Employee of the Year

Chapter 33 - The Secret Witness

We returned to the court room. The media and the spectators were already hunkered down in their benches. Blair and his team grinned, sitting comfortably in the front row. Marcus, Peter, and the rest of the Armani suits on his defense team were sullen, bracing themselves. I knew they expected my defense to be a slow-motion train wreck. Marcus and his team were hoping my case would take the rest of the afternoon, giving them another day to plan. I was cannon fodder sent to the front lines to buy time until the generals came up with a strategy.

What they didn't realize was that I already had a strategy. Everyone in courtroom was in for a big surprise.

"Your Honor," Todd said. "Since the arrest I've researched this case extensively. I have testimony from a new witness that I'd like to introduce. This witness wasn't initially contacted by the police as part of their investigation. Nor was this person considered by the prosecution for deposition. I think this was an oversight that must be corrected. My witness has evidence that hasn't seen the light of day."

'Well, now is the time to make your witness and evidence available for consideration," Judge Wang said.

"Before I do that, Your Honor, would it be alright if I call Detectives Kowalski and Martinez back to the witness stand for a few questions?"

"Yes, you may."

Elliot Kowalski returned to the stand.

"Detective Kowalski, you indicated this morning that you had some initial suspicions about the circumstances surrounding my client's involvement in the case."

"As I mentioned this morning, I get paid to be suspicious."

"Indeed, you do. So why did it take you so long to arrest him?"

"This was a complicated case. We had to exercise due diligence. We had to look at all the different angles."

"Yeah, but you had plenty of time to do this."

"We needed plenty of time. We had to do this the right way. We don't rush to judgment."

"Most murder cases lead to an arrest within the first couple days or they go unsolved. Isn't this correct?"

"As you know this was an unusual case. We had to put together the motive and the other pieces."

"Still, I am not sure why it took so long. You mentioned the motive. My client needed money. The Employee of the Year Award offered him a chance to win that money. On top of that, my client and Roland were rivals in the call center and had a contentious working relationship. That's been established. Then there are the allegations against the co-defendant. Marcus Davis had every reason to resent Roland Shavosian for trying to exploit his estranged relationship with his daughter. The prosecution has also established that my client, Temo McCarthy, was in a special position to know about Roland's relationship with Annabelle Davis. So you had a clear picture of why Temo McCarthy and Marcus Davis would collaborate to kill the victim, did you not?"

"That's right, we did."

"So again, why did it take so long to arrest my client?"

 "We needed proof. Without hard evidence it was just a theory."

"I see. So that was why you waited so long. You couldn't make a case unless you had the evidence."

 "Well, we got it, didn't we? We found the Glock in his apartment."

"So without the gun, there would've been no arrest. No murder charges."

"Of course not."

"Thank you, Mr. Kowalski. No further questions."