As always, the characters here are the creation of their respective rights holders and the wonderful actors and actresses who bring them to life for us. Thanks for letting us play with them, if only for a while.
Intersecting Lines – The Trial
Part 10 – The Informant
In Court
Alex's viewpoint
I watched as four Bureau agents moved in and took up positions around the courtroom where they could scan everyone; they weren't taking any chances with Hernandez's safety, seeing the agents exchange nods with Mikki, Liv and the two County Sherriff's Deputies on duty in the courtroom.
Once they were set up one of the agents spoke into a radio and Hernandez was escorted in through a side door by another agent who handed him over to a court officer who then guided him over to the witness stand where he sat and was sworn in, even as I noticed the agent remained standing by the side door.
Craven watched it all before looking our way and calling on us to commence. I looked to Andrea and she smiled as we both stood, fishing out a coin and flipping it as I called heads, she caught it, slapping it down on the back of her hand and revealing it, before smiling and sitting, leaving me to undertake his testimony. I'd actually lost the toss but we'd already agreed that I'd handle this first session; just another part of our little act.
Fifteen minutes later we'd gone over the basics, his background, his role with the Cartel, how he'd become involved in this case and so on. We were now onto Kennedy's initial dealings with the Cartel as Hernandez detailed how Sinaloa was approached by Kennedy down in Mexico, not the other way round, and how the cartel required proof that the offer on the table was a genuine one.
"As you can imagine the US authorities try many different methods of entrapment, to try and win the cartel's trust in an attempt to infiltrate their structure" Hernandez stated. "In this case the cartel leaders told me to tell Kennedy that he had to kill a member of another cartel" I nodded and prompted him.
"And did this happen?" Hernandez was quiet but certain.
"Yes" I nodded and nudged him to keep going.
"Who did they direct him to kill?" He was calm but clear.
"A man named Eduardo Castile" I nodded as Andrea clicked away on the laptop to bring an image up on the big screen, the one that appeared showing Castile's California driver's license photo.
"Is that Eduardo Castile?" Hernandez nodded.
"Yes it is"
"Thank you. Please let the record show Mister Hernandez has identified the victim" I nodded and asked the obvious question. "Why him exactly Mister Hernandez; why Eduardo Castile in particular given he wasn't a former member of Sinaloa?" Hernandez shifted slightly in his chair as he answered.
"He was a former member of the Medellin Cartel, now retired, but he had made enemies when he was younger, some of whom were now senior members of the Sinaloa Cartel" He shrugged. "I cannot say for certain what their exact motivation was for selecting him, but his name and address was given to me to pass on to Kennedy"
"And did the defendant Kennedy do as the Cartel asked; did he in fact kill him?" Hernandez nodded.
"Yes, he did" Ling's voice cut across the court.
"Objection Your Honor, hear say" I looked across at Ling and then to Craven who looked at me and raised an eyebrow, inviting me to answer. I needed to hammer this home early, establish Hernandez as a reputable witness in the eyes of the jury, given everything we were going to be dropping on them later.
"You were not there were you?" He shook his head.
"No, I was not" I nodded theatrically and followed up.
"How then can you be sure of what transpired?" Hernandez smiled slightly then continued.
"The Cartel's trust no one, naturally therefore they had both Kennedy and Castile under constant surveillance here in Los Angeles, so they saw Kennedy go to Castile's house, Castile come to the door to answer Kennedy's knock, Kennedy show him what appeared to be his badge and then both go inside, shortly thereafter Kennedy reappeared and then left, they continued to watch for several hours then forcibly entered the building to find Castile dead. They left, reported back and were ordered to continue to watch the building but there was no movement. On orders from the Cartel the following day they called in an anonymous tip to the police who found his body and it became a crime scene" Hernandez shifted slightly in his seat then replied. "Our people watched the body being removed; everything was photographed from a distance, photographs that were conveyed to me which I passed to the Sinaloa leadership. Everything was clearly as Kennedy had promised and it was enough to convince El Jefe, the head of Sinaloa, that Kennedy was who and what he said he was. Thus the decision was made by the cartel to employ Kennedy" I stood there, nodding slowly then turned back to Craven, silently asking the question, he looked from me to Ling.
"Objection denied" She sat back in her seat as I turned to Hernandez and prompted him.
"How often did this happen, that they killed ex-Sinaloa members?" He shrugged in that particularly Latin manner.
"As often as he located a former member of the Sinaloa Cartel turned traitor. You have to understand, that is how they were perceived by the cartel leadership, as traitors, worthy only of death" I honed in on that, keeping the spotlight on Kennedy.
"How many of these Sinaloa 'traitors'..." I put the word in air quotes. "…as they were referred to by the Cartel did Sergeant Kennedy actually end up identifying to the Cartel and killing?" Hernandez looked at me and asked a question.
"Just him personally, acting on his own or through the actions of others?"
"Both please" Before he could reply Cox was on his feet this time; objecting.
"Leading the witness" Craven nodded.
"Sustained, Counselor…" I nodded once as Cox subsided and reworded the question.
"For the moment personally"
"In total four that he personally killed" I glanced at the jury, several of whom were leaning forward, rapt, and spoke.
"Who were they?" I asked.
"The names I understand they were living under here were Jose Rodriguez, Hector Garcia, Carlos Delgado and Robert Dimery" Andrea flipped through the images on the screen, one by one revealing the images of the four victims as he spoke, before he held up his hand for a moment then corrected his testimony. "The last two were apparently killed with the assistance of Powell, according to what Kennedy told me" I glanced at Peterson, half expecting him to object to something but he was scribbling on a pad in front of him so I pushed on.
"These are the four victims you just identified Mister Hernandez?" He nodded.
"They are" I glanced at the jury.
"Thank you. Please let the record show Mister Hernandez has identified the victims" I turned back to him and continued. "How did you know about the defendant Powell being involved?"
"Kennedy told me" Hernandez shrugged. "He was very talkative, especially when we met in person" I nodded slowly and then pushed on.
"Why did you meet with Mister Kennedy and how often?"
"To pay him the agreed amount for undertaking work for the cartel. We would meet up generally once a month; the location was usually agreed via a phone call"
"And where did you meet?" He shrugged expressively.
"Bars, restaurants, nightclubs, usually in private rooms, places where we would not be seen" I nodded, checked my reminder notes and pressed on.
"I see. Were these five people; Mister Castile and the four former Sinaloa members in Witness Protection the only people killed by Sergeant Kennedy?" Hernandez shook his head once and replied.
"Not at all; shortly after Kennedy started working for Sinaloa, the Cartel somehow became aware of a Juarez Cartel member living here in Los Angeles, Hector Alonzo. Wanting him removed, the cartel paid Kennedy to have him killed" I frowned, all for show, and led him along.
"Is this Hector Alonzo?" I indicated the screen as Andrea flipped to a new image, showing a DMV image. Hernandez nodded and spoke up.
"It is" I nodded a little theatrically.
"Please let the record show Mister Hernandez has identified the victim" I spread my hands in a 'confused' gesture and asked my next question. "Why? I mean he wasn't a person Sinaloa considered a traitor, why pay to have him killed?" Hernandez was obviously unfazed.
"Several reasons" He smiled slightly. "I asked the same question and was told that anything that undermined the other Cartels, particularly their operations here in Los Angeles, which was of considerable importance to the Sinaloa, were considered a good thing by the leadership of the Sinaloa. The second reason was that it was considered worth paying to keep Kennedy and his colleagues on our payroll. El Jefe, the head of Sinaloa, thought it vastly amusing to have American police doing Sinaloa's work, especially for such small sums" Hernandez shifted position as he continued. "Finally, and most importantly, Kennedy had an in to the US Government's Witness Protection program, able to identify people within it, something Sinaloa was unable to do. That was considered especially worth paying Kennedy for" I nodded and hammered home the payment aspect once again.
"So they were being paid thirty thousand dollars per murder?" Peterson was on his feet again.
"Objection, leading the witness and supposition" Craven was about to speak when I turned and looked at him but before I could speak Andrea beat me to it.
"If Mister Peterson is going to object to every statement that this witness makes that is prejudicial to his client, we are going to be here for a very long time" Andrea shrugged. "I don't know about anyone else Your Honor, but I'd rather not be here come Christmas" At her words I looked Craven straight in the eye and raised an eyebrow in challenge, seeing if he'd take the bait. He didn't, instead addressing Peterson and the others.
"Defence, you will have your opportunity to cross, until then confine your objections to matters of procedure" I nodded and turned, giving Andrea a slight smile which was returned, seeing Peterson's face flush as he sat down, leaving me trying to hide a wider smile at his discomfort before returning to Hernandez.
"Mister Hernandez, you were saying about the thirty thousand dollars…?" He nodded and picked up the thread.
"That was the agreed amount yes, though if it became a case where they were personally investigated, they were paid more due to the risks they said they were taking" He shrugged once again. "It was considered barely small change so I was authorised to pay it"
"Small change Mister Hernandez" He nodded slowly.
"Indeed Miss Cabot. You have to understand that the Cartels are incredibly rich, the largest five of six cartels control operations with turnover in the billions and returning hundreds of millions of dollars profit to the cartels every year" He smiled. "Compared to those figures, paying Kennedy and his associate's thirty thousand dollars several times a month was considered loose change" I nodded slowly, mostly for the jury's behalf and moved the discussion along.
"I see. So as part of the arrangement Sinaloa arranged for the death of one individual of interest to Sinaloa by Sergeant Kennedy to prove himself, then four former Sinaloa members hidden under the witness protection program, plus another, a Juarez cartel member as well, all of whom he was paid for by the Sinaloa cartel?"
"While there were additional people killed by these police officers, in between the deaths of the four ex-Sinaloa members, that is essentially correct yes" I took a few steps closer to the witness box and continued.
"I understand that it was originally his ability to identify Witness Protection members that brought Sergeant Kennedy to Sinaloa's attention however he and his accomplices soon branched out into other work for the cartel" Hernandez nodded as he answered.
"Yes, as I said, El Jefe was very happy to have police in Los Angeles carrying out executions for him, especially of people Sinaloa could not otherwise locate and said we should keep finding work for them" he said, making me nod and push the conversation on.
"What sort of work Mister Hernandez?"
"Kidnapping and executions of people the Cartel wanted dead" I raised an eyebrow and encouraged him to continue as the jury and media hung off his words.
"You have detailed some of the executions Mister Hernandez, but kidnappings?" He nodded.
"Yes. The first one was initiated by Kennedy who contacted me to say he had the identity of a woman in Witness Protection who had been a bookkeeper for part of the Cartel's drug running and sales operations through Texas. She had gone to the FBI in Texas and handed over a copy of the Cartel's books, who was buying, who was selling, who was being paid to not stop shipments at the border and which police were being paid to look the other way" He gave a one shoulder shrug then continued. "The resulting losses to the Cartel ran into the tens of millions, El Jefe was enraged, the woman's superior was made an example of by El Jefe personally not long after the bookkeeper fled. When I conveyed the name Kennedy gave me to my superiors they became very, very excited and I was told, apparently on El Jefe's direct orders, to have the woman returned to Mexico as soon as possible, as El Jefe wanted to deal with her personally as well" I nodded and continued the questions.
"And you conveyed this to Sergeant Kennedy?"
"Yes, he listened then said it would happen" I nodded for the jury's benefit and continued.
"And it did?" Hernandez nodded.
"Yes, just over a week later Kennedy met me at a location he had specified in Los Angeles, accompanied by two other men I now know as Detective's Farrar and Osmond. He told me they had kidnapped the woman and delivered her to the location to be handed over, still drugged, to the men accompanying me. She was to be smuggled into Mexico and delivered to El Jefe"
Andrea shifted images up on the large television screen set up in one corner, visible to the jury, Craven, the Defence table, the public galleries and thee cameras, bringing up a DMV photo of Adoria Moreno.
"Is this the woman in question, Adoria Moreno?" Hernandez nodded.
"It is"
"Thank you. Please let the record show Mister Hernandez has identified the victim" I turned back to Hernandez. "So she was to be smuggled south into Mexico"
"That is correct, it is much easier smuggling items south, far easier than the other way, your border people are not really looking for items going south" I nodded then pressed on.
"Where she was to be killed?"
"Eventually yes; El Jefe wanted to make an example of someone who had cost him so much money, much of what happened to her was carried out under his personal supervision"
"And what exactly happened to her?"
"She was handed over to a long procession of men to be raped, I do not know the exact total number, but it was in excess of twenty" I tried hard to keep my face impassive as I prompted him.
"More than twenty men raped her?"
"Yes" I kept prompting him.
"Who were these men?"
"I do not know the names; just that they were low level cartel enforcers and pimps" That comment had Peterson on his feet immediately.
"Objection, here say" Craven looked at me.
"Counselor?" I flicked that across to Hernandez.
"Mister Hernandez, how did you hear of it?" He was unfazed.
"I was told by one of the men who oversaw the entire process. At El Jefe's orders he selected the men then, when it was over, assisted El Jefe when her punishment at his hands began" I looked back at Craven and lobbed the ball back into his court.
"Your Honour?" He nodded slowly and spoke.
"Objection overruled" I turned back to Hernandez and continued.
"What happened to her then?" Hernandez shrugged as he explained.
"El Jefe then had her tortured, much of it at his own hands, before handing her over to a local butcher to be skinned" Faces across the court and in the jury box paled. The only reason I wasn't one of them was because I'd heard the horrifying story already.
"She was skinned?" Hernandez nodded once.
"Yes, El Jefe had her skinned as an example to others, then she was staked out over an ants nest and left to be consumed" Though I knew what had been done to her, to hear it again from someone who had helped make that happen…
"How did you learn of this?" He looked to the jury as he spoke.
"Images were sent to almost every Sinaloa person of any import, to be shown to every member of the Cartel, as a warning" Andrea typed on the laptop, bringing up a photo of the remains of Adoria Moreno as horrified gasps filled the room.
Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office
"Oh my god" In the quiet of her office Kate Murphy, Chief Medical Examiner for the city of Philadelphia, shook her head. She'd followed the case on a television in the corner of her office as best she could while she worked.
She'd tuned in initially to watch the forensics aspects of the case, while she'd never met Maura Isles, the woman had an outstanding reputation as a forensics specialist and Kate had wanted to get a feel for both the woman and how she presented her work in a court. After all it didn't hurt to learn from one of the best and Megan Hunt, Kate's senior Medical Examiner, couldn't speak highly enough of her work which, given Megan's notorious perfectionist streak, was as good a recommendation as anyone could ask for.
Maura Isles had presented her forensics results, plus testified to the multiple attempts on her life, leaving Kate smiling ruefully; glad her life had been considerably less stressful than the other blonde's. While waiting on the forensics testimony she'd become enthralled by the case as it unfolded, though she wasn't impressed either by the antics of the Defence or the judge's behavior, both being quite frankly disgusting.
Now though she took in the pitiful site of what had once been a living, breathing woman and shook her head sadly. The monster that did that might be out of the reach of justice but those who handed her over to that butcher weren't and she looked forward with grim anticipation to guilty verdicts all around and to hell with the Defence's antics.
In Court
Realising the damage to his clients from the image Peterson was on his feet objecting strongly, Ling and Cox and Humphries defender with him.
"Objection Your Honor, my clients had nothing to do with this poor woman's death" Andrea spoke up from where she was sitting at the prosecution table before Craven or I could.
"Your clients, Mister Peterson, delivered this woman, living quietly here in Los Angeles, to the people who did that to her. I believe your clients had everything to do with it" I chimed in; no way was I going to let Peterson and his clients off the hook on this one.
"Mister Peterson, I'm sure you know the definition of accessory before the fact as well as anyone" Peterson scowled as a whisper of snickers swept the court then looked across to Craven.
"Your Honour..."
"Objection overruled Mister Peterson" Craven stated. "You should know better than that" I shrugged then spoke, loud enough to be heard by everyone.
"Perhaps Mister Peterson should re-read the first year law texts on accessory before the fact" The filthy scowl I got from Peterson was easily worth the admonishment from the bench before he got the Defence to sit down. Andrea smiled encouragingly my way as I got us back on track.
"Is that the image you referred to Mister Hernandez?" He nodded once.
"One of them yes" He shrugged. "There were a great deal more, plus video, that was disseminated to the upper echelons of the Sinaloa and from there throughout the cartel" I nodded and moved on.
"How much was Sinaloa paying to have these officers kill the Cartel's enemies?"
"The agreed rate was thirty thousand dollars for each killing completed" I nodded at Hernandez' reply and pushed on.
"Was that a lot of money for what was being asked? Hernandez made an indecisive gesture with one hand as he spoke.
"For a contract killing yes, especially compared to what the normal price was in Mexico but they were able to get to people that Sinaloa wanted dead, people that they couldn't find otherwise so Sinaloa was prepared to pay"
"But Sinaloa paid them that same amount for killing other people who were not former Sinaloa members, did they not?" Hernandez nodded as he answered.
"Yes. You have to understand, El Jefe was very interested in having a team of local police willing to kill for him. Much the same thing had happened in Mexico and had led to the breakdown of the effectiveness of the police there. El Jefe hoped that the same could happen here" I nodded and glanced across at the defendant's for a moment, seeing them mostly looking impassive though Osmond was staring at the table in front of him while Humphries had a Mona Lisa-ish smile, before looking back to Hernandez.
"But these were only relatively low-level police?" Hernandez gave another of his very Latin shrugs.
"Yes, but they had access to both police records and other police officers details. El Jefe was planning to have them start killing other police" I frowned for the cameras and jury as I asked the obvious question.
"But up until now they had only killed criminals, what made him think they would kill other police?" Hernandez leaned forward to speak clearly into the microphone.
"It was his plan to threaten to expose them, tell them what could happen to their families, plus offer them more money" Hernandez shrugged. "It was a system that had worked elsewhere; he felt it would work here too" He smiled. "Before that happened though they contacted me and asked the Cartel to kill several police; when I conveyed this to El Jefe he was very pleased as they had already taken a big step towards the end he desired, so getting them to start killing other police was simply a matter of time" I nodded and refocused us on the conspirator's actions.
"Mister Hernandez, exactly how many people did Sinaloa, through Sergeant Kennedy, pay to have killed?
"Seven people who were in the Witness Protection program, plus another twenty eight who were not" He grimaced then continued. "Plus a number of people kidnapped and delivered to the cartel who were transferred to Mexico, four in total, most of whom ended up dead" There was a quiet series of gasps from the public gallery, Andrea and I had heard it all before, it didn't make it any less horrifying, just that we'd had more time to process it than most. Peterson however was unfazed.
"Objection Your Honour, here say" Craven turned to us as Andrea spoke up.
"The witness was the one responsible for authorizing payments to the defendants, I think he would be more than capable of recollecting who was paid how much for what services" I nodded in support and looked to Hernandez.
"That was your function, was it not?" He nodded at my question then answered.
"One of them, yes" I turned back to Craven, who frowned then looked to Peterson and waved him back into his seat as Andrea pressed on.
"So thirty nine people in total?" Hernandez nodded.
Yes; that they were paid for. As I understand it there were several others as well. The first person that Kennedy killed to prove he was able to deliver on his promises, plus a prostitute who was killed at the same time as another target" He shrugged. "I was told by Kennedy that she was there when Di Marco killed one of his victims and was, to use the American term, collateral damage"
"Objection, here say" Craven nodded.
"Sustained, the jury will disregard that testimony" I pulled a face then continued on.
"So forty one people dead or kidnapped and likely dead, to the best of your knowledge would those numbers be correct?" Hernandez nodded.
"Yes"
"And at thirty thousand dollars a time, Detective Kennedy was paid just over a million dollars, is that correct?"
"Well over a million dollars actually" I made a show of looking surprised.
"Oh, how so?" In response to her question Hernandez gave a very Latin shrug.
"They were paid extra for cases where they were personally investigated by the police's internal investigators and a special payment of double the usual for kidnapping the Witness Protection woman and returning her to Sinaloa"
"Ah, I see, thank you" I glanced up at the clock, seeing it was almost lunch time, something Andrea had also noticed, we exchanged a glance then looked across at Craven who pursed his lips then nodded, banging his gavel once and speaking up.
"Court will break for just over one hour" The court officer stood.
"This court will reconvene at 1.30 this afternoon. All rise" Everyone did as Craven departed, I turned to see Andrea had risen and walking my way, even as I noticed many of the audience weren't moving, they'd brought sandwiches and weren't budging, they didn't want to lose their seats. Holding out my fist Andrea bumped it, it'd become our 'thing'.
"Good session" At Andrea's words I nodded, seeing the County Sherriff's people escorting the defendants away to a secure holding area. A court officer was there to escort Hernandez out the side door and into the protection of a team of agents; no one was taking any chances with someone who had so many juicy cartel secrets. Instead I watched as Mikki and Liv made their way to join us and escort us out to where lunch was waiting.
"Yeah, it was"
Culiacan, Mexico
"So you are telling me there is no way for us to get to this chingada madre and silence him?"
Pedro Castile cringed internally; telling 'El Jefe' that something he earnestly desired was not possible wasn't a recipe for a long and healthy life for the messenger.
"Not at this point El Jefe, though our agents on the ground continue to try and find a way past the significant security cordon the Americano federales have thrown around the traitor" The cartel lord snorted skeptically then sat back, waving at the screen
"So this pendejo de mierda spills our secrets unchallenged?" Castile looked from the screen to his obviously unhappy boss, surrounded by his cadre of silent, merciless killers.
"I have asked them to redouble their efforts Jefe, the moment they have an opportunity they will strike, silencing the traitor" He mentally relaxed the merest fraction as his boss returned his attention to the screen, it didn't last long. El Jefe scowled and looked back at him.
"Make it happen, I want you see to it personally Castille, understand?" Castile swallowed, then nodded, not that there was any choice. He'd chosen to ride the tiger to his current position of wealth and power, now he had to find a way to stay there and away from the tiger's sharp teeth and claws.
"Si El Jefe"
What else could he say?
New York NYPD 12th Precinct
"That's horrifying" Kate Beckett looked across at her partner and shook her head, understanding exactly what he meant, then gave him her take.
"They're cops Castle, we're supposed to be the sheep dogs, not the wolves" She grimaced. "The actions of those bents cops have damaged the reputation of all of us"
"Well, with Alex and Andrea Hobbs' good work plus the testimony this guy is giving, they're going to be inside a cell for the rest of their lives" Kate nodded grimly.
"It's nothing less than they deserve" she grimaced the continued. "They're lucky California isn't one of the capital punishment states, otherwise they'd all end up meeting the executioner" Castle nodded slowly.
"In a way that'd be a mercy, as it is they're going to spend the rest of their life behind bars, they'll die of old age inside" Kate's reply was uncompromising and harsh as her expression.
"Good"
In Court
Post-lunch we'd reconvened and Andrea had taken over the questioning while I drove the laptop.
"Mister Hernandez, a million or so dollars, was that a lot of money for what Sergeant Kennedy and the other defendants were allegedly doing for Sinaloa?" At Andrea's question Hernandez gave a very Latin shrug then answered.
"No, not really, you have to understand that from the Cartel's perspective they now had police officers willing to kill for them, one of whom already had a drug habit, able to access the Federal Witness Protection program, plus police databases, in a police force that until now Sinaloa had very little success in infiltrating. El Jefe's plan was that if it worked out, he would start putting pressure on the individual officers, looking to see which of them would be willing to kill other officers who the Cartel wanted gone" Andrea nodded slowly then expanded on that.
"Did you anticipate any problems with this plan?" In response Hernandez shook his head.
"No, similar things had happened before, in Mexico, Columbia and other American cities close to the border. It was likely that if the inducement of continued payment wasn't enough, fear of exposure or a threat to their families might be required. He shrugged. "Based on discussions we'd had, I didn't expect too many issues, particularly from two of the officers involved"
"Which officers in particular Mister Hernandez?" He shrugged once more as he answered.
"The man Di Marco and the woman, Humphries" Ling was up on her feet objecting to that.
"Objection Your Honour, the witness has already stated that they had never met either officer" Craven looked to Andrea and spoke.
"Counselor?" Andrea nodded and turned to Hernandez, asking the question.
"How did you come to this conclusion Mister Hernandez?" He looked to Ling as he replied.
"It was based on comments Sergeant Kennedy made to me" She glanced up at Craven and he nodded, making a sit down gesture to Ling as Andrea turned back to Hernandez even as Ling sat dropped back into her seat.
"And what comments might they be, Mister Hernandez?"
"Sergeant Kennedy had expressed his surprise at how cold blooded and ruthless both were. De Marco had apparently killed a prostitute simply because she was there when he killed one of his targets, while Humphries apparently seduced some of her victims, went home with them and then shot them dead, plus she had killed another by poisoning his drink in a nightclub" He shrugged. "People that amoral usually respond well to financial inducements, with few, if any, moral quandaries"
"So it would seem" Andrea said, I mean what else could you say after that?
Los Angeles LAPD Major Crimes
I found myself shaking my head, the depravity of these people, not just the cartel but the cops we'd arrested in Robbery / Homicide, continued to depress me. I glanced up to look out over the squad in the Murder Room, but they were all too busy to notice me, either engrossed in their work or more likely in the trial that was streaming through to their desktops. I spotted Jane shaking her head, probably at much the same thing I was.
Alex and Andrea were doing a great job of building their case, but I was afraid that Peterson and his people hadn't finished with their smears of us yet.
In Court
Day two of Hernandez' testimony and we'd moved on through the long, long list of their killings-for-hire phase. Hernandez had certainly kept meticulous files on his cloud-based server, something that had helped in his recollections of the work he'd paid Kennedy and the others for.
They were so meticulous that I was left idly speculating that he had done so as an insurance policy in case he needed something to bargain with if he ever had to flee the Cartel, something Liv had also wondered at during last night's drive home. It had certainly worked out for him here; he'd escape punishment for his history with Sinaloa and end up with a new identity somewhere safe, probably well paid to allow him a life of, if not luxury then certainly considerable ease. While that offended my sense of justice I couldn't do anything about that but I could make sure that Kennedy and the rest would go to death row until they died of old age. Fortunately his notes were helping ensure that. We were diving back into it after the lunch break as I picked up where we'd left off.
"So we've confirmed that you passed on a Sinaloa request to Mister Kennedy for the death of Manual Luna, of the Knights Templar Cartel while he was in Los Angeles on business, and that he in turn contacted you a number of days later to confirm that he had been killed" Hernandez consulted the tablet he had with him then nodded.
"Yes, five days later" He looked over to where Kennedy sat and continued. "He informed me that his man De Marco had undertaken the killing" I nodded.
"You were convinced?" Hernandez nodded.
"Sinaloa had its sources, not all of which were known to me, including sources within the local media and the TSA, they were able to confirm to the Cartel's satisfaction that a man matching Luna's description had been killed where Kennedy had told me" I nodded, checking the information on the tablet I held, idly wondering how I'd done this so easily back before we'd had tablets, before looking up and confirming what he'd said.
"Yes, that was at LAX, apparently he was followed into a toilet in the concourse and shot four times through the cubicle door with a silenced pistol" Andrea brought up the crime scene photos which showed Luna's body sprawled back against the blood soaked wall of the toilet, then split the screen to show Luna's passport photo as I continued. "Is that Manuel Luna?" He nodded.
"It is" I looked to Craven.
"Please let the record show Mister Hernandez has identified the victim" I looked down at my tablet then back to Hernandez. "The victim was apparently followed into the toilet by a man who was captured by surveillance cameras" I tuned to the screen as Andrea brought up video footage, showing Luna walking towards the toilet, being followed by a guy who matched Di Marco's physique but who was unrecognizable under a set of sunglasses, a ball cap and a surgical face mask.
Enough people had taken to wearing them when they had the flu, or were trying to avoid catching it, that most people didn't look twice. Be that as it may, the man followed Luna into the toilet. No more than 20 seconds later he'd walked out and headed off towards the exit, by the time someone raised the alarm the man had got on a bus where he'd ridden two stops, got off and promptly vanished like he hadn't ever existed. I had to hand it to Di Marco; he'd been so slick there'd been no way to connect him to Luna's death, until now.
I looked back to Hernandez and continued. "And with that confirmation you met up with Kennedy and passed thirty thousand dollars to him to be paid to Di Marco for carrying out the execution?"
"That is correct, we met at a restaurant in Malibu, in a private room, where I handed across sixty thousand dollars" I frowned, all for show.
"Why sixty thousand dollars Mister Hernandez?" He smiled at me.
"I was conveying payment for not just that job but another, the last one carried out before they became aware that their actions were under investigation"
"And what was that payment for Mister Hernandez?" He looked back to the Defence tables; to the far end where Humphries sat, isolated from the others by her public defender who sat between her and Osmond and the rest, to where Humphries was watching proceedings with an elbow on the table, supporting her chin on her fist
"Sinaloa had requested the death of a woman of the Gulf Cartel" He checked his tablet then looked up and continued. "Her name was Liliana Flores, she ran prostitutes up from Mexico into California, especially into Los Angeles, to brothels run by associates of the Gulf Cartel" I nodded and checked my own notes.
"I understand that Flores was found dead in a toilet of a downtown nightclub?" Andrea brought up the photo from Flores' passport on the screen as I asked my by now familiar question.
"Is that Liliana Flores Mister Hernandez?" He glanced that way and nodded.
"It is" I nodded in return.
"Please let the record show Mister Hernandez has identified the victim" I glanced back at him. "So did Detective Kennedy undertake the killing of Ms. Flores?" Hernandez shook his head.
"No, I was simply conveying payment to him so that he in turn could pay his colleague Humphries" He shrugged. "In addition to the money I also passed across a quantity of cocaine, apparently Humphries was a cocaine user" Humphries Public Defender bridled at that.
"Objection Your Honour, supposition, based on hearsay" Craven thought about it and nodded.
"Sustained" He glanced at the jury. "Jurors will disregard that line of questioning" I nodded, knowing I'd get to Humphries soon enough.
"Mister Hernandez, Ms. Flores body was found in a female restroom of a downtown nightclub, Jamieson's, where she had been strangled, does that tally with your recollection?" He nodded.
"Yes, that is what Kennedy told me had happened" He looked over to Humphries. "Kennedy told me that Humphries had reported back to him that she had followed her into the ladies toilet and walked up behind her, pushing her into a cubicle and garroted the woman, then walked out and left the club before the body was discovered"
I nodded as Andrea brought up an image taken at the scene, showing Flores body pushed into a cubicle and sprawled across the toilet messily, blood from the wire wound across her throat pooled under her and running across the tiles and down a drain. The court was silent, I mean they'd sat through over thirty descriptions of murder and kidnapping, so they'd had plenty of time to become used to crime scene imagery. That image was replaced by security camera footage showing Flores walking into the ladies, followed by a woman of roughly Humphries' build, but her jet black hair was long and straight with a long fringe, a wig most likely, and she was wearing tinted glasses that helped break up her features, you couldn't really recognise Humphries on camera.
"The footage you are seeing is the last moments before Ms Flores was murdered" I stated for the jury and audience's benefit as both passed under the camera, less than thirty seconds later the black-haired woman exited, the footage cut to another showing her passing straight out the front door and walking away. "By the time the body was discovered the assassin was out the door and two minutes away, she had vanished" I looked to Hernandez. "So the information you ascertained separately tallied with what Kennedy told you, is that correct?" Hernandez looked across to where Humphries was sitting; a slight smile on her face, then looked back to me.
"Yes. The Cartel had confirmed that Flores was dead and I was directed to pay Kennedy the money for that assignment as well, so a total of sixty thousand dollars plus a quantity of cocaine was passed to Kennedy under the understanding that some of the payment and all of the cocaine were for Humphries" I nodded.
"And that was the last assignment that you conveyed to Kennedy, is that correct?" He nodded.
"Yes. The next time we spoke he asked to talk, he needed a number of police silenced, they had come under investigation and he wanted them killed, in a manner that left him and the others with complete deniability" I smiled, that was going to be exceptionally explosive testimony but it was going to have to wait, it was getting late, and turned to Craven. "Your Honour, might I suggest that we halt testimony at this point and reconvene tomorrow, where we will examine the attempts on the lives of LAPD and FBI personnel in greater detail.
New York NYPD 16th Precinct
It was late afternoon and as it had for the last week, a television set in the corner of the 1-6 SVU squad room was showing the case. Not a whole lot of work was happening as the squad's members watched one of 'their' own, for Alex would always be one of theirs, hammer nails in the defendant's coffins.
"Go get em Teflon" It was Munch as Fin nodded in agreement and spoke.
"Those fools are going down"
In Court
Craven glanced to the clock, showing 5.18 and nodded, banging his gavel.
"This court is adjourned till 9 o'clock tomorrow morning"