21st Birthday by Patterson, James (mystery books to read txt) 📗

that Gardner was both baiting her and attempting to raise reasonable doubt in the jurors’ minds. Had it worked? Had Burke’s plaintive bleating moved someone in the box?

Yuki, herself, had felt moved, but she also had evidence. And, God willing, the evidence would convict Lucas Burke.

CHAPTER 98

YUKI SAID, “The People call Crime Lab Director, Dr. Eugene Hallows.”

The doors swung open and Gene Hallows entered the courtroom. He was fiftyish, tall, stooped and he looked off balance as he walked to the witness stand. Still only six months into the top job as head of the crime lab, the pressure was on him to step into Clapper’s shoes both in the lab and in court.

Yuki approached him and smiled.

“Dr. Hallows, or shall I say Director Hallows, what is your background in forensic science?”

Hallows haltingly listed the key points in his résumé; his two PhDs in criminology from UC Irvine, his years with the crime lab in Chicago, his five years as deputy director under Chief Charles Clapper, and his recent promotion to director of Forensics. Now, he supervised two hundred investigators and scientists at the crime lab at Hunters Point.

Yuki asked, “Have you had a hands-on role in the Burke case?”

“Yes. From the discovery of the Burke baby through now.”

Yuki took him through the elements of the investigation, under-scoring the recovery of the razor used to kill Melissa Fogarty.

Yuki went to her table and Gaines handed her a brown eight-by-eleven envelope sealed with red CSU tape.

“Director Hallows, did you seal this envelope?” She handed it to him.

“Yes. That’s my signature.”

“Will you open it for us now?”

Hallows ripped open the flap, then tipped the envelope so that a small weighted plastic bag slid into his hand.

He handed it to Yuki, who held it up. Even through the plastic, the razor, with its carbon-steel blade and chrome handle, glinted in the light. This was it. This was the proof she’d needed, finally in her hand.

She said to Hallows, “Is this the straight razor used to kill Melissa Fogarty?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Could you tell the court how you can be sure of that?”

He said, “Ms. Fogarty’s blood is on the blade and in the hinge, and Lucas Burke’s fingerprints are on the handle.”

A buzz rose up in the room as Yuki entered the blade into evidence. She then handed the closed plastic envelope to the jury foreperson. While the jurors passed the sealed glassine envelope among themselves, Yuki brought two photos over to her expert witness.

“Director Hallows, let me show you two photographs. Can you describe them?”

“Photo one is an enlargement from the video of Melissa Fogarty’s murder. It’s the face of the assailant in the school parking lot. Number 2 is the photo of the defendant, Lucas Burke, taken when he was arrested five months ago. Because the facial details of number 1 are hard to discern without a trained eye, even with facial recognition software, we contacted a highly respected forensic photographic analyst, Dr. Werner Stutz. We asked Dr. Stutz to compare photo 1, with photo 2.”

Yuki taped both enlarged photos on the whiteboard under their respective labels.

“Director, can you explain the similarities and differences between the two photographs?”

“Surely. What we’re looking at is the result of a process of measuring and comparing facial features that’s been in use for over two thousand years. However, Dr. Stutz’s digital instruments are more precise than those used in antiquity.”

Hallows continued. “You’ll note his measurements written on the photos. Here and here, the distance between the corners of the eyes. Here, the distance from center of the eyes to tip of nose. Here, length of the bridge of the nose, point-to-point measurement between the cheekbones, and here, cheekbones to ear tips and lobes. As you can see, there are additional facial measurements.”

“For the record, did Dr. Stutz reach a conclusion?”

“Yes. With 95 percent certainty, his expert judgment is that the two photos are of the same man.”

“Not a hundred percent?” Yuki asked. She was ‘drawing the sting,’ bringing out the weakness in the evidence before opposing counsel could do it and nail her witness.

Hallows said, “The figure on the video was wearing a knit cap to his eyebrows covering the tips of his ears. That’s the 5 percent. In the comparison photo, the defendant is not wearing a hat.”

“Thank you, Director Hallows. Your Honor, the prosecution rests. Your witness, Mr. Gardner.”

CHAPTER 99

ALVAREZ AND I WERE in the back of a squad car speeding down the Strip from the Bellagio to the airport.

I couldn’t wait to get home, but the job wasn’t done. I said, “Sonia, I’m feeling lucky.”

“Yeah. He was in surgery either very late last night or this morning. He can’t have lawyered up. I know people in the ER.”

I spoke through the grill.

“Officer, changing our destination to Sunrise Med. Can you take us there and wait?”

“Chief says we’re yours, sergeant. Whatever you need.”

Minutes later we were parked to the side of the ambulance bay that led to the hospital’s emergency room. Alvarez and I were in our work clothes, badges pinned to our lapels. At our approach, the automatic sliders breezed open and we had a clear view of the ER, only moderately busy that morning.

“Crap,” Alvarez said, looking to the head nurse at the admissions desk. “I don’t know her.”

“You be the good cop. If that fails, I’ll be the badass.”

The nurse looked up to see the two of us at her desk with badges on display.

“How can I help you, officers?”

Alvarez said, “My partner and I are San Francisco police working a case with LVPD. We need to speak with a patient who came in around midnight with a shoulder wound.”

“Name?”

“Last known as William Marsh.”

She ran her finger down the list, found him.

“Stay here. Let me get the attending.”

A moment later, a tall thirtysomething man in a white coat over blue scrubs appeared at the desk.

“Marco,