Page 40 of The Happy Month
The Downey Police Department had canvased the neighborhood and taken statements from the Michaels’ surrounding neighbors. There were eight reports. I was able to quickly determine that three of those neighbors had not been home. Two others were home but didn’t notice anything. There were three valuable statements: two on Irwingrove Drive, 7812 and 7816, behind the Michaels house. Each heard what might have been a gunshot around a quarter to twelve. Neither called the police, uncertain of what they’d heard.
The most helpful of the three was from a Celia Wickers, who lived at 7816 Via Amorita directly across the street from the Michaels. She was in her front yard gardening. Planting sweet peas. I was pretty sure that was a flower rather than a vegetable. She was asked specifically about Larry Wilkes and shown a photo. She said he arrived in a large brown car at noon. The officer quizzed her about the time, but she stuck to her guns, saying she took a pill every day at noon. She went into her house for a few minutes and when she came out the Michaels car was in the driveway. Then, about twelve thirty the police arrived. The officer asked whether she’d heard a gunshot after the brown car arrived, but she hadn’t. Then she said a little yellow car haddriven up around eleven thirty with a very young girl inside. She was pretty sure the girl went into the Michaels house. She’d gotten busy with her gardening, gone behind her house to get a shovel and didn’t see the girl leave. In blue pen, the officer made a note in the margin of the report. He was certain Mrs. Wickers was hard of hearing.
I came up for air, grabbing an egg roll just as the soups and my Coke arrived. We still had more than half the appetizers to eat. I took a big bite of my egg roll waited until Lin left and I’d finished chewing before I could say anything.
Lydia and Karen were back talking about the gun. It was a Smith & Wesson that had been stolen from a couple in Alhambra about two years before the murder. It had been traced to an attempted murder in Carson prior to it showing up in the Michaels murder.
“I just read the statements from the neighbors. The woman across the street saw Larry arrive around noon. The neighbors behind the Michaels heard a gunshot about twenty minutes earlier.”
Lydia looked at me suspiciously. Of course, her suspicions weren’t directed at me. “The woman across the street, her name was Wicker, right?”
“Wickers.”
“Okay, at trial she said she heard a gunshotafterLarry arrived.”
“But she was inside,” I pointed out.
“She said the door was open.”
“And she said she didn’t hear a gunshot in her statement.”
“Did Harris challenge her?” I asked. I must have read her testimony, but I couldn’t remember. I grabbed another bite of my egg roll and a sip of my Coke.
“I can’t remember,” Lydia said. Now I didn’t feel toobad. Karen grabbed the transcript I’d brought and began flipping through it. “I don’t think so though.”
I swallowed. Hard. Then, “The officer taking her statement made a note that he thought she was hard of hearing. And she was inside the house when she supposedly heard the noise. Or didn’t hear the noise.”
“It could have been the Michaels closing a car door,” Karen suggested. “She might have misremembered.”
Lydia looked at her strangely. “Karen, you know how loud a gunshot is?”
And of course, she did.
“I don’t know what a gunshot sounds like from across the street if you’re half deaf. And she probably didn’t either.”
“Point taken.”
I tried the soup. It was okay, but nothing compared to the wontons. I grabbed two more of those. I was ready to dig in when Lydia said to me, “We might need to interview this woman.”
“She was probably pretty old if she was going deaf.” I pointed out. “I don’t know if she’d still be alive.”
“We’re going to have to check. Karen, can you look to see if she’s still in that house? If she’s dead, maybe there’s a son or daughter who remembers what she said at the time.”
“What about the other neighbors. Did either of them testify for the defense?” I asked.
“Hold on, I’m writing this woman’s name down,” Karen said.
“I don’t remember any other neighbors taking the stand,” Lydia said.
“So we need to ask Harris why he didn’t put them on the stand to refute the Wickers woman’s testimony. Since they both heard the gunshot fifteenminutes earlier.”
“And about that yellow car,” Lydia said. “I know Harris didn’t bring that up.”
“No,” Karen said definitively. “Neither of the neighbors who heard the gunshot earlier were put on the stand. And yes, I’ll find out if they still live there.”
And then the entrees arrived with bowls of white rice and more plates for us to use as we shared. As soon as Lin walked away, I said, “Can I make a suggestion?”
“Go ahead,” Lydia said.
