Page 151 of One of Us Is Guilty

‘I can’t do that. The DA will fire me. The evidence all points . . .’

‘The cops and the judge have been paid to look in one direction only. That’s why the evidence points to the wife. Trust me, for your sake. I’m going to call a witness, and then you’re going to stand up and ask for the indictment to be withdrawn, on a without prejudicebasis, in light of this new evidence. Nobody in the DA’s office will criticize you for that, and some of the more liberal-leaning law firms in this town will look at your résumé a lot more favorably for it. They’ll think you’re a straight shooter, a man who follows the law – maybe the last powerful person in this city who thinks the law means anything.’

I could see from the look on his face that this was landing, but he wasn’t sure.

‘How do I know you’re not conning me?’

‘Two reasons. Listen to the testimony and, if you’re not convinced, don’t do it. Second, I didn’t have to say shit to you. I could have let this go to a verdict and just kicked your ass.’

‘Why do you want me to withdraw the charges without prejudice? That means we could charge her again in the future. Surely you meanwithprejudice.’

‘I know what I mean.Withoutprejudice. Don’t ask me why. I know every lawyer in your office thinks I’m a criminal and a conman, and I’m not going to defend the things I’ve done, but I will say this – I always did what I thought was right. This feels right. And that’s all I have to say. Now you’ve gotta do whatyouthink is right.’

I swung away from Riley, said, ‘The defense calls Melissa Bloch.’

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Eddie

It took almost ten minutes to go through Bloch’s testimony about her experience working as a cop in various jurisdictions, and her record as a special advisor and training specialist in the areas of control and restraint and advanced driving. By the time we were done with that, the jury couldn’t take their eyes off her.

‘. . . I currently work for you, Mr. Flynn, as a fully licensed private detective.’

‘Thank you, Miss Bloch. Would you please talk the jury through this video we are about to show. And I just want to warn the jury that this is shocking to watch.’

We played the video which Raymond had recorded on his phone, of the paint crew arriving at the house in the Hamptons, shooting the lawyer in the head, then holding his body in mid-air and slicing the bottom of his foot to drain his blood into a bucket.

‘In your opinion as an experienced homicide investigator, why did the killers cut this victim’s foot?’

‘It’s simple physics and biology. Even though the victim was dead, and his heart had stopped pumping, his circulatory system was still under high pressure. The laws of gravity dictate that liquid flows in one direction. They sliced the bottom of his foot, which contains major veins, to relieve the pressure in his circulatorysystem. This does not drain all the blood from the body, far from it. But what it does do is significantly minimize blood spatter when the subsequent dismemberment is carried out.’

The rest of the video played out in silence. Most of the jury watched the whole thing, but some men and women turned away when the lawyer’s head was placed in the bucket. I couldn’t blame them. So often, murder is a messy, rage-filled mistake. But sometimes it’s purely clinical, methodical and even casually evil.

‘Miss Bloch, could I refer you to both of the reports prepared by the medical examiner in this case? We have already discussed the differences in relation to his findings on cause of death, but both reports refer to an injury to the victim’s foot. Would you read this section I have highlighted, please?’

I handed her both reports. Bloch read the identical entries from each.

‘The victim had a deep cut on the sole of her left foot.’

‘Did you visit the crime scene in this case, the victim’s apartment?’

‘A number of times, yes.’

‘Did you find any bloody footprints in that apartment?’

‘No.’

‘To your knowledge, did the NYPD forensics team find any bloody footprints?’

‘No.’

‘It is the prosecution’s case that the victim was murdered by the defendant striking her on the skull with a heavy jewelry box? Is that consistent with your findings at the crime scene?’

‘No. The victim did not die from being struck on the head by a jewelry box.’

Riley leaned forward. The jury were mesmerized by Bloch’s matter-of-fact delivery.

‘Please explain your answer in more depth for the jury.’