The Perfect Marriage(74)

“Yes.”

“And here you didn’t even have to speculate as to that motive. She was essentially choosing between the life of her seventeen-year-old son or that of her husband of barely a year.”

It was about as improper a question as Gabriel could imagine. He shot a look in Salvesen’s direction, but the prosecutor’s head was down. With Kaplan on her A game, it would have been nice if Salvesen rose to the challenge too . . .

“Is that a question or an invitation for me to speculate about Ms. Sommers’s mental state?”

Kaplan smiled. The defense-lawyer equivalent of telling Gabriel, Well played.

“Who else was a suspect, Lieutenant?”

“We also considered Wayne Fiske—”

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but I just thought of a question I forgot to ask about Jessica Sommers. Apologies for jumping around on you, but before we discuss all the reasons why Wayne Fiske was considered a suspect by the NYPD, I wanted to ask whether Jessica Sommers cooperated with your investigation into the murder of her husband?”

“At first she did, but then she declined to provide a DNA sample upon request.”

“Just so we’re all on the same page . . . Jessica Sommers: No alibi. She had a motive because she needed the life insurance money to save her son, and she was not cooperating. Got it. Now, tell us about Wayne Fiske. In fact, let’s move this along. We know you thought he was such a good suspect that you actually arrested him, right?”

Gabriel had to hand it to Lisa Kaplan. She knew how to cross-examine a witness. Ask only questions that you knew would elicit the response you wanted, keep the witness off balance, and do as much testifying yourself as the judge would allow.

And he had to give credit where credit was due. Wayne Fiske and Jessica Sommers had hired a pit bull to represent their son so that she could blame them for James Sommers’s murder.

“Yes.”

“And that was because his fingerprints were at the crime scene, he had no alibi, he had motive in the form of the insurance proceeds, and you believed that the blood at the scene was going to be a match for him.”

“Yes. And as it has been already stated, it turned out he was not a match for the blood, but a biological family member definitely was.”

If Gabriel’s counterpunch landed, Kaplan didn’t show it. Like a boxer, she smiled and prepared for her next combination.

“So to recap. Wayne Fiske. No alibi. Strong motive. Not cooperating. Fingerprints at the scene.”

Even though there was no question pending, Gabriel said, “All is equally true of his son, except we also believe we have his blood.”

“We’ll get to Owen Fiske in a minute, Lieutenant. But I’m still not done going through all the other suspects with motive, who lack an alibi, and who refused to provide DNA. In fact, this is a good time to talk about Haley Sommers, who is James Sommers’s ex-wife. You mentioned that James and Jessica Sommers had an anniversary party. Something really strange happened at that party, isn’t that right?”

“Haley Sommers crashed the party. She interrupted the toasts that were being made.”

“You’re underselling it, Lieutenant,” Kaplan said.

Salvesen could have objected to the characterization but remained firmly in his seat. That was just as well. Gabriel could handle it.

“I’m not selling, counselor. She crashed the party. She interrupted the toasts. If you want more detail, all you have to do is ask.”

“Counselors,” Judge Martin said. “Let’s remember everybody’s job here, shall we? Ms. Kaplan, you ask questions. Lieutenant Velasquez, you answer questions. I tell everyone what they should or shouldn’t do. Proceed, Ms. Kaplan.”

“Thank you, Your Honor,” Kaplan said, quickly regaining control of the examination. “My apologies, Lieutenant. You’re exactly right. I should have been more specific. Let me ask you this: How would you characterize Haley Sommers’s relationship with her ex-husband?”

Another open-ended question chosen by Kaplan because there was no good way to answer it. No matter what Gabriel said, Kaplan would say it was worse than that.

“There was evidence that she was still angry with her ex-husband,” he said, deciding that less was more.

“What brought you to the conclusion that Haley Sommers was—in your words—angry at her ex-husband? Was it the restraining order that James Sommers took out that required Haley Sommers to stay away from him and his family? Or was it the fact that she repeatedly violated that order? Or was it because Haley Sommers threatened to murder James Sommers a week before he was, in fact, murdered?”

Once again, Salvesen should have objected. Compound questions were always impermissible because they required multiple responses. Kaplan had just asked four different questions, but the ADA looked on with a bored expression, not making a peep.

“All of the above,” Gabriel said.

“So you knew that Haley Sommers violated the protective order by calling Mr. Sommers and his wife and threatening them with bodily harm?”

“I am aware that she made such threats.”

“Isn’t it the case that just a few days before the murder, on the day of James and Jessica’s first wedding anniversary, in fact, Haley Sommers called James Sommers and left a voice mail in which she said, and here I am quoting: ‘James, you miserable fuck. I hope you and that skank bitch of a wife of yours both die. But don’t worry, after you’re dead, I’ll be sure to dance on your graves.’”