Goodbye to the Dead (Jonathan Stride Book 7) (13 page)

22

Stride had sat in the same witness chair in the same courtroom many times before. Testifying in court was one of the few tasks for which he wore a suit. He owned only two suits, and today he wore the navy blue one, freshly dry-cleaned. He’d tried to tame his restless hair, and he’d shaved. Appearances mattered. Trials were about evidence, but they were also about perceptions. Finding facts meant deciding whom to believe. Whom to trust.

Dan guided him through a review of his experience, including nearly twenty years with the Duluth Police and nearly ten in charge of the Detective Bureau. Stride talked about his background in felony investigations, including dozens of homicide cases. It was all prologue.

‘Lieutenant, were you called to the home of the defendant on the evening of January 28 of this year?’ Dan asked finally.

‘Yes, I was.’

‘Is this house located in the city of Duluth in St. Louis County?’

‘Yes, it is.’ Stride gave the specific address and described the location of the house. Dan introduced a map of the area enlarged on foam core, and Stride pointed out the residence and described the access in and out – specifically, that Janine’s home was located on a dead-end street at the summit of a sharp hill.

‘What did you find inside the house?’ Dan asked.

‘We found the body of Jay Ferris,’ Stride said. ‘He had a single gunshot wound to the forehead.’

‘Can you tell us exactly where the body was located?’

‘There’s a large marble foyer inside the front door that leads to the living room. The body of Mr. Ferris was located in the living room, approximately ten feet from the edge of the foyer.’

Dan introduced photographs of the crime scene and an enlarged floor plan of the house. Stride identified the photos and matched them with positions on the floor plan for the jury. He also pointed out the wine glass found near Jay’s body and the other lipstick-smeared wine glass on the coffee table. He noted a pair of stiletto heels belonging to Janine that had been left on the floor of the foyer.

‘Did you find a gun near the body or in the house?’

‘No, we conducted a search of the area but did not locate the murder weapon.’

‘During your investigation, did you determine whether the victim, Jay Ferris, held a Minnesota permit to carry a handgun?’

‘Yes, he did.’

‘Did the defendant make a statement to you about whether her husband in fact owned a handgun?’

‘She claimed that Mr. Ferris used to own a handgun but that she made him get rid of it when they got married,’ Stride said.

‘Did you nonetheless uncover physical evidence during your investigation that Mr. Ferris continued to own a handgun long after his marriage to the defendant?’

‘Yes, Mr. Ferris’s brother provided us with a photograph that showed a gun in his possession.’ Dan introduced the photo of Jay and Clyde Ferris, and an enlargement showed a close-up of the portion of the gun visible in the holster.

‘Were you able to confirm when this photograph was taken?’

‘Yes, it was taken last October 27, three months prior to the murder.’

‘Were you able to locate this gun during your investigation?’ Dan asked.

‘No, we weren’t.’

‘Thank you, Lieutenant. Now when you arrived at the house that night, was the defendant present?’

‘Yes, Dr. Snow was there, along with her counsel, Mr. Gale.’

‘And did Dr. Snow make a statement to you with her counsel present?’

‘She did. Dr. Snow told us that she was dropped off at her house that evening by my wife. This was about 9:45 p.m. She told us that she had some wine with her husband, and they argued. She said she then left her husband to take a shower. Her bathroom is adjacent to her bedroom, two floors down from the living room. She was in the shower for a long time, she said, but she couldn’t tell us exactly how long. When she got out of the shower, she said she noticed that two drawers in a jewelry box in her bedroom were open, and several expensive items were missing. She told us that she went back upstairs and found her husband’s body.’

‘At that point, did the defendant tell you that she called 911?’ Dan asked.

‘No, she said that some time passed before she called the police.’

‘What did the defendant claim to be doing during this time?’

‘She said that she simply stared at her husband’s body,’ Stride said.

‘How much time passed between Dr. Snow’s arrival at her house that evening and the call to police?’

‘Approximately one hour. The actual 911 call was received at 10:47 p.m. A patrol car was at the scene within ten minutes.’

‘And do we have any way of knowing
exactly
when during that hour the shooting occurred?’

‘No.’

‘Lieutenant, based on the evidence gathered in this investigation, and based on your extensive experience in these kinds of crimes, did you form an opinion about the truthfulness of the defendant’s statement?’

‘Yes, I concluded that her statement was not supported by the evidence.’

‘Please explain how you reached that conclusion,’ Dan said.

Stride took a pointer and referred to the floor plans of Janine Snow’s house. ‘Dr. Snow alleged that her husband was killed as part of a home invasion and robbery. However, there was no sign of forced entry, and the door between the garage and the house was locked. So Mr. Ferris would have had to let an intruder inside voluntarily. Then the shooter would have needed to murder Mr. Ferris, proceed down two flights of stairs and along a hallway to the defendant’s bedroom, remove jewelry from her jewelry box, and return upstairs and escape.’

‘And this all would have had to happen in the time the defendant was in the shower?’

‘According to her statement, yes.’

‘Did you find other evidence to discredit the theory that an intruder came into the house?’ Dan asked.

‘Yes, there was no evidence of a fight or of defensive actions by Mr. Ferris. In addition, there was no physical evidence of an intruder in the house. The walkway to the front door was wet and dusted with dirt and gravel. Traces of snowmelt, dirt, and gravel were found in the marble foyer, but we didn’t find any “tracked” dirt on the living room carpet, on the stairs, or in the defendant’s bedroom.’

‘In your experience, Lieutenant, are persons who commit homicide and armed robbery typically gracious enough to remove their shoes before invading a house?’

Stride suppressed a smile. ‘No.’

‘Lieutenant, let’s look at other possible explanations for the events that night. Did you run any chemical tests to determine whether the defendant fired a gun on the night of the murder?’

Stride shook his head. ‘No. That would be standard procedure, but in this case, the defendant told us that she had taken a shower, which would have erased reliable evidence of chemical residue on her hands, body, and hair. She also washed the clothes she was wearing, which would have accomplished the same thing. In light of that, running gunshot residue tests would have been unrevealing.’

‘You didn’t find the murder weapon, Lieutenant,’ Dan went on, ‘so it must have been removed from the house?’

‘That’s correct.’

‘Did the defendant have time to hide a gun and jewelry outside the house before she contacted the police?’

‘Yes, she did,’ Stride said. ‘We conducted exercises in which a policewoman put clothes in the washing machine, showered, and then drove from the defendant’s house to separate locations to secrete evidence and then drove back to the house. We ran that exercise several times, and in no instance did it take longer than thirty minutes. Sometimes, it took less than twenty minutes. So yes, she had time.’

‘Now did you tell us that the defendant admitted to arguing with Mr. Ferris on the night of the murder?’

‘Yes.’

‘Did she say what the argument was about?’

‘No, but she said they argued about everything.’

‘Did she give other indications of trouble in their marriage?’

‘Yes, in a later statement, she admitted to an affair with a former police officer named Nathan Skinner.’

‘Did you subsequently interview Mr. Skinner?’ Dan asked.

‘I did.’

‘And did he provide you with any physical evidence related to the defendant’s knowledge of handguns?’

‘Yes, he provided me with a photograph of Dr. Snow at a gun range, where she is in the process of firing a revolver.’

Dan introduced the photograph of Janine at the range, which was presented to the jury. More than anything else, Stride knew that the real impact of the photograph was Janine’s expression. Confident. Assured. Almost aroused. She knew how to fire a gun, and she liked it.

‘Based on your interview with Nathan Skinner, did you also learn that the defendant owned property in addition to the home where she resided with Mr. Ferris?’

‘Yes, we discovered that she owns an apartment on Michigan Street in downtown Duluth.’

‘Did you conduct a search of this apartment?’

‘We did. We discovered a cache of prescription pain medications. There were nearly five hundred pills in fifteen bottles, made up of medicines such as Percocet, Oxycontin, and Vicodin.’

‘Did the defendant subsequently admit to you that these pills belonged to her?’

‘Yes.’

‘Were the prescriptions in her name?’

‘No, the prescriptions were all in the name of Holly Jorgenson. She acknowledged that this was a fictitious patient she created to obtain pills for herself illegally.’

‘Lieutenant, did you find that fictitious patient name significant?’

‘Yes, the defendant’s husband, Jay Ferris, published a column in the
Duluth
News-Tribune
last July about a prescription drug addict named Holly. The column threatened public exposure of this information.’

‘If Mr. Ferris had exposed his wife’s addiction and criminal behavior, would there have been consequences for the defendant?’ Dan asked.

At that question, Archie Gale intervened. ‘Objection. This calls for a conclusion outside the witness’s expertise.’

‘Sustained,’ Judge Edblad ruled.

Dan wasn’t deterred. ‘Has the evidence you uncovered regarding the defendant’s abuse of prescription pain medications now become public?’ he asked.

‘Yes.’

‘And to your knowledge, have there been consequences to the defendant in relation to her behavior?’ Dan asked.

Stride nodded. ‘Yes, according to a statement by the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice last month, she has voluntarily surrendered her medical license.’

He stared at Janine Snow as he said this, and so did the jury. For the first time he could remember, he saw genuine emotion in her face. It was as if her world had already crumbled around her, and nothing else in the courtroom mattered. A tear slipped from one blue eye, and a moment later, she was crying silently.

*

Gale began to question Stride.

‘Lieutenant, you did
not
recover the murder weapon in this case, is that right? It is still missing?’

‘Yes, that’s right.’

‘Did any of Dr. Snow’s neighbors report seeing her leave the house between 9:45 p.m. and the arrival of the police an hour later?’

‘No.’

‘Did you find evidence suggesting that Mr. Ferris’s Hummer had been driven between 9:45 p.m. and the arrival of the police an hour later?’

‘I’m not sure what evidence would be available to confirm that,’ Stride said.

‘Well, did you check the hood of the Hummer?’

‘Yes, I did.’

‘Was the engine warm?’

‘No,’ Stride admitted. He added quickly: ‘However, this was almost an hour after I arrived on the scene. The temperatures were below zero.’

‘Lieutenant, did your department receive a report about an unidentified Toyota Rav4 parked near Dr. Snow’s house on the evening of the murder?’

‘We received a report from a teenage driver who thought he remembered passing a Rav4 parked on West 8th Street that evening. The teenager later acknowledged using marijuana that night, so we considered his recollections to be suspect.’

‘Did the driver say he saw the Rav parked there after ten o’clock?’

‘He thought so, but he didn’t check the clock.’

‘Is the corner of West 8th and Skyline within a couple hundred yards of Dr. Snow’s house?’

‘Yes.’

‘Did you talk to residents on 8th Street?’

‘Yes, we did.’

‘Did any of those residents own a Rav4 or have visitors who owned a Rav4?’

‘No.’

‘Were you able to identify who owned this Rav4?’

‘No.’

‘Thank you, Lieutenant. You testified that you were unable to locate a revolver allegedly owned by Jay Ferris, is that right?’

‘Yes.’

‘You allege that Mr. Ferris owned a revolver because of a photograph supplied by the victim’s brother Clyde Ferris, is that right?’

‘Yes.’

‘Did Clyde Ferris make a statement to you that his brother routinely carried his gun with him?’

‘Yes, he did.’

‘Did Clyde Ferris also make a statement to you that he went ice-fishing with his brother in early January, less than a month before Jay Ferris was murdered?’

Stride hesitated. ‘Yes, he did.’

‘Were you able to independently confirm that this outing took place?’

‘Yes.’

‘How did you confirm this?’

‘I got a copy of a report filed by Jay Ferris with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.’

‘Did the report indicate that due to thin ice, Jay Ferris lost his truck and his fishing shanty into the water of Superior Bay at that time?’

‘Yes,’ Stride said, and he knew where Gale was going now.

‘Lieutenant, isn’t it possible that the gun allegedly owned by Mr. Ferris – which his brother said he routinely had with him – could have been lost in his truck or in his fishing shanty when they went through the ice?’

‘It’s possible,’ Stride acknowledged, ‘although the truck and shanty were both salvaged once the ice came off the bay in the spring. The gun wasn’t found.’

‘Would it have been possible for the gun to be lost in the bay when those items flooded and sank?’

‘I suppose.’

‘Thank you, Lieutenant. You also testified about an affair between Dr. Snow and a former colleague of yours named Nathan Skinner, is that right?’