Page 67 of Fifty-Fifty

Scotch, sipped it, and Clarence let out a low, contented growl.

We fell quiet for a time, and I stretched my back and felt the dull ache leave the base of my spine.

‘Talk to me,’ said Harry. ‘What are the main prosecution pillars?’

This was defense prep 101. It was up to the prosecutor to build their columns of evidence. They want to put a guilty verdict on the roof. The weaker we can make the supporting structure, the less likely it is that the roof will hold.

Simple.

‘The crime scene investigator takes a single hair from one of the wounds on Avellino. This is hair that he says was partially trapped in the wound. It was a long hair, measuring nine inches. He says the only way that hair gets down into the wound is if it was trapped there when the knife made the incision. That has some logic to it.’

‘On its own that’s not too damning,’ said Harry. ‘Professor Shandler is the one who tested the hair. He’s the one who really gives us the problem.’

The prosecutor’s hair fiber expert – Professor Shandler – examined the hair and determined that it matched hair samples taken from Sofia.

‘Hair-fiber analysis is not an exact science. There might be a way of attacking his findings. That’s the only line of attack on this one.’

‘Agreed,’ said Harry. ‘Let’s ask Harper to research the good professor. With the amount of convictions overturned on unreliable hair-fiber analysis, somebody is bound to have questioned Shandler’s methods before now.’

‘I’ll ask her to dig into the professor’s personal history too. Maybe he has a few skeletons in the closet.’

‘Good. So where does that leave us? The bite-mark expert says the wound on the victim’s chest is consistent with Alexandra’s teeth having made that mark.

Good for him. Maybe we can use that to our advantage. If the bite-mark expert is good then it helps Sofia,’ said Harry.

‘Yeah, and if the hair-fiber guy is good then it cuts both ways. We could try and bolster the prosecution case on that point, throw their expert a few softballs in cross-examination and do real damage to Alexandra, but you know that just doesn’t feel right to me.’

‘What doesn’t?’ said Harry.

‘We’re defense lawyers. Anything that I might do to help a prosecutor just makes me sick to my stomach.’

‘But it helps your client.’

‘Maybe, but it doesn’t feel right. From now on, let’s focus on the case against Sofia. We have to forget about Alexandra.’

‘I thought you wanted the guilty to be punished. Wasn’t that always your way?’

It was part of the system – and it was part of my DNA. The innocent go free, the guilty pay for their crimes. If Sofia was innocent, then Alexandra had to be the killer. I should have been baying for Alexandra’s blood.

But this case was different. It felt different. I believed Sofia didn’t kill her father. When I’d seen Alexandra that night at the station, I couldn’t say she looked like a killer, either.

‘Do you believe Sofia is innocent?’ I asked.

‘It doesn’t matter what I believe. She’s our client. I know it matters to you a lot. It just so happens that I do believe Sofia. I can’t see her doing that to her father.’

‘That means it must’ve been Alexandra,’ I said, but without much conviction.

I believed Sofia was innocent. Trouble was I didn’t yet believe Alexandra was the killer. There was evidence pointing to her, but I didn’t yet feel it, in my gut.

Harry leaned forward, said, ‘What about you? Having doubts?’

I shook my head, unsure whether I was trying to convince Harry or myself that there were no doubts in my mind. Clarence got up off the floor, nuzzled in beside Harry and used his snout to flick his hand off his lap and then leapt into the space. Clarence wanted some Harry time.

Harry stroked the dog, gently, and sipped his whiskey.

‘Both sets of prints lifted from the knife match Sofia and Alexandra. Easy enough to explain. They both cooked for their father. Makes sense they both handled the knife. I’m not worried about that too much. Both Alexandra and Sofia were in the house that night, so opportunity is shared but …’

‘But we’re the only defendant with a documented history of mental health issues, drug addiction and violence. Alexandra is a poster child for stability and success. The murder looks like it was carried out by a raving lunatic. That’s another big problem,’ said Harry.