Page 115 of Fifty-Fifty

Professor Shandler was one of those guys who didn’t much look like a professor.

At least no kind of professor that I’d ever seen. For a start, he wasn’t old. No wispy white hair. No bushy white eyebrows that looked like clouds. No cardigans, no corduroy, no wide leather shoes that a grandpa would wear.

He couldn’t have been older than fifty. Jet black wavy hair that looked as though he’d put some product in it. No beard or moustache. He had pale skin that looked like it would burn if he went south of the Mason–Dixon line, and a

blue pin-striped suit in a modern cut over an expensive silk shirt – blue, and silk tie – purple. The expensive suit went well with his narrow chin, high cheekbones and walnut-brown eyes. He looked more like a model in a high-end fashion magazine.

Several of the female jurors sat up a little straighter when they saw Professor Shandler. He’d worked in the NYPD forensic science lab, and had since gone out on his own into private consultancy work, where the best money lay.

He took the oath, sat with the judge’s permission and Dreyer took him through his long history of qualifications and experience. At every question, Shandler gave a nod and a simple ‘yes.’ He had an air of authority about him. A deep voice tinged with a slight rasp that made every word sound like the gospel. Once Dreyer had impressed the jury with Shandler’s credentials, he cut right to it.

‘Professor, you were sent a number of hair fibers for analysis in this case, perhaps you would take us through the samples first of all, and then we’ll talk about your testing?’

‘Of course,’ said Shandler, angling his seat to get a better look at the jury. ‘I received three items for testing from the District Attorney’s office. One was a hair, with at least part of it buried in a wound on the victim. The second was a sample of hair from Alexandra Avellino, and the third a sample of hair from Sofia Avellino. I refer to the latter two samples as control samples, whose origins are known to me.’

‘And the first sample? Sample one?’

‘This was the hair which I was to analyze and compare with the control samples.’

‘Before we begin, can you tell us a little bit about human hair?’

‘I can. Most of us have thousands of hairs on our body. An individual scalp hair is grown in a follicle of skin, which also contains a root. None of the samples I examined contained a root. Unfortunately the hair shaft, which is what I work with, is not a living part of the body that contains DNA. However, hair

strands do contain certain characteristics which I can examine.’

‘What are those characteristics, Professor?’

Without taking his eyes away from the jury, he set out his schtick. It was practiced, and smooth.

‘Ladies and gentlemen, imagine a round target,’ said Shandler. As he said the word, ‘round,’ he traced a wide circle with his finger, to help illustrate his point.

‘The only thing in this target is a bull’s eye, in the center. That is what the inside of a hair looks like. On the outer shell, we have the cuticle. This cuticle will have a pattern. Then, in the space between the outside of the hair, and the bull’s eye, you have the cortex and depending on the level of melanin in the cortex, this determines the color of the hair. And then the bull’s eye – this is called the medulla and it too can have a pattern and distinct structure. I look at all of these characteristics, on a microscopic level, when I examine a hair for comparison purposes.’

‘What were the results of your tests?’

‘Sample one, the comparison sample, shares distinct characteristics with the hair sample provided from the defendant, Sofia Avellino.’

Dreyer paused, again, to let the jury absorb this.

‘Can you be more specific on how you came to this conclusion?’

‘I can. The morphological characteristics were identical. The samples shared an imbricate cuticle pattern. They were also of the same pigmentation. The medulla of both samples was of similar diameter, identical continuous pattern and identical vacuolated structure. The only conclusion, based on my forensic examination, is that the hair found on the body of the victim probably came from Sofia Avellino.’

‘May I remind the jury, this hair was actually embedded in one of the many stab wounds found on the victim’s body. What does that tell you, Professor?’

‘I am a scientist, ladies and gentlemen of the jury. I follow logic and established scientific principle. The Locard Exchange Principle states that when two people are in contact with each other, there will be some transference of material between the two. It is probable that the transference of this hair took place at or close to the time of the murder, given the hair from Sofia Avellino had been pushed into the wound, presumably by the blade.’

‘Thank you, Professor.’

I glanced to my left, saw Sofia with her lips set firm, shaking her head. It’s hard to listen to someone who is telling lies about you. In front of you. Her forehead wrinkled, and she wiped at her eyes before the tears came, shunning them and willing them not to come.

Harry patted her arm, leaned behind her and caught my attention.

‘I’m going to pick up our friend. Text me when you’re ready,’ said Harry.

I gave him the thumbs up, and Harry left the courtroom.

I looked around, and noticed then that Dreyer had sat his ass back down. A tapping noise distracted me and I saw Judge Stone, prodding the face of his watch with his finger and looking directly at me.