If Seth had not heard the watch, Lefebvre never would have questioned the snitch’s information. Over the last few hours, he had wondered about the previous cases. Although he remained convinced that they were good arrests, he made a note to look at those files as well. Perhaps there was some link between them, some person within the department or commission who was connected to all the cases.
He looked over the list of names again and wondered how long it might take him to ferret out the man he sought. For Seth’s sake, he hoped it would be soon. He neatly folded the page, placed it in his top desk drawer with the pen, and locked the drawer.
Lefebvre felt a certain pride in the Las Piernas lab. A year or so ago, there had been pressure to close it down and to rely on the county forensic science services. He had nothing against the county lab, but they were over-burdened and would be far less convenient to use. And the thought of losing scientists like Paul Haycroft was one he’d rather not contemplate.
Haycroft was studying photographs of blood-spatter patterns when Lefebvre walked into the lab. Although both Larson and Haycroft had solid, broad-based experience in a number of areas of forensic science, this was Haycroft’s specialty. The department’s success in solving cases where bloodstains were present was higher than average, and Lefebvre knew this was due in part to Haycroft’s ability to interpret the evidence.
Haycroft looked up as he heard Lefebvre approach, and seeing him, smiled. “Hello, Phil. Decided to take a little time away from the boy and help us solve murders, eh?”
“The thought has occurred to me, Paul,” Lefebvre said. “But actually, I need to see if I can come up with anything more on the Randolph case.”
Haycroft’s brows rose. “You don’t think we have enough to prosecute Dane?”
Lefebvre shrugged. “I would like to feel satisfied that we are doing our best to make sure the man who attacked Seth and his family is punished.”
Haycroft sighed. “I’m relieved to find someone else who feels that way. When we put Mr. Dane away, I’d like it to be for good. I suspect he is more clever than many of us believe. In fact — well, let me show you something.”
He put the photos away and rose from his desk. Lefebvre followed him as he went to the property room and signed for the box for the Randolph case. He took Lefebvre to a microscope with a video camera and monitor attached to it. Haycroft sat at the microscope itself and motioned Lefebvre to sit in front of the monitor. He found a labeled slide and set it up for viewing. After some minor adjustments, he said, “There. I’ve got it at about four hundred and fifty X.”
On the monitor, Lefebvre saw two thin parallel lines with a row of dark marks between them, the darker row looking somewhat like beads on an invisible string. “Hair or fiber?”
“Hair,” Haycroft said. “From the inside of the shoes — the bloodstained shoes we found on Dane’s boat.”
“Inside of the shoes, but not from the outside?”
“Right. This is just a sample, of course. Several of these were recovered from inside the shoes.”
“You found these hairs?”
He shook his head. “No, Dale Britton had the good sense to look for hair and fiber evidence. He was on the mobile crime scene unit that day, thank God. We found these inside the shoes. One of our trace evidence technicians did the identification work.”
“So is this hair Dane’s?”
Haycroft laughed. “Only if he is a cat.”
Lefebvre looked away from the monitor. “A cat?”
“Yes, among other indicators, that medulla pattern — the pattern of the material in the middle of the hair shaft — tells us this is from a cat.” He pointed to the row of dark marks on the monitor.
Lefebvre stared at Haycroft in disbelief. Reading his look, Haycroft said, “Yes, once we had identified it as cat hair, I asked Vince Adams if Dane had a cat. And he told me what I suspect you also know.”
“That Dane is highly allergic to cats.” Lefebvre paused, then asked, “Did Detective Adams have anything more to say about this?”
“Yes. He told me to keep my mouth shut.”
Lefebvre frowned. “But—”
“I told Al about it anyway.”
“Good. And what did Dr. Larson say?” Lefebvre was sure the lab’s director would be concerned.
“Al had two theories. One was that Dale or Vince — who found the shoes — contaminated the evidence. They both own cats, you see. For that matter, so does Dr. Larson. But he didn’t process the scene. Dale and Vince were there.”
“Locard’s Exchange,” Lefebvre said. “‘Whenever two objects come in contact with one another, there is always a transfer of material across the contact boundaries.’”
“Yes,” Haycroft said, pleased that Lefebvre could quote this tenet of forensic science.
“Because of static electricity in his clothing, Vince Adams picks up cat hairs on, say, his cuffs. He later touches the shoes on the
“Something like that, yes. When I asked how he handled the shoes, he admitted that in order to preserve the blood evidence on the outside, he had carefully placed his hands on the inside of the shoes. He was wearing gloves, but still, he could have transferred hairs to the shoes.”
“You said Dr. Larson had two theories.”
“The second is that Dane intentionally placed cat hairs in the shoes to eliminate himself as a suspect.”
“A little far-fetched?”
“If it were anyone but Dane, I would think so.”
