Once again, now that the courtroom scenes have arrived, I remind readers that I have no legal training at all. Please accept it for the purpose intended… for your reading enjoyment. I am clueless on actual criminal law.
Kaleen1212
The Case of the Angry Mountain
Chapter 14
14.1
The bullet embedded in the tire beside Mark's head. Eve Whitfield immediately pulled out her service revolver, pointed in the direction the shot had been fired and pulled the trigger. "Mark, get back in the house!" she shouted.
Mark scrambled toward Eve as another shot rang out from an entirely different direction. It missed him by inches.
Suddenly there was an explosion inside the house. Both Mark and Eve were knocked off their feet. Mark covered Eve with his body to protect her from falling debris. They watched as the fire spread quickly, both feeling helpless to do anything about it. Every time they tried to move, shots rang out over top them.
"Eve! Look!" Mark said, pointing at a clearing in the trees. There was a man standing by a tree with a rifle pointed at them.
Eve lifted her service revolver, aimed and pulled the trigger. The man dropped to the ground. "Stay here, Mark."
"Not a chance, I am not letting you go alone."
Eve turned to Mark. "I wasn't giving you a choice. That is an order, Mark, one the chief would expect you to obey. I am a police officer. You are not."
He did not like it but she knew she was right about the chief. He nodded and settled back where they had been crouching. Eve got up and slowly moved toward the would-be killer. She kept her gun pinned directly at him. When she arrived at the spot he went down, she used her foot to turn him over from his facedown position. His eyes stared straight ahead. Eve checked his pulse. There was no doubt that the man was dead. "It is alright!" she shouted. "He will not be shooting at us again."
Mark got up and hurried over to Eve and the now deceased man. "Do you know who he is?"
Eve shook her head. "No, but I would swear that I have seen him some place before." She looked around. "Stay close to me in case he has a partner. We have to call the chief."
Mark reached down and checked his pockets. He pulled out wallet, which contained five thousand dollars in cash. He checked through the rest of his wallet and searched the body. "Just a lot of money. He is not carrying any identification."
"You know what that means. He is probably a hit man."
"To shoot us?" Mark questioned.
"No, not us. Anyone who came near this cabin would be my guess. We have to find a phone. Come on let's get that tire fixed. It is probably too late to save that house but we have to stop that fire from spreading to the woods."
14.2
The phone in Perry and Della's cabin rang. "Get that, will you Perry," Ironside requested.
"Since it is my cabin, I'll do just that," Perry said amused that his brother always seemed to take over every room he entered. Main picked up the phone and said, "Hello." He held out the retriever to his brother.
"Ironside." Ironside barked into the phone. He listened and then said, "We are on our way." The chief slammed the phone down and addressed Perry. "Let's go."
"Where are we going?" Perry asked as he grabbed his coat.
"Dylan Demaris'place. It is on fire. Ed, you are coming with us."
14.3
Ed pulled the truck to a stop down the road from Demaris' cabin. He and Perry helped Ironside into his wheelchair, after which Ironside began wheeling toward the cabin. As they neared the burning cabin, a firefighter stopped them. "I am sorry but you cannot go any closer."
Ironside and Perry looked at what was once a cabin. It had almost completely burned to the ground. Ironside noticed Mark and Eve headed their way. When they arrived he demanded, "What happened?"
Eve explain the condom they found the carbon in and the flat tire they found when they came out. She told him about being attacked.
"Did you recognize the man?" Perry asked.
Eve pulled out her cell phone and brought up the picture she had taken of the dead man and showed it to Ironside and Mason. "I don't know who he is, Chief, but he sure looks familiar."
Ironside took the phone from the detective and looked at it. Perry looked over his shoulder. "I have never seen him before."
"There is no reason why you should. You would defend the likes of this man." Ironside handed the phone back to Eve.
"Then you know who he is?" Perry asked.
"He's a hit man from New Orleans," Ironside replied. "I have been trying to nail him for years but he had been to clever for the police to catch him as are most of these types. His name is Gordon Brown."
Ed perked up when he heard the name. "Works mostly for the mob."
Ironside, Eve and Mark all turned their attention to Brown. "What else do you remember about him?" Ironside asked.
Ed tried to figure out how he knew that bit of information but it escaped him at the moment. "I don't know. I don't know why I said that."
Perry smiled. "Seems your boss was right. Immersing you in police work seems to be bringing your memory back in bits and pieces."
"Any chance you remember anything about why you were in the woods and how you came to be knocked out?" the chief asked.
Brown shook his head. "I don't know. I wish I did. I don't like not knowing who I am."
"It will come back to you, Ed. Don't try to force it." Eve took his hand and squeezed it."
"Bob, we have to find out what happened to Gail. I have a strong feeling that it has a bearing on what had happened."
"One thing we know for sure is she did not leave all that stuff behind," Mark said. No one sells their house with all their belongings in the deal. She did not even take her clothes or remove her food from the refrigerator."
"Something we would not have known if you had not home in there," Perry said.
"Speaking of going in there. Did you have a warrant?" Ironside asked.
Eve became very uncomfortable. She avoided looking at her boss. Mark spoke up first. "The door was not locked. When we looked inside and saw it fully furnished, we thought Gail might be in trouble."
"So you went in to find her," Ironside said.
"That's right, Chief," Eve finally came into the conversation.
"How big was the refrigerator?" Ironside asked.
"What?" Mark was confused by the chief's question.
"It must have been a good size if you thought Gail was living in it," He snarled. "Or did you think she might have crawled in to cool off? God knows the weather has been so flaming hot."
Eve and Mark were looking everywhere except at their boss. Perry was trying to hide his amusement. His brother could be so sarcastic at times. This being one of them.
"What else did you find out?" Perry asked.
"I took a picture of a note I found," Eve answered. She pulled it up on her cell phone and handed it to Perry.
Mason bent down so that his brother was able to see Eve's phone.
Gail, you have to make a decision. I cannot live this way. I cannot take it. This can only end badly if you do not make the right decision.
Kyle
"Bob, we have to find out who Kyle is."
Ironside saw Sherrif Tom Gates come out of the woods. "Ed, go back to the truck. I don't want Gates to see you."
Brown obeyed Ironside immediately. He turn his back in the others and position himself so that Gates would not see his departure. Ed got into the truck and stared at Tom Gates. He looked familiar. Why did he look familiar. He did not know him. He had not seen him before... at least not that he could remember but then he was not remembering much these days.
He could see Gates arguing with Ironside. He wished he could hear them. Maybe the sound of Gates' voice would trigger something... anything that would help him remember what had happened in the woods.
"There is no reason for you to be here, Chief Ironside. Everything is under control," Sheriff Gates said.
"No reason! Someone tries to kill two of my people and you tell me there is no reason for me to be here!" Ironside temper was rising and it was evident in his voice.
"Look, Ironside, this is my jurisdiction not yours and I will handle this... " Sheriff Gates stopped talking abruptly. He looked down and then ran his hand down his face. "I am sorry, Chief Ironside. The strain of everything that has been happening on this mountain is making my temper short. Look, if I come up with anything, I will call you immediately now that the phones are working. Right now, I don't even know who the dead man is or why he would want to burn down Dylan's house."
"The man's name is Gordon Brown. He's a hit man from New Orleans," Ironside said.
"A hit man?" Gates did not attempt to hide his shock.
"That's right, Sheriff. He is wanted in several states including mine. I would like to know what he was doing here and who hired him. Someone did not want us looking at that cabin," Ironside said.
"Chief, it is more than likely related to something in San Francisco. If he is wanted there, then you and your people were probably the target," Gates guessed.
"I don't think so," Ironside disagreed. "That cabin had never been clear of Gail Smith's belonging. All of the furniture, clothing, and food… in other words all her possessions were left behind. Please explain that, Sheriff."
"Maybe she included everything in the sale," Gates suggested.
"Including her clothes?" Mark questioned.
"And birth control pills?" Eve added.
"I don't know… " Gates said, shaking his head.
"Don't you think you should find out, Sheriff?" Ironside asked. "Find out who hired him and it will lead you to Dylan Demaris' killer."
"Is that what you think? Milt Stein killed Dylan Demaris. All of the evidence proves that. The sooner you accept that, the better off you will be because he is going to be convicted."
"Are you going to check into Gordon Brown?" Perry asked.
"I'll check it out but if I were you, I would not expect much. I think you will be sorely disappointed. We have never had a hit man show up on this mountain before now and you just happen to be here. With your prominence and the enemies you must have made over the years, it is more likely you that the man was after and by extension… your people," Gates insisted. "There is nothing you can do here. I think you should all go back to Stein's cabins." Gate turned away from them and walked back toward the remains of Demaris' cabin.
"He is not going to check into Gordon Brown," Perry said.
"No, he's not. He is convinced Milt is responsible for Demaris' murder," Ironside replied. "I don't think we can expect much help from him."
"Bob, the hearing starts this week. We don't have much of anything yet." Mason was worried.
"I know. But we will. We need to find out what happened to Gail Smith... and who the flaming hell Kyle is and check out the witnesses in that deed."
"We also have to find out what Ed knows. Just what happened to him and why," Perry added.
"Hanging around here is not going to find the answers to those questions. Let's go." Ironside wheeled around toward the truck and then suddenly stopped and turned back to Mark and Eve. "Is that tire fixed?"
"Mark changed it," Eve assured her boss.
"Then we will meet you back at the cabins." He turned and wheeled away with Perry.
14.4
Perry and Della entered the courtroom. It was small and they could not help but notice how stuffly it was. Della looked around. As usual every seat in the room was filled. If they thought it was stuffy right now, she was sure it would be unbearable later on.
"This room has no windows," Perry observed.
"You noticed. Wait until late this afternoon. If they don't cut the heat back in here, we are all going to roast," Della said.
A moment later Milt Stein was brought in. After shaking hands with Mason, he asked, "Where is Barbara?"
"Bob went to Boise this morning too pick her up. He will try to get her to go back to the cabins to rest but he doubts she will. He will probably bring her here," Perry surmised.
"Anything new in the case," Milt wondered.
"It is going pretty slow. We have more questions than answers right now." Perry wished he could be more encouraging but he never painted a rosy picture to any client when the chips were down. He always found it better to be completely honest with them.
The bailiff entered the courtroom and said, "All rise. The Honorable Judge Wilber Northrop residing."
Perry, Milt and Della stood with everyone else in the courtroom. Judge Northrop entered and took his place on the bench. "You may be seated." All those in the room settle back in their seats. He banged the gravel and said, "Court is now in session. Is the prosecution ready?"
Arnie Hazelwood stood up from his chair behind the prosecution table. "We are Your Honor."
"Is the defense ready?"
Perry stood up. "Yes, Your Honor."
"Mr. Hazelwood, would you like to make an opening statement?"
Hazelwood stood once again. "I would indeed." Hazelwood stood up and walked up to the bench. "The prosecution intends to prove that Milt Stein did kill Dylan Demaris in cold blood. Using the recent earthquake to his advantage, he shot Mr. Demaris in the head with a rifle. We will show that he had motive, opportunity and… did so with his own rifle. We will ask that he be bound over on the charge of murder in the first degree." Hazelwood walked back to his table and sat down. He did not believe in long-winded opening statements. He felt that short and to the point was always the best. Unfortunately, he figured the court was in for a long drawn out opening statement by Perry Mason. The lawyer's courtroom antics were legendary. Mason would try every trick in the book to slow the trial down and confuse the issues. He did not know Wilber Northrop. He was known for putting defense attorneys just like him in their place. He knew Mason's type and would be able to predict his every move.
"Mr. Mason," Judge Northrop said, addressing the famous attorney, "would the defense like to make an opening statement?"
'Here comes the novel from Mason' thought Hazelwood.
Mason stood up. "No, Your Honor. The defense will hold any opening statement until we put on a defense, if we decide to make one at all."
"Very well then. Mr. Hazelwood, call your first witness."
Arnie Hazelwood looked at Mason in utter shock. He could not believe it! Mason was not going to make an opening statement. Since when did that man not take the opportunity to stall and waste the court's time? He stood up and fell over his own words. "Ah… the people call…" He looked over at Mason who smiled back at him, calm as could be. What was the man up to?
"Mr. Hazelwood," snapped Northrop, "call your first witness."
Regaining his composure, Hazelwood called out, "The people call the chief medical examiner, George Gernand to the stand." After Gernand had been sworn in and seated, Hazelwood walked over the witness stand. "Would you state your name and occupation, please?"
Mason stood up immediately. "Objection! Mr. Hazelwood has already told the court who and what Mr. Gernand does for a living."
The judge tried to contain a smile. So that is how Mason was going to play it. "Sustained. We all know who and what Dr. Gernand is and does, thank you, Mr. Prosecutor. You may start your examination."
Hazelwood turned and looked at Mason who again smiled. He did not understand his objection. He thought for sure the lawyer would require a long list of qualifications. He looked back to his witness and asked, "Did you have the opportunity to examine the body of the deceased?"
Mason stood up again. "Objection! Before Mr. Hazelwood questions this man as an expert, the defense would like to see his qualification as such."
Della put a hand over her mouth to hide a smile. Milt leaned into her and said. "I don't understand. What is he doing?"
Della whispered back, "Perry doesn't know this man so he is testing him to see exactly how much it will take to rattle him. It will help him to force the prosecutor to make mistakes." Stein nodded in acknowledgement.
"Your Honor, Mr. Mason did not want to even allow the witness to give his title and name. Now he wants a narrative from him?"
"Your Honor, the defense is entitled to explore this man's qualification," Perry argued, still standing on his feet.
Judge Wilber Northrop knew what Mason was doing but from the look on Hazelwood's face, he had not figured it out yet. Northrop usually did not allow these types of tactics but Mason was right and Northrop had to admit he found Mason's methods amusing. "The defense is entirely within its right to explore the expertise of the witness. Objection sustained."
"Of all the dirty…" Hazelwood mumbled.
"Mr. Hazelwood, please speak up if you are addressing the bench," the judge snapped.
"I am sorry, Your Honor. I was not addressing the bench."
"If you are not questioning the witness or addressing the bench, you will keep your comments to yourself."
"Yes, Your Honor." He looked back again at Mason before returning his attention to the witness. "Dr. Gernand, would you please state your qualifications and experience for the defense attorney please."
Perry looked down at the pad of paper in front of him and began doodling on the paper, showing no interest in what Gernand was saying. At least it appeared that way to Hazelwood. The district attorney noticed his demeanor and shook his head slightly. Why ask if he wasn't going to pay attention? When the doctor had finished, Hazelwood again looked back at Mason as if to say, 'Satisfied?' Mason did not even look up.
"Now, Dr. Gernand, did you have the opportunity to examine the body of the deceased?"
"I did."
"Tell the court what your findings were."
"I removed a bullet from his skull."
"Did the bullet cause enough damage to have caused his death?"
"It most certainly did. A portion of his skull had been blown off."
"Then his death would have been instant?"
"That is correct."
"At what time did you place the time of death?"
"Between one and two o'clock."
"What was done with the bullet?"
"As required by law, I turned it over to the police."
Hazelwood walked over and picked up the bullet. "Is this the bullet you have to the police?"
After examining the bullet, the medical examiner grand it back to Hazelwood and said, "Yes, it has my mark."
The prosecution would like to enter this as the People's exhibit A." He glanced at Mason.
"No objection," Perry said, remaining seated.
He went to the evidence table and picked up a report. Walking back to the witness, he handed the report to him. "Is this your report?"
Gernand opened the report, glanced through it and handed it back to Hazelwood. "Yes, that is my report."
"I would like this report entered as the People's exhibit B," he called out as he handed it to the judge.
"No objection," Mason immediately said.
"Thank you, Doctor. Your witness," he said to Mason and returned to his seat.
Perry remained seated in his chair. "On what in particular did you base the time of death?"
"When an individual dies, the body temperature begins cooling. I based it on that and the amount of rigimortis in the body."
"Doctor, do you know what the temperature of the weather was that day?" Mason asked.
"I don't recall but it is in my report."
Della handed Perry a copy of Gernand's report. Perry opened it to the page in which the medical examiner stated the outside temperature. "According to your report, it was twenty-eight degrees. Is that correct?"
"If that is what is says than that was the official temperature given by the weather station."
"Did you take that into consideration when setting the time of death?" Mason asked.
"Of course I did," Gernand said indignantly.
"Mr. Gernand, could the temperature affect the process?"
"Of course it could," he snapped.
"Then is possible that Mr Demaris died earlier... say as early noon? In other words he could have died when the defendant was in Boise with Chief Ironside. Isn't that correct?"
"Objection! Calls for a conclusion on the part of the witness." Hazelwood complained.
Mason turned and smiled at the district attorney. "I withdraw the question."
"Mr. Gernand, due to the cold temperature you can not in all certainty fix the time of death around the time of the earthquake, can you?"
"It is not an exact science, Mr. Mason. If it were I would have given you an exact time."
Mason smiled and nodded to the witness. "Thank you. You have been very helpful."
"Mr. Hazelwood, any redirect?"
Hazelwood looked up and replied, "No, Your Honor, despite Mr. Mason's antics of trying to confuse the issue, I believe we have established that the deceased was killed while the defendant was on the mountain."
"That is enough, Mr. Hazelwood. I will not tolerate statements of that sort in my courtroom."
Della leaned behind Milt towards Perry. "He appears to take things personally."
Perry whispered back. "I wanted to see what it would take to confuse and rattle him. It seems he has a short fuse. We will use that to our advantage."
"It does not prove that I was not in the woods at the time of the murder, Perry," Milt reminded him. "In fact, I probably was."
"Since the judge is the one that binds you over to trial, we might as well give him something to think about." Perry turned his attention back to the proceedings.
"Mr. Hazelwood, call your next witness," the judge ordered.
"The People call Sheriff Thomas Gates."
Once Gates was settled in the witness stand, Hazelwood walked over to him. "You are the Sheriff of this county, are you not?"
"Yes. That is correct"
"Will you please tell the court how long you have been sheriff?"
"Nearly ten years now."
"In that time, can you tell the court how many murder investigations you have had the opportunity to be part of? Would you tell us about some of them please"
Perry winked at Della and then stood up. "Objection! Incompetent, irrelevant, and immaterial. It has no bearing on what the sheriff did or saw."
This time Judge Northrop could not conceal his amusement as a smile broke on his face. Hazelwood looked back at Mason and growled, "I figured you would complain about his experise if I did not ask him."
Mason said calmly. "The defense will concede the sheriff's expertise."
Hazelwood looked at Mason, confused. The man's actions made no sense. He had no idea what he was up to. Arnie Hazelwood tried to remember what he was going to do next. Mason had just thrown out much of his questions by his declaration.
14.5
"One night spent out here was plenty for me. What are we doing here, anyway?" Sgt. Ed Brown complained.
Paul Drake grinned. "Because your boss wants us to look over the murder scene again and so does mind. So, pal, we look at the murder scene one more time. Let's keep moving. We will be there shortly," Paul said.
Ed complained under his breath. He could not understand for the life of him why in the world he would have become a cop. Worse, why would he have picked that cop in a wheelchair to work with? He paid no attention to what time of day it was. He seemed to work his people around the clock and he was forever grumpy. Yet, Ed sensed another side of him… something that had earned his loyalty and respect… but what. Why couldn't he remember? Why had his memory of how he got here still elude him?
As they continued through the woods toward the murder scene, Paul lifted his leg to step over a large tree that lay across the path. Ed grabbed his arm. "We better step over the other end. There is a large hole just over this end. You will end up flat on your back." Ed turned and walked down the length of the tree. He looked back to see that Drake had not moved. "What are you waiting for?" he asked him impatiently.
Paul stood there questioningly. "How do you know there is a hole on the other side of this tree?"
Confused, Ed stammered. "I… don't know…I just know there is."
Paul followed Ed to the other end. After both of them had stepped over the tree, Paul headed for the spot that Ed said there was a hole. He pushed away the leaves that covered it and sure enough, there was approximately a two-foot hole full of tree leaves. "Ed, the only way you could have known that this hole was here is to have seen it before."
Brown was confused. Paul was right. How else could he know there was a hole there? Had he fallen into it? Is that how he hit his head? "Is there any sign that I fell there?"
Paul looked around. "None that I can see. One thing is for sure, you were in this area. That could mean that Perry and your boss are right. You know more than you realize."
Ed rubbed his temples. He was seeing something in his mind. He was running in the woods, down this path. His gun was drawn. He saw the fallen tree in front of him, leaped over it, and went down. The flashback ended.
"Ed! Are you okay?" Paul called out.
"You are right, Mr. Drake. I was here. I just saw it," Ed said as he looked down at the ground.
"You are remembering something? What? What do you remember?"
He told Paul what he had just seen in his mind. "So you were running with your gun drawn… that means you were in some kind of danger. Bit by bit, Ed. It is coming back bit by bit. Ironside and Perry were right in sending you out here with me. Let's keep moving. Maybe something else will trigger a memory."
Paul and Ed were completely unaware that they were being watched.