Page 74 of Mistletoe and Malice
“Right? He said they didn’t believe it was a relevant reason to change venues since a jury would be deciding the verdict, not the judge.”
“But the judge runs the trial. And if he’s tight with Judge Mulaney …”
“Exactly. One of the first things I’ll do if we’re granted a new trial is request a change of venue.”
“Good plan. Go on.”
She stood and walked to the island. “The day before Caitlyn was killed, flowers were ordered online from a nearby florist using a credit card in Shane’s name and billed to his address.” She started back to the table, her gaze pinned to the window. “The order also indicated what should be put on the card, and the flowers would be picked up the next day. Not delivered.”
Back to the island she went. “A few minutes before closing the day of the murder, a man standing over six foot with dark hair, sunglasses, and wearing a business suit came in for the flowers. The florist further described him to the homicide detectives asslight of face but bulkier in build.”
Standing at the table again, she looked down at him. “Shane’s six-three and topped out around two-twenty at the time. He was muscular and fit, but full-faced, not slight.”
She returned to the island. He grinned. Watching her in thinking mode was entertaining.
“The detective showed her a photo line-up the next day, but she couldn’t identify him as the customer. They did a composite, and it only resembles Shane in hair color since she couldn’t see the man’s eyes. Which is exactly why the prosecution didn’t introduce it at trial.”
“Please tell me the defense at least did that.”
“That much they did do.” She stopped her pacing. “I tell you, Colton, I’m tempted to use Ineffective Assistance of Counsel as an appeal. These guys really let him down.”
“Use whatever’s at your disposal. Trust your gut. It’s reliable.”
She cocked her head and smiled. “Thanks. I appreciate that.”
“What next?”
Her pacing resumed. “By the time his case made it to trial, he’d lost some weight and the florist then ID’d him in court as the man who picked up the flowers. The defense never showed her the picture of Shane from the photo line-up at the time of the murder two years before, when she failed to pick him out. And there was no security tape to refute her claim.”
“A lost opportunity for reasonable doubt.”
“One of many.” She took her seat again. “According to the fitness tracker Caitlyn wore on her wrist, she breathed her last at 6:22 p.m. And this is where things get weird.”
“Hit me.”
“The florist testified the flowers were picked up—allegedly by Shane—at ten to six, but he says he didn’t arrive at her house until almost seven. The nine-one-one call came in at 6:58. The drive from the shop to Caitlyn’s was no more than ten minutes.”
He cocked his head. “Making the question why the lag time. Couldn’t they use his cell phone records to track his movements?”
She sighed. “Shane uses a company-owned cell while he’s working, turns off his personal phone, and leaves it in his car. On this day, he claimed his phone disappeared from his car parked in the parking garage. He drives a vintage Camaro. No alarm. His company phone was turned off at 5:12 p.m., the time he stopped working for the day. The only personal calls they found on his work phone were to his cell carrier and to Ferdinand’s during his lunch break to make dinner reservations for seven-thirty, and then to Cait a little before one. He said she was excited he was able to get a reservation.”
“The call to his carrier was to suspend his service?”
“Yes. And order a new phone. Thankfully, he took the time to do that immediately upon discovering it had been taken. If the person who took it had planned to use it to ‘place’ Shane at the scene of the crime, the GPS wouldn’t work with service suspended.”
“But it also leaves no phone record to verify hewasn’tthere. Was it the prosecution’s assertion he faked the theft of his phone and suspended his service so he couldn’t be tracked?”
“It was. And, of course, the defense didn’t argue. He said again there was no way to prove the phone had been taken, so they simply didn’t address it.”
“I would imagine whoever took it would have had to know Shane left his phone in his car every day. Most people take their phones with them.”
“I wondered about that, too, and the only thing that makes sense is that whoever did this planned it out thoroughly. They could’ve been watching him, following him, and somehow noticed he changed phones before going into wherever he was contracted to work that day.”
Needing to stretch, he stood and reached over his head, then stuck his hands on his hips. “Okay, let’s track. Everett turned off his work phone around 5:15, flowers were picked up a little before six, Cait died at 6:22, and Everett called nine-one-one at 6:58. From Cait’s phone?”
“Yes.”
“And where does he say he was from the time he turned off his company phone until he arrived at Cait’s a little over an hour later?”
