Page 96 of Fifty-Fifty

‘Is this the knife?’ said Dreyer, holding aloft a kitchen knife wrapped in plastic.

‘That is the knife.’

‘One last question. Were there any defensive wounds on the victim? Any signs that he had struggled with his attacker, or tried to defend himself?’

Soames turned to the jury and said, ‘No. In knife attacks we sometimes see wounds on the hands or forearm. There were none on this victim. He was taken

unawares and probably fatally stabbed before he could take defensive action.’

‘Thank you, Detective Soames.’

Kate got up out of her seat fast. There was a lot of evidence she didn’t need to challenge right now. Some she could not let pass, and it had to be dealt with immediately.

‘Detective, you wrote down in your notebook the statements made by Sofia Avellino and Alexandra Avellino at the scene. Yet you neglected to mention these in your deposition. Why?’

‘My deposition charted my investigation. The statements were entered into the record when both defendants were booked into custody. I didn’t need to mention

them in my deposition as they had already been accurately recorded in central booking.’

Kate’s breath caught in her chest. She had messed up the question. Made it much too loose. She had asked for an explanation, and she’d gotten one. The jury was nonplussed. She could have handled that better. She thought carefully

about the next question, framed it in her mind before she opened her mouth.

‘Looking at that picture of Frank Avellino, isn’t it obvious, even to a loved one, that Frank is dead?’ she said.

‘I couldn’t say,’ said Soames.

‘He looks dead, detective, doesn’t he?’

‘He appears to be badly wounded. No one could say those wounds are fatal just by looking at him. Both defendants asked for a paramedic in the 911 calls,’

said Soames, formally.

‘Both my client and Sofia Avellino approached him, and touched him. Might they have realized that he was dead then?’

‘They might. But then why ask for a paramedic when they dialed 911? That doesn’t make sense.’

‘If they held him and thought he had died from those terrible wounds, that would explain why Alexandra did not ask you if her father was dead, wouldn’t

it?’

‘It might.’

‘It does, doesn’t it?’ said Kate, pressing for a better answer.

‘It’s one explanation, but I don’t buy it,’ said Soames and she thought that was the best she could get out of him. ‘The other explanation is that your client knew Frank was dead because she’d spent time ripping him to pieces,’ said Soames.

Kate nodded, and on her way back to her seat at the defense table, she saw two or three jurors look at Alexandra curiously. It was look of wonder, and disgust. She’d lost some jurors on Soames. This was going to be harder than she’d thought.

THIRTY-TWO

EDDIE

I was tempted not to ask Soames anything at all. His testimony had been damaging, but not too bad. Kate had done her best to minimize it, but her opening question wasn’t tight enough. Not her fault. Some witnesses need a tighter leash than others and you can’t know that until you ask your first question. Years of experience can give you an advantage, but Kate was doing better than I did on my first murder trial.

I stood, decided I had to shake the tree some more. See what fell out.

‘Detective Soames, when the defendants made these statements to you at the scene, I suppose both defendants had been arrested, and read their Miranda rights before they spoke to you?’