Dead Guilty Part 10

Diane led Sheriff Braden and Chief Garnett to a round table in the corner that she and her crew used for planning and debriefing. She sat across from them. Her crew filled the remaining s.p.a.ces around the table; David and Jin to her left between her and the sheriff. Neva was the last to sit down. She pulled out the chair between Diane and Garnett and hesitated a moment before she sat, leaving a wide s.p.a.ce between her and Garnett.

The metal top of the table reflected a fuzzy image of all of them. Chief Garnett put his hands on the table and looked at his reflection for a moment. The sheriff's through gaze still shifted around the room, looking the gla.s.s part.i.tions at the equipment-no doubt wondering how much everything cost. "What more can you tell us about any connection between these two crime scenes?" asked Garnett when they were all settled. "It's an amazing coinci dence that the man who found those bodies was him self hung a day later. Are we looking at the same perp, or were Edwards and Mayberry involved in the woods murders in some way?"

Diane didn't know the answer to that question, and she guessed that Garnett didn't really expect an answer.

"I can tell you that the person who tied the knots on the hanging victims was not the same person who tied the knots for Chris Edwards."

"How can you possibly tell that?" asked Garnett.

"I know you're some kind of expert in knots, but . . ." "My examination is not yet complete, but I've seen enough to know that the same person probably tied Blue, Red, and Green Doe, but not Chris Edwards." "Blue, Red, and Green Doe?" said Garnett. "Until we determine their ident.i.ties, we refer to them by the color of cord used to secure the rope when we cut it from the victims."

Garnett's mouth twitched into almost a smile. "Go on."

"The nooses on the Cobber's Wood bodies were tied by first making a loop with a bowline knot, then pulling the other end of the rope through to make a noose. I haven't yet looked at how the rope was tied to the tree limb."

Jin jumped up and left the room. It was such a quick movement, they all looked after his retreating back. "He's going to get something," said Neva. "You get used to his energy after a while."

Diane's cell phone vibrated in the pocket of her gray blazer. She fished it out and looked at the caller ID. Denver, Colorado. Who did she know in Denver?

She didn't recognize the number. Probably wrong. She let the voice mail pick it up.

"I hate those things," said the sheriff. "They're al ways ringing at the wrong time, but you can't do with out them. They cause a lot of automobile accidents." "Actually, more accidents are caused by drivers not keeping their eyes on the road. Cell phones are way down on the list," said David.

"You don't say?"

Jin came back and handed Diane a stack of photo graphs. She flipped through them until she came to zooms of the rope tied around the tree. It showed the rope wrapped twice around the limb with the standing end of the rope going under the two loops around the tree. It had an interesting twist-a stopper knot on the end to make sure the rope wouldn't slip back through and release under the weight of the victim.

The perpetrator had also tied a stopper knot on the end of the bowline knot and one on the end of his handcuff knot. The stopper knot was set-tightened.

She had not yet examined what kind of knot he used for the stoppers, but she'd bet they were all the same knot.

"Okay," she said, "this is an anchor bend used on the limb, also called a fisherman's bend-it was at one time used to tie anchors to ships."

She handed the photos to the sheriff and Garnett.

The chief of detectives smiled as he exchanged photos of the knots with the sheriff. Diane had observed that talking about knots did that to people-it made them smile, as though they were gaining secret knowledge about a really cool skill.

David and Jin noticed it too. It was one of the things she valued about the two of them. They ob served everything. Jin, especially, could maintain pleasant eye contact, all the while taking in subtle in formation about a person.

Neva sat very still with her hands clasped in front of her. She mostly looked at the table, occasionally making eye contact with Jin or David.

Diane handed her the stack of photographs. "Have you had a chance to look at these?"

She felt that giving Neva something to look at and study might help her be less self-conscious, a quality that would make her a better criminalist. Neva took the photographs, glanced at Diane, and began looking through them.

"The rope that hung Chris Edwards was tied with a granny knot, both on the closet rod and on the loop that made the noose. It wasn't a noose that tightened.

It was made so that when his head was raised, he would stop choking.

"I suppose Dr. Webber told you that there was blood in his hair. She believes the killer may have grabbed him by the hair and pulled his head back to stop him from suffocating as part of an interrogation or torture. I think she's right." Diane saw the sheriff give a subtle nod.

"His hands were tied together by coiling the rope three times around his wrist and securing it with a granny knot. The hands of the three victims from Cob ber's Wood were all tied with handcuff knots. And several coils of rope were wrapped around their hands, securing their fingers and thumbs."

Diane turned to David. "Have you had a chance to check the ropes for blood?"

David nodded. "All the ropes that bound their hands had blood."

"So it appears probable that at some point after he bound their fingers up tight, he cut off the fingertips."

The sheriff and Garnett winced.

"He also added another twist, so to speak. The rope from the handcuffs had a noose in the end that looped around the victims' necks. They were tied so that if they struggled and tried to get their hands loose, they'd choke themselves."

"Wasn't taking any chances," observed the sheriff. "I still don't understand why you're saying the woods victims and Edwards weren't tied by the same person," said Chief Garnett.

"Significantly different knots," said Diane. "The person who tied the knots on the Cobber's Wood vic tims had knowledge and skill with knots. He knew how to set them and finished them off so they wouldn't slip. The person who tied Chris Edwards'

rope used granny knots. A granny knot is an incor rectly tied square knot. Even if he had tied a square knot correctly, it wouldn't have been the right knot for that situation."

"What do you mean?"

"Square knots slip easily. That would make it easier for the victim to untie himself. The person who tied the hands of the Cobber's Wood victims with handcuff knots wouldn't have used a granny knot on Chris Edwards."

"Maybe he was in a hurry," said Garnett. Diane shook her head. "If you know how to tie a handcuff knot, it's just as fast to tie as wraps of rope secured with a granny knot."

"If I'm not mistaken, aren't granny knots hard to untie? That seems like it would be an advantage," said the sheriff.

"A good knot doesn't slip under pressure, but is not impossible to untie. Knots such as the handcuff knot and the bowline knot are used by people who know their knots because they work best for what they do."

Diane could see Garnett wasn't convinced. The magic of knots was evaporating rapidly for him. "All the victims were hung and all had their hands tied behind their backs," Garnett said. "The perp had a lot of time in the woods to get his knots right. He was in a hurry at the Edwards house."

This time it was David who rose from his chair- more leisurely than Jin-and came back with props.

He handed Diane a length of rope. She took the rope in her right hand and maintained eye contact with Garnett and the sheriff. They watched her fidget with the rope.

"It doesn't matter if he was in a hurry. It's not faster to do it wrong if you know how to do it right, and our Cobber's Wood guy knew how to do it right." She held up the knot she had just tied. "This is a bowline. It's called the king of knots because it's very useful-it holds well and is easy to untie. It's a per sonal favorite of mine.

"I'm not someone who is extraordinarily gifted in knot tying. I'm a caver, and sometimes we have only one hand free to tie a knot, and sometimes we're in very low light or darkness while we're tying them, and our lives are depending on a good knot. Cavers learn to tie knots with one hand without looking. I believe our Cobber's Wood perp was good at knots. He could have done it under stress and in a hurry."

"Are you saying he may be a caver?" asked Garnett.

"No. I'm just trying to convince you that people who know how to tie knots know how to tie knots." The sheriff laughed. "Then are you saying that ex pert knotters never make mistakes?"

"No. We certainly do, but rarely do we tie granny knots. All I'm saying is that the person who tied Chris Edwards didn't know knots or rope. The rope he used was old and worn, and there was an overhand knot in the middle between Edwards' neck and the clothes rod from which he was hanging."

"So," asked Garnett, "what does that mean?" Diane took the rope and tied an overhand knot, pulling it tight. "I just decreased the strength of this rope by fifty percent."

"You're kidding." Garnett spoke in a way that sug gested all his ropes had knots in them.

"No, and in a worn rope, that's significant. Chris Edwards was a husky, athletic young man, and a big portion of his weight was going to be on that rope that was barely adequate. It was another bad choice, like the square knot. The perp didn't know what he was doing."

"But it didn't break," said Garnett.

"No, it didn't, but it was too close to the breaking point to be a safe choice."

"Well, you've convinced me about the ropes," said the sheriff. "But that still doesn't tell us if the murders are connected."

"No, it doesn't," said Diane. "The evidence we've looked at so far seems to indicate it might have been a single perp at the Edwards crime scene. But we don't yet have any indication from Cobber's Wood to point to a single perp or more than one."

"Could have been a whole gang of 'em," said the sheriff. "And for reasons we don't know, one of them might have killed Chris Edwards. It might not be the same one who did the rope work in Cobber's Wood." "But the evidence does give us an MO for the per son who tied the knots on Chris Edwards," said Diane. "He probably always ties knots the same way because he doesn't know any other way."

"I see what you mean," said the sheriff. "If we find something all tied up in a suspect's house, for instance, the way he ties his knots might connect him to one crime scene or the other."

"Yes. It can't be the only evidence, but..." "But it'll give us and the suspect something to talk about in the interrogation room," said the sheriff. "I have to agree with Chief Garnett," said Diane.

"It's too big a coincidence that Edwards was killed just after he and Mayberry discovered the bodies.

Have you found Steven Mayberry yet?"

"No. Nor have any of his friends or relatives seen him. Frankly, we don't know if he's on the run or if he met with the same fate as Edwards. Have you found anything else interesting from the Cobber's Wood crime scene?"

"Orange carpet fibers. Jin's working on the brand.

We'll be able to tell you something about the se quence of events when we're finished looking at the tracks and other impression evidence. We also found brown shed human hair."

"Shed hair," said the sheriff. "So you can't do any thing with that. As I understand it, you can't get DNA from shed hair-you need the root. Is that right?" Jin glanced over at Diane. He raised his chin and eyebrows so slightly that probably only she and David noticed. She knew what he was urging her to tell them.

He'd been talking about it ever since he read the arti cle, and now here was a chance to give it a try. Well, Well, why not? she thought. The sheriff was apparently en she thought. The sheriff was apparently en amored with DNA.

"Tell me what you know about DNA," she asked the sheriff.

Sheriff Braden shifted in his chair and gave her a long stare. "Now, I've always heard you can't get DNA from hair that's been shed because it doesn't have the root, and that's where the DNA is. Are you saying that's not true?"

"It's not precisely true. Shed hair does have nuclear DNA, just not much of it. The root of a hair has about two hundred nanograms of nuclear DNA. The shaft has less than ten-not enough even for a normal PCR test. Added to that little difficulty is that the pigments in the hair can inhibit the PCR reaction."

"PCR-that's the test that copies DNA?" said Garnett.

"Yes," the sheriff answered. "That's it."

"Polymerase chain reaction," said Diane. "It's a powerful method that can be used on degraded and small samples of DNA. However, some samples are just too small."

"Like shed hair," said the sheriff.

"Yes," agreed Diane. "Shed hair does have more mitochondrial DNA, but that type of DNA doesn't have the identifying power that nuclear DNA has. It's too heterogeneous and doesn't have the poly morphisms."

"I can see how that would be a handicap," said Garnett.

Diane smiled. This was the first time she'd witnessed that Garnett had a sense of humor. "Polymorphism is the occurrence of several phenotypes linked with its alternative form...."

"Well, that certainly clears it up," said Garnett.

There was laughter around the table. "But what I'm hearing you say is just what the sheriff started out saying. You can't get DNA from shed hair." Jin leaned forward as if he was having a hard time waiting for Diane to get it out.

"Not presently," she said. "However, a crime lab in California is developing a procedure for in situ amplification."

Jin couldn't wait. "You fix the cells on special coated slides and the PCR is done on the slide itself, using special equipment. You see, no need to extract the DNA. That's where you lose some of it." "The in situ method has been done on tissue sam ples for other applications," said Diane. "It's experi mental. They're still working on the protocol for forensic use."

Garnett's phone rang. He plucked it from his belt and looked at a message on the screen and put it back in his pocket. He gave Diane a long stare. "I a.s.sume it's not cheap." Garnett glanced over at the sheriff, an apparent DNA a.n.a.lysis-phile, and saw that his in terest was piqued.

"No," said Diane. "It probably won't be cheap, even if we can get it done. As I said, it's experimental." Garnett seemed to look inward a moment, then his gaze rested on Jin's tee-shirt. Jin had numerous foren sic sloganed tee-shirts-for M.E.s, criminalists-all with varying degrees of humor, gore, and double en tendre. Today he had worn one that caught Garnett's eye-M.E.S ARE ON THE CUTTING EDGE. Diane could see him make up his mind.

"Why don't we give it a try? We can carry the bulk of the cost for your county, Sheriff."

"I'd like to do that, I sure would," said the sheriff. Garnett rose. "I just got a message saying they found Steven Mayberry's truck on a back road. It's empty. No sign of foul play, but you'll have to look at it." Diane nodded and turned to Neva. "I want you to process it, Neva."

Neva stared back at Diane and started to speak, but Garnett spoke first.

"This is real important."

Diane held his gaze, but she could see in her periph eral vision that his words had stung Neva.

"Yes," Diane said. "I know it is."

Chapter 13.

Diane watched Chief Garnett pause before he left, looking as if he wanted to say more about her choos ing Neva for this a.s.signment. She guessed he was stuck. Garnett was the one who had given Neva to Diane's crime scene unit. He could not very well say now that he doubted Neva's abilities. She was wet behind the ears and had a little trouble with rotting bodies, but Diane had examined her qualifications. Neva's file showed a good training record in evi dence a.n.a.lysis.

Neva collected her equipment and rushed to catch up with Garnett, casting a glance back that looked like a combination of determination and fear. Jin went whistling into his office to call crime scene researchers in California. The sheriff lifted his lanky frame from his chair, looking suddenly abandoned.

"Let David tell you more about his insects," said Diane. "I want you to understand how we fix the time of death. We can't go solely by rate of decomposition. Insects can't eat what they can't get to. If they aren't eating, decomposition is slowed. Wind and dry weather can stop decomposition altogether and start a mummification process. The Cobber's Wood bodies showed a combination of light insect infestation and slight mummification. Our best clue may be the life cycle of the fly larva-telling us how long they have infested the body."

He was silent a moment, holding his hat in one hand and studying the floor as they walked to the maggot room, as David liked to call the small cubicle.

"The inside of this building is not the same thing as outdoors," said the sheriff, looking at David's maggots.

"My rearing chamber is similar to the climate at the crime scene," said David.

As David explained about insect succession and life cycles, Diane could see that the sheriff hadn't relaxed the rigid pose of his shoulders.

"I guess time will tell," he said. "I have to tell you, the sooner we get to the bottom of this, the better. I know our boy Garnett is"-he gestured toward the door where Garnett left-"just real excited about hav ing a high-profile case for you guys to work on. But it's been a pain in the b.u.t.t for me." He shook his head. "Fortunately, Lynn Webber released informa tion identifying the victims as white. The last thing I needed was rumors of a lynching flying around and having people stirring up trouble."