Read Online The Death and Life of Gabriel Phillips by Stephen Baldwin, Mark Tabb - Free Book Online
Authors: Stephen Baldwin, Mark Tabb
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angle. Andy was more than a little nervous about looking at the photograph. However, the image pulled so tight to the skull that nothing in it looked like Gabe, giving it all of the emotional impact of a photograph from a criminal pathology textbook.
“How can falling out of bed produce enough force to do that kind of damage?” Andy asked.
“From the top bunk, it’s possible. At least I think it is possible. To say for sure, I probably need to drop some weighted dummies onto empty wooden drawers.”
“When you gonna do that?” Andy asked.
“Later this evening,” Duncan said.
“Don’t you ever go home?” Andy questioned.
“What the hell for? There’s nothing there,” Duncan replied. Shifting the conversation back to the evidence in the room, he said, “Another thing about this drawer. It was empty when we pulled it out of the apartment.”
“So?” Andy replied.
“So the dad said that this drawer doubled as his kid’s toy box.”
“Yeah?”
“Where were the toys?” Duncan asked.
“Scattered across the floor. When I walked into the room, there were clothes and toys all over the room. I don’t have a lot of experience with kids,” Andy said in a classic understatement, “but that seems pretty normal to me.”
“Could be. Probably is,” Duncan said. “But in his statement the other night, the dad said the boy had to pick up all his toys and put them away before he went to bed.”
“From what I recall, it didn’t look like much of anything was put away in the room that night.”
Duncan nodded his head. “Yeah, I’ve seen the pictures. The room was a mess. Do you remember whether or not the toys were all close together or if they were spread out when you walked in?”
Andy shrugged his shoulders. “When there’s a bleeding child lying on the bed, who notices anything else? Why do you ask?”
“If everything was in one place, then that could mean the drawer was dumped out all at once. If they were spread out across the floor, then that would indicate the boy took them out a few at a time as he played with them,” Duncan said.
“Does that matter?” Andy asked.
“Maybe,” Duncan said. “Take a look at the back of the drawer.” Mike Duncan slipped a pair of gloves on his hands and spun the drawer around, where Andy could see the part of the drawer that was stuck inside the chest. The dovetail joint had clearly been repaired. “This thing’s been busted and glued back together very recently. The glue is still soft in places. John Phillips even admits that. He says these drawers were constantly breaking and he had to glue them back together. He claims he fixed it the day before the accident. His prints are in the glue.”
“So he fixed a busted drawer?”
“We didn’t pick this up until the next day. It was so late the night of the accident that we walked out and forgot it. That means we have no way of knowing when he fixed it,” Duncan said. “But his prints aren’t just in the glue. We lifted handprints off both sides toward the back.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning he picked it up like this”—Mike Duncan turned the drawer upside down and grabbed it on the sides. His fingers curled around on the inside of the drawer, while his palms pressed hard on the outside—“and when he did, he gripped it pretty tight. We pulled nice wide prints off this part of the drawer, the kind that comes when someone applies a great deal of pressure.”
“I’m missing something here,” Andy said.
“The drawer killed the kid, just like the dad said. It’s possible that it could have happened more than one way. The boy may well have fallen out of bed and landed on the corner of the drawer, which is the father’s explanation. Or, the drawer may have fallen onto the child’s head, with added force, if you know what I mean,” Duncan said. “It’s all in the way you look at the evidence. Of course, you would think if he’d slammed it down hard enough to crack the kid’s skull,
“How can falling out of bed produce enough force to do that kind of damage?” Andy asked.
“From the top bunk, it’s possible. At least I think it is possible. To say for sure, I probably need to drop some weighted dummies onto empty wooden drawers.”
“When you gonna do that?” Andy asked.
“Later this evening,” Duncan said.
“Don’t you ever go home?” Andy questioned.
“What the hell for? There’s nothing there,” Duncan replied. Shifting the conversation back to the evidence in the room, he said, “Another thing about this drawer. It was empty when we pulled it out of the apartment.”
“So?” Andy replied.
“So the dad said that this drawer doubled as his kid’s toy box.”
“Yeah?”
“Where were the toys?” Duncan asked.
“Scattered across the floor. When I walked into the room, there were clothes and toys all over the room. I don’t have a lot of experience with kids,” Andy said in a classic understatement, “but that seems pretty normal to me.”
“Could be. Probably is,” Duncan said. “But in his statement the other night, the dad said the boy had to pick up all his toys and put them away before he went to bed.”
“From what I recall, it didn’t look like much of anything was put away in the room that night.”
Duncan nodded his head. “Yeah, I’ve seen the pictures. The room was a mess. Do you remember whether or not the toys were all close together or if they were spread out when you walked in?”
Andy shrugged his shoulders. “When there’s a bleeding child lying on the bed, who notices anything else? Why do you ask?”
“If everything was in one place, then that could mean the drawer was dumped out all at once. If they were spread out across the floor, then that would indicate the boy took them out a few at a time as he played with them,” Duncan said.
“Does that matter?” Andy asked.
“Maybe,” Duncan said. “Take a look at the back of the drawer.” Mike Duncan slipped a pair of gloves on his hands and spun the drawer around, where Andy could see the part of the drawer that was stuck inside the chest. The dovetail joint had clearly been repaired. “This thing’s been busted and glued back together very recently. The glue is still soft in places. John Phillips even admits that. He says these drawers were constantly breaking and he had to glue them back together. He claims he fixed it the day before the accident. His prints are in the glue.”
“So he fixed a busted drawer?”
“We didn’t pick this up until the next day. It was so late the night of the accident that we walked out and forgot it. That means we have no way of knowing when he fixed it,” Duncan said. “But his prints aren’t just in the glue. We lifted handprints off both sides toward the back.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning he picked it up like this”—Mike Duncan turned the drawer upside down and grabbed it on the sides. His fingers curled around on the inside of the drawer, while his palms pressed hard on the outside—“and when he did, he gripped it pretty tight. We pulled nice wide prints off this part of the drawer, the kind that comes when someone applies a great deal of pressure.”
“I’m missing something here,” Andy said.
“The drawer killed the kid, just like the dad said. It’s possible that it could have happened more than one way. The boy may well have fallen out of bed and landed on the corner of the drawer, which is the father’s explanation. Or, the drawer may have fallen onto the child’s head, with added force, if you know what I mean,” Duncan said. “It’s all in the way you look at the evidence. Of course, you would think if he’d slammed it down hard enough to crack the kid’s skull,
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