Murder in Brentwood (38 page)

P.V.
   
Who’s the limo service?

O.J.
   
Ah, you have to ask my office.

P.V.
  
Did you converse with the driver at all? Did you talk to him?

O.J.
  
No, he was a new driver. Normally, I have a regular driver I drive with and converse. No, just about rushing to the airport, about how I live my life on airplanes, and hotels, that type of thing.

T.L.
   
What time did the plane leave?

O.J.
   
Ah, eleven forty-five the flight took off.

T.L.
   
What airline was it?

O.J.
   
American.

P.V.
   
American? And it was eleven forty-five to Chicago?

O.J.
   
Chicago.

T.L.
   
So yesterday you did drive the white Bronco?

O.J.
   
Mmm hmm.

T.L.
   
And where did you park it when you brought it home?

O.J.
  
Ah, the first time probably by the mailbox. I’m trying to think, or did I bring it in the driveway? Normally, I park it by the mailbox, sometimes...

T.L.
   
On Ashford, or Ashland? O.J.
  
On Ashford, yeah.

T.L.
  
Where did you park yesterday for the last time, do you remember?

O.J.
   
Right where it is.

T.L.
   
Where is it now?

O.J.
  
Yeah.

T.L.
   
Where, on...?

O.J.
   
Right on the street there.

T.L.
   
On Ashford?

O.J.
   
No, on Rockingham.

T.L.
   
You parked it there?

O.J.
   
Yes.

T.L.
   
About what time was that?

O.J.
  
Eight-something, seven... eight, nine o’clock, I don’t know, right in that area.

T.L.
   
Did you take it to the recital?

O.J.
  
No.

T.L.
  
What time was the recital?

O.J.
  
Over at about six-thirty. Like I said, I came home, I got my car, I was going to see my girlfriend. I was calling her, and she wasn’t around.

T.L.
   
So you drove the... you came home in the Rolls, and then you got in the Bronco?

O.J.
  
In the Bronco ‘cause my phone was in the Bronco. And because it’s a Bronco. It’s a Bronco, it’s what I drive, you know. I’d rather drive it than any other car. And, you know, as I was going over there, I called her a couple of times, and she wasn’t there, and I left a message, and then I checked my messages, and there were no messages. She wasn’t there, and she may have to leave town. Then I came back and ended up sitting with Kato.

T.L.
   
Okay. What time was this again that you parked the Bronco?

O.J.
  
Eight-something, maybe. He hadn’t done a Jacuzzi, we had... went and got a burger, and I’d come home and kind of leisurely got ready to go. I mean, we’d done a few things...

T.L.
   
You weren’t in a hurry when you came back with the Bronco?

O.J.
  
No.

T.L.
   
The reason I ask you, the car was parked kind of at a funny angle, stuck out in the street.

O.J.
  
Well, it’s parked because...
 
I don’t know if it’s a funny angle or what. It’s parked because when I was hustling at the end of the day to get all my stuff, and I was getting my phone and everything off it, when I just pulled it out of the gate there, it’s like, it’s a tight turn.

T.L.
   
So you had it inside the compound, then?

O.J.
  
Yeah.

T.L.
   
Oh, okay.

O.J.
  
I brought it inside the compound to get my stuff out of it, and then I put it out, and I’d run back inside the gate before the gate closes.

T.L.
   
O.J., what’s your office phone number?

O.J.
   
820-5702.

P.V.
   
And is that area code 310?

O.J.
   
Yes.

P.V.
   
How did you get the injury on your hand?

O.J.
  
I don’t know. The first time, when I was in Chicago and all, but at the house I was just running around.

P.V.
  
How did you do it in Chicago?

O.J.
  
I broke a glass. One of you guys had just called me, and I was in the bathroom, and I just went bonkers for a little bit.

T.L.
   
Is that how you cut it?

O.J.
  
Mmm, it was cut before, but I think I just opened it again, I’m not sure.

T.L.
   
Do you recall bleeding at all in your truck, in the Bronco?

O.J. I recall bleeding at my house, and then I went to the Bronco. The last thing I did before I left, when I was rushing, was went and got my phone out of the Bronco.

T.L.
   
Mmm hmm. Where’s the phone now?

O.J.
   
In my bag.

T.L.
   
You have it?

O.J.
   
In that black bag.

T.L.
   
You brought a bag with you here?

O.J.
   
Yeah, it’s...

T.L.
   
So do you recall bleeding at all?

O.J.
  
Yeah, I mean, I knew I was bleeding, but it was no big deal. I bleed all the time. I play golf and stuff, so there’s always something, nicks and stuff, here and there.

T.L.
   
So did you do anything? When did you put the Band-Aid on it?

O.J.
  
Actually, I asked the girl this morning for it. T.L.
  
And she got it?

O.J.
  
Yeah, ‘cause last night with Kato, when I was leaving, he was saying something to me, and I was rushing to get my phone, and I put a little thing on it, and it stopped.

P.V.
   
Do you have the keys to the Bronco? O.J.
  
Yeah.

P.V.
  
Okay. We’ve impounded the Bronco. I don’t know if you know that or not.

O.J.
  
No.

P.V.
  
Take a look at it. Other than you, who’s the last person to drive it?

O.J.
  
Probably Gigi. When I’m out of town, I don’t know who drives the car, maybe my daughter, maybe Kato.

P.V.
  
The keys are available?

O.J.
  
I leave the keys there, you know, when Gigi’s there,

because sometimes she needs it, or Gigi was off and wasn’t coming back until today, and I was coming back tonight.

P.V.
   
So you don’t mind if she uses it, or...?

O.J.
  
This is the only one I can let her use. When she doesn’t have her car, ‘cause sometimes her husband takes her car, I let her use the car.

T.L.
  
When was the last time you were at Nicole’s house?

O.J.
  
I don’t go in. I won’t go in her house. I haven’t been in her house in a week, maybe five days. I go to her house a lot. I mean, I’m always dropping the kids off, picking the kids up, fooling around with the dog, you know.

P.V.
  
How does that usually work? Do you drop them at the porch, or do you go in with them?

O.J.
   
No, I don’t go in the house.

P.V.
   
Is there a kind of gate out front?

O.J.
   
Yeah.

P.V.
   
But you never go inside the house?

O.J.
  
Up until five days, six days ago, I haven’t been in the house. Once I started seeing Paula again, I kind of avoid Nicole.

P.V.
  
Is Nicole seeing anybody else that you...?

O.J.
  
I have no idea. I really have absolutely no idea. I don’t ask her, I don’t know. Her and her girlfriends, they go out, you know, they’ve got some things going on right now with her girlfriends, so I’m assuming something’s happening because one of the girlfriends is having a big problem with her husband, because she’s always saying she’s with Nicole until three or four in the morning. She’s not. You know, Nicole tells me she leaves her at one-thirty or two or two-thirty, and the girl doesn’t go home until five, and she only lives a few blocks away.

P.V.
   
Something’s going on, huh?

T.L.
   
Do you know where they went, the family, for dinner last night?

O.J.
  
No. Well, no, I didn’t ask.

T.L.
   
I just thought maybe there’s a regular place that they go.

O.J.
  
No. If I was with them, we’d go to Toscano. I mean, not Toscano, Popino’s.

P.V.
  
You haven’t had any problems with her lately, have you, O.J.?

O.J.
  
I always have problems with her, you know? Our relationship has been a problem relationship. Probably lately for me, and I say this only because I said it to Ron yesterday at the-Ron Fischman, whose wife is Cora-at the dance recital, when he came up to me and went “Oooh, boy, what’s going on?” And everybody was beefing with everybody. And I said, “Well, I’m just glad I’m out of the mix.” You know, because I was like dealing with him and his problems with his wife and Nicole and evidently some new problems that a guy named Christian was having with his girl, and he was staying at Nicole’s house, and something was going on, but I don’t think it’s pertinent to this.

P.V.
   
Did Nicole have words with you last night?

O.J.
   
Pardon me?

P.V.
   
Did Nicole have words with you last night?

O.J.
   
No, not at all.

P.V.
   
Did you talk to her last night?

O.J.
  
To ask to speak to my daughter, to congratulate my daughter, and everything.

P.V.
  
But you didn’t have a conversation with her?

O.J.
  
No, no.

P.V.
  
What were you wearing last night, O.J.?

O.J.
  
What did I wear on the golf course yesterday? Some of these kind of pants, some of these kind of pants, I mean I changed different for whatever it was. I just had on some...

P.V.
  
Just these black pants?

O.J.
  
Just these... They’re called Bugle Boy.

P.V.
   
These aren’t the pants?

O.J.
   
No.

P.V.
   
Where are the pants that you wore?

O.J.
  
They’re hanging in my closet.

P.V.
  
These are washable, right? You just throw them in the laundry?

O.J.
  
Yeah, I got a hundred pair. They give them to me free, Bugle Boys, so I’ve got a bunch of them.

P.V.
  
Do you recall coming home and hanging them up, or...?

O.J.
  
I always hang up my clothes. I mean it’s rare that I don’t hang up my clothes unless I’m laying them in my bathroom for her to do something with them. But those are the only things I don’t hang up. But when you play golf, you don’t necessarily dirty pants.

T.L.
   
What kind of shoes were you wearing?

O.J.
   
Tennis shoes.

T.L.
   
Tennis shoes? Do you know what kind?

O.J.
   
Probably Reebok, that’s all I wear.

T.L.
   
Are they at home, too?

O.J.
  
Yeah.

T.L.
  
Was this supposed to be a short trip to Chicago, so you didn’t take a whole lot?

O.J.
  
Yeah, I was coming back today. T.L.
   
Just overnight? O.J.
  
Yeah.

P.V.
  
That’s a hectic schedule, drive back here to play golf and come back.

O.J.
  
Yeah, but I do it all the time. P.V.
  
Do you?

O.J.
  
Yeah. That’s what I was complaining with the driver about, you know, about my whole life is on and off airplanes.

P.V.
  
O.J., we’ve got sort of a problem. O.J.
  
Mmm hmm.

P.V.
  
We’ve got some blood on and in your car, we’ve got some blood at your house, and sort of a problem.

O.J.
  
Well, take my blood test.

T.L.
  
Well, we’d like to do that. We’ve got, of course, the cut on your finger that you aren’t real clear on. Do recall having that cut on your finger the last time you were at Nicole’s house?

O.J.
   
A week ago?

T.L.
   
Yeah.

O.J.
   
No. It was last night.

T.L.
   
Okay, so last night you cut it?

P.V.
   
Somewhere after the recital?

O.J.
   
Somewhere when I was rushing to get out of my house.

P.V.
   
Okay, after the recital?

O.J.
   
Yeah.

P.V.
   
What do you think happened? Do you have any idea?

O.J.
  
I have no idea, man. You guys haven’t told me anything. I have no idea. When you said to my daughter, who said something to me today that somebody else might have been involved, I have absolutely no idea what happened. I don’t know how, why, or what. But you guys haven’t told me anything. Every time I ask you guys, you say you’re going to tell me in a bit.