Chapter 21
Cutler folded his hands and slammed them together on the lectern.
It earned him a stern look from Judge Saul but it got the jury’s attention.
There was something about Gus’s expression I didn’t like.
I’d seen him in action on the witness stand scores of times.
He always kept his expression neutral. His delivery was gruff but straightforward.
Defense attorneys never intimidated him.
It’s not that he looked scared now. He just looked … haggard.
“Detective,” Cutler started. “I just want to make sure I have certain facts clear. This was your case from the beginning, isn’t that right?”
Already he seemed off his game. Gus knew the cardinal rule of testifying. Only answer the question you’re asked. He wasn’t following it.
“Got it. And how many homicide cases had you handled at that point in your career?”
“Maybe a dozen.”
“A dozen. When you say a dozen, you don’t mean you handled those cases solo, do you?”
“No.”
“But the Luke case, you’d never handled a murder case on your own before, had you?”
“I’m afraid I have to reject the premise of your question. Nobody ever handles a murder case on their own. We work in conjunction with the medical examiner’s office, the Bureau of Criminal Investigations, and any number of other supportive personnel.”
“Right,” Cutler said. “Of course. But you’re still the one directing the investigation. You’re calling most of the shots, isn’t that right?”
“I suppose that’s true.”
“You suppose. Okay. Again, I just want to make sure I have a clear picture of what you found. From your own report, from BCI’s analysis, there was no blood at the scene where Ellie Luke was found.”
“No. She had decomposed to the point there was very little soft tissue left on her remains. No blood.”
“No DNA other than Ellie’s?”
“That’s correct.”
“And that’s true for her car as well, right? Because you searched that within a few hours of her disappearance.”
“Is what true for her car?”
Better, I thought. Keep it together, Gus.
“No foreign DNA, blood samples, hair, fingerprints. Only Ellie’s.”
“Her car was clean of any of those things, that’s correct.”
“Okay. Thank you for clarifying that,” Cutler said. “How many witnesses did you interview in this case?”
“Do you mean before or after Ellie Luke’s body was found?”
“Either. In total.”
Gus squared his shoulders. “I believe it was around a hundred.”
“One hundred. It’s one hundred and seven according to your report.”
“That sounds right.”
“One hundred and seven witnesses. Including Jamie Simmons, right?”
“Yes.”
“Not one of them mentioned any concerns they had about Mr. Simmons, did they?”
“Objection to the extent Mr. Cutler’s question calls for hearsay,” I said.
“I’m not soliciting statements to prove the truth of the matters asserted. I am questioning this witness, the lead investigator in the case, about the trajectory of his investigation.”
“I’ll allow it,” Judge Saul said. “The witness may answer.”
“Detective, do you need me to repeat it?” Cutler asked.
“No,” Gus said. “I do not recall asking any of the witnesses about their specific concerns regarding Jamie Simmons.”
“That’s not what I asked you. I asked you if any of your one hundred and seven witnesses said anything that would have raised your suspicions about Mr. Simmons’s involvement in Ellie Luke’s disappearance?”
“Well, that’s not what you asked me. Which question would you like me to answer?”
I watched the jury. A few in the front row started to squirm. Gus was technically in the right, but if he played games, it could backfire. Juries do not like feeling as if their time is being wasted.
“Detective, isn’t it true that not one of your one hundred and seven witnesses said anything that caused you to regard Jamie Simmons as a suspect in the disappearance of Ellie Luke?”
“His name didn’t come up,” Gus said.
“So that’s a yes?”
“I was not suspicious of Jamie Simmons twenty-two years ago. That is correct.”
“And you didn’t find anything on Ellie Luke’s phone that led you to suspect Jamie Simmons of any involvement, did you?”
“No, but cell phones weren’t used then the way they are now.
Ms. Luke had a very basic flip phone that she primarily used to send and receive calls.
She did very little texting. She also kept the phone off when she wasn’t using it.
We couldn’t and didn’t use cell phone tracking the way we do today.
Additionally, the phone she had was a family cell phone.
Her father indicated that he shared it with her.
He gave it to her when she worked nights so that she could call if she had an emergency or would be running late. ”
“To call if she had an emergency,” Cutler said. “She didn’t call her parents the night she disappeared, did she?”
“She did not, no. Additionally, her phone was never recovered. Neither was her purse.”
“Got it. Detective, you indicated you didn’t suspect Jamie Simmons twenty-two years ago. But you did suspect someone. Isn’t that true?”
Gus looked at me. I felt every muscle in my body go rigid. But Cutler had asked an appropriate question.
“I eventually zeroed in on a person of interest, yes.”
“A person of interest. And who was that person, Detective Ritter?”
Gus cleared his throat. “Dane Fischer.”
“Dane Fischer. And how was he connected to Ellie Luke?”
“He was a second cousin. His mother was Claudia Luke’s first cousin.”
“And why did you first become suspicious of Mr. Fischer?”
“Well, naturally, in any murder investigation, it’s standard practice to inquire whether there might be anyone who had animosity toward the victim.”
“Animosity. Mr. Fischer had more than animosity toward Ellie Luke though, didn’t he?”
“I can’t speak to that. You’d have to ask him.”
Cutler smiled. “Who told you about Dane Fischer?”
“Claudia Luke.”
“Claudia Luke. Ellie’s mother. Jamie Simmons’s mother-in-law.”
“That’s correct.”
“What exactly did she tell you?”
“Objection,” I said. “Again, counsel is soliciting hearsay.”
“And again, I am questioning this detective about the trajectory of his investigation. He has admitted that Dane Fischer was a person of interest. I should be allowed to explore how and why he became a person of interest.”
“May we approach, Your Honor?” I said. Saul waved us forward.
Judge Saul leaned over the side of her bench and covered her microphone.
“What are you doing, Mr. Cutler?”
“Dane Fischer isn’t on trial,” I said. “I think it’s patently obvious what Mr. Cutler is trying to do.”
“I didn’t manufacture Dane Fischer,” Cutler spat. “I didn’t bring him into this. Detective Ritter did. It is absolutely within my client’s rights to explore whether there were any alternative suspects to the crime he’s been accused of and what evidence there was against those alternative suspects.”
“I’m inclined to agree with him, Ms. Brent,” Judge Saul said. “Detective Ritter’s investigation is fair game. It’s part of this. But we aren’t going to slander a man, Mr. Cutler. Ms. Brent is right. Dane Fischer isn’t on trial.”
“He should be,” Cutler said, earning him a withering glance from the judge. We went back to our positions.
“Detective Ritter,” Cutler said. “What caused you to view Dane Fischer as a person of interest?”
“Ellie Luke’s mother indicated Mr. Fischer and her family had a complicated history.
That he had some substance abuse issues.
When Mrs. Luke’s cousin threw him out of her home, the Lukes took him in for a brief period.
Mrs. Luke later learned that Mr. Fischer may have stolen some things from the house. ”
“How did she learn that?”
“Ellie Luke brought it to her attention. I believe that was the source of the friction between the families at that point.”
“Friction. But that’s not really a strong enough word for what happened, is it? Isn’t it true that Dane Fischer threatened to hurt Ellie Luke if she went to the police with what she knew?”
“I don’t know if that’s true. I know that’s what Mrs. Luke believed.”
“And you brought Dane Fischer in for questioning based on Mrs. Luke’s belief, didn’t you?”
“I questioned Dane Fischer, yes.”
“You did more than question him, didn’t you?”
“I don’t know what you’re implying?”
“I mean you asked him to submit to a polygraph, isn’t that right?”
“Objection! Do I even have to explain?”
“No,” Judge Saul said. “Mr. Cutler, you’re on thin ice. Defense counsel’s last question should be stricken. The witness is instructed not to answer.”
“Your Honor, the results of any polygraph are inadmissible. I didn’t ask about the results. I only asked if Detective Ritter asked Mr. Fischer to submit to one.”
“Enough,” Judge Saul said. “My ruling stands. Move on.”
God. The smug bastard had done it. It didn’t matter that the question was stricken. The jury heard it, just as Cutler intended. They would assume the rest of it, that Fischer had failed one. Gus’s expression turned even more sour.
“You interrogated Dane Fischer about his whereabouts the night Ellie Luke went missing, didn’t you?”
“Of course.”
“Did Mr. Fischer’s alibi check out?”
“No.”
“No. According to your report, Mr. Fischer claimed he was at the Lakeside Bar in Rossford?”
“That’s what he said, yes.”
“But his alibi didn’t check out, did it?”
“No.”
“And why not?”
“The Lakeside Bar was closed due to a water main leak the entire week, including the night before Ellie went missing and all through the next day.”
“So he lied about his alibi.”
“That’s what I believed at the time.”
“You confronted him about that, didn’t you? You interviewed him again?”
“Yes.”
“Did he give you a different alibi?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“Your Honor,” I said. “Again, counsel is soliciting hearsay testimony.”
“I agree,” Judge Saul said. “You can’t ask the man what Dane Fischer said.”
Cutler huffed, but recalibrated his question.
“All right. Let me ask this, then. Were you able to exclude Mr. Fischer based on his second story about where he was the morning Ellie went missing?”
“No, I was not.”
“It didn’t check out? The new alibi?”
“No.”
Cutler nodded, satisfied with himself. “So he threatened the victim. Lied about where he was the morning she disappeared … twice. But that wasn’t the only thing that had you suspicious of Dane Fischer, was it? Tell me what you found in Mr. Fischer’s vehicle.”
“There were drops of blood in the trunk of Mr. Fischer’s car.”
“Drops of blood. You were able to type those blood samples, weren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“They were B positive, isn’t that right?”
“Yes.”
“What was Ellie Luke’s blood type?”
“Mr. Cutler, blood type isn’t dispositive. The lab was unable to extract any DNA.”
“That’s isn’t what I asked you. What was Ellie Luke’s blood type?”
“B positive.”
“Thank you. I have no further questions.”
I traded places with Cutler at the lectern. “Detective Ritter, what was Dane Fischer’s blood type?”
“B positive,” Gus practically shouted his answer.
“You never arrested Dane Fischer in connection with Ellie Luke’s case, did you?”
“No.”
“And why not?”
“Because there wasn’t enough evidence. The blood evidence was inconclusive.
It was most likely his own blood. Although there were reports of animosity between Mr. Fischer and the victim, I had no proof he acted on it.
There was no evidence they’d been in communication or that there was any ongoing feud.
Then, after Ellie Luke’s body was found, there was no physical evidence connecting Dane Fischer to the crime. ”
“Thank you. I have nothing further.”
“The witness may step down,” Saul said. Gus looked like he might actually be sick. I wanted to go to him. To console him, even though that wasn’t my job.
“Ms. Brent, please call your next witness. I believe we have time for one more today.”
I nodded. “The state calls Sabrina Wharton-Brent to the stand.”