After Dark (26 page)

Tracy's stomach was starting to growl by the time they finished with the evidence from the rented house and Barry emptied the first box of items from Justice Griffen's den. The box contained personal papers, household receipts, bills and other documents of this type. Tracy emptied a second box that contained papers found in the bottom right drawer of Justice Griffen's desk.

At first glance, the papers looked like they would be similar to the papers in the other box. Then Tracy spotted something that was out of place. At the bottom of the pile was a volume from a trial transcript.

A sheet from a yellow legal pad was jutting out from between two of the transcript pages. Tracy thought that Barry must have gone through this box when they looked through the evidence the first time, because she did not remember seeing the transcript before.

When Tracy saw the cover page of the transcript, she concealed her surprise. She was looking at Volume XI of State of Oregon, Plaintiff-Respondent v. Charles Darren Deems, Defeno dant-Appellant, the transcript Laura Rizzatti had been reading the day Matthew Reynolds and Abigail Griffen argued at the Supreme Court. Tracy remembered how nervous Laura had seemed when she found her reading it.

Tracy glanced over at Christenson. He was reading the sports section of The Oregonian and looked bored stiff. Tracy shifted her body to block Christenson's view, then opened the transcript enough to see what was written on the sheet from the legal pad.

The sheet was wedged between pages 1289 and 1290 of the transcript. It was a sheet from the legal pad on which Laura was writing in the library'on the day Justice Pope accosted her. The names of three criminal cases were written on the page. Tracy remembered how quickly Laura had turned over the yellow pad to prevent Tracy from seeing what was on it. Tracy wrote down the names of the cases and the volume numbers of the Oregon reporters in which they were published.

What was so special about the transcript and these cases, and what were this transcript and Laura's notes doing in Justice Griffen's den? The transcript was part of the official record of the Deems case and should be with the rest of the transcripts in the case in the file room of the Supreme Court.

Twenty minutes later, Barry stretched and announced, "That's the lot."

Christenson showed them out, then returned to the conference room. Barry pressed the down button on the elevator. As they waited for it to arrive, he asked, "Any brilliant insights?"

Tracy was tempted to tell him about the transcript, but there was nothing to tell. She had no idea what was in Volume XI.

Whatever was there wouldn't have anything to do with Abbie's case anyway.

"I didn't see anything I didn't spot the first time we went through this stuff. If there are any more surprises, Geddes slipped them past me."

"I agree. Are you up for dinner?"

Tracy wanted to get to the office so she could read Volume XI in the set of transcripts she'd taken from Bob Packard.

"I'll pass. I'm going to grab some takeout and head for the office.

There are a few things I have to go over tonight."

"Hey, it's the weekend. Casablanca is on. I thought we'd whip up some gourmet popcorn, crack open a bottle of wine and watch Bogie. You don't want to pass that up, do you?"

Barry sounded disappointed. The elevator doors opened. They stepped into the empty car. Tracy touched him on the arm.

"I'll tell you what. I'm big on Bogie myself. When's the movie start?"

"Nine."

"Save me a seat. I should be able to finish by then."

Barry grinned. "I'll be waiting. Do you like red or white wine with your popcorn?"

"Beer, actually."

"A woman after my own heart. I'll even spring for imported."

Neil Christenson showed Barry Frame and Tracy Cavanaugh out of the district attorney's office, then he returned to the conference room and emptied the box with the evidence that had been found in the bottom right drawer of Justice Griffen's desk onto the conference table.

Christenson had only been pretending to read the paper while Barry and Tracy went through the evidence and he noticed that Tracy was intentionally blocking his view when she went through this box.

Christenson was determined to discover the piece of evidence that had created so much interest.

The transcript and yellow paper attracted his attention immediately because they were out of place. Christenson frowned when he saw that the transcript was from the Deems case. Then he remembered that Justice Griffen had written the opinion that reversed Deems's conviction. How ironic, he thought, that the person Justice Griffen had freed from prison was going to help convict the judge's killer.

Christenson flipped through the transcript, but found nothing that looked important. He put it down on the table and started on the other documents. There were miscellaneous papers, a file filled with correspondence between Justice Griffen and his stockbroker, another file with paperwork about his beach property and an envelope stuffed with credit card receipts. Christenson went through the receipts. Several were from a restaurant in Salem that was close to the court, a few were from stores in Salem and Portland, three were from a motel called the Overlook and a number of receipts were from gas stations. Nothing relevant to the case.

Christenson went through the contents of the box once more, then gave up. It was late and he was tired. If Tracy Cavanaugh had spotted something important, it had gone right by him.

Christenson yawned, closed the door to the conference room and headed home.*

As soon as she was alone in the office, Tracy found Volume XI.

To her great disappointment, it was incredibly dull. It contained the testimony of the police officers who searched Charlie Deems's apartment after his arrest. They told about items they had discovered during the search. Tracy could not imagine why Laura Rizzatti would have been interested in anything she read.

The sheet from Laura's yellow legal pad had been stuck between pages 1289 and 1290. Tracy wondered if that meant those pages contained something important or if the yellow sheet with the list of cases had ended up there by chance. When she reached pages 1289 and 1290, she found nothing that helped clear up the mystery.

Portland police detective Mark Simon's testimony started on 7 and continued past the two pages. He was the detective in charge of the search of Deems's apartment. In the early part of his testimony, he outlined the assignments of the officers who searched the apartment.

Then he talked about various items found during the search and their significance to the homicide investigation. Deems had been arrested at a nightclub. Several people had phoned him while he was out. The direct examination by Abigail Griffen on pages 1289 and 1290 concerned messages found on Deems's answering machine.

"GRIFFE: So these were messages that were waiting for the defendant, which he was unable to return because he was arrested?"

SIMON: Yes ma'am.

"Q: The jury has heard the message tape. I'd like to go through the messages with you and ask you to comment on their significance, if you can."

"A: All right.

"Q' The first message is from 'Jack." He leaves a number.

What significance do you attach to that call?"

"A: I don't have enough information to comment on that call.

The number was for a pay phone. We did send someone to the phone, but there was no one there when the officers arrived."

"Q: Okay. Message number two was from Raoul. He leaves a pager number and asks the defendant to call him when he gets in.

What is the significance of that call?"

"A: Okay. Well, with this one, I can comment. Subsequent investigation revealed that the pager was rented from Continental Communications by Ram6n Prez, a known associate of Raoul Otero. Mr. Otero is reputed to be one of the major players in an organization that distributes cocaine in Oregon, Washington, Texas and Louisiana. I believe this call indicates a connection between the defendant and this organization."

"Q: Thank you. Now, the next call was from Arthur Knowland. He did not leave a phone number. He did say that he needed some 'shirts' and wanted the defendant to call him as soon as possible."

"A: Okay. I believe this call is from someone who wants to buy drugs from the defendant. We see this all the time when we have electronic surveillance on individuals who are talking about drug deals. They rarely use the names of narcotics in their discussions.

They will call heroin or cocaine 'tires' or 'shirts' or whatever they have agreed on in the belief that this will somehow protect them if the person they are dealing with is an undercover officer or a recording is being made of their conversation."

"Q: The last message is from Alice. She leaves a message and a phone number."

"A: We contacted the person who subscribes to the phone number. Her name was Alice Trapp. She admitted that her call was an attempt to purchase cocaine."

The examination continued on the next page, but it changed to a discussion of the contents of a notebook that had been found in Deems's bedroom. Tracy reread the two pages, but had no idea why they might be significant. Then she glanced at her watch. It was eight-thirty. Tracy put Volume XI back with the other transcripts and turned out the lights.

The idea of watching Casablanca with Barry Frame seemed like heaven compared to reading another page of boring transcript. In fact, spending the evening with Barry was preferable to anything else she could imagine.

The trial was leaving Tracy so exhausted that sex had been completely banished from her thoughts. Until now. She and Barry had not made love yet, but the way they felt about each other meant it was only a matter of time and the right setting.

Chapter TWENTY-THREE

"You know the drill. Keep your head up, keep moving and let me do the talking," Matthew told Abbie when Barry Frame stopped his car in front of the Multnomah County Courthouse on Monday morning. A torrential rain cascaded off the car as Matthew opened the back door on the driver's side. Huge drops bounced off of the hood and windshield. Matthew held up a large black umbrella to shield Abbie from the downpour. Tracy grabbed the huge leather sample case with the trial files, smiled quickly and shyly at Barry, then ran around the car to help screen Abbie from the crowd that blocked the courthouse entrance. She was soaking wet by the time they fought their way through the reporters and into the elevator.

The court guards recognized the defense team and waved them around the metal detector that stood between the courtroom door and the long line of spectators. Matthew led the way through the low gate that separated the spectators from the court. He set his briefcase next to the counsel table and shook the water off the umbrella. When he turned around, Abbie was staring at Charlie Deems, who was lounging on a bench behind Chuck Geddes inside the bar of the court. Deems looked surprisingly handsome in a blue pinstripe suit, freshly pressed white shirt and wine-red tie that Geddes had purchased for his court appearance. His shoes were polished and his hair had been cut.

"Howdy, Mrs. Prosecutor," Deems said, flashing his toothy grin. "You learnin' what it feels like to be in the frying pan?"

Before Abbie could respond, Matthew stepped in front of her.

He stared down at Deems. Deems stopped grinning. Reynolds held him with his eyes a moment more. Then he spoke in a voice so low that only Charlie Deems heard him.

"You are a hollow man, Mr. Deems. There is no goodness in you. If you tell lies about Mrs. Griffen in this courtroom, not even a dark angel will protect you."

Charlie Deems turned pale. Reynolds turned his back to Deems. Deems leaped to his feet.

"Hey," Deems shouted, "look at me, you freak."

Reynolds sat down and opened his briefcase. Deems took a step toward Matthew, his face tight with rage.

"What did you just say?" Geddes demanded of Reynolds as he and Christenson restrained Deems. Matthew ignored Geddes and calmly arranged his notes while the prosecutor tried to calm his star witness.

"Mr. Deems," Chuck Geddes asked, "are you acquainted with the defendant?"

"In a manner of speaking."

"Please explain how you two first met."

"She prosecuted me for murder."

"Had you ever met the defendant before she prosecuted you?"

"No, sir."

"What was the result of your case?"

"I was convicted and sentenced to death."

"Where did you spend the next two years?"

"On death row at the Oregon State Penitentiary."

"Why aren't you still on death row?"

"The Oregon Supreme Court threw out my case."

"It reversed your conviction?"

"Right."

"And the Multnomah County district attorney's office elected not to retry you?"

"Yes."

"Shortly after your release from prison, did the defendant contact you?"

Geddes asked.

"Yes, sir. She sure did."

"Did that surprise you?"

Deems laughed and shook his head in wonder. "I would have been less surprised if it was the President." The jury laughed.

"Why were you surprised?" Geddes asked.

"When a woman spends a year of her life trying to get you executed, you start to think she might not like you."

Deems smiled at the jury and a few jurors smiled back.

"Tell the jury about the conversation."

"Okay. As I recollect, she asked me how it felt to be off death row. I said it felt just fine. Then she asked how I was fixed for money. I asked her why she wanted to know. That's when she said she had a business proposition for me."

"What did you think she had in mind?"

"I knew she didn't want me to mow her lawn."

The jurors and spectators laughed again. Tracy could see them warming to Charlie Deems and it worried her. She glanced at Reynolds, but he seemed completely unperturbed by Deems's testimony. Tracy marveled at the way he kept his cool.

"Did you ask the defendant what she wanted?" Geddes continued.

"I did, but she said she didn't want to discuss it over the phone."