Hand of Justice (Mara Brent Legal Thriller Series Book 3) by Robin James

Author:Robin James [James, Robin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Robin James Books
Published: 2021-02-14T16:00:00+00:00

22

“Detective Cruz,” Weaver started. “So I’m clear. You have no definitive way to determine which of the victims of this tragedy were killed first, do you?”

“No, ma’am,” he said.

“And that’s because all those things one would normally use to determine time of death were basically the same in each victim, right? Lividity? Body temperature, etc.”

“Objection,” I said. “Counsel is assuming facts not in evidence. Detective Cruz isn’t the medical examiner.”

“Sustained,” Judge Denholm said.

“Fine,” Weaver said. “But back to my original question. Detective, you can’t determine with any degree of certainty which of the victims was shot first, isn’t that right?”

“Definitively? No. We can make educated guesses based on the positioning of the bodies,” he said. “And as I stated on direct, these victims were likely killed within minutes of each other.”

“Based on the positioning of the bodies inside Chris and Jenny’s house, right?” she asked.

“Well, yes.”

“In other words, Kevin Sutter, one house to the east, might have been the first victim?”

“That’s certainly possible,” Cruz said.

“Or Mark O'Brien might have been killed first, then Patty Sutter?”

“Correct. Though in that crime scene, we have the clearest evidence that Mark was shot first.”

“Right. Since Patty appeared to still be sleeping. We’re assuming she would have woken up, tried to run, or fight, like it looked like Mark did, right?”

“That’s correct,” he said.

“And based on your theories,” she said, letting her tone drip with contempt, “in Chris and Jenny’s house, you don’t think Skylar Sutter was killed first, do you?”

“I do not,” he answered.

“More than likely, she was shot last? Isn’t that right?”

“That’s difficult to say,” Sam said. “I can only say for sure that her father, Chris Sutter, was likely shot just before she was. He was in front of her. The killer would have had to shoot through him to get to her. They were shot from the front.”

“And yet you believe that Skylar’s relationship with Mr. Harvey was the primary motive in this case,” she said.

“It’s significant, yes.”

Weaver paused. She went back to her lectern and reviewed her notes. “You never found a murder weapon?”

“None was recovered, no. But based on the ballistics, we know it was a nine millimeter. And we know these victims were all shot with the same weapon. The primer marks were all consistent across the board. The rifling from the slugs recovered from the victims’ bodies was all consistent one hundred percent. There is no question that this was the same murder weapon used on all. It doesn’t get any more definitive than that.”

“But you don’t know for sure whether there was one shooter,” she said.

“No,” he said.

“With that type of weapon, how many rounds are in one clip?”

“Seven,” he answered.

“Seven,” she repeated. “And you indicated that you found no less than eleven bullet holes at the scene. Some in the victims, some in the walls.”

“That’s correct.”

“Which means the shooter would have had to have reloaded at least once?”

“That’s correct.”

“Interesting,” Weaver said. “Isn’t it true, Detective, you found none of my client’s DNA at any of the crime scenes?”

“That’s true,” he said.

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