Page 166 - Labelle Gramercy, On the Case

Jury-rigged

on a case—and then her ideas of protocol and professionalism were
strict and unyielding. Now the Simulians were in her sights again, and
I would not be cut much more slack.
Labelle flipped one of the Rainger photos around. “Strange angle
you had this taken from, Duncan.”
“Well, I wanted to show that the second victim was laid out just as
the first: same position in a bedroom doorway, again on the back,
same hands over mouth—and you can even see the burned-out
match on the hall carpet.”
“Was it extinguished before it landed? Did you check the carpet
fibers?
“Yes.” I was quite familiar with her inquiry into the characteristics
and properties of commercial matches. “Does that mean anything?”
“It might indicate the murderer was unhurried enough to blow it
out before dropping it. Any traces of saliva on it for chemical
analysis?”
She had me there.
“It’s still in the lab.”
“I’ll check it later. Your report puts the time of death an hour
either side of two a.m.; cause of death, a pair of puncture wounds at
the first cervical vertebra severing the spinal cord. No fingerprints
but the victim’s anywhere on the premises, bloody ice pick—a type
sold in chain stores—by the body. Door from the second bedroom
to the side yard forced open. You mentioned earlier that the area
does not have many street lights?”
“Right. The darkness around her house is obvious to anyone
driving down that block at night. There is another easy entrance, a
back door just as obscure. But anyone expecting the place to be
watched would avoid it.”
“And your people were keeping tabs on the Simulians?”
“As best they could! Those guys have a lot more experience
evading a tail than we have keeping one on a suspect who doesn’t
want to be tailed. If we could have put two or three teams on each of
them, then we’d know for sure where they were that night. As it is,
their alibis are going to be difficult to prove or disprove.”
That was not my real opinion, but I saw no need to make it easy
for her. I certainly had agonized over the family’s alibis for a long
time before making a breakthrough.

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