The Fifth Witness - Michael Connelly [147]
“I don’t think I have any choice in light of the state’s decision to pursue my client’s old Facebook posts.”
“Very well, we’ll wait for Mr. Driscoll to testify. Don’t disappoint me, Mr. Haller, and come into court and say you changed your mind. I won’t be happy if that happens.”
“Yes, Your Honor.”
We returned to our places and I asked Lisa the question again.
“Did Don Driscoll ever contact you on Facebook or anywhere else and say he worked for ALOFT?”
“No, he didn’t.”
“Are you familiar with ALOFT?”
“Yes. That is the name of the foreclosure mill that banks like WestLand use to file all the paperwork on their foreclosures.”
“Was this company involved in the foreclosure of your home?”
“Yes, totally.”
“Is ALOFT an acronym? Do you know what it stands for?”
“A. Louis Opparizio Financial Technologies. That’s the name of the company.”
“Now, what would it mean to you if this person Donald Driscoll, who was one of your friends on Facebook, was employed by ALOFT?”
“It would mean that somebody from ALOFT was getting all my posts.”
“So, essentially, this person Driscoll would know where you’ve been and where you’re going, correct?”
“That’s correct.”
“He would have been privy to your posts from last September that said you had found Mr. Bondurant’s parking spot at the bank and that you were going to wait for him, correct?”
“Yes, correct.”
“Thank you, Lisa. I have nothing further.”
On my way back to my seat I had to steal a glance at Freeman. She was no longer beaming. She was staring straight ahead. I then looked out into the gallery for Maggie, but she was gone.
Forty-three
The afternoon belonged to Shamiram Arslanian, my forensics expert from New York. I had used Shami to great effect in previous trials and that was again the plan here. She had degrees from Harvard, MIT and John Jay, was currently a research fellow at the latter, and had a winning and telegenic personality. On top of that she had an integrity that shone through on the witness stand with every word of testimony. She was a defense lawyer’s dream. No doubt, she was a gun for hire but she took the job only if she believed in the science and in what she was going to say on the stand. What’s more, there was a bonus for me in this case. She was the exact same height as my client.
During the lunch break Arslanian had set up a mannequin in front of the jury box. It was a male figure standing exactly six foot two and a half inches tall, the same height as Mitchell Bondurant in his shoes. It wore a suit similar to the one Bondurant was wearing on the morning of his murder and the exact same shoes. The mannequin had joints that allowed for a full range of natural human motion.
After court resumed and my witness took the stand, I took my time going through her voluminous bona fides. I wanted the jurors to understand this woman’s accomplishments and to like her offhand manner of answering questions. I also wanted them to realize that her skills and knowledge put her on a different plane than the state’s forensic witnesses. A higher plane.
Once the impression had been made I got down to the business of the mannequin.
“Now, Dr. Arslanian, I asked you to review aspects of the murder of Mitchell Bondurant, is that true?”
“Yes, you did.”
“And in particular I wanted to examine the physics of the crime, true?”
“Yes, you basically asked me to find out if your client could’ve actually done the crime in the way the police said she did.”
“And did you conclude that she could have?”
“Well, yes and no. I determined that yes, she could have done it but it wouldn’t have been in the manner the detectives out here were saying.”
“Can you explain your conclusion?”
“I would rather demonstrate, using myself in the place of your client.”
“How tall are you, Dr. Arslanian?”
“I’m five foot three in my stocking feet, same height that I was told Lisa Trammel is.”
“And did I send you a hammer that was a duplicate of the hammer recovered by police and declared to be the murder weapon?”
“Yes, you did. And I brought it with me.”
She held the duplicate hammer