“Well, what do you know?” Ben said. “There’s yet another set of footprints.”
“Maybe. But that’s all.”
“What about the deputies? The coroner’s team?”
“They had no reason to invade the crime scene.”
“Are you telling me they weren’t just the tiniest bit curious to see what had happened?”
“Perhaps they were. But they still wouldn’t walk on the crime scene.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Because they told me so!” Cath’s amiability was slowly eroding away to nothingness.
“According to you, Sheriff Allen said he hadn’t violated the scene, either. But you just admitted he probably did.”
Cath’s face was beet red. “I don’t know what you’re trying to do-”
“Oh, I think you do. I’m trying to establish that there were numerous footprints left at the crime scene before you arrived. The prints your forensic team lifted could’ve belonged to anyone.”
“They have ways of screening footprints-”
“We’ll see. For that matter, I wonder if all those men at the crime scene might not have left a few fingerprints behind. It would be hard to be there an hour and a half and not touch anything.”
“Your honor, I object to this speechifying!” Granny said angrily. “Mr. Kincaid is not even asking the witness questions any more.”
“That one I’ll sustain,” Pickens said. “You have any more questions, counselor?”
“Not at this time, your honor.” If Ben had learned nothing else during the past few years, he had learned to sit down when it was time to sit down. He’d created a wisp of reasonable doubt. If he let Cath talk any more, the witness would only try to undo the damage.
“Very well,” Pickens said. He had a frown on his face, and his gaze was going straight out to Granny. Perhaps this case wasn’t going quite as well as they’d expected? Ben could only hope. “We’ll resume after a short break.” He dismissed the jury, who filed out of the courtroom in a long line.
When Ben returned to counsel table, Zak gave him a swat on the arm. “Nice job, Ben. I knew I could count on you. You did it before and you’ll do it again.” He grinned. “You took that chump apart like a Tinkertoy.”
“Don’t get overconfident,” Ben warned. “Cath was testifying out of his depth; that’s how I was able to nail him. When Granny puts on her experts in each of those forensic fields, they will go to extreme lengths to prove to the jury that there was no contamination of the evidence.”
“Just the same, you’re doing a hell of a job.” Zak leaned back in his chair and smiled. “I knew you were the right man for this job. I feel better already.”
There was something disconcerting about his reaction, but Ben supposed that if the man wanted to see this as a good omen, that was his business. Given the stress he must be under, with a death sentence hanging over his head, he was probably entitled to any relief he could find.
Ben turned and was surprised to find Granny standing behind him.
“So, Kincaid, it seems you’re not quite the sap you appear to be.”
Ben arched an eyebrow. “Is that supposed to be a compliment?”
“But of course.”
“Then thanks. But I’m just doing my job.”
Ben would’ve given a great deal to know what thoughts were running through Granny’s brain. Whatever they were, he suspected he wouldn’t like them. “I will, too,” she said softly. “Now more than ever.”
Chapter 43
When the jury returned from their mid-afternoon break, Granny called Dr. Lawrence Tobias, the county coroner, to the stand.
Probably a decision made based more on time and strategy than anything else, Ben reasoned. There was only about an hour and a half of court time left before Pickens would likely recess for the day. If Granny called a more important witness, one who would take longer, the testimony would be split over two days-which would give Ben all night to prepare for cross after having heard at least part of the testimony. Granny preferred to call a witness she could get on and off before closing time, so Ben wouldn’t be able to think about what he’d heard at great length before crossing.
Dr. Tobias, Ben recalled, was almost the complete opposite of Dr. Koregai, the Tulsa County medical examiner to whom Ben was accustomed. Tobias lacked Koregai’s implacable ease, his bearing. The sense that everything he said was unquestionably, inarguably true. At the same time, he had a common touch that Koregai never even approached. He seemed like one of the gang, not a demigod towering over their heads. And he knew how to talk to people, to communicate. Koregai might be a medical genius, but Ben wondered if Tobias might not be the better witness.
After about twenty minutes, Granny brought the witness to the case in question. “Did you perform an autopsy on Dwayne Gardiner?”
“Oh yes, yes,” he said. He had a nervous twitch involving his upper lip somewhat reminiscent of a bunny rabbit.
“And when would that have taken place?”
“On the morning of July thirteenth. I wasn’t present when the body was first brought to the morgue, earlier that morning. I came in about seven-thirty and started work.”
A lovely way to start the day, Ben thought. Hope he hadn’t had a big breakfast.
“Did you perform a standard autopsy?”
“Well …” Tobias appeared to be struggling for words, which struck Ben as unusual, since Granny had probably rehearsed this testimony a dozen times. “…
“And why is that?”
“That is because of the … uh”-he glanced at the jury, then looked away-”the condition of the remains.”
“What was the condition of the remains, Dr. Tobias?”
“Severely burned. Third degree and then some, covering almost his entire body. There was little skin remaining, and what there was had hardened into eschar. Bones and skull were exposed, all blackened by fire. I don’t think his best friends could have recognized him.” Tobias paused, his expression serious but sad. “Using the Rule of Nines, which assigns a numerical value to each part of the body and rates the severity of body burns on a scale from one to one hundred-one hundred being the worst-I’d say Gardiner was a ninety-seven. At least.”
“Did this create any complications for your autopsy?”
“Oh, yes. Yes indeed.” He looked earnestly at the jury. “Everything becomes more complicated when a body has been burned that severely. You can throw the manual out the window. Most of the standard techniques don’t work anymore. Most of the tests are invalid.”
“Nonetheless, were you able to perform the autopsy?”
“Oh yes. Took me almost seven hours. But I did it.”
“Dr. Tobias, we’ve heard testimony regarding a gunshot wound. Did you see any evidence of a gunshot wound?”
“I extracted a bullet from the upper right torso. Just below the clavicle.”
“What did you do with the bullet?”
“I sent it to the ballistics office for testing.”
Now why had Granny established that? Ben wondered. There was no ballistics expert on the prosecution witness list. Did she have an ace tucked up her sneaky little sleeve? Or was she laying a foundation, just in case the gun turned up?
“Did you notice anything else out of the ordinary, Dr. Tobias?”
“Well, as I said, the burns were extensive.”
“Other than that.”
“On the whole, there was very little to examine. As I said, most of the skin was gone, either as a result of
