The Fifth Witness - Michael Connelly [114]
A low murmur went through the courtroom. I was sure most of the general citizenry was unaware of things like federal target letters. It was law enforcement in the new era. I was sure the so-called task force amounted to token contributions of agents from a handful of agencies and no budget. Instead of mounting expensive investigations, it would take a shot at scaring people into coming in and begging for mercy. A design to pick the low-hanging fruit, grab a few headlines and call it a day. Someone like Opparizio probably used the original letter received via certified mail as toilet paper. But that didn’t matter to me. My plan was to use the letter to help keep my client out of prison.
“Thank you, Detective Kurlen. Now, can you tell us, is the letter dated?”
Kurlen checked the copy before answering.
“It’s dated January eighteenth of this year.”
“Now, Detective, had you seen that letter before yesterday?”
“No, why should I have seen it? It’s got nothing to do with—”
“Move to strike as unresponsive,” I said quickly. “Your Honor, the question was simply whether he had seen the letter before.”
The judge instructed Kurlen to answer only the question asked.
“I had not seen this letter before yesterday.”
“Thank you, Detective. And now let’s go back to the other letter I asked you to read yesterday, from the victim, Mitchell Bondurant, to the same Louis Opparizio who is addressed in the federal target letter. Do you have that handy there in your binder?”
“If I could have a moment.”
“Please.”
Kurlen found the letter in the binder, removed it and held it up.
“Good. Can you tell us the date of that letter, please?”
“January tenth, this year.”
“And that letter was delivered to Mr. Opparizio by certified mail, correct?”
“It was sent certified. I cannot tell you if Mr. Opparizio received it or ever saw it. It has someone else’s name listed as signing for it.”
“But no matter who signed for it, it is a certainty that it was sent on January tenth, correct?”
“I think that’s correct.”
“And the second letter we’ve talked about here, the target letter from the Secret Service agent, was sent by certified mail as well, am I right?”
“That’s right.”
“So the date of January eighteenth is certified as to when it was mailed.”
“Correct.”
“So let me see if I have this right. Mr. Bondurant sends Louis Opparizio a certified letter that threatens to expose alleged fraudulent practices in his company and then eight days later a federal task force sends Mr. Opparizio another certified letter, this one saying he is the target of an investigation into foreclosure fraud. Do I have this time line right, Detective Kurlen?”
“As far as I know, yes.”
“And then less than two weeks later Mr. Bondurant is brutally murdered in the garage at WestLand, right?”
“That’s right.”
I paused and rubbed my chin like a deep thinker. I really wanted to hold the jury with this. I wanted to look at their faces but knew it would reveal my play. So I went with the deep thinker pose.
“Detective, you have testified about your wealth of experience as a homicide detective, correct?”
“I have a lot of experience, yes.”
“Hypothetically speaking, do you wish you knew then what you know now?”
Kurlen squinted like he was confused, even though he knew exactly what I was doing and where I was going.
“I’m not sure I understand,” he said.