Good Morning, Killer - April Smith [97]
“Is that him?” whispered one of the courthouse secretaries who had gathered in a giggly group in the front row. “He is pretty cute.”
You still look good, Andrew, I agreed, darting my eyes away. You could still do it to me, old pal.
The girls in their nylon dresses and cheap platform heels were all aflutter with their game. When hunks were sighted anywhere in the building they would call one another and duck away from their desks and rush courtroom to courtroom to check out the goods, their flushed childlike excitement revealing how much they did not yet know about men and women.
CRIMINAL COURT OF LOS ANGELES
PRELIMINARY HEARING
DEPARTMENT C
444-8743—Bailiff—H. Solanas
The Honorable Wolfson H. McIntyre
Attempt 187
Transcript of Proceedings page 4
BERRINGER: I told her I wanted to do the right thing.
RAUCH: What was the right thing, Detective Berringer?
BERRINGER: To end the relationship. I knew it would be hard for her because she had become dependent on me.
RAUCH: Can you give us an example?
BERRINGER: She’d call all the time when I was on duty. Show up at my house. Have a breakdown and come to me for solace—which I was happy to give—but then it started to get crazy, and I realized, this woman is obsessed, she’s making it impossible.
RAUCH: What kind of breakdowns, Detective?
BERRINGER: Angry, saying she was depressed and life wasn’t worth living, she didn’t want to be a federal agent anymore.
RAUCH: How did you react to that? When she said she wanted to kill herself because things were bad at work?
DEVON: Objection.
JUDGE: I can hear what the witness is saying without embellishment from you, Mr. Rauch.
RAUCH: Sorry, Your Honor.
BERRINGER: I worried about her. I talked to her about not quitting her job. I said we’d break the case. But it got to the point where I couldn’t deal with it inside myself anymore. Toward the time of the shooting incident, I was becoming extremely uncomfortable with the relationship.
RAUCH: Have you witnessed this sort of behavior before, in your professional life?
BERRINGER: Sure, I’ve seen depressed people, suicidal people, schizophrenics, alcoholics, the whole gamut.
RAUCH: Did Agent Grey fit any of these categories?
DEVON: Your Honor, Detective Berringer does not hold a degree in psychiatry.
JUDGE: Get to the point, Mr. Rauch.
BERRINGER: I think I can short-circuit this, Your Honor.
JUDGE: Do us all a favor.
BERRINGER: Ana was having a lot of trouble at work. We were both involved in a very stressful case. It was a case of rape and kidnapping of a juvenile, and it would be upsetting to anyone. It was upsetting to me. The victim was brutalized, we believe by a sadistic serial rapist, and quite frankly, the Bureau wasn’t getting anywhere close to solving this thing, and Ana was the lead agent, so she was under a lot of pressure. I understand that, I really do.
RAUCH: As a law enforcement professional, you’ve been there?
BERRINGER: I’ve been there, but she couldn’t handle it. She was falling apart.
RAUCH: What did you observe?
BERRINGER: As I stated, she became obsessed with me.
RAUCH: Why you?
BERRINGER: Well, I’m such a handsome guy. Sorry, Your Honor, I don’t mean to joke, it’s not a joke by any means, but—I don’t really know. I was there, I guess. We were working together. You know how it is.
RAUCH: You mean the long hours, the forced intimacy …
BERRINGER: She’s an intelligent, attractive woman, and I guess—we got along. We understood each other. We were both uninvolved, free adults, and we knew what we were doing—or at least, I thought she knew. It was just a casual thing.
RAUCH: Did Agent Grey agree it was casual?
BERRINGER: I don’t know.
RAUCH: Can you go back to this obsession? Give us more examples, if you would, please.
BERRINGER: She’d show up at bars, where I went to unwind after work with my fellow officers, and she was … demanding …
RAUCH: Are you all right, Detective?
BERRINGER: Yes. I’m sorry, I—
RAUCH: