Read Online Chasing Justice: A Matt Royal Mystery by H. Terrell Griffin - Free Book Online

fingerprints, didn’t you?”
    “And the emails.”
    “Did you find Abby’s finger prints anywhere in Mr. Bannister’s condo other than on the wine glass in the bedroom?”
    “No, sir.”
    “Didn’t you find that odd? Wouldn’t you have expected to find her prints in other parts of the condo?”
    “Not necessarily. With the exception of the glasses Mr. Bannister and Mrs. Lester were drinking out of, all the glasses and dishes had been washed. There were no prints of anyone on them.”
    I switched gears. “How did you know the emails came from Abby?”
    Lucas couldn’t help himself. He chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. Maybe because she signed them?”
    “You mean she had an electronic signature attached to them?”
    “No. She just typed her name at the bottom of the emails.”
    “Including the email that contained the threat to kill Mr. Bannister?”
    “Yes.”
    “Couldn’t someone else have done the same thing? Typed her name in?”
    “Why would anybody do that?” Lucas asked.
    “Why would anybody as smart as a high-school history teacher like Abby put her name at the bottom of an email threatening to kill the man she was supposedly having an affair with?”
    “You’d have to ask her,” Lucas said.
    I let the silence hang for a moment. “I have,” I said.
    I shuffled some papers, letting the silence run on for another few seconds. “Agent Lucas, why did you wait twelve hours, until three in the morning to arrest Abby?”
    “It’s safer to arrest somebody in the middle of the night.”
    “Safer than going to her house at a reasonable hour in the afternoon, or the next morning?”
    “Yes.”
    “Were you afraid she was going to shoot you? Maybe beat you up?”
    “You never know, Counselor.”
    “No, I guess not. Not when you’re after a hardened criminal. Or a history teacher. Did you confiscate Abby’s computer?”
    “There was only one computer in the house, and we got it.”
    “Were you able to determine if Abby used that computer?”
    “She did.”
    “Did you look at her emails? The ones she’d sent from her computer?”
    “Yes.”
    “Did you find copies of the emails she’d supposedly sent to Mr. Bannister?”
    “No.”
    “Didn’t you find that odd?”
    “Not particularly. She could have erased them.”
    “Do you know who her Internet service provider is, Agent Lucas?”
    “Verizon.”
    “And any emails she sent from her computer would have gone through Verizon, right?”
    “That’s my understanding.”
    “And wouldn’t Verizon have had all that information stored somewhere?” I asked.
    “Supposedly.”
    “Did you reach out to Verizon to see if they could track the emails?”
    “One of the technicians did.”
    “And did Verizon have that information?”
    Lucas looked over at Swann, as if waiting for some direction. He got nothing. He looked back at me. “I’m told that Verizon had no record of any emails between the defendant and the victim.”
    When one is ahead, one sits down and shuts up. “Nothing further, Your Honor,” I said.
    “Redirect, Mr. Swann?” Judge Thomas asked.
    “No, sir.”
    “Do you have any witnesses, Mr. Royal?”
    “Perhaps, Your Honor. I’d like to put my client on the stand to testify about her ties to the community, which goes to the risk of her fleeing the jurisdiction of this court and which is germane to your decision on my motion for bail. However, I’d like a stipulation, or better yet, an order from you, that the only testimony elicited from my client would have to do with her residency and such and that this would not prejudice in any way her right not to testify at trial, if she decides not to take the stand.”
    “Will you so stipulate, Mr. Swann?” the judge asked.
    “No, sir.”
    “Then I rule that the defendant can testify and no prejudice will attach. Mr. Swann, you may not examine on the merits of this case.”
    The judge swore in my client. I stood and directed my questions to Abby.