A Matter of Life and Death Phillip Margolin (novels to read in english .TXT) 📖

person not affiliated with the police show up?”

“Around nine twenty.”

“So only the police knew that there had been a murder and that the victim was Mrs. Carasco until at least nine fifteen?”

“I can’t say for certain. A reporter could have intercepted a police broadcast.”

“Okay. But not before the judge called 911 at eight thirty-five?”

“Yes.”

“How did you know that you would find Mr. Lattimore at the Riverview Motel?”

“We received a tip.”

“When?”

“The call came to 911 at nine thirty-five.”

“Do you know who made the call?”

“No. The caller wouldn’t give his name.”

“Did you try to trace the call?”

“Yes, but we were unsuccessful.”

“It was a man?”

“It sounded like a man.”

“What did the caller tell the police?”

“He said that Joe Lattimore killed Judge Carasco’s wife and that he was in room 214 of the Riverview Motel and we should go there fast if we wanted to get him.”

“Nine thirty-five would be right around the time Mr. Lattimore would have gotten to the motel if he ran there from the Carasco house?”

“Yes.”

“Am I right that the caller had to know that Mrs. Carasco had been murdered in order to make the call?”

“Yes.”

“And that Mr. Lattimore was staying in a particular room at a particular motel?”

“Yes.”

“Since the call was made so soon after the murder at the Carasco home and so soon after Mr. Lattimore returned to the motel, doesn’t that suggest that the caller had also been present at both locations when both the murder occurred and Mr. Lattimore returned to the motel?”

Carrie went quiet and the jurors focused on her, waiting for her answer.

“I would have to speculate to answer that,” Carrie said.

“Isn’t one possibility that the caller set up Mr. Lattimore by luring him to the Carasco home after he killed Mrs. Carasco and set up Mr. Lattimore’s arrest by calling 911?”

“I’m not going to speculate.”

“Don’t you mean that you really don’t have a good answer, Detective?”

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

Thursday morning, Vanessa called a witness from the crime lab who testified about the running shoe print. She followed that with the testimony of Joe’s trainer and manager, who established that Joe was a professional boxer with several knockouts on his record. Neither man looked at Joe when they testified.

Jeff had interviewed the men, so Robin knew that they were reluctant witnesses. During her cross-examination, she established that Joe did not enjoy fighting but did it to earn money. Both men testified that Joe was honest and hardworking.

After the testimony of the manager and trainer, Vanessa called Marvin Bradshaw, the police officer who had discovered the hand wraps in the Carascos’ garbage can.

“Officer Bradshaw,” Robin asked after Vanessa turned the witness over to her, “given that the victim in this case was beaten to death, these bloody hand wraps are very important and very incriminating evidence, are they not?”

“Yes,” Bradshaw agreed.

“And you found them discarded in a trash can right next to the house where the murder occurred?”

“Yes.”

“Aren’t there woods across the street from the Carasco home?”

“Yes.”

“Is there a sewer grate nearby?”

“Yes.”

“And there are thousands of places in Portland far from the Carasco house where a killer could hide this evidence?”

“Yes.”

“Wouldn’t anyplace be better for hiding incriminating evidence a killer would not want the police to find than a trash can right next to the murder scene?”

“I guess.”

“Now, say you were in possession of hand wraps with Mr. Lattimore’s DNA on them and you wanted to frame him, wouldn’t it be a clever thing to kill Mrs. Carasco, put her blood on the wraps, and stash them where the police were sure to find them?”

“Objection,” Vanessa said. “She’s asking the witness to speculate.”

“No, I’m not. Your Honor, Mrs. Cole qualified the officer as an experienced professional who deals with crime and criminals on a daily basis. Obviously, she feels he’s an expert in the field of criminal investigation, and that makes him qualified to answer my question.”

Judge Wright thought over the arguments for a moment. Then he turned to Vanessa.

“I’m going to overrule your objection.”

The judge had the question read back to Officer Bradshaw and told him to answer it.

“I guess you might do that if you wanted to frame your client.”

“No further questions.”

“Officer Bradshaw,” Vanessa asked, “putting the hand wraps in the Carasco trash can would not be a smart thing for Mr. Lattimore to do if he killed Mrs. Carasco, would it?”

“No.”

“In your years of dealing with criminals, have you often found them doing stupid things that led to their arrest and conviction?”

Bradshaw laughed. “I’d say that’s more the rule than the exception.”

“No further questions, Your Honor,” Vanessa said.

“Ms. Lockwood?” the judge asked.

“Nothing more, Your Honor.”

“May the witness be excused?” Vanessa asked.

Judge Wright nodded.

When Vanessa called her next witness, Robin sighed. Melinda Cortes, a forensic expert with impeccable credentials, had no trouble explaining what DNA was to people who didn’t know anything about it. When Vanessa finished her preliminary questions, the jurors knew that no two people had the same DNA. After Cortes explained the tests she’d conducted on the blood and other matter found on the hand wraps and her conclusions after reviewing the results of those tests, she testified with confidence that DNA testing had established that some of the blood on the hand wraps was Betsy Carasco’s and that DNA belonging to Joseph Lattimore had been found on the wraps.

Robin pulled out her bag of tricks for dealing with DNA, but she didn’t feel that she’d done anything to blunt the impact of the expert’s testimony.

“The State rests,” Vanessa said as soon as Cortes stepped down.

“I assume you have motions for the court,” Judge Wright said to Robin.

“Yes, Your Honor.”

“It’s getting late,” the judge said. “Let’s recess for the day. Unfortunately, I have a matter in another case I have to attend to that will take up the morning, so let’s start up at one tomorrow.”

Robin talked to Joe for a few minutes while Amanda collected their trial materials.

“What’s the plan, boss?” Amanda asked as she, Robin, and Loretta walked down the curving marble staircase to the courthouse