location where the weapon was recovered.”
“But you haven’t charged him,” Barbara said. “You don’t have a time line and anyone putting him at the scene.”
“We’ve got a compelling case going,” Perelli said.
“What you have is reaction to public pressure.” Barbara tapped her pad with the point of her pen.
“He’s had access to the knife and he’s grappling with psychological anguish,” Grace said.
“Which is the case with about half of the hundreds of regulars who go to that shelter. Your case is so circumstantial as to be nonexistent.”
“At his encampment,” Boulder said, “we found other knives consistent with knives belonging to sets at the shelter.”
“Circumstantial,” Barbara said reaching for the Mirror. “Look, Mr. Cooper’s indicated that he witnessed a stranger at the shelter arguing with the victim and stealing a knife. Did you even pursue this avenue of investigation?”
“Isn’t it funny,” Perelli said, “how people with such critical information go to the press first, to put it out there, before coming to us? That’s what guilty people do.”
“Detective, my client pushes a shopping cart through the streets of this city and lives under a freeway.”
“That doesn’t make him stupid and it doesn’t rule him out,” Perelli said.
“Dom,” Grace said, “Barbara, we have pursued that avenue and have already eliminated a number of potential suspects.”
“The shoes are damning,” Lynn said.
“The shoes are state-issued only by DOC. As I understand, my client has no criminal record. He’s never been arrested. He’s never served time. And you are all well aware that all state-issued clothing is marked with an offender’s DOC number. I believe with shoes, it’s inside the instep of the right shoe.”
“That mark has been removed, carved out,” Perelli said.
“My point exactly. My client states the shoes were dropped off near where he stays, which means anyone could have had access to them. The fact that you didn’t need a warrant to seize establishes that his ‘residence’ is actually public property.” Barbara reached for the file on the shoes. “Did you contact DOC and see if shoes this size have been reported missing? You know all state-issued clothing must be turned in before offenders are released?”
“We have,” Perelli said. “They’re checking. Still, doesn’t mean Cooper didn’t pick them up somewhere.”
“Exactly. Virtually all of Cooper’s possessions have been previously owned by other people. Again, the man lives on the street, on public property. So how can you tie these shoes to him, beyond all reasonable doubt? How can you connect him to this crime in any way?”
Grace took stock of the others.
“There are ways. And we can get started on them if your client will cooperate.”
Barbara experienced a twinge of unease.
“What ways?”
Chapter Thirty-Three
“ S howtime.”
Kay Cataldo put down the phone and turned to Chuck DePew.
The two forensic scientists had been waiting and watching local news on a TV in an empty meeting room down the hall from the Homicide Unit. Garner had summoned them and now it was time for them to do their thing.
“They’re bringing him to us now,” Cataldo said.
She and DePew went to work in the room, making preparations, moving chairs to create a large comfortable space. Within minutes the chime of cuffs, shackles, and a belly chain preceded Cooper’s arrival.
“Mr. Cooper,” Cataldo said as Barbara North, Garner, Perelli, and the others took places around the room, “I’d like you to sit in this chair and be comfortable.”
Clasping his hands together to ease the pressure of the handcuffs, Cooper took stock of the room, the people, and the chair while Cataldo and DePew tugged on latex gloves.
“Please sit down, sir. This won’t take long.”
Cooper looked at Barbara, who nodded to him before he sat.
Cataldo and DePew began unlacing his boots.
“Sir, are these boots the footwear you wear most often?” Cataldo asked.
Cooper nodded.
“Now, on the table, you see several sets of footwear taken from your location under the overpass.” Cooper scanned them, observing the evidence tags. “Can you please tell us what sets among them you have worn most, or still wear?”
Cooper extended his chin to a pair of worn boots and DePew placed his hand on them to confirm the correct ones. Cooper nodded, DePew made notes, put the boots in a paper bag, then did the same with the boots they’d removed from his feet.
Cataldo then removed two pairs of woollen socks. Cooper’s bare feet were in good shape. He bathed every other day at the Mission, near Pike Place.
DePew then reached for a box that was the size and shape of a take-out pizza box cut in half. He opened the lid. It was filled with blue impression-casting foam.
“Now,” Cataldo said, “I’m going to take your right foot and guide its descent into the foam. I want you to press as much as I tell you, so we can get a clear cast.”
Cooper cooperated.
Cataldo repeated the process with Cooper’s left foot.
DePew then closed the boxes, recorded information, and helped Cataldo collect the boots they’d taken from Cooper and the second pair he’d indicated he’d worn.
“Sir, which other shoes would you like us to replace on your feet?”
Cooper nodded to another set of worn boots and Cataldo helped him slip them on after replacing his socks. Then she prepared to leave with DePew.
“So what’s next? How does this work?” Barbara North asked.
“Like fingerprints, footprints are unique,” Cataldo said.
“Okay…,” Barbara said.
“It’s pretty much accepted that no two people have the same, identical foot shape, or the same weight- pressure patterns. The differences are reflected on the wear of the insole and the tread and wear patterns of the outsole.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“We’re going back to the lab to analyze these casts. We’ll compare them with the boots Mr. Cooper wears, and we’ll compare them with our analysis of the DOC tennis shoes that are consistent with the impressions at the crime scene.”
“This technique is widely known in forensics,” DePew said. “It’s called barefoot morphology. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police developed it.”
“That’s fine. However, my client has said that he’d recently discovered that the tennis shoes had been placed in his shopping cart. They’re not his and he’s never worn them,” Barbara said.
“Then the evidence should support him,” Cataldo said.
As Garner thanked Cataldo and DePew, Barbara looked at Cooper for a long, uncertain moment. This was not going to get any easier for him.
Chapter Thirty-Four
