The Perfect Marriage(69)

Gabriel glanced up at Judge Martin when he was finished. She nodded back to him. As far as Gabriel was concerned, this one was in the bank. There was no way she wasn’t going to order Wayne Fiske to provide his DNA. And once that happened, they had him dead to rights on the murder.

“Thank you, Lieutenant,” Salvesen said. “Did you ask Mr. Fiske to provide DNA voluntarily?”

“We did. He refused.”

“Was there anything else that caused you to view Mr. Fiske as a potential suspect, aside from what you have already testified?”

“Yes. Based on the forensics, we believe that Mr. Sommers’s murderer struck Mr. Sommers in the jaw. As a result, we suspect that the murderer scratched the knuckles on his fist, consistent with delivering such a blow. Mr. Fiske refused to allow us to inspect his hands upon request.”

Salvesen wore the smug expression of someone who had just killed it, even though all he’d done was ask Gabriel to provide a narrative. He turned to look up at the judge and said, “Your Honor, I have no further questions.”

“Let’s recess for fifteen minutes,” Judge Martin said. “When we resume, Mr. Miller, you can conduct your cross-examination.”





23

The court officers would not allow Wayne to leave the courtroom during the recess. Instead, he was permitted to caucus with Alex in a room designated for witnesses, which adjoined the courtroom. The court officers waited outside to give Wayne and Alex some privacy but wouldn’t unlock Wayne’s handcuffs.

“Having fun so far?” Alex said.

Wayne knew it was to break the ice. Still, he couldn’t even smile in response.

“I don’t expect the cross to last more than half an hour,” Alex said. “Probably less.”

“And you’re not going to call me to the stand?”

“Not a chance.”

They had discussed this several times, the night before being the last. Alex had never wavered that it would be a serious mistake for Wayne to testify.

“The DNA hearing is a one-way street,” he had said. “They’re going to put on some evidence, so we’ll learn what they have. Then the judge will order you to provide DNA, and we’ll take it from there. Remember, this is not the war. This is just the first battle.”

Wayne knew that was true. Still, he wasn’t eager to lose this battle or wage the war to follow.

He wished that Jessica had been in the courtroom. He understood why she wasn’t, of course. But her absence made him feel completely alone.



Gabriel liked cross-examination. He viewed it as a battle of wits. Of course, he always had the advantage. Not because he was smarter than his inquisitors, although that was often true, but because his job was simply to tell the truth, and their job was to make it seem as if he weren’t, and that was never the case.

Alex Miller stepped up to the lectern some ten feet away from the witness box. “Good morning, Lieutenant. I do not have a lot of questions for you, but the ones I will pose are very important. Let me start with the biggest one. How confident are you that Mr. Fiske killed Mr. Sommers?”

Gabriel was surprised by the question. Open-ended queries were rarely used on cross-examination. Most good questioners tried to maintain control over the witness, trying to ask questions that could be answered with only a yes or no.

“Extremely.”

“And you make that assertion based on your . . . I think you said twenty years as a New York City police officer?”

“And the evidence present in this case.”

“Ah, the evidence. What evidence do you think points to Mr. Fiske’s guilt?”

“DNA doesn’t lie, counselor.”

“But this hearing is for you to obtain Mr. Fiske’s DNA. Isn’t it a bit circular that you’re asking for Mr. Fiske’s DNA because you are already convinced that his DNA will prove his guilt?”

“Not at all. As I explained, we are asking for his DNA to confirm the match. The evidence we’ve already obtained all points to Mr. Fiske. Fingerprints also do not lie, and they place Mr. Fiske in Mr. Sommers’s office. His biological cousin’s DNA is a partial match for the blood left at the scene, which causes us to believe that Mr. Fiske’s blood will be a complete match. We further believe that Mr. Fiske spilled that blood when he struck Mr. Sommers’s jaw, which directly led to Mr. Sommers’s death. And finally, Mr. Fiske has not cooperated with our investigation and has a very strong motive, as I previously testified.”

“Let me ask you a little about your testimony, Lieutenant. There are some things that . . . well, let’s just say that they would benefit from some context.”

Gabriel looked over to Salvesen. He should have objected to Miller’s editorializing, but he didn’t.

“First, you said that Mr. Fiske didn’t cooperate with your investigation. But that’s not entirely true. When you first spoke with him, he told you where he had been at the time of the murder—which was at his home. Didn’t he?”

“He said that but—”

“No need for buts, Lieutenant. Just answer my question, please. If there’s more context you want to provide, I’m sure the ADA will ask you to provide it. So Mr. Fiske told you that he had gone straight home after work that day?”

“That’s what he told us, yes. We didn’t believe him.”