the semen samples found near Susan’s body but not the other. And there’s the question of age on the sample that matches. He is a very common blood type and it was not possible to type it down much further. The best the lab could do was to get him into a twenty-five-percentile category.’
“They couldn’t eliminate further?’
‘No. Same thing in the Broward case.’
‘On one of the other Dade cases there’s nothing, just the newspaper clipping.’
‘So?’
‘Well, the bottom line is, we link him through jewelry, through the lingerie discovered at his house, through a shoe, which for some ungodly reason he kept, to three Of the six homicides. Link isn’t the right word. Nailed is more like it. So what it amounts to is this: we’re clearing all the cases. But we’re only going for three indictments. Now, we may introduce evidence of the others if it gets to a death-penalty phase of a trial - but that’s down the line.’ Detective Barren sat silently, thinking.
‘Merce, I’m sorry. The point is, the guy’s going to go away. Maybe the death penalty. Isn’t that what counts?’ ‘Don’t give up,’ she said. ‘What?’
‘What about his car?’ ‘It was clean except for an earring.’ Detective Barren started to speak but was cut off. ‘… No I know what you’re thinking. It belonged to one of the other girls. We haven’t matched the earring found at Susan’s body. If we could, well, bingo.’ ‘Don’t give up.’
“Merce, we won’t. We’ll keep at it. But you know how these things work. I have to justify manpower and time to my superiors. They’ve cleared the case. We’re going to get a conviction. The guy’s history. My bureaucracy isn’t any damn different from yours.’ “Damn,’ she said.
I don’t blame you.’ ‘I feel cheated.’
‘Don’t look at it that way. Think of the people who commit murders and skate. C’mon, Merce, you know how unusual it is for us to make a case on some random killer like this creep. You got to be satisfied with seeing him do hard time for the cases we can lock.’ ‘He never copped out?’
‘Nah. He’s too crazy smart for that. You know, one of his courses at the university was in constitutional law.’ ‘He’s not…’
‘Not a chance. I mean, I’m sure they’ll give the old insanity plea a ride, and I got to admit the guy’s not playing with a full deck. Actually, it’s more like he’s shuffled a couple of decks together. I mean he’s definitely not all there. But even if Allah was whispering in his ear to kill those girls, he as sure as hell wasn’t telling our boy also to rape them. That’s not how Allah works, even on his bad days. And it sure isn’t how some paranoid schizophrenic operates, either.’
They were silent for a moment.
Detective Barren felt uncomfortable, as if the room had suddenly grown hot. She heard Detective Perry’s voice on the line.
‘Look, Merce, don’t hesitate to call. If we get anything else I’ll let you know.’
She thanked him and hung up the telephone. It was, she thought, completely unfair and unreasonable and precisely how the system of justice operates. She hated herself for being so familiar with the trade-offs and corner cutting that marks the legal system. That what had happened to Susan’s murder was completely understandable from the policeman’s point of view made her angrier. She was outraged with herself for understanding.
She could not sleep that night. She watched all the late-night talk shows and finally read Aeschylus until dawn, when, as the first few lights of morning crept into her apartment, she changed to reading the opening stanzas of the Odyssey, but even the classics could not settle her. She
went to work early that day and stayed late, working fever-shly on paperwork, redoing reports, analyses, and crime-scene workups, rendering her output as perfect as she could make it, until, finally, well into the evening darkness again, she went home and after
“They couldn’t eliminate further?’
‘No. Same thing in the Broward case.’
‘On one of the other Dade cases there’s nothing, just the newspaper clipping.’
‘So?’
‘Well, the bottom line is, we link him through jewelry, through the lingerie discovered at his house, through a shoe, which for some ungodly reason he kept, to three Of the six homicides. Link isn’t the right word. Nailed is more like it. So what it amounts to is this: we’re clearing all the cases. But we’re only going for three indictments. Now, we may introduce evidence of the others if it gets to a death-penalty phase of a trial - but that’s down the line.’ Detective Barren sat silently, thinking.
‘Merce, I’m sorry. The point is, the guy’s going to go away. Maybe the death penalty. Isn’t that what counts?’ ‘Don’t give up,’ she said. ‘What?’
‘What about his car?’ ‘It was clean except for an earring.’ Detective Barren started to speak but was cut off. ‘… No I know what you’re thinking. It belonged to one of the other girls. We haven’t matched the earring found at Susan’s body. If we could, well, bingo.’ ‘Don’t give up.’
“Merce, we won’t. We’ll keep at it. But you know how these things work. I have to justify manpower and time to my superiors. They’ve cleared the case. We’re going to get a conviction. The guy’s history. My bureaucracy isn’t any damn different from yours.’ “Damn,’ she said.
I don’t blame you.’ ‘I feel cheated.’
‘Don’t look at it that way. Think of the people who commit murders and skate. C’mon, Merce, you know how unusual it is for us to make a case on some random killer like this creep. You got to be satisfied with seeing him do hard time for the cases we can lock.’ ‘He never copped out?’
‘Nah. He’s too crazy smart for that. You know, one of his courses at the university was in constitutional law.’ ‘He’s not…’
‘Not a chance. I mean, I’m sure they’ll give the old insanity plea a ride, and I got to admit the guy’s not playing with a full deck. Actually, it’s more like he’s shuffled a couple of decks together. I mean he’s definitely not all there. But even if Allah was whispering in his ear to kill those girls, he as sure as hell wasn’t telling our boy also to rape them. That’s not how Allah works, even on his bad days. And it sure isn’t how some paranoid schizophrenic operates, either.’
They were silent for a moment.
Detective Barren felt uncomfortable, as if the room had suddenly grown hot. She heard Detective Perry’s voice on the line.
‘Look, Merce, don’t hesitate to call. If we get anything else I’ll let you know.’
She thanked him and hung up the telephone. It was, she thought, completely unfair and unreasonable and precisely how the system of justice operates. She hated herself for being so familiar with the trade-offs and corner cutting that marks the legal system. That what had happened to Susan’s murder was completely understandable from the policeman’s point of view made her angrier. She was outraged with herself for understanding.
She could not sleep that night. She watched all the late-night talk shows and finally read Aeschylus until dawn, when, as the first few lights of morning crept into her apartment, she changed to reading the opening stanzas of the Odyssey, but even the classics could not settle her. She
went to work early that day and stayed late, working fever-shly on paperwork, redoing reports, analyses, and crime-scene workups, rendering her output as perfect as she could make it, until, finally, well into the evening darkness again, she went home and after
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