Part 16 (2/2)
”Well, let's put it this way,” said Muriel. ”You provided information to Detective Starczek on what you knew was a major case, right?”
”Okay,” said Erno.
”And your friend Detective Starczek made the case? He got credit for it.”
”Him and you,” said Erno.
”He and I. And the Police Force got credit for it, correct?”
”Right.”
”That Force where no one would help you get to medium security.”
”Okay.”
”That same Force where n.o.body backed your story that the shooting four years ago at Ike's was self-defense.”
”Yeah, I suppose.”
”And by saying what you're saying now, you're essentially taking back what you gave Detective Starczek and the Police Force before. Yes?”
”I'm saying the truth.”
”True or not, you're trying to correct or withdraw the effect of the information you provided previously. Aren't you?”
”Cause that was a lie.”
Muriel moved to strike and Harlow forced Erno to answer. He had no choice but to say yes. It was all too obvious by now, but a little ruffle pa.s.sed through the rows of press when he spoke the word. They had the lead for their stories.
Muriel then began to question Erno about his relations.h.i.+p with the Gangster Outlaws, one of the street gangs that dominated the prison at Rudyard. This was information that Larry had worked most of the night developing, and Muriel laid it out nicely. Erno had gotten on with a G.O. cellmate and had eventually fallen under the protection of the gang, for whom Erno was thought to occasionally obtain information from old pals in law enforcement. Erno would not acknowledge the last part.
”Well, do you know, Mr. Erdai, that there have been several cases where members of the Gangster Outlaws who were incarcerated have provided false confessions to crimes other G.O.'s were accused of?”
”Objection,” said Arthur. ”There's no evidence that Mr. Gandolph is a member of any gang.”
”The question,” said Muriel, ”is whether Mr. Erdai knows that.”
”It's irrelevant,” said Arthur.
”I'll hear it,” said the judge.
”I've heard that,” said Erno.
”And have you also heard, Mr. Erdai, that the G.O.'s control death row at Rudyard?”
”I know there's a lot of them there.”
”Including Mr. Gandolph?”
”I wouldn't know about that. You have to understand, those death rows, the Yellow Men, are off by themselves. They don't see anybody else. I haven't had a word with Gandolph in all the time I've been in the facility.”
”Well, Mr. Erdai, are you telling us that given your experience in the inst.i.tution, if somebody from the G.O.'s, who've protected you, wanted you to tell a story, especially a story that wouldn't hurt you but that would hurt Detective Starczek and the Police Force who'd let you down, a story that would even help you spend time with your wife before you died”are you really telling us you have too much integrity to do that?”
Arthur had come to his feet long before Muriel finished. He quietly said, ”Objection,” and Harlow quickly responded, ”Sustained.” But Muriel had essentially given her closing argument for the press. With her job more than done, she moved back toward counsel table, then stopped abruptly.
”Oh,” she said, as if what was coming was merely an afterthought. ”After you hauled these bodies down to the freezer, Mr. Erdai, what is it you say you did to the corpse of Luisa Remardi?”
”I pulled her skirt and her underwear down to her ankles.”
”And then?”
”Then, nothing.”
”So you'just disrobed her for, what, curiosity?”
”I disrobed her, because I knew she'd been having s.e.x an hour before and I figured it would show in the autopsy. I wanted it to look like she'd been a.s.saulted. It was the same idea as taking everybody's stuff to make it look like a robbery. I was just trying to cover up.”
”And you didn't, in fact, perform a.n.a.l intercourse with the corpse.”
”Nope.”
”You know, don't you, that the police pathologist, Dr. k.u.magai, testified at trial that the corpse had been sodomized.”
”I know that Painless k.u.magai has made a lot of mistakes over the years.”
”But you don't know why a common condom lubricant was detected in her a.n.u.s?”
”I think you ought to ask the gentleman she was pa.s.sing time with in the parking lot.”
”And do you think that accounts for why her a.n.a.l sphincter was distended after the time of death?”
”I'm not a pathologist.”
”But you'll agree, Mr. Erdai, that your testimony doesn't explain that piece of evidence, does it?”
”I haven't explained that, no.”
”Thank you,” said Muriel.
She settled beside Larry. Below the table, quite unexpectedly, he felt her fist knock against his.
Muriel's cross had gone almost entirely as Arthur had acted it out in his conferences with Erno at the jail. The only exception was the line in Erno's letter about Larry having no use for him now; Arthur hadn't recognized the implications. But that aside, Erno had been well prepared. The difference was Muriel. She won any compet.i.tion on style points.
By the time she had finished, Judge Harlow was sitting up straight in his chair on the other side of the bench, literally keeping his distance from Erdai. As Arthur rose for redirect examination, he was aware he had work to do. He b.u.t.toned his coat, and double-checked on Pamela's notes, before he started what was called, in the parlance, rehabilitating the witness.
”Mr. Erdai, Ms. Wynn questioned why you would take such risks to yourself for your nephew's sake. Can you explain that to His Honor, Judge Harlow?”
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