Part 30 (1/2)

”This dense canopy is the orchard,” Barbara said, pointing. ”You don't have to be exact, just indicate approximately where you thought you saw the sungla.s.ses.”

He took several seconds before he put his finger on the map. Barbara put a little yellow disc on the spot.

”Now let's see if we can retrace your steps from that day. Just start where you think you emerged from under the filbert trees.”

After a moment he put his finger on the map. ”About here, I think.”

”Could you already hear hammering?”

”Yes.”

”All right. There's a ma.s.s of bushes and ornamental trees there, and you were behind them, on the side closer to the road. Is that right?”

He nodded, and studied the map. ”Yes,” he said. ”That's right.”

”From there you could not see the rear of the property, could you?” Barbara said, studying the map with him.

”No, not from there,” he said after a moment.

”Then where did you go?”

”I think I came around in front of the roses,” he said.

”Let's talk about the rose bed for a moment,” she said, pointing to it. ”It's about twenty feet by eight, isn't it?”

”I don't know,” he said. ”I think it's about that.”

”We can find out,” she said easily. She went to her table and picked up a yardstick. ”I'm sure there's a scale on the map. Yes, here it is.”

She measured, then said, ”That's it, isn't it? Twenty feet by eight feet.”

He nodded, then said yes. His hands were shaking again, she noted sadly.

”All right,” she said. ”Then where did you run?”

He moistened his lips and said in a nearly inaudible voice. ”To the front door.”

”You didn't cut back through the shrubbery on the other side of the roses?”

He shook his head. ”No.”

She knew he could see as well as she could, as well as Judge Mac could, that the only place where he might have had a clear line of sight to the back of the property was from in front of the roses for about seven or eight feet. The garage, two apple trees behind the house, the house itself, the buildings on the rear of the property, the high deer fence around the vegetable garden all would have obscured his vision from anywhere else.

She pressed the point, going over the route he had taken bit by bit, using the yardstick to demonstrate that he could not have seen the blackberry tangle except from those few feet in front of the roses.

”You may resume your seat,” she said then. After replacing the yardstick on her table, she faced him again.

”Mr. Marchand,” she said, ”I'd like to clarify some of the testimony you gave earlier. Mr. Novak asked if you saw another person on the property and your answer was 'I think so.' When did you think that?”

”I don't know,” he said. ”I wasn't thinking of it at the time. I was just running.”

”You also said you were running behind bushes again after you saw something, but you were in front of the roses, weren't you? Not dodging bushes?”

”I guess so,” he said. He was looking younger by the minute, and more wretched by the second.

”Do you mean yes?” she asked, keeping her voice easy, not demanding or hard.

”Yes.”

”All right. Mr. Novak asked if you saw any other detail, and your answer was, 'A cap, like a baseball cap. That's what I thought.' Is that correct? That you thought at the time that a person was back there wearing sungla.s.ses and a baseball cap?”

”I don't know,” he said miserably. ”I don't think that's what I thought at that very minute, maybe later on.”

”How much later?”

”I don't know. A day, maybe two days. I thought maybe that's what I had seen.”

”You said earlier that you had seen Alex Feldman on his property on occasion. Did you ever stop to chat?”

”No.”

”Did you speak to him at all?”

”No.”

”What was he doing when you saw him on that property?”

”Cutting brush, or getting the mail, something like that.”

”Did he speak to you?”

”No.”

”Did he appear threatening?”

He hesitated, then said no.

”Were you afraid of him?”

Daniel glanced at the spectators, then back to Barbara. ”When I was small, I was a little afraid of him.”

”Why was that?”

”I don't know. He was weird, that's all”

”Did you talk about him at your house?”

He glanced again at the spectators, and this time Novak objected. ”This is beyond the scope of the direct examination,” he said.

”Your Honor,” Barbara said, ”this witness saw something that could have been sunlight reflected from leaves, but days later, after several sessions with investigators, that something crystallized into sungla.s.ses and a baseball cap. I am trying to learn if Mr. Marchand was predisposed to interpret that fleeting glance as Alex Feldman.”