Chapter 32
I SPENT A restless night worrying about what to do about a runaway witness while Maggie opened her phone what seemed like every twenty minutes to check the Times app to see if the story and editorial had been posted.
By morning, there was still nothing. Bleary-eyed, I walked down the steps of the front deck to get the printed edition of the paper—still a loyal subscriber despite its basically being yesterday’s news today.
Once I was back inside, Maggie grabbed it from me and nearly ripped it apart looking for the story about her alleged incapacity.
There was nothing there. But there was a story about the start of the Tidalwaiv trial that I managed to save to read later.
“Any chance this whole thing was a hoax?” I asked. “You said you’d never heard of the reporter before.”
“No, it sounded too legit,” Maggie said. “I could hear people in the background and typewriters clicking.”
“Typewriters? They don’t use typewriters.”
“Keyboards, whatever. It wasn’t a hoax. They just delayed it for some reason. Probably to dig up more dirt on me.”
“Then you should make a move that will make the story look stupid if they print it.”
I walked into the kitchen to brew a double-shot espresso on the machine. I needed something to get me going. Maggie followed me.
“What kind of move?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “But think about it: All your press conferences this year have been about prosecutions related to the fires. L.A. is a big place, and most people never go through Altadena or the Palisades and Malibu. To them, the fires are what they saw on TV. You’ve got to have something else.
Something else big that you can announce to show that you’re in charge of the whole county.
That it’s not just about the fires with you. ”
Maggie opened her mouth to say something that would push back on the suggestion. But then she closed it. I could see her mind racing as she came around to the idea.
“If you don’t have anything, I can give you something,” I said.
“What, about your case?” she said. “We’re not finished with the psych eval on Aaron Colton. I’m not going to rush that. I told you I wouldn’t.”
“No, my other case. David Snow. I told you about it. I’m gonna get him out, and everybody likes an innocent-man story. You could announce a move to review his case, and it would be on every channel at six.”
She shook her head and smiled—which I admit was nice to see, even though I knew what was coming.
“Mickey, you never stop working the angles,” she said. “Even with me.”
“Hey, I’m just trying to get you some good press,” I countered. “Whether now or later, you’re going to want to get on the right side of this case.”
“Well, it’s a little premature at the moment. But your advice is well taken. Thank you.”
She kissed me.
“I think I know what to do,” she said. “There’s a file on a cold case that came in from the LAPD yesterday. It might do the trick. I have to get dressed.”
She headed out of the kitchen.
“You sure?” I called after her. “You’d look great in front of the cameras in that sleep shirt.”
“Very funny,” she called back.
I was already dressed for battle. While I waited for the machine to brew, I called Cisco. “Okay, where are we?” I asked.
“Well, she’s still here,” he said. “If it stays that way, I’ll bring her to court at noon.”
“Good.”
“How are you going to handle it?”
“We’ll own it and tell it the way it is. It will take some of the wind out of Marcus Mason’s sails.”
“Hope so.”
“Anything changes, call me. If you can’t get me, tell Lorna and she’ll give me the message.”
“You got it.”
“And Cisco, if she brings up the subpoena, just remind her it was issued by the judge and she has to appear.”
“Copy.”
I disconnected. My double-shot was ready and I sipped it as I read the Times story on the start of my trial.
It grabbed a few quotes from my opening statement, which I liked, but otherwise the story was mostly a summary of the allegations contained in the lawsuit that would be addressed as the trial proceeded.
As unhappy as Maggie was about what the Times was up to, I was pleased that it looked like my trial might be getting daily coverage.
On my way downtown, I took another call from Cisco.
“She’s in the restaurant having breakfast with her daughter,” he said. “I spoke to her for a few seconds and she’s not talking about leaving. She’s still scared, though, about what else they might have dug up.”
“Yeah, well, so am I,” I said. “But if they had more than the name, it seems like they would have used it last night.”
“True that.”
“Okay, I’m almost to the courthouse. I gotta get my game on.”
“Good luck.”
Twenty minutes later I was at the lectern in the courtroom and Detective Clarke was on the stand being reminded by Judge Ruhlin that he was still under oath.
She then turned the witness over to me. I was finished with Clarke but didn’t want the judge to feel I had gamed her the day before, so I asked him a few more questions that mattered little to my case strategy.
Until they did.
“Detective, you told us yesterday that the investigation into the death of Rebecca Randolph continued well after the arrest of Aaron Colton,” I began.
“That’s true,” Clarke said.
“During this continuing investigation, did you have cause to contact the Tidalwaiv company to ask about the AI companion that Aaron Colton had downloaded from them?”
“I did, yes.”
“And what did you ask them?”
“I wanted to know how long he’d had the app, how much time he spent on it, how much he paid—general information that might be useful in the evaluation of the suspect’s mental state.”
“Were you directed to do this by the district attorney’s office?”
“I was, yes.”
“And what kind of cooperation did Tidalwaiv provide the investigation?”
“Uh, that would be none.”
“None?”
I said it as if surprised by the answer.
“Correct,” Clarke said.
“Did they give a reason for their lack of cooperation?” I asked.
“I was told that their data was proprietary and not available to me without a search warrant.”
“Did you pursue getting a search warrant?”
“No, I did not.”
“Why did you drop it?”
“Because we got the search warrant for Aaron’s laptop and phone instead, and our tech unit was able to access the information I was seeking from Tidalwaiv through those devices.”
“Thank you, Detective. I have no further questions.”
Marcus Mason was at the lectern before I even reached my seat. And he didn’t start with any niceties for Detective Clarke.
“Detective Clarke, isn’t it true that you had another motive for approaching Tidalwaiv for information?” he asked.
“Motive?” Clarke said, seemingly confused.
“Another reason, Detective.”
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“Were you aware of a violent incident involving Aaron Colton at Grant High School in February of 2022?”
“I was aware of an incident that resulted in his suspension, if that’s what you’re referencing.”
“What was that incident?”
“Aaron was accused by a teacher of cheating on a test. It led to a confrontation in which he pushed the teacher. He was suspended for four weeks, I believe.”
“And when you approached Tidalwaiv, were you not trying to determine whether that violent incident came before or after he initially downloaded the Clair app?”
“That would have been one of a number of things I was interested in.”
“And when you were able to access his devices, did you learn that Aaron Colton downloaded the Clair app after that violent incident involving his teacher?”
“I don’t know if I would describe the incident as violent, but yes, it occurred before he started using the Clair app.”
“If it got him suspended, how else would you describe the incident other than violent?”
“It was a push. I talked to the teacher after I learned about it and she did not use the word violent to describe it.”
It might have been a tiff about semantics, but it was a skillful opening to Mason’s cross-examination.
He scored points right away, and I confirmed this as I watched the jurors lean in during the back-and-forth with Clarke.
Mason also revealed what the defense strategy was likely going to be: Blame the killer.
Establish that Aaron Colton was violent before he ever met the AI companion he called Wren.
It was the already-on-the-path-to-destruction defense. And now that I’d seen the direction Mason was going, I would be ready for it.
Mason kept Clarke on the stand for nearly two hours, but his best points were scored in that opening exchange.
Clarke was a veteran detective and experienced witness, primarily in criminal court, where cross-examination was no-holds-barred and confrontational.
He held his own and didn’t give Mason any further ammunition.
But what Mason did accomplish with his lengthy cross, whether knowingly or not, was the disruption of the rollout of my case.
My plan had been to use Detective Clarke as the starting point, then move into the emotional wave of testimony by the parents whose children had killed or been killed.
This would lead to a crescendo of technical, scientific, and psychological testimony from the experts in artificial intelligence about the guardrails that Tidalwaiv should have had in place to protect customers, particularly minors.
But I had a key witness who didn’t want to testify.
Who would be doing so reluctantly. By using the morning up, Mason had put me in a corner.
If I rolled my case out according to my original plan, there was no way I could get Naomi Kitchens on the stand before the next day or quite possibly—based on Mason’s lengthy cross of Clarke—the day after that.
I couldn’t risk waiting that long with Kitchens teetering on the brink of a meltdown and looking to run away from testifying. I had no choice. I had to reshuffle my cards.
As soon as court was recessed for lunch, I walked into the hallway and called Cisco. When he answered, I could tell by the background noise that he was in a car. I had given him the use of the Lincoln for transporting witnesses during the trial.
“Where are you?”
“We’re five out.”
“Is the daughter with you?”
“Yes, she’s here.”
“Redirect to the Redbird for lunch. I’ll meet you there. Naomi testifies after lunch.”
“What?”
“I’ll explain why later. Don’t tell Naomi. I will. Just get to the Redbird and I’ll meet you all there.”
I disconnected and turned to find Lorna standing in the hallway.
“You have to edit the PowerPoint,” I said. “I’m putting Naomi on the stand next.”