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Tyler dressed all in black, as befitted the occasion. Shirt, tie, suit, shoes. He took the oath and got comfortable in the witness stand.

‘Detective Tyler, you carried out investigations in relation to the victim and his family?’ asked Dreyer.

‘I did,’ said Tyler. ‘My partner and I shared the workload on this case. It so happened that I took a call from a lawyer named Mike Modine, the night of the

murder. A Saturday. He told me that he had an appointment to see the victim on

Monday to discuss a change to the victim’s will.’

‘Did you obtain a copy of the victim’s will?’

‘I did. The executor of the will is Hal Cohen. Mr. Cohen was the campaign manager and friend of the victim. He provided a copy of the last will to me. It’s marked Exhibit 6 in the bundle.’

There was downtime while the jury, who now had cause to open the papers in front of them, flicked to the correct exhibit and began reading.

‘This will is five years old now, is that right?’ asked Dreyer. He was leading the witness, but I didn’t object. It wasn’t prejudicial and he was moving things along.

‘That’s right. The will was made in 2014 at Mr. Modine’s offices.’

‘What is the effect of this will, detective?’

‘The will leaves some charitable donations totaling a million dollars, and then the remainder of the deceased’s estate is divided equally between his daughters, Alexandra and Sofia Avellino.’

‘Were you able to ascertain the value of Frank Avellino’s estate?’

‘Yes, Mr. Cohen had been given a valuation for tax purposes. The total estate is forty-nine million dollars. After taxes are paid, and the charitable donations performed, the residue of the estate totals forty-four million dollars.’

There was a wolf whistle from someone in the crowd behind us. The judge mustn’t have heard it because he didn’t remonstrate with the people in the gallery. There were more than a few whispers, murmurs and intakes of breath at

that figure. Even some from the jury. That was a shitload of money by anyone’s

standards.

‘Now, we know from Mr. Modine’s call that the deceased wished to make changes to his will. And had arranged to meet Mr. Modine on Monday morning

for those purposes. Do you know what changes were to be made?’

‘I can’t say for certain. However, we have reason to believe that the deceased was subject to undue influence at the time of his death.’

‘What do you mean, undue influence?’

‘Frank Avellino was being drugged, without his knowledge. We believe, from the type of drug used, the purpose was to exert some measure of control over Mr. Avellino and his money.’

The jury leaned forward. I couldn’t help looking at Sofia at this point. Her hand was drawn across her open mouth, and she turned and gazed with hurt and

pain at her sister. We’d told her about the theory, and the toxicology report.

Hearing it from your lawyer was one thing, but listening to it going on the record in a public court was another.

Alexandra had her head down, her shoulders heaving as she wept.

Taking his time, Dreyer took Tyler through the results of the toxicology report, and explained it to the jury. Haloperidol was an antipsychotic drug that, administered in the right doses, rendered people docile, suggestible and easily controlled.

‘Detective, you said the victim was drugged with this substance, but why do you say that? Could Frank Avellino have been taking this drug himself?’

‘I don’t believe so. His medical records show that this was not a drug which had been prescribed to him. Also, he had seen his family physician in the months leading up to his death as he had been experiencing symptoms that could have been early-onset dementia. This could also have been because the drugs in Mr.

Avellino’s system were producing the symptoms of dementia. The physician recommended an MRI scan for December. Mr. Avellino never made it that far.’