Fatal February (18 page)

“What was your next involvement?”

“I returned to the office and completed my notes regarding the scene. I noted that the bedroom appeared to have been the scene of a struggle, a chair overturned, papers and books on the floor.

“I began my autopsy the following morning. May I put these slides on the viewer? They will help illustrate my findings.”

“Any objection, Ms. Katz?” the judge asked.

“None, Your Honor.”

Sandra left the witness chair and standing next to the large slide viewer, placed three slides that were blowups of the chest cavity of Gary Yarmouth. A fourth slide showed a wound that appeared to be to an arm.

“Please explain your findings,” Karl said.

“The first thing I noticed was a small bump on the head of the victim. There was an iron headboard on the bed where the victim was found. I opined that he might have hit his head in a struggle.

Next, I observed some defensive wounds on both of the victim’s palms. They were small cuts. The victim must have tried to fend off his attacker. I removed the clothing, which was covered in a great deal of blood. The blood tests showed it to be only that of the victim. I examined the clothing carefully and microscopically and found hairs belonging to the victim. However,
there were two strands, which were long and blonde. They were clearly tinted that color as the roots were brown and the dye was apparent under the microscope. I bagged the hairs and sent them to the evidence lab.

Next I began the surgical examination of the organs. I found no traces of drugs or alcohol. The food left in the lower intestine was well digested and was ingested several hours earlier. The heart and chest cavity was the locus of the major wound.”

Sandra pointed to the fourth slide. “This slide shows a wound to the right arm of the deceased. This wound is several centimeters above the defensive wound on the right palm. This wound is deep but clearly not deadly. However, it appears from the blood on the clothing I removed that it caused enough bleeding to have alarmed a victim. Perhaps the surprise or the pain from this gash would have stunned the deceased.

“The fatal wound is here.” Sandra pointed to the large slide. “Here we have a puncture directly into the main artery that pumps blood to the heart. This wound was so severe that it caused death within a few seconds.”

“What kind of instrument would cause such a wound?” Karl inquired.

“A knife or stiletto with a long, sharp blade. The blow would have to have been delivered with a great deal of force to pierce completely through, front to
back. Additionally, the perpetrator thrust the weapon at the most opportune point to produce a mortal wound. The trajectory of the weapon bypassed the breastbone and other cartilage in the chest cavity, which allowed the knife to reach directly into the heart.”

Sandra pointed to the two slides showing the heart from the front and the back. She pointed to a particular spot on the slide. “This is the point that a doctor probes with a long needle when a patient goes into cardiac arrest and it is necessary to enter the heart, thus bypassing those bony areas that I just explained.” She pointed again to the darker areas on the slide. “The weapon used in this case made the same kind of entry directly into the victim’s heart.”

“Did you view other evidence in this case, Dr. Wilson?”

“Yes, you asked me to examine a silver letter opener. I measured the blade, which was exceptionally long. It measured over six and one-quarter inches.”

“Could this letter opener have caused the fatal wound in this victim?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Thank you, Dr. Wilson. Your witness, Ms. Katz,” Karl said.

I looked up from my notes. Tears were running down Lillian’s cheeks. Catherine had her arm around her and was pouring her a glass of water. I moved to the lectern.

“Dr. Wilson, you may take your seat again. Before we begin, I see that you are referring to some notes or reports. May I examine what you are looking at?” I asked. There was no objection from the prosecutors, who were in another conference with each other. No doubt they were still trying to locate Maddie.

“Yes, Ms. Katz. This is my summary report. It is a summary of my findings and notes in a short form,” Sandra said as she held out the paper.

I took a minute to read the report. “Dr. Wilson, you have described the wounds, but you have not talked about where the perpetrator might have stood, based on the way the wound appeared. Have you formed any opinion about how the fatality occurred?”

“Yes, I have. It is my opinion that the person who committed this crime may have surprised the victim. He may have been asleep or resting. That may account for the bump on the top of his head. He may have sat up suddenly. The defensive palm wounds followed by the wound to his arm may have thrown him back on the bed. Finally, the fatal wound must have been struck with a great deal of force.”

“What suggests this to you?”

“The weapon punctured the artery and left an exit cut on the victim’s back. Additionally, the way the weapon punctured the artery in a straight-line trajectory shows that the perpetrator would have to have been standing above the victim, and would have to have been a tall individual to wield so much power.

The bed where the victim was found was a high, antique-type bed with an iron headboard, so a short person couldn’t have maintained the velocity and power to inject such a straight path to the artery.”

“Could the person have been on the bed with the victim?’

“It seems unlikely, as the victim was found on the edge of the bed facing the writing desk. According to the initial reporting officers, he had fallen to his side almost off the bed.”

“Mrs. Yarmouth, would you stand up, please?”

Lillian looked at me with a frown and slowly stood up.

“Come around to the front of the table, please,” I said. “How tall are you?”

“I’m five feet three inches,” Lillian said.

“You seem taller. Would you remove the shoes you are wearing?”

Lillian stepped out of her black pumps. In her stocking feet, she appeared very small.

“Is Mrs. Yarmouth tall enough to have inflicted the wound the way you have described it?”

The medical examiner laughed. “I wouldn’t think so unless she was leaping like a ballerina. And, by the way, I think Mrs. Yarmouth is stretching her height a bit. She looks more like five feet two inches. You know I measure a lot of bodies.”

“Thank you, Dr. Wilson. I have no further questions. Oh, and here is your report. Thank you for
letting me read it. I see that you have described in this report the way the wound was inflicted.”

Karl Morris was on his feet. He didn’t even bother to return to the lectern. From his table, he asked, “Ms. Wilson, you don’t know that the defendant didn’t murder her husband, do you?”

“I don’t know who the murderer was, sir. I can only describe the facts that I found in my examination, but it’s hard to imagine a woman that small making such a wound with that trajectory.”

“You may be excused, Dr. Wilson,” Judge Arnold said. “Call your next witness, Mr. Morris.”

“Your Honor, the state has still not located Ms. Rodriguez. She was to be our last witness. If we do locate her, can we call her after the defense witnesses?”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” the judge said. Are you ready with your first witness, Defense?”

“My paralegal is moving the witnesses to the courtroom area now, Judge. My first witness is Cassie Kahn.”

“While we are waiting, let’s take another short break. The court reporter looks like her fingers are sore.”

The people in the public area pushed their way toward the door, heading for the restrooms and the coffee shop. Lillian stood in a circle with Brett and Sherry. I looked back to smile at Carlos when I spotted Jason Jimenez-Jones, the elected state attorney. He was sitting several rows back, blending with the rest of the peanut gallery. He must be here to spy on his assistants and make sure they don’t cause him bad headlines, I thought.

I actually liked and respected Jason. I worked on his election campaign because I believed that he would be fair to my clients. Now I felt disappointed. Nothing had been fair about the case against Lillian. The State had stonewalled discovery and had filed the heaviest charge against Lillian with a threat of the death penalty.

I strolled back to Jason. He stood up as I approached. “Well, Mary, are the fireworks about to begin?” he asked.

“I’m glad you’re here, Jason. You can hear firsthand how your office has screwed up.” I smiled and moved back to where Carlos stood. I needed a reassuring hug, which I got along with, “Go get ’em, tiger. I’ll be right here cheering, but quietly, of course.”

Catherine returned in minutes with Cassie in tow. Cassie had done herself up to perfection. She was dressed in a black designer suit, a white sheer blouse with a low-cut neckline, and a small diamond pendant on a gold chain. Her hair was newly cut in a shiny rounded style. I hoped her testimony was as good as her appearance. Judge Arnold looked down approvingly from his vantage point on the bench as Cassie settled herself in the witness chair. He seemed fixated on the cleavage.

“Ms. Kahn, where do you live?”

“On Bayshore Drive in Coconut Grove.”

“Do you know the Yarmouth family?”

“Yes, we’ve been neighbors for at least fifteen years.”

“Do you see Lillian Yarmouth in the courtroom?”

“Sure, she’s right there, next to the girl who brought me into the courtroom, and there are her children, Brett and Sherry, in the row right behind her. Well, they’re really not children anymore, but you know, we always think of them as children.”

I interrupted her. My instructions to just answer the questions must have made no impression on her. “I want you to think back to the day that Gary Yarmouth died. Do you recall that day?”

“Vividly. So much happened.”

“When did you first see Lillian that day?”

“It was in the morning. She was in her garden and I went over to invite her to our house Sunday evening for cocktails. She told me her kids were coming home for the weekend from college. She was very excited and happy. She was such a devoted mother.”

“Did you see her any more that day?”

“Yes, I was sunning by my pool in the afternoon when I saw her drive into her garage. I noticed how nice her Lexus looked. I waved, and she waved back.”

I removed a photograph from the envelope and showed it to the prosecutor.

Karl stood up. “I object to this, Judge. I don’t even know what it is. It’s houses and yards.”

I took the picture from Karl and showed it to Judge Arnold. “This is a layout of the Kahn home, the Yarmouth home, and the street in front of the houses. It’s relevant to Ms. Kahn’s testimony.”

“Okay, Counsel, the clerk may mark it into evidence,” the judge said.

“Now, Ms. Kahn, do you recognize what is in this photo?”

“Of course. There’s my house and the pool, and here is Lillian’s house and driveway, and there’s our street. See, you can see how I had a bird’s-eye view of their house from my pool.”

“When you saw Lillian drive into her garage, do you know what time it was?”

“Yes, right after I saw her I looked at my watch, and when I saw it was already three o’clock, I was pissed. Excuse me Judge,” Cassie smiled at Judge Arnold, “I mean, I was angry.”

“What were you angry about?” I asked.

“The caterer who was doing the Sunday party was supposed to call me at two thirty so I could give her a final headcount and she could tell me if she was able to get all the seafood I had ordered. You know how scarce stone crabs have been lately. Well, I guess she thought I should just sit there and wait all day for her to call, so that’s why I was angry.”

“What happened next?”

“Well, I stood up to go in the house and call the caterer, and just then I saw a woman running down the sidewalk from the Yarmouths’ house toward our house. She stopped for a couple of seconds right in front of our yard and stepped out of her shoes. They were those high wedges. I think they’re by Remeau. Anyway, they’re hard to run in, so I guess that’s why she took them off and she ran down the street to a little red BMW parked in front of the house on the other side of my house.”

I removed the photos of Maddie from the envelope and showed those to Karl. He looked startled.

“Any objection, Mr. Morris?” the judge asked.

Karl passed the photos to the other prosecutors, who looked at them and passed them back to me as I waited at the end of their table.

“I guess not, Judge.”

The clerk marked the photos and I placed them on the arm of the witness chair.

“Ms. Kahn, would you look at these photos and tell me if you recognize the person in the photos?”

“This looks like the woman who ran down the street that I just told you about. The thing that is so distinctive about her is that reddish-blonde hair. What a gorgeous color.”

“Can you show us on the photo of your house, exactly where the woman stopped? Just put an
X
there with this pen.” Cassie marked a space in the first photo, just in front of her house on the sidewalk.

“Do you recall anything else about that day?”

“Well, later my maid came and told me that there were police cars and an ambulance next door. Then a young officer came to the door and asked me about the stuff I just told you, and then later on I went outside to see what had happened. A lot of the neighborhood was standing out there. They said Gary was dead. And then we saw the police lead Lillian out of the house in handcuffs. It was unbelievable.”

“Did the police or the prosecutor ever contact you again?”

“No, none of them did. The only person who contacted me was you.”

“Your witness, Mr. Morris” I said. I hoped that Cassie would give shorter answers to Karl, but I didn’t hold out much hope. She was enjoying her role way too much.

“Ms. Kahn, good afternoon. I’m Assistant State Attorney Karl Morris. I’m going to ask you a few questions on behalf of the State.”

“I know how it works, Mr. Morris. My husband’s a lawyer and I watch all the
Law and Order
shows on TV.”