“Possibly, but redundancy is sometimes useful,” Washington said, and went on: " ’-and what I am going to do now is tell you why we believe, beyond any reasonable doubt, that in taking the life of Miss Cheryl Williamson you are in violation of Paragraph 2502(b) of the Criminal Code of Pennsylvania; that, in other words, you are guilty of Murder of the Second Degree.’
“At this point, I really hope Mr. Daniels will think he sees a slight glimmer of hope. ‘Second Degree? That can’t be as bad as First. Maybe I’m not going to be executed after all.’ ”
“I think I see where you’re going, Jason,” Cohen said.
“At this point, Steve, you will disabuse him of this hope by interrupting Matt and handing Mr. Bernhardt a xerox of page thirty-four of the Crime Codes, and saying, one lawyer to another, ‘I didn’t know if this was readily available to you, Counselor, you might want to look it over.’ And when he has had a moment to do so, you will add, collegially, ‘You’ll see that the only difference between Murder of the First Degree and of the Second, is that the First is premeditated, and Second while the accused was engaged in the perpetration of a felony. A little farther down the page, you’ll see that perpetration of a felony is defined as-’ ”
" ’- engaging in, or being an accomplice in the commission of,’ ” Cohen picked up, quoting from memory, “ ‘or an attempt to commit, or flight after committing, or attempting to commit robbery, rape, or deviate sexual intercourse, by force or threat of force, arson, burglary, or kidnapping.’ ”
“So by now he understands he’s really in trouble,” Matt said.
“Which understanding you will then buttress,” Washington said, “by proceeding something like this: ‘Mr. Daniels, I’m not going to be asking you, right now, many questions, because frankly I don’t have to. What I’m going to do is run through what we know right now, and then give you the opportunity to confer with your attorney, and after that you and he, and Mr. Cohen, can confer, if you like.’ ”
“And then I go down what we do have,” Matt said. “Starting with what?”
“I would suggest the camera. ‘We have the camera you left at the scene, Mr. Daniels, and the images it contained. We know that you bought the camera at Times Square Photo and Electronics, on…’ Do you have the date?”
“It’s in here,” Matt said, indicating his laptop.
Washington nodded.
“… ‘and we have your signature on the sales slip. Among the images in the camera are those of the knife you used, and which the police took away from you here. One of the images shows sperm on the blade of the knife. We think it’s reasonable to believe it’s yours, and that we can convince a judge there is sufficient cause for him to issue a search warrant, which will give us a sample of your tissue so that a DNA comparison can be made’…”
“I get the picture,” Matt said.
“Overconfidence is dangerous, as I’ve tried to point out to you before,” Washington said. “That is especially true of someone like you, who has an abundance of confidence in himself that is not entirely justified.”
Matt looked at him but didn’t say anything.
“Does this scenario have any appeal at all to you, Counselor? ” Washington said.
“It might even work, Jason,” Cohen said.
“I will accept that as meaning it has your full approval,” Washington said, but it was more a question than a statement.
Cohen thought this over for a moment, then nodded.
“Matt, you go someplace quiet-Mickey’s car, perhaps- with your laptop, and refresh your memory about the details. Your performance will be more effective if you can readily recite from memor
y, for example, the date he bought the camera.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I don’t have to tell you, do I, not to have your laptop with you? I don’t want it subpoenaed.”
“No, sir.”
“Refreshing your memory should take no more than ten minutes, and during that time, I will set the stage in here and give Sergeant Kenny an understanding of his role-and how important it is-in our theatrical production.”
“Yes, sir,” Matt said.
Cohen waited until he was gone and the door had closed behind him.
“Jason, you and I have marched down this path together for a long time,” he said. “And you know I’ll go to the wire and beyond for you. But will you tell me why you’re sending Matt to do this? He’s a nice kid, and I really like him, but…”
“Primarily, Steve, for the educational aspects of it. This is his first homicide job.”
“And if he blows it?”