“Okay . . .”
That was her way of saying she still didn’t get it.
“We thought that the double murder was the connection, but Cisco got copies of Lankford’s old investigative files on the case and nowhere in any report is Marco or ICE-T even mentioned. So we set up a play with the witness list that we thought would draw them out if there was a connection.”
I pointed down to her bag where the iPad was stashed.
“The video proves it. Lankford and Marco are connected, and I’m going to turn this trial upside down with it. It’s a game changer. I just have to decide when to change the game.”
“But what was the play? How is Sterghos connected?”
“He isn’t connected. He just lives across the street from the house where those dealers were killed. We knew we could use him to smoke out Lankford and Marco.”
“I’m sorry. Don’t get angry but I still don’t understand.”
“I’m not angry. Look, Lankford now works for the DA. He got himself assigned to the La Cosse case so he could watch over it because, remember, he was following Gloria the night she was killed. So it’s his job now to work with Forsythe and help prepare for whatever moves the defense makes. As soon as court was over yesterday, you better believe he and Forsythe sat down with that new witness list and tried to figure out what I was up to. Like, who was important and who I was really going to call.”
“And they see the name Stratton Sterghos.”
“Exactly. They see that name, and it means absolutely nothing to them. So Lankford goes to work. He’s an investigator. He has a computer and a whole array of law enforcement access and data at his fingertips. He finds out pretty quickly that Stratton Sterghos lives on Salem Street in Glendale, and that would have rung a pretty big bell for him because he worked that two-bagger on Salem ten years ago.”
“The double murder he never cleared.”
“Right. So either on his own or at Forsythe’s request, he needs to check out Mr. Sterghos and see what his connection is to the Dayton case. This is what Cisco and I thought would happen. We also thought—or more like hoped—that if that double murder was the point of connection between him and Marco, Lankford might call up his buddy the DEA agent and say, ‘I gotta check this guy out. You want to back me up in case we are going to have a problem?’”
“So you set up the cameras. I get it now. But what happened to Sterghos?”
“A week ago we knocked on his door and said we wanted to rent his house for two weeks for a film production.”
“You mean like location scouts or something?”
“Exactly.”
I smiled because the ruse we had used wasn’t actually a ruse. We had indeed produced a film. Only this film’s premiere wasn’t going to be a red-carpet affair on Hollywood Boulevard. It was going to premiere in Department 120 of the Criminal Courts Building on Temple Street downtown.
“So Sterghos took our money and then took his wife on a little vay-cay to see their daughter in Florida. We set up cameras around his house and put the name Stratton Sterghos on the witness list as a depth charge. Now we have this.”
I pointed to her bag on the floor between my feet.
“You can tell from the video that Marco was hanging back,” I continued. “Lankford went to the door by himself. If Sterghos had been home and answered, he would have started with the legit interview. You know, ‘I work for the DA, your name is on the witness list, what do you know about this,’ and so on. Marco would stay back but be ready if Lankford determined that they had a problem with Sterghos.”
“Be ready to do what?” Lorna asked.
“Whatever was necessary. Look at Gloria. Look at Earl. This guy doesn’t have boundaries. Look what we have on video. Sterghos wasn’t there, so Marco breaks in and plants drugs in the freezer. That was so they could come back and pop Sterghos if they needed to. It would keep him from testifying or ruin his credibility if he did.”
“The whole thing is incredible.”
“And it’s going to be pure gold in court. We just need to figure out when to spring it.”
I could barely contain myself while thinking about the possibilities for use of the video.
“You don’t have to turn it in to the police?” Lorna asked.
“Nope. It’s our video. I’m thinking we use it to play them off against each other, see if we can get one of them to turn against the other. The weaker one. Nothing works better with a jury than an insider spilling his guts. It’s better than video. It’s better than fucking DNA.”
“What about Sterghos? What are you going to do to protect him? You pulled him into this and he doesn’t—”