Unlucky in Law by Perri O'Shaughnessy Page B

mouth. He went on eating while Nina chewed on second thoughts.
    “Are you tired?” she asked.
    “No.”
    Why was he doing this to her? To conserve his energy? Because he sensed his powers were fading? Did he believe she might do a better job? She decided he wouldn't ask if he didn't need her. “If you really need me, I can do it if you give me your notes right now.”
    Without a word, Klaus passed over his legal pad. “Detective Banta,” said the tall slanted letters at the top of the page. What followed was a concise outline of topics to be covered in Klaus's superbly angular Germanic handwriting.
    Nina began feeling better. “But—if you want me to take a witness and it's not an emergency or something—can you please let me know the night before? I could use more time to plan.”
    Klaus set down his fork and wiped his mouth with his napkin. “Look here,” he said. “Do you know what happens when a lawyer sits up all night memorizing old testimony and reports and concocting long lists and so forth?”
    “What?”
    “She sacrifices the ability to listen to the testimony as it comes from the witness's mouth. She is so busy checking off items, thumbing through exhibits, flipping through paper, she hears nothing.”
    “I prepare,” Nina said. “That's the way I practice law.”
    “Then it is time to jump to a higher level,” Klaus said, “where you demonstrate your mastery of law, not your practice of it. When Detective Banta speaks, don't look at your notes. Don't think about the next thing she might say. Open up to fresh ideas. What does she tell you with her body, her voice, and only last of all, her words? When does she exaggerate? Watch her when she skids over a topic. Note statements in her direct testimony that don't sound right. Go straight to those things and follow them to where they lead.”
    “What about this outline you prepared?”
    He tapped on it, and she read it. It was unlike any notes preparing for testimony Nina had ever seen. Five topics in capital letters were followed by brief notes in the present tense that summarized the night Stefan Wyatt was arrested and Banta's subsequent activities:
    1. STATION
Millman leaves and Banta takes over suspected homicide. Wyatt in an interview room asleep in a chair waiting for his lawyer (Mr. Turk, who got there at 9 A.M. ). Stefan is booked and searched. Medal found and tagged.
    2. CEMETERY
Arrives 7:00 with her partner—still pretty dark (fog)—backhoe has encountered a thick clump of black trash bags lying on top of an older coffin. She gets in, wearing gloves, opens the bag, and sees the victim—secures premises—calls investigative team and D.A.'s office. Calls Alex Zhukovsky again for permission to open coffin—inside, body has been removed. Takes statements from cemetery security, checks for ID, finds none, calls in medical examiner and forensics team.
    3. STATION
Returns to station and meets Alex Zhukovsky—he's in a very upset state (still doesn't know it's his sister). Takes statement re: his father, Constantin's, burial. Shows Alex the bones and he says clothes are those his father was buried in—but medal is missing—describes the medal of St. George.
    4. MORGUE
The medical examiner, Susan Misumi, calls to say Christina's body has been taken to county morgue. Banta takes bones and Alex to morgue where he IDs Christina and breaks down.
    5. CHRISTINA'S APARTMENT
Banta and partner now go to Christina's address on Eighth. (Alex gave key. Unable to attend.) They enter. See very little sign of anything at first. Prelim tests for blood on kitchen floor are positive. Find glass. They bring Forensics in. Talk to D.A. Sandoval and decide to hold Stefan on suspicion. Alan has been to station. Then they go off-shift.
    “That's it?” Nina said.
    “Jaime always asks his questions chronologically,” Klaus told her. “He is as reliable as the annual monsoon floods in Bangladesh. As for what Detective Banta will have to say on these matters,