Page 166 - Labelle Gramercy, On the Case
P. 166

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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