Chapter 25
Paula Waters
Ten days after the filing of the motion to consolidate the criminal cases against Ricardo, Wilkinson, Hunt, and Jamison, Rutledge set it for hearing. Since each defendant had their own lawyer there were now five lead attorneys working the case. At the hearing none of the defense counsel objected to the consolidation but they all agreed they needed more time to get ready for trial, so Judge Anderson reluctantly reset the trial date to December 1, 1997.
After the hearing Tom Wilkinson’s attorney, George Black, introduced himself to Paula and informed her that he would be presenting a united defense for the other three defendants. He told her that the two other individual attorneys would be there only to give advice to their clients. He confessed that Wilkinson Properties was paying each of the other three defendant’s legal fees and accordingly wanted to present a united front.
In the following months there was considerable discovery conducted by the state and the defendants but little new evidence was uncovered. It was now the eve of trial and Paula was working diligently on final preparations for it. There were subpoenas to get out, witnesses to prep for trial, and endless reviews of witness’ questions to make sure all the evidence needed to insure Ricardo’s acquittal came out at trial. Then there was the question of what Paula should wear and whether she should talk to the media before and during the trial. All of these things were important and Paula knew she was running out of time.
Two weeks earlier Chris Hunt had been indicted for the murder of his girlfriend, Evelyn Sanders. The tire iron from his trunk, which the medical examiner had determined was the murder weapon, had been found in a dumpster a few blocks from her home the day after her murder. Even though having his fingerprints on his own tire iron was not remarkable in itself, that coupled with Jodie and Brad’s expected testimony that Evelyn had been with them on the day of the murder and had provided them information incriminating Hunt, was enough to convince the grand jury to indict him.
With heightened security around Jodie and Paula after Evelyn’s murder there hadn’t been any more attempts to frighten or intimidate them and Stan hadn’t needed to use his .38 revolver that he carried around with him religiously wherever he went. In fact, everything seemed to be going exceedingly well until Maria walked into Paula’s office at 4:00 p.m. on the Friday before the trial was set to begin.
“Well, I have reminded everybody of the trial except Emilio and Sandy Richmond,” Maria advised her. “I can’t get a hold of either of them.”
“Well, I’m sure the prosecution has subpoenaed them both, so I wouldn’t worry about it,” Paula said.
“Is there anything else you need from me before I go home at five?” Maria asked.
“No. I think the trial notebook is ready to go and I have all my evidence organized properly. If anyone calls me next week just explain to them that I’m at trial and won’t be able to return their phone calls for a while. If there is an emergency give it to Stan. He’s going to be holding down the fort while Jodie and I try the case.”
“Alright,” Maria replied.
“Oh, how do you think I should dress during the trial—conservative and professional or stylish and colorful?”
“Stylish and colorful. It will give them something pleasant to look at and they’ll pay closer attention to you.”
“Hmm. Good point.”
After Maria left Stan stopped in to see how she was holding up.
“So, are you ready?”
Paula sighed. “I guess.”
“Good. You can relax this weekend and get a lot of rest so you’ll be sharp on Monday.”
“How long do you think it will take to pick the jury?” Paula asked.
“I don’t know. Ordinarily I’d say two days tops, but with three of you questioning the jury it might take a good part of the week.”
“The media seems to have already convicted everyone,” Paula observed.
“Well, if you look strictly at the evidence I can understand where they are coming from. Hopefully you’ll be able to find some jurors who haven’t been reading the newspaper or listening to the legal pundits on TV.”
Paula nodded. “Oh, Maria says she can’t find Emilio. She’s called him several times and left messages but he hasn’t returned her call to confirm his appearance at trial.”
“Hmm. Let’s call the restaurant and see if anyone has seen him.”
Stan picked up the telephone book, found the number and dialed it. After a few rings a young woman answered, “Emilio’s.”
“Hi. This is Stan Turner, is Emilio in?”
“No. He hasn’t been in today.”
“Do you know when he’ll be back?”
“No. Actually he was supposed to be in this afternoon to pass out paychecks but he didn’t show. The employees are upset.”
“Really. Did you call his wife?”
“Yes. She’s on her way over to take care of it.”
“Did she know where Emilio was?”
“No. She was surprised he wasn’t there.”
“Okay. Have Eva call me when she gets there, would you?”
“Sure.”
Stan hung up and looked at Paula. “Nobody knows where he is. Did he pay Ricardo’s bill this month?”
“Yeah and he gave us a $10,000.00 advance for the trial.”
“I can’t imagine where he is. This is such an important matter he wouldn’t just blow it off. I wonder if he’s been kidnapped.”
“Kidnapped! Oh, my God! Do you think that is possible? I just can’t imagine why someone would do that.”
“No. He’s not a critical witness for either side.”
“Sandy Richmond is though.”
“What? Is she missing too?”
“Apparently.”
“Did you try to call her?”
“No. Maria has been trying.”
Stan picked up the phone again. “What’s her number?”
Paula looked in the file and gave him her work number. Stan dialed the number and waited nervously. “Richmond Oil & Gas.”
“Hi. This is Stan Turner. Is Sandy Richmond in?”
“No. Haven’t seen her today.”
“Was she expected to work today?”
“She usually comes in but she’s the owner so if she takes a day off nobody says anything.”
“What about her son, Ralph? Is he there?”
“Sure, I’ll put you through.”
A moment later Ralph picked up. “Ralph Richmond.”
“Mr. Richmond, this is Stan Turner. You don’t happen to know where your mother is, do you?”
“No. I talked to her yesterday morning. She said she was going out of town for the weekend.”
“Did she say where?”
“What’s this about?” Ralph asked sounding worried.
“Well, we’ve had one witness murdered, Emilio Bellucci is missing and we can’t find your mother.”
“She said she was going gambling, so that means she is either in Shreveport or up in Oklahoma at the Choctaw Casino.”
“Would you try to get a hold of her and make sure she’s okay and remind her to be at trial next week?”
“Sure.”
“Call me if you hear from her.”
Stan hung up the phone and shook his head. “How critical is Sandy Richmond to your defense?”
“She’s not. Actually if she isn’t there that will hurt the prosecution. She’s the only one who was at the table who is still alive. She will testify that nobody touched the cheese while she was at the table. That hurts our claim that Hunt could have done it.”
“Right. But she didn’t see Ricardo put anything in the cheese. Isn’t that fact important?”
“Yes, it is but it still will hurt the prosecution more than the defense.”
“So, do you think somebody is trying to delay the trial? If too many witnesses disappear I’m sure Rutledge will ask for a postponement.”
“Judge Anderson doesn’t like postponements,” Paula noted
. “He prides himself in completing his cases within the 180 days allowed by the Penal Code. So, he’ll probably make us go to trial anyway even if everyone agreed to waive the 180 day limitation.”
“We should let Detective Besch know about our missing witnesses in case there has been foul play.”
Paula nodded trying to think of the consequences if these two witnesses didn’t testify. Stan picked up the phone and dialed Besch’s number. He picked up immediately.
“Detective. Stan Turner here.”
“Stan the man. What’s up?”
“Hey, we have a couple of witnesses who have suddenly disappeared. One went gambling apparently and nobody knows where the other one is off to. Ordinarily I wouldn’t bother the police about this but since we’ve already had a witness murdered, I figured I better give you a heads up.”
“Yes. You did the right thing. Who are these witnesses?”
“Sandy Richmond and Emilio Bellucci.”
“Emilio’s missing?”
“Yeah. Nobody has seen him today and he missed making payroll. His wife has no idea where he is either.”
“Okay. I’ll look into it. Maybe Rutledge’s office knows where they are. They are both under subpoena.”
“Let us know, would you? We have enough to worry about with the trial starting on Monday without this to deal with.”
“You got it.”
Stan hung up, looked at Paula and shook his head. The intercom buzzed and Maria advised them that Eva Bellucci was on the line. Stan picked it up.
“Eva. You don’t happen to know where your husband is, do you?”
“No. I haven’t seen him since yesterday morning. He said he was going fishing for a couple of days. I figured he would have paid his employees before he left, but he obviously didn’t.”
“Is he a fisherman?”
“Not really. He said a friend was going to take him striper fishing up at Lake Texoma, but it was probably a lie.”
“Why do you say that?”
“I haven’t told you this before because it wasn’t really any of your business, but now I guess it might be important that you know about it.”
“Told us what?”
Eva sighed. “Well, our marriage has been a little shaky these past few years. When I retired from modeling in 1994 and started spending more time at home we often found ourselves at each other’s throats. We weren’t used to living together for long periods of time, you know?”
“Uh huh.”
“So, when we fight he often leaves like this. On Thursday we got into it pretty bad. I was complaining about how much this trial is costing. I told him he should have let the court appoint an attorney for Ricardo and not depleted our savings.”
“I’m sorry about that. I know this has been a horrible burden on you.”
“I’m not blaming you. I just don’t understand why he thinks he’s responsible for Ricardo being indicted for murder.”
“Well, it’s his business and if Wilkinson ordered the murders to pressure him into selling then I could understand why he feels guilty that Ricardo got dragged into it.”
“I know. That makes sense. Anyway, I don’t know for sure, but I suspect he’s out with another woman.”
“Seriously?”
“I’m afraid so. When he returns after these little temper tantrums I can smell another woman on him. You’d think he’d take a shower and put on fresh clothes before he came home, but he doesn’t.”
“And you’re okay with that?”
“We’re European, Stan. It’s not such a big thing to have extra-marital affairs. I’ve done it too a time or two.”
“I see. Any idea who the woman might be?”
“No and I don’t want to know.”
“Well, we just want to be sure he’s okay and make sure he’ll be at the trial next week.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about it. He’s probably nervous about the trial so he figured a weekend with his girlfriend would take his mind off of it.”
Stan laughed tentatively. “Alright. If you hear from him, let me know.”
“I will. Thanks for your concern,” Eva said.
Stan hung up the phone and shook his head.
“So, he’s cheating on his wife?” Paula asked.
“Apparently.”
“Huh. She never mentioned that before.”
“I know. It’s news to me.”
“So, we panicked for nothing?” Paula asked.
“Apparently.”
“Alright then. I’m going home to take a hot bath and then I’m getting drunk.”
Stan laughed. “Sounds like a plan.”
On the way home Paula worried about all her carefully crafted trial strategy going up in flames because of key witnesses not showing up. Until today she hadn’t even considered that a possibility. Now the stress of the last few hours had twisted her stomach into knots. She could feel her shoulders tightening and pain inching up her neck. She knew that meant she’d have a full blown headache by the time she got home. She moaned in agony. It was days like this that she wondered what had ever possessed her to become an attorney.