Cactus Island, A Stan Turner Mystery Vol 8

CHAPTER 32

  FINISHING TOUCHES

  With Steven Caldwell's case approaching quickly, I put Cheryl's case on the back burner to work full time with Stan to get ready for trial. I drove to Palo Pinto and found that the media had already arrived and were setting up camp. I heard that Robert Swanson had graciously arranged for a hospitality suite for them to make their stay more enjoyable and we'd been told the food and booze was flowing. Lauren Swanson had offered to let us stay at her place, but Stan didn't think that was a good idea, so I arranged for a half dozen rooms at the local Best Western. Although these accommodations wouldn't compare, we would be too busy to notice.

  The weekend before trial Palo Pinto was inundated with spectators. Most of them were UFO fanatics who believed Steven Caldwell had seen a spacecraft and wanted to support him. Many claimed to have seen UFOs themselves and thought if a jury believed Steven Caldwell and let him go that they too might somehow be vindicated. My greatest fear was that Stan would get caught up in this UFO euphoria and actually try to prove Steven Caldwell saw an alien spacecraft. He had assured me that wouldn't happen, but with Stan you never knew.

  One of my jobs before trial was to research the judge and our opposing counsel. Stan needed to know their general demeanor and what to expect from them. Stan had already seen Judge Applegate in action and had been warned not to pull any stunts in his courtroom. His short temper was well documented and I was worried how Stan would fare in front of him. Further research at the county law library revealed that the judge had lived his entire life in Palo Pinto County, graduated from St. Mary's University Law School, and had only practiced law five years before taking the bench in 1977. While I was snooping around the library, I bumped into a local attorney. He told me that Judge Applegate had a close friendship with Carla Simms and would go out of his way to accommodate her.

  I also discovered that Carla Simms was born and bred locally and was the daughter of a local bank president. A look at the shareholders of the bank indicated that Robert Swanson was a 20 percent owner. This bothered me, but probably wasn't enough to challenge her role in the trial. Simms had attended Texas Tech law school and graduated in the top 10 percent of her class. She had practiced as a sole proprietor specializing in family and criminal law for three years before joining the DA's staff. Simms was married to a local investment banker and had an eleven-year old daughter. Local counsel indicated she was confident, capable, often rude to opposing counsel, and seemed to have a perpetual chip on her shoulders. Bottom line, it didn't appear the trial of Steven Caldwell would be a pleasant experience.

  Before the trial began, we had promised to give my friend at the Dallas Morning News an interview. This was unusual in criminal cases, but since this case was getting so much media attention, we thought it would be wise to try to keep the speculation to a minimum. Jane Witherspoon had been a college acquaintance and we had become good friends over the years. I felt we could trust her to conduct a fair interview. It was Sunday, the day before the trial was to begin, and we had arranged to talk to her in a conference room at our motel. We agreed the meeting would be restricted to Stan, myself, Jane, and her photographer.

  As the interview began Jane asked, "Stan, what do you think of all the attention this trial is attracting? I've been told the population of this town has tripled in the past two weeks. Do you think all this attention will impact the trial and, if so, how?"

  "Well Jane, the attention will affect the trial. There is no doubt about that. The first problem will be in picking a jury. How are we going to find twelve impartial jurors? As you know, the court denied our motion for a change of venue. Since neither Steven nor Jimmy Falk was from this area the judge didn't feel the venue needed to be changed, and frankly I can't argue with him on that point. But the media will impact the trial in other ways as well. Unfortunately, I can't delve into that without revealing our trial strategy."

  "Can you give us a hint?"

  Stan smiled. "No, sorry. That's all I can say."

  "Okay, the big question: Will you try to prove an alien spacecraft landed on Cactus Island?"

  "No. I don't need to do that. All I have to show is that Steven was distracted by something that caused him to lose control of his Jeep."

  "But your client says it was a spacecraft. Are you going to deny that?"

  "We can't deny that he believed he saw a spacecraft, but people often perceive things incorrectly, particularly when they just glance at something for a split second."

  "So, what do you think Steven saw if it wasn't a spacecraft?"

  Stan smiled, "Well, that will all come out in the trial. I really can't discuss that now."

  "I understand," Jane replied. "So, how is Steven holding up? Has his incarceration been difficult for him?"

  "Yes, it's been very hard for him and his mother, and they'll both be glad to get this trial over with."

  "What do you think made him to want to run? Is that an indication of his guilt?"

  "No, not at all. He got scared and depressed like anybody would if they were wrongfully accused of murder. He panicked and bought some airline tickets. I don't think he would have gone through with it."

  Jane turned to me. "Paula, what's going to be your role in this case?"

  "I'm here to help Stan in any way I can. It's his case but if he needs me, I'm here."

  "She's good at picking juries," Stan said. "So, I'll be relying on her expertise in that area and, of course, her women's intuition."

  "Women's intuition? Is that true or are you joking?" Jane asked.

  "No, I'm quite serious. Paula has great instincts and if she feels strongly about something, I usually go with her gut feeling."

  "So, Paula, do you believe in alien beings?"

  "No, I don't," Paula said.

  "Stan, how about you?"

  "Well, Jane, I have an open mind on the subject. If there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that we know very little about the universe. I think it's quite possible, if not likely, that intelligent life does exist. Personally, I haven't seen an alien or an alien spacecraft, but if you read the newspapers and popular magazines they report that thousands, if not millions, of Americans believe they have seen UFOs at one time or another. The interest in this trial is proof of that, so I don't think you can just dismiss Steven's claim."

  My mouth dropped. Stan had promised he wasn't going to say anything to encourage the UFO fanatics that were using the trial to promote their ridiculous beliefs. I rolled my eyes and forced a smile. Jane noticed my anxiety. "So, Paula, you don't share Stan's view?"

  "Well, I guess I'm the skeptic."

  "Which is good," Stan added. "Paula plays a good devil's advocate. She makes me do my homework."

  "Well, I want to thank both of you for talking with me, and I wish you and Steven Caldwell the best of luck."

  We thanked Jane and, after her photographer took a few pictures, they left. I couldn't wait to see Jane's story which would be coming out just as the trial was getting underway. It was bound to create a frenzy amongst the tourists and make it even more difficult to conduct the trial. Although Judge Applegate had refused to allow the case to be televised, since there were far more spectators wanting to see the trial than there were seats in the courtroom, he'd consented to a close circuit feed into a large room in the basement.

  That evening we were told the ABC affiliate in Ft. Worth was airing Amy Tan's interview with Carla Simms. Stan was busy working on his trial outline, so he asked me to watch it in case she revealed any case strategy during the interview. I poured a glass of wine and got some snacks from the motel refrigerator. The trial was the big news on TV and the station was in the middle of a historical account of Possum Kingdom Lake, and in particular, Cactus Island. I shook my head at all the nonsense about spaceships using the island as a landing site. Video footage of the island showed that the armada of boats around the island was still there, and in even greater numbers than when Stan and I had visited the island weeks earlier. Finally, the int
erview of Carla Simms began.

  "Ms. Simms. Has there ever been a trial like this one in Palo Pinto County?"

  "No. I've got to hand it to Stan Turner and his girlfriend—partner—or whatever their relationship might be. They know how to choreograph a murder trial."

  If Simms was trying to make me mad, she'd succeeded. I gritted my teeth as the interview continued.

  "Do you think you have enough evidence against Steven Caldwell to overcome the tide of support for him shown by the crowds that have gathered?"

  "Absolutely. There is no doubt in my mind that Steven Caldwell is guilty and we have plenty of evidence to prove it. It doesn't matter what the spectators believe, it's the jury that counts."

  "Can you tell us more about this evidence you have?"

  "A lot of it's been reported in the newspapers. The rest will be presented at the time of trial."

  "But you're confident of a conviction?"

  "You bet. The citizens of Palo Pinto County want justice, and they have too much good sense to believe crazy stories about alien spacecrafts. Steven Caldwell is going to pay for his crimes against Jimmy Falk and the citizens of this county."

  "What about the second sighting? How do you explain that hundreds of people saw the spacecraft a second time?"

  "You've got to understand, Amy, that these people came specifically to Possum Kingdom Lake to see an alien spacecraft. They desperately wanted to see one, so when they saw an object in the sky they couldn't identify, because of a lack of experience, bad eyesight, or whatever, they jumped to the erroneous conclusion that it was an alien spaceship. They may actually believe they saw one, but they didn't. We all know that."

  Simm's interview continued on for some time but nothing was said we didn't already know. I called Stan when it was over. "The bitch intimated that we were lovers. Can you believe that?"

  "You're kidding? . . . Damn it! . . . Rebekah was probably watching it to. . . . Oh, well. She's just trying to distract us before trial. Don't worry about it."

  "It just makes me so mad," I groaned.

  "I know. Just let it go. We've got to focus on the trial."

  "Right. . . . How's the trial outline coming?"

  "It's done. I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

  "Good. I talked to the court coordinator on Friday and she said the jury list would be available at eight tomorrow morning. We should get it as early as possible, so we'll have time to study it."

  "Come by at 7:30 and we'll grab a little breakfast at the diner across the street. We may not have time for lunch, so we better have a good breakfast."

  "Okay. I'll have them give us both a wake-up call."

  "Good idea. Has Jenny arrived?"

  "Yes, she and her mother checked in about an hour ago. They stopped by the jail to visit Steven first."

  "How's Steven doing?"

  "She said he's nervous, of course, but he's a tough kid. He'll be okay."

  "Yeah, I think so. Well, I'm going to crash early. I don't want to be yawning tomorrow during Simm's opening statement."

  I laughed. "What about your opening statement? Don't you want to practice it with me before you go to bed?"

  "No. I think I'll wait until we put on our case to do the opening statement. It'll probably take us a couple days to pick a jury and then a couple more days for Simms to put on her case. I probably won't be giving it until next week. No use memorizing it now. I'll just have to do it again next weekend."

  "Okay. I'll see you in the morning?"

  "Sleep tight," Stan said and the phone went dead.

  Stan seemed quite cool and confident for the eve of a high-profile murder trial. I'd hoped he'd practice his opening statement with me, as I wasn't even sure what our defense strategy was. One moment he was saying the whole thing was just a terrible accident and the next moment he was talking about the possibility of intelligent life in outer space. The thought occurred to me that perhaps he hadn't decided which way to go yet and that was why he was putting off his opening statement. God, that was a scary thought. I hoped it wasn't true. Either way, I was just glad he was first chair and not me.