Part 24 (1/2)
”Was it closed?”
”Yes, ma'am.”
”Was the back door itself closed?”
”Yes, it was.”
”All right. You approached the closed door, then what?”
His eyebrows drew together again, as if he had to consider what she was driving at, what it meant, or else as if to try to remember. After a moment, he said, ”I touched the doork.n.o.b, just to feel it, see if it was hot. Then I pushed the door open and we had to step back a little because a lot of smoke came pouring out in our faces. Then we went inside.”
”When Dr. Minick arrived, did he walk around to the back of the house the way you did?”
”No, ma'am. I went to the corner of the house and waved him to come back. He was heading for the front door.”
”How did he appear that day?”
”Same as always. Kind of calm and easygoing. He told me to sit down with my head down for a few minutes, and to stay out of that smoke. I was feeling a little sick, I guess.”
”Did he stay until the police arrived?”
”No. He said that the driveway was going to be a mess of cars and an ambulance and things like that, and he'd get out of the way. He said to tell them where he was if they wanted him for anything. Then he left.”
”In the house, did you touch or move anything?”
He shook his head. ”Oh, the telephone book. I used the kitchen wall phone to call Doc Minick, and I had to look up his number first. That's all.”
”Did Dr. Minick touch or move anything?”
”No, ma'am. He looked at... He just knelt down and maybe touched the body, and we went back out.”
Barbara nodded, then walked to the transparency. ”You were at this point when you saw Leona Marchand's car, and several feet beyond it when you saw Hilde Franz's car. How much time pa.s.sed between seeing one and then the other?”
”About a minute,” he said promptly. ”I said something like that to Harvey, that in the last minute there was more traffic than that road usually got all day long.”
”If a car had come from the Minick property and turned east instead of west, would you have been able to see it?”
”Yes, ma'am. We could see a good bit of the road up that way, and we would have heard it. It's real quiet back there. You can hear a car coming or going.”
”Both cars headed west,” she said. ”It's closer to the school if you go east on that road, isn't it?”
”It's closer, but no one drives that way. The road's too bad, with bad curves and steep places. It's faster just to go on out to the new road and use it.”
”Everyone says the new road, but actually when was it built?”
”About twenty-one years ago.”
”Thank you, Mr. Bakken. No further questions.”
When she turned, she caught a fleeting, wary look on the prosecutor's face. She could almost read his thoughts: Why was she confirming the points he had made? What was she up to?
The state's next witness was Harvey Wilberson, who corroborated Bakken's testimony in every detail. Novak finished with him quickly.
”Mr. Wilberson,” Barbara said, ”was the skillet on fire when you entered the house?”
”No, just smoking a lot.”
”Was the skillet covered?”
”No.”
”How did you lift it?”
”With an oven mitt. It was on the counter, and I used it.”
”Was the skillet red-hot?”
”No. Not yet.”
”All right. Then what did you do? You put the skillet down on the porch, then what?”
”I went back in and looked at the stove to make sure there wasn't any fire anywhere.”
”What did you do with the oven mitt?”
”I tossed it down on the counter.”
”Did you look inside the oven?”
”No. I saw that it was off and I didn't open the door.”
”How high was the burner turned on under the skillet?”
He glanced at Novak, then at the judge. Neither offered any help. ”I don't know. More than halfway over, whatever that means.”
”How much more than half? All the way, nearly all the way?”
”I don't know. I just turned it off and grabbed the skillet.”
She nodded. ”Did you touch anything else? Or move anything else?”
”No.”
When Wilberson left the stand, Judge Mac said, ”Thank you, Ms. Holloway, Mr. Novak, for moving this along expeditiously. It is now going on eleven-thirty, and we'll have our lunch recess until one-thirty.”
The minute the judge was out of sight, Dolly Feldman leaned forward and across Frank to clutch Barbara's arm. ”Why didn't you make those men admit that anyone could have been hiding behind trees, lurking in the shrubbery? You didn't even try! Alexander, for heaven's sake, put on your beret and your gla.s.ses. I'm sure the judge would let you wear them in court if you asked him nicely. Mr. Holloway, why don't you ask him?”