The Perfect Game (24 page)

Chapter Sixty-one

(Monday evening, October 2)

That evening at work, Lauren was rummaging through the supply closet, looking for the four by four gauze bandages she needed to treat her patient. The thirty-four-year-old married father of three had attempted to impress his friends that night by juggling full bottles of liquor. The three-inch gash on his forehead revealed how that had turned out.

While she was squatting down to check the lower shelves, Ritesh came in and began searching the higher shelving units for a nine-gauge needle. Shortly thereafter, one of the female interns opened the door, took one look at the two of them, murmured “Oops, sorry,” and slammed the door. When Lauren emerged a moment later with Ritesh steps behind her, the female intern was whispering to several other interns who were all looking at Lauren and Ritesh and giggling.

“What are you guys going on about?” Lauren said to them. “Don't you have something to do? Because if you don't, I have a stool sample that needs to be collected from the guy in Bay One.”

They tittered again and began to scatter, but one of the guys by the name of Cooper said, “Don't worry about it, Dr. Rose. We think you and Dr. Patel make a lovely couple.”

“And I think you guys have been watching too much bad television. Sometimes, people go into the supply closet for actual supplies. Congratulations, Dr. Cooper, you just earned yourself the privilege of collecting that stool sample. Hope it comes out all right for you.”

Lauren could hear Ritesh guffawing behind her. “You know, Lauren, that gives me an idea, I haven't been able to use all those condoms you guys gave me last year and…”

“Don't even bother finishing that sentence,” Lauren retorted as she returned to her patient with the gaping head wound. She took extra care with the stitches since this guy was going to be sporting a visible scar. As she was finishing up, her cell phone vibrated in her pocket.

She checked her phone after wrapping up with the patient, including a notation to ‘Quit Juggling' on his discharge instructions. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw she had a missed call from Ryan. He usually just texted if he needed to confirm a pick-up time or location.

She pushed the Call Back button. Her pulse quickened as the phone started to ring.

“Lauren?”

“Hey Ryan. I saw you tried to call, but I was with a patient. Is everything all right?”

“Everything's great. I just wanted to let you know that Candace said the verdict from the mock jury is in.”

“Already?” The State's jury consultant had convened a mock jury to watch the videotaped testimony from the case and provide feedback. They had been using this data throughout the trial to determine what components of their case they needed to reinforce.

“Candace figures the Defense is probably going to rest their case tomorrow after they ask Jake a few more questions, so she requested a verdict from the mock jury tonight.”

“And?”

“And they voted unanimously to convict.”

“That's terrific news. Thanks for calling to let me know.”

“No problem. I…” he paused awkwardly. “I'll see you in the morning.”

“See you in the morning.” Lauren was disappointed by the artificial distance between them, but was elated by the mock jury results. They were going to win this case after all.

Chapter Sixty-two

(Tuesday, October 3)

Pratt re-called Jake to the stand for redirect, but he asked only one question.

“Including jury selection, we have been in trial for nearly three months today. All of this time and all of this evidence is being used to answer one simple question. Mr. Wakefield, did you kill your wife?”

“No, I loved my wife and she loved me. I had no reason to want her dead. I could never have hurt her and I did not kill her.”

When Candace declined additional cross-examination, Lauren waited for the Defense to rest their case.

“Your Honor, at this time, the Defense would like to call Detective Ryan Boyd to the stand.”

Ryan stiffened in the seat next to Lauren. Candace was already on her feet, “Your Honor, may we approach the bench?” The judge assented and the lawyers huddled up with the judge for a private sidebar.

Lauren dared a glimpse at Ryan. He was staring at the sidebar with his jaw clenched. Whatever the Defense's intentions were, it couldn't be good.

The sidebar broke up and the lawyers returned to their tables. Candace looked tense, but the Defense lawyers didn't look all that happy either.

Judge Robles spoke to Ryan. “Detective Boyd, you may take the stand now.”

Lauren knew the Prosecution had never prepped Ryan to testify. The State didn't need to call him as there was nothing he could offer that Wallace hadn't already covered. And nobody had ever guessed the Defense might choose to call him.

“Detective Boyd, you were one of the lead detectives in this case, were you not?”

“Yes.”

“In fact, you are still assigned to this case, correct?”

“Yes, I am.”

“You continue to track down leads on the case?”

“When the need arises.”

“And you also escort Miss Rose to court every day?”

“Yes.”

“Is that routine police protocol for criminal trials?”

“Not exactly, but this is hardly a routine trial.”

“Why is it necessary for taxpayer money to be spent to escort Miss Rose to and from court?”

“I'm acting on orders from my police chief. I guess you'd have to ask him.”

“He didn't tell you why he wanted you to escort Miss Rose to court?”

“He told me he wanted to make sure she arrived to court safely. As I'm sure you know, the traffic at the courthouse can make that very difficult most days.”

“And yet the rest of us all manage to get here fine. Miss Rose is a licensed driver. I'm guessing she's capable of driving herself to and from court?”

“Yes, I imagine she could, but there have been threats made against her because of the unsubstantiated accusations that Jake Wakefield levied against her in the press.”

Pratt looked pleased. “Some people are so convinced Miss Rose is guilty of this crime that threats have been made against her life?”

“Some naïve people that know more about unfounded accusations than they do about the evidence,” Ryan responded with some ferocity in his voice.

Lauren wasn't aware of any death threats, but it didn't surprise her. The press had initially crucified her. This explained why the Scottsdale Police Chief had been so insistent that she be escorted to court.

“So it's fair to say you have spent quite a bit of time with Miss Rose during all of your commutes to and from the courthouse?”

“Yes, that would be fair to say.”

“I believe the two of you have dined together on several occasions?”

Candace objected but was overruled.

“We have lunch together almost every court day along with the Prosecution team and all of us have had dinner together a few times.”

“But you have also dined with Miss Rose alone, have you not?”

“No.”

“No?” Pratt asked in his exaggerated tone of incredulity.

“I haven't eaten alone with La—” Ryan caught himself, “…Miss Rose unless you count snacks in the car or lunches at the courthouse.”

Pratt moved to enter something into evidence. It was the photo from the
Arizona Republic
article showing Lauren and Ryan at The Old Spaghetti Factory.

“Detective Boyd, doesn't this photo show you and Miss Rose eating dinner alone?”

“No.”

“No?” Pratt's voice went up an octave.

“I can see why you might think that, but we dined with the prosecutors that night. They left a bit earlier than we did because they had to get back to work. We stayed another five minutes at the most, finishing our meal.”

“Detective Boyd, have you become romantically involved with Miss Rose?”

Candace objected, “Your Honor, there is no evidence to support that question. This is nothing more than a fishing expedition intended to unfairly malign the reputation of my investigator.”

Robles sustained the objection and shot a warning look at Pratt. “Mr. Pratt, we discussed this in sidebar. You are only permitted to ask questions that are predicated on established evidence.”

Pratt looked back at the photograph of Ryan and Lauren in his hand, clearly looking for a way around the judge's limitations. “Detective Boyd, when you look at this picture, wouldn't you agree these two people appear to be in love?”

Candace objected again. Robles paused before issuing a ruling. “I will allow questions based upon the content of the photograph.”

Ryan answered. “Why? Because we're smiling and laughing? I smile and laugh with a lot of people I'm not in love with. I think you're making assumptions without evidence and I wouldn't do that. So, no, I wouldn't make that assessment based solely upon that photograph.”

“Detective Boyd, I would like to ask you a few questions about standard police procedure.”

“Okay.”

“Aren't police officers supposed to maintain objective relationships with their witnesses?”

“Yes.”

“Wouldn't it be considered inappropriate for a police detective to get intimately involved with a witness in one of his cases?”

Outraged, Candace objected, but was overruled. However, Robles did caution Pratt, “Tread lightly, Counsel.”

“Yes,” Ryan agreed.

“And aren't you intimately involved with a witness in this case?”

Candace exploded and the judge was not far behind her. He sustained Candace's objection and called for another sidebar. Lauren was afraid to look directly at Ryan for fear the jury would see. She looked instead at the sidebar, trying to catch a glimpse of Ryan in her peripheral vision. He looked anxious, which made her feel nervous for him.

Judge Robles addressed the room. “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, Mr. Pratt has been trying to ask this witness some questions for which there is no basis in fact. That is not permitted in a court of law. I strongly urge you not to consider these questions suggesting an intimate relationship between this investigator and one of the witnesses in this case.” Several jurors looked at Lauren when he said that. “There is no basis in fact to suggest any such relationship exists. Because Mr. Pratt has overstepped his bounds on more than one occasion, he is not permitted to ask this witness anymore questions at this time.” He turned to Candace. “Your witness, Ms. Keene.”

“Detective Boyd, you have been involved in this case from the very beginning, haven't you?”

“Yes. The case was assigned to Detective Wallace and me as soon as it was called in as a homicide.”

“It was assigned to you before you knew the identity of the victim?”

“Yes.”

“Or the victim's husband?”

“Yes.”

“Or the victim's sister?”

“Yes.”

“So you knew nothing about Elizabeth Wakefield when this case was assigned to you?”

“Other than that she was married to the baseball pitcher, no I didn't.”

“Detective Boyd, did you and Detective Wallace conduct a comprehensive and impartial investigation in this case?”

“Yes, we did. We took our time and investigated all credible leads.”

“And can you tell the members of this courtroom why Jake Wakefield was ultimately arrested for this crime?”

“Yes, we arrested him on the basis of the evidence. The time line, the DNA match, the blood spatter evidence, the inconsistencies in his statement. Jake Wakefield is the only person who had the means, the motive, and the opportunity to commit this crime. All of the evidence in this case points to Jake Wakefield.”

“Detective Boyd, did you maintain your objectivity in this case as you were investigating it?”

“Absolutely.”

“No more questions for this witness.”

Pratt requested another sidebar. Robles dismissed the rest of the courtroom for lunch while he met with the lawyers privately. Ryan looked solemn as he and Lauren walked back to the war room together in silence.

Once they were in the privacy of the war room, Lauren offered reassurances, “You did a solid job up there. Very composed.”

But Ryan shook his head. “They didn't even ask me any questions about the evidence. They only wanted to know about my relationship with you. This is my first homicide case and I've botched it up for the prosecutors. The Defense knows about us somehow.”

Lauren shook her head. “No, if they had any real evidence, they would have introduced it. Candace is right. They're just fishing. It's that stupid article in the
Arizona Republic
. I thought it was funny at first, but not anymore. I'm going to call that reporter and demand a retraction.”

She called on her cell phone. As soon as she identified herself by name, the receptionist seemed more than eager to put Lauren in contact with the reporter who had written the story. “Yes, Dr. Rose, why don't I take your phone number and I'll have him call you?”

“I bet he'll call me. And call me and call me and call me. Why don't you give me his number and I'll call him?”

“I'll have to check with him to see if I can give you his number.”

“Yes, you do that.”

The receptionist called back in a matter of seconds, offering all of the reporter's contact information to Lauren. “He said you could call him any time.”

Lauren blocked her phone number before making the call. The reporter, Doug Collier, picked up the call on the first ring. Lauren didn't waste any time, “Your juvenile sexual innuendoes are putting this entire case in jeopardy. I want you to issue a retraction in tomorrow's paper or I am going to sue you for libel. Is that understood?”

The reporter was extremely conciliatory. “I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to cause any trouble. I'll ask the editor about printing a retraction.”

“I want it on the front page, front and center, just like the article was. Tomorrow!”

“I'll see what I can do.”

“Just make it happen.”

Lauren hung up, still feeling dissatisfied. Ryan looked miserable. Candace stormed into the room with Kyle trying to keep pace behind her, slamming the door before confronting Ryan, “Pratt asked Robles for permission to subpoena your cell phone records. For the love of God, please tell me there's nothing incriminating on your cell phone.” Ryan looked uncomfortably at Lauren. Candace immediately interpreted that look correctly, exploding at Ryan, “Were you born yesterday? You better hope and pray Robles doesn't grant that subpoena. He's researching the matter over lunch.”

Candace shoved her salad aside and ate Ryan's Philly cheese steak sandwich instead. Ryan ate Candace's salad without complaint and nobody said another word over lunch.