Page 17 of Lorenzo

“So they arrested me based on a timestamp?”

“They arrested you because they have footage placing you with the victim, footage they believe shows you leaving after the estimated time of death, and confirmation that you were the last known person with her.”

“What about the people at the desk? The witnesses,” Alessio says.

“I don't have information about them just yet,” Julian says. “But I'm working on it.”

I look at Julian. “The house has security cameras.”

“I know.”

“They cover the entrances. They will show him arriving. He has security.”

Alessio turns toward me. “Edoardo saw me too.”

“Edoardo is your brother,” Julian says. “The police will treat anything he says as an attempt to protect you. Security is employed by you.”

“They can’t dismiss the cameras.”

“They can challenge them.”

“On what basis?” I ask.

Julian leans back in his chair.

“The system belongs to the family. The footage is stored on equipment the family controls. Your security people have access to it. The police will argue that the recording could have been altered to show him arriving at an earlier time.”

“It wasn’t,” Alessio insists.

“I’m aware.”

“Then use it.”

“We will use anything that helps you. But your own security footage will not carry the weight you think it will, especially when the state has hotel footage showing a different time.”

I study Julian across the desk.

He is choosing his words carefully, which tells me he has already considered every argument I am about to make.

“It's enough for doubt,” I say.

“It gives us evidence to support an alibi,” he says. “The source of that evidence leaves room for the prosecution to attack it.”

“But the timestamps on these are wrong.” Alessio gestures disgustedly to the photograph.

“We have to establish that it is wrong.”

Alessio stands so abruptly that the chair legs scrape across the floor.

He turns away from the desk and walks toward the windows again.

“I know when I left,” he says.

His voice is lower now.

Julian closes the folder and waits.

Alessio braces one hand against the window frame. Beyond the glass, traffic moves through the city as if this is any other morning. People are going to work. Offices are opening. Somewhere, police officers are looking at that footage and congratulating themselves on finding a simple answer.