christian will come with us and I need to talk to you about this.”
The three of us left the courthouse, and we shoved our way through the throngs of people.
“Where do you want to go?” I asked when we got out on the street.
“I’m game for anything,” Lauren said.
“I know. There’s this great little Italian place called Osteria Panevino. It’s over in the Gaslamp Area, over on Fifth Street. They have gnocchi to die for, and a lot of northern Italian dishes. When it comes to Italian places, it’s my favorite place to go. We could sit outside. It’s a beautiful day.”
Lauren smiled. “I know that place. In my former life, Jacob and I used to go there all the time. You’re right, it’s a great place to go. Let’s go. I would say I’d like to treat you, but –”
“I wouldn’t hear of it,” I said to her. “It’s on me.”
We got to the restaurant, asked to sit outside and we ordered our food. And then Christian got right to it. I knew he was just as curious about the whole Ancestry.com thing. If she had those results in her possession, I’d have to figure out a way to get them into evidence. Christian and I would have to brainstorm that one.
“Okay,” Christian said to Lauren. “What gives? You said on the stand you had the results of the DNA test. How did you get a hold of them?”
She took a deep breath. “Well, I told you she was doing that for a school project. I always assumed Aria was killed before she got her chance to turn her test results into the teacher. Mind you, it was always voluntary. The kids didn’t have to give the teacher the test results if they didn’t want to. But I knew Aria wanted to. She wanted to participate in it because she was interested in finding out the history of the people who were her ancestors.”
“Even after she found out what she found out about Jacob? She wanted to give the test results even then?”
“See, that’s the thing. I always figured Aria never found that out. I would’ve been very surprised if Aria would’ve known something like that and not said anything to me. But here’s what I found out. I found out that Aria had ordered two sets of this DNA test. She ordered one set to come to the house and one set to go directly to the teacher. I don’t really know why she did that, but that’s what she did. And the reason why I found that out was because I contacted her teacher. Her name is Helen Rosen. She’d never looked at the test results. But she had them in Aria’s file and she gave them to me.”
I started to get excited. Maybe I was being prematurely excited, because I didn’t know if the judge would allow these test results to be admitted into open court. I would have to ask for an emergency motion in limine on the matter. I had a feeling the prosecutor would have a very good argument for keeping those DNA test results out. Namely, because it would be impossible to show the chain of custody. I would have to get the teacher to testify about how she received the test results and there was no time for that. Not only that, it would be too easy to just doctor up the document. It wasn’t like I could get around the hearsay rule by saying it was part of the business records exception, unless I could call somebody from the Ancestry.com place, who had actually composed the report, who could testify it was prepared in the ordinary course of business.
It would be an impossibility to actually get the test results into evidence. I wondered if I could possibly use it in another manner. I wondered if I could use the DNA report to throw Jacob off balance by stating to him I had the test results. Probably, Brent would object even to that. I couldn’t make reference to the Ancestry.com report, because I would be making reference to a piece of evidence that wouldn’t be allowed.
I gamed out the possibilities but came up empty. The most I could do would be to get the evidence into open court. The judge had been liberal with my evidence so far. That would be a long shot. To say the least. And it would be an appealable error if he allowed them in.
In a way, I wished Lauren didn’t actually have those test results in her possession. After all, they wouldn’t do any good.
I looked at Christian. “Think about any possibility that we could get those test results into evidence,” I said.
“I’m thinking, but I don’t see it. It wouldn’t come under the business records exception to the hearsay rule, and, let’s face it, the chain of custody isn’t there. But it’s good to know she has the records.”
The food came, and, just like I remembered, it was delicious. We chatted about how she was doing, and she told me about her new job. She said it wasn’t much, and it was a lot of work, but she was happy to be doing it. She was happy to be doing any kind of job. She was thrilled she was off the streets, working an honest day’s work, and had a soft place to land at night.
Chapter Forty-One
After lunch, we made the half-mile trek back to the courthouse. I was actually looking forward to my next witness, because I felt she could shed a lot of light on what had happened with Sophia and why she was murdered.
When we got in the courtroom, the jury was just coming back in. The judge also came back in, banged his gavel, the bailiff announced him, everybody stood up, and sat back down. “Now, I hope everybody got a good lunch. We’re going to be continuing with the defendant’s case, and Ms. Collins, call your next witness.”
“The defense calls Calista Kassis.”
Calista would put Jacob and Colleen on blast to the entire world. At the moment, I was happy the media had been invited into the courtroom. Because, if nothing else, the sick part of their lives would be broadcast to the world. Jacob’s even more sick secrets would also be broadcast to the world, but nobody thought Jacob was a choir boy. He was known to be ruthless and a scumbag. But Colleen’s reputation was sterling.
It wouldn’t be after this.
Calista approached the bench. She was dressed in a black pantsuit, with a green turtleneck underneath it. Her blonde hair was straightened and she was wearing minimal makeup. On her earlobes were a pair of dangly earrings. On her neck was a pearl necklace.
She raised her hand, was sworn in, I asked her name, she stated it, and I got right to work.
“Now, Ms. Kassis, you are, or you were, the domestic worker for Mr. and Mrs. Whitmore, is that correct?”
“Yes. Yes I was. I was up until a few months ago.” I knew when I talked to that immigration judge and threatened to expose him for his corruption, so Calista was no longer in fear of being deported, she was free to quit the job and testify against them.
“Did you recently have a child?”
“Yes.”
“And who is the father of that child?”
“Jacob Whitmore.”
I knew the jury was waiting for this particular witness to take the stand. I knew they were aware of what she would say, because I’d covered all of that in my opening statement. But I still heard gasps behind me, which told me they were still shocked.
“Jacob Whitmore. Can you tell me how you came to have a child for Jacob Whitmore?”
She nodded. She looked ashamed as she looked down at the stand in front of her. She had tears in her eyes.
“Mr. Whitmore told me that when I came to work for him what he wanted from me. Or, actually, it was his wife, Colleen, who told me. She explained to me that she could not have children and needed me to bear children for her. I was an immigrant, a refugee from Syria, and this is a very bad time for people like me. Not many people from my country are even being allowed to come here anymore. I came here without documentation. I applied for asylum the moment I got here, but I didn’t know if it would given to me. I was lucky to even come to this country at all. I was terrified of being sent back. I would do anything I possibly could to make sure I stayed in this country.”
“Did Mr. Whitmore make any promises if you did this for him?”
She nodded her head. “He did. He told me he had a line with this certain immigration judge. One bad word from him and I’d be sent back. But he also said that one good word from him and I’d be guaranteed to stay. So I would do anything at all to stay.”
I knew that, just like with Esme, she was forced to have abortions. “Was there anything in particular that Jacob wanted, as far as babies? Did he want a son or a daughter?”
She nodded her head. “He definitely wanted sons.”
“And what would happen if you got pregnant with a daughter?”
“He would force me to have an abortion and we would start all over again. We did that four times before I finally got pregnant with a son.”
Now for the piéce de rèsistance. “Did you happen to tell Aria about what was going on?”
She hesitated. “I did. But I knew Aria was not Aria. She told me one night in confidence about what had happened. She didn’t tell Esme, though. She was afraid to tell even me, but she had to tell somebody. She was having a lot of problems with doing what she was doing. She told me she had to tell somebody about it.”
“You mean, she told you she was actually Sophia Delgado?”
“Objection, hearsay,” Brent said getting to his feet. I wondered why he didn’t make an objection earlier. Maybe he wasn’t paying attention.
“Sustained,” Judge Warner said. “Ms. Kassis, you may tell the court what you told Aria. You may not tell the court what she said in response. Please proceed.”
I was happy that at least something came in as far as what Calista knew, as far as Aria being Sophia. This would explain a little bit about why Sophia got upset enough to tell Jacob what she knew and what she would do about it.
I knew Sophia was extremely upset when she found out about the abortions Jacob forced Calista and Esme to have. She was Catholic, very religious and thought it was disgusting that these women were forced to have abortions. I knew Calista and she had spoken. She knew both women were exploited by Jacob and also knew she held the secret that would ruin him.
“So, did you tell the woman that everybody knew as Aria that you were being forced to have abortions?”
“Objection, relevance,” Brent said, getting to his feet.
“Goes to motive, Your Honor. My theory of the case is that Sophia found out exactly how much Jacob and Colleen were exploiting immigrants and that led her to go to the authorities about what he was doing. And, since she had an ace in the hole, the proof she was not really his daughter, he knew she was dangerous.”
The judge nodded his head. “I’ll allow it. Ms. Kassis, please proceed.”
“Yes.” She bowed her head, and dabbed her eyes.
“Did you tell her that my client, Esme, was being forced to have abortions as well?”
“Yes.”
“So the woman everybody knew as Aria knew you and my client were being exploited by the Whitmores?”
She nodded. “Yes. That’s what they do. They exploit the vulnerable, the weak, the helpless. They know that if they get brown immigrants in, they can do anything at all to these immigrants. All they have to do is threaten to have them deported, and these women will do anything. And she was an immigrant too. Sophia. She was an immigrant.”
“Other than being forced to have abortions and being forced to have a child for the Whitmores, did they treat you well?”
She shook her head. “No. They did not.”
“What do you mean, they didn’t treat you well?”
“They didn’t pay me. At all. And I did a lot of work for them. Esme and me, we did all the housework around that enormous house. That was a lot of work and we also did a lot of the cooking. The laundry, cleaning their six bathrooms, vacuuming, dusting, every single day. Mopping, picking up dry cleaning, on and on and on and on. And neither Esme nor I got any money for any of that.”
This direct exam was going very well. This woman was painting Jacob as the monster he was. I looked over at the jury and saw their faces were contorted in horror at what Calista was saying. A couple of them were shaking their heads with disgusted looks on their faces. I smiled, then turned back around so I could ask Calista a few more questions.
“You know my client, Esme, correct?”
“Of course. I worked with her for many months.”
“To your knowledge, have the Whitmores ever accused her of stealing anything from them?”
“No. Never.”
“I have nothing further for this witness.”
I sat down and Brent stood up. He cross-examined her for the better part of the next half hour. But it was no use. I could tell just by looking at the jury that I had hit home with my questioning.
It was getting to be in the late afternoon. I thought long and hard about that Ancestry.com document. There was no harm in asking for a motion in limine. The worst that could happen would be the judge would tell me there was no way he would allow that document to come in. I wouldn’t be out anything if he said that because I was expecting it.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Brent had finished his cross-examination of Calista and the judge asked me to call my next witness.
“I’d like a short recess, Your Honor. I’d like a conference with Your Honor and the prosecutors. Thank you.”
Judge Warner nodded his head. “It’s a good time for a recess. Okay, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, stretch your legs a little bit. This court will recess for 15 minutes. Please be back by 3:45. Thank you.”
The jury filed out and I could feel my heart pounding. This might be the game changer, if the judge would allow this piece of information in. If he didn’t allow it in, it wouldn’t change my original strategy. However, my original strategy would rely on a lot of luck, and a lot of skill in breaking down Jacob when he took the stand as my witness. It would be so much easier if I could just bring in this DNA test and show the jury exactly who Jacob was.
I went to the bench, along with Christian, Brent, and his second chair, Gina Mathews.
“Well, counselor, what did you need to have a conference about?” Judge Warner asked me.
“I have a document I’d like to enter into evidence. However, I needed to see if I could possibly schedule a motion in limine on the document.”
“And what, exactly, is the document in question?” Judge Warner asked me.
