10th Anniversary by James Patterson Read Free Book Online

wasn’t jealous. She figured the marriage would right itself in due course or it would end. She was prepared for either outcome.
    “Candace Martin is a modern and successful woman. She isn’t a Pollyanna and she isn’t the Orange Blossom princess, but she is a highly respected cardiac surgeon and a marvelous mother, and she also loved her husband.”
    Hoffman turned toward his client.
    “I want you to look at her now,” he said to the jurors, “and see her for what she is: the victim of an overworked police department that took the easy solution—blame the spouse. And she’s being tried by an overzealous prosecutor who, for her own reasons, needs to score a big win.”

Chapter 19
    YUKI FELT PHIL HOFFMAN’S smash return right between her eyes. Holy crap. Hoffman’s shot at her was outrageous and maybe even defamatory. She had a flash fantasy of making an objection:
“Your Honor, opposing counsel is freaking desperate and should be thrown out of the court.”
    Nick Gaines, Yuki’s second chair and wingman, pushed a notepad toward her. He was a gifted cartoonist and in a few strokes had captured a lanky Phil Hoffman grabbing at his throat and a stick-figure Yuki with a slingshot and a title: “Underdog.”
    Yuki pushed the pad back to Gaines. She got his point. The jury would like her more as a result of Hoffman’s low blow. She would overcome the slam. As for now she reminded herself, “Never let ’em see you sweat.”
    She stood and said, “Your Honor, will you please remind the jury that opening statements are not evidence?”
    “Consider it done, Ms. Castellano,” LaVan said with a sigh.
    Yuki’s first witness was the uniformed patrolman who answered the radio call to the Martins’ house. Officer Patrick Lawrence testified that he was only blocks away and had arrived with his partner within a minute of the call. He said that he had interviewed Dr. Martin and kept her company as the EMS arrived and until Inspector Chi of Homicide and Lieutenant Clapper of the Crime Scene Unit took possession of the scene.
    Yuki established that Dr. Martin seemed in control of her emotions and that because of Officer Lawrence’s quick arrival, Candace Martin hadn’t had a chance to wash her hands or clean up the crime scene.
    After Officer Lawrence left the stand, Yuki called private investigator Joseph Podesta, and he was sworn in. Podesta was a neat and pleasant-looking man in his fifties who had been hired by Dennis Martin to snoop on his wife.
    Yuki questioned Podesta on his credentials, and he told the jury that he had been an investigator for the district attorney in Sacramento for twelve years and a private investigator, first in Chicago and currently in San Francisco, for a combined twenty years.
    “Why did Dennis Martin hire you, Mr. Podesta?” Yuki asked.
    “Mr. Martin knew that his wife was having an affair and he wanted pictures of them, uh, in flagrante delicto.”
    “Did you get pictures of the defendant with her lover?”
    “Yes, I did.”
    “Did you learn anything else during the time she was the subject of your investigation?” Yuki asked.
    “Yes.”
    “Please tell us what you learned.”
    “On one of the nights I was tailing her, Candace Martin met with a man I believe to be a contract killer.”
    A rumble came up from the gallery, and Hoffman shot to his feet with an objection.
    “Your Honor, this is pure hearsay. How can this witness know that the man he says he saw is a contract killer? If he was so sure, why didn’t he call the police? Instead, the State is using this extremely dubious testimony to impugn the reputation of a heart surgeon. How does this make any sense?”
    The judge quieted the room with two hard bangs of his gavel and said, “I’d like to hear this, Mr. Hoffman.”
    When she could speak again, Yuki asked, “You have proof of this meeting, Mr. Podesta?”
    “I followed Dr. Martin from her house in St. Francis Wood to Hunters Point. I followed her to Davidson Avenue.