Private Vegas (Private 9)

“Were you intimidated, Mr. Sutter?”

“No. I thought he was a jerk.”

“Thanks for your testimony. No further questions,” said Caine.

Chapter 28

JUSTINE LEANED IN, whispered to me that she had to go to work. I moved so she could get past me and out into the aisle, and the prosecution’s next witness took the stand.

Merle Widner was about five four and had red hair and an intense unblinking stare through his thick glasses. Widner was the 911 operator who had taken the call from Vicky Carmody.

After the preliminary questions, the 911 tape was played, and it was awful to hear. On it, Widner talked to a muffled voice on the other end of the line, identified as belonging to Victoria Carmody. The only understandable word she uttered was help, which she got out in one long sigh.

The operator said, “Stay on the line with me until help arrives, okay?”

What had seemed almost theoretical, because Vicky Carmody was not present in court, suddenly became very real. Widner testified that he’d dispatched two ambulances and the police to the Carmody address, which served to establish the time lin

e and focus the horrified jury.

“The People call Mr. Dandelion Adar,” said the ADA.

Dandelion Adar had a shaved head and a confident walk. He cleared the length of the courtroom in five or six strides, swore to tell the truth, got into the box, clasped his hands at his waist, and leaned forward.

Lewis asked Adar what he did for a living, and Adar said that he was a paramedic, that he and his partner had answered the emergency call to go to Victoria Carmody’s address.

Lewis asked, “You were the first responder?”

“That’s right. The police and another ambulance were right behind me.”

“And did you assist the victim, Victoria Carmody?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Will you please tell the court where you found her?”

“She was on the floor in the bedroom. She was holding the phone, a landline.”

“And can you tell the court about Ms. Carmody’s condition?”

“Her head was a bloody pulp. Right eye socket was smashed. Nose broken, and she was breathing with difficulty. Her pulse was very weak. Along with the obvious severe head trauma, her right arm was fractured, bone coming through the skin in two places. I noticed a table lamp with blood on the base that could have been used as a weapon.”

“What other observations did you make in your role as a paramedic?”

“I determined that the lady had been lying on the floor for quite a while, because the blood pool had coagulated and hardened. I thought that she had probably been coming in and out of consciousness between the incident and her phone call to 911.”

Dexter Lewis nodded soberly, gave the jurors a chance to think about a woman beaten bloody with a lamp and left for dead. I’d seen Rick fight men far larger than him, break bones, knock out teeth.

But I’d never heard of or seen him hitting a woman.

Lewis said, “What action did you and your partner take, Mr. Adar?”

“We strapped her onto a board with a neck brace, loaded her into the bus, gave her oxygen and fluids, rushed her to Cedars-Sinai. I’ve seen people with less trauma die en route. I didn’t expect her to make it to the ER.”

“Thanks, Mr. Adar. That’s all I have for this witness,” said Dexter Lewis.

“I have no questions,” said Del Rio’s lawyer.

If Caine thought he could discredit the prosecution’s witness, he would have questioned him, which led me to the inevitable conclusion: If Caine’s argument for the defense didn’t annihilate the prosecution’s case, Del Rio was going down.