BOSCH: So when you pulled up she was waiting outside.
STOREY: That’s what I said.
BOSCH: Seven-thirty until midnight. That is four and a half hours.
STOREY: You are good at math. I like that in a detective.
FLEER: David, let’s try to get this done.
STOREY: I am.
BOSCH: Could you tell us what you did during the time period you were with Jody Krementz?
STOREY: We covered the three Fs. Film, food and a fuck.
BOSCH: Excuse me?
STOREY: We went to the premiere of my movie, then we went to the reception and had something to eat, then I took her to my place and we had sex. Consensual sex, Detective. Believe it or not, people do it on dates all the time. And not just Hollywood people. It happens across this great country of ours. It’s what makes it great.
BOSCH: I understand. Did you take her home when you were finished?
STOREY: Always the gentleman, I did.
BOSCH: Did you enter her house at this time?
STOREY: No. I was in my fucking bathrobe. I just drove up, she got out and went inside. I then drove back home. Whatever happened after that I don’t know. I am not involved in this in any way, shape or form. You people are -
FLEER: David, please.
STOREY: – completely full of shit if for one fucking moment you think -
FLEER: David, stop!
(pause)
FLEER: Detective Bosch, I think we need to stop this.
BOSCH: We’re in the middle of an interview here and -
FLEER: David, where are you going?
STOREY: Fuck these people. I’m going out for a smoke.
BOSCH: Mr. Storey has just left the office.
FLEER: I think at this point he is exercising his rights under the fifth amendment. This interview is over.
The tape went blank and Langwiser turned it off. Bosch looked at the jury. Several of them were looking at Storey. His arrogance had come through loud and clear on the tape. This was important because they would soon be asking the jury to believe that Storey had privately boasted to Bosch about the murder and how he would get away with it. Only an arrogant man would do that. The prosecution needed to prove Storey was not only a murderer, but an arrogant one at that.
“Okay, then,” Langwiser said. “Did Mr. Storey return to continue the interview?”
“No, he did not,” Bosch answered. “And we were asked to leave.”
“Did Mr. Storey’s denial of any involvement in the murder of Jody Krementz end your interest in him?”
“No, it did not. We had an obligation to investigate the case fully and that included either ruling him in or ruling him out as a suspect.”
“Was his behavior during the short interview cause for suspicion?”
“You mean his arrogance? No, he -”
Fowkkes jumped up with an objection.
“Your Honor, one man’s arrogance is another man’s confidence in his innocence. There is no -”
“You are right, Mr. Fowkkes,” Houghton said.
He sustained the objection, struck Bosch’s answer and turned to the jurors to tell them to ignore the remark.
“His behavior during the interview was not cause for suspicion,” Bosch began again. “His being the last known person to be with the victim was cause for our immediate attention and focus. His lack of cooperation was suspicious but at this point we were keeping an open mind about everything. My partners and I have a combined total of more than twenty-five years’ experience investigating homicides. We know that things are not always what they seem.”
“Where did the investigation go next?”
“We continued all avenues of investigation. One of those avenues was obviously Mr. Storey. Based on his statement that he and the victim had gone to his home on their date, my partners filed a search warrant application in Municipal Court and received approval to search David Storey’s home.”
Langwiser brought the search warrant forward to the judge and it was received into evidence. She took it back with her to the lectern. Bosch then testified that the search of the home on Mulholland Drive was conducted at 6 A.M. two days after the initial interview with Storey.
“The search warrant authorized you to seize any evidence of Jody Krementz’s murder, any evidence of her belongings and any evidence of her presence in that location, is that correct?”
“Correct.”
“Who conducted the search?”
“Myself, my partners and a two-man forensics team. We also had a photographer, for video and stills. A total of six.”
“How long did the search last?”
“Approximately seven hours.”
“Was the defendant present during the search?”
“For most of it. He had to leave at one point for a meeting with a movie actor he said he couldn’t postpone. He was gone approximately two hours. During that time his personal attorney, Mr. Fleer, remained in the house and monitored the search. We were never left alone in the house, if that is what you are asking.”
Langwiser flipped through the pages of the search warrant, coming to the end of it.
“Now, Detective, when you seize any items during a court-approved search, you are required by law to keep an inventory on the search warrant receipt, correct?”
“Yes.”
“This receipt is then filed with the court, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Can you tell us then, why is this receipt blank?”
“We did not take any items from the house during the search.”
“You found nothing that indicated that Jody Krementz had been inside Mr. Storey’s house, as he had told you she had been?”
“Nothing.”
“This search took place how many days after the evening Mr. Storey told you he had taken Ms. Krementz to his house and engaged in sexual relations with her?”
“Five days from the night of the murder, two days from our interview with Mr. Storey.”
“You found nothing in support of Mr. Storey’s statement.”
“Nothing. The place was clean.”
Bosch knew she was trying to turn a negative into a positive, somehow trying to imply that the unsuccessful search was an indication of Storey’s guilt.
“Would you call this an unsuccessful search?”
“No. Success doesn’t enter into it. We were looking for evidence that would corroborate his statement as well as any evidence of possible foul play relating to Ms. Krementz. We found nothing in the house indicative of this. But sometimes it is not what you find, it’s what you don’t.”
“Can you explain that to the jury?”
“Well, it is true we didn’t take any evidence from the house. But we found something missing that would later become important to us.”
“And what was that?”
“A book. A missing book.”
“How did you know it was missing if it wasn’t there?”
“In the living room of the house there was a large built-in bookcase. Each shelf was full of books. On one shelf there was a space – a slot – where a book had been but was now gone. We could not find what book that might be. There were no books sitting out loose in the house. At the time it was just a small thing. Someone had obviously taken a book from the shelf and not replaced it. It was just kind of curious to us that we could not figure out where or what it was.”
Langwiser offered two still photographs of the bookcase taken during the search as exhibits. Houghton accepted them over a routine objection from Fowkkes. The photos showed the bookcase in its entirety and a close-up of the second shelf with the open space between a book called The Fifth Horizon and a biography of the film director John Ford called Print the Legend.
“Now, Detective,” Langwiser said, “you said that at the time you did not know if this missing book had any importance or bearing on the case, correct?”
“That is right.”
“Did you eventually determine what book had been taken from the shelf?”
“Yes, we did.”
Langwiser paused. Bosch knew what she was going to do. The dance had been choreographed. He thought of her as a good storyteller. She knew how to string it along, keep people hooked in, take them to the edge of the cliff and then pull them back.