Page 37 of The Best Lawyer
“No. He would keep that unlocked for me.”
“Is there another way into the garage besides the main door that you had the code to?”
“There’s an exterior door at the back of the garage but you can’t use that one.”
“Why not?”
“There are boxes stacked against it that go all the way up to the ceiling.”
Quick introduced a few photographs of the interior of Tom Loomis’s garage. As Jenna described, he had about ten black plastic totes stacked along the far wall. They completely blocked the door leading out from the garage to Tom’s backyard. Quick would get to it later, but I knew the crime scene investigators found that door locked from the inside when they later moved the totes.
“Got it,” Quick said. “Did you have much occasion to talk to Mr. Loomis? Get to know him personally?”
“I don’t know what you mean?”
“Well, what did you talk to him about when you did see him?”
Jenna shrugged. “Nothing special. I’d ask him if there was anything in particular he wanted me to take care of for him. Sometimes he’d plan a get-together at his house so he had me set his dining room table. One year he even paid me to put up his Christmas decorations.”
“Are you saying your conversations were all work related?”
A leading question if ever there was one. I let it go. I wanted Jenna to grow comfortable on the stand. Let her be candid. I needed her unguarded at the beginning of my cross-examination.
“Pretty much,” she said. “Though we did make light small talk. Around the holidays he’d ask me whether I was staying in town or going to my mom’s. One year I was getting ready to buy a new car and Mr. Loomis gave me some advice about what to get. And he had a friend at one of the dealerships who could get me a discount.”
“Did you ever discuss Mr. Loomis’s personal life?”
“Objection,” I said. “To the extent Mr. Quick is heading down a path to hearsay testimony, let’s make that clear. This witness can’t testify about things Mr. Loomis may have told her.”
“I agree,” Judge Castor said. “Do you understand that, Ms. Rodney, you’re restrained from talking about things Mr. Loomis may have said to you?”
“Your Honor,” Quick said. “I only asked if this witness ever discussed Mr. Loomis’s personal life. I haven’t askedwhatthey discussed.”
“Fine,” the judge said. “Then you may answer that question only whether you had the discussions.”
Jenna looked puzzled. “Oh, you mean now? Answer now?”
“Yes,” the judge said.
“Um … kind of. I knew when things started getting serious with Katy. With Mrs. Loomis.”
“Why is that?” Quick asked.
“Well, she started staying over more and more. Mr. Loomis introduced us.”
“When was this?”
“Hmm. I think it was a little over two years ago.”
“So you’d been working for Tom Loomis as a bachelor for a couple of years by then?”
“That’s right.”
“Did you have an opinion of Katy Leary?”
“You’re asking if I liked her? What I thought of her?”
“Yes,” Quick answered.
