And the Sea Will Tell by Vincent Bugliosi

Author:Vincent Bugliosi
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Mystery, Non-Fiction, Thriller
ISBN: 9780393327960
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 1991-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

AFTER THE noon recess, Palmyra Island caretaker Jack Wheeler was called to the stand by Walt Schroeder as the Government’s first witness.

As at the Walker trial, it soon became apparent that Schroeder, for the most part, would get the Government’s case into the record, while Enoki would handle the bulk of the cross-examination and argue the case to the jury. At all times, both lawyers showed conventional prosecutorial deportment; somber and brimming with righteous indignation.

“Based on your experience as a sailor and your observations of the Iola, what condition was the boat in?” Schroeder asked.

“I would have to say it was run-down,” answered Wheeler, adding irritably that he’d heard a pump on the Iola pumping water out of the bilge every single day he was on the island, indicating that even in the protected waters of the lagoon, the Iola was constantly leaking.

“Mr. Wheeler, did you ever talk to the defendant in this case, Jennifer Jenkins, about her going to Fanning Island, one hundred and seventy-five miles southeast of Palmyra, to obtain food?”

“I did.”

“Do you recall what you said to her?”

“I told her that sailing against the two-knot current which prevails there, and since it’s also against the wind, would make it impossible.”

“Do you recall what else you told her?”

“Then I suggested, as an alternative, Samoa, which would have been fairly simple, although much further—about fifteen hundred miles away.”

“I believe you had a Drake transceiver on your boat similar to the one aboard the Sea Wind?”

“That’s correct.”

“Now, did the defendant, Jennifer Jenkins, ever come aboard your boat and use your two-way radio?”

“One time.”

“And did you show Miss Jenkins how to use that radio when she came aboard?”

“No.”

“Did you show her how to operate the push-to-talk switch?”

“No.”

Jennifer had told the FBI’s Calvin Shishido that she did not contact the authorities when the Grahams first disappeared because neither she nor Buck knew how to work the Sea Wind’s radio. (The Iola, of course, had no ship-to-shore radio.) But the testimony Schroeder had just elicited suggested that Jennifer did know how to use the type of two-way radio aboard the Grahams’ boat.

I leaned over to ask Jennifer if she’d ever gone aboard Wheeler’s boat to use his radio.

Quite casually, she replied she hadn’t.

“Didn’t you hear what he just testified to?” I whispered more urgently.

She shrugged. “He’s obviously wrong.”

“How’s the jury going to know that, Jennifer?” I said curtly.

“No further questions,” Schroeder soon announced.

Court adjourned for the day, and I pursued Wheeler into the hallway, where I told him in front of a gathering group of spectators that Jennifer unequivocally said she’d never used his ship-to-shore radio.

“I never said she did,” he answered gruffly.

I was taken aback. “Well, you certainly strongly implied that in your testimony just now, Mr. Wheeler.”

Wheeler shrugged. “I called for her.”

At that moment, the prosecutors stepped into the hallway. I called to Schroeder, who frowned and came over.

“Walt, this witness is saying that Jennifer did not ‘use’ his radio. She ‘used’ it only in the sense that Wheeler operated it for her benefit.

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