Skeleton Justice by Michael Baden & Linda Kenney Baden

Author:Michael Baden & Linda Kenney Baden [Baden, Michael & Baden, Linda Kenney]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: New York (State), Mystery & Detective, Women lawyers, Legal, Fiction, Suspense, Forensic pathologists, Thrillers, Mystery fiction, General
ISBN: 9781400044320
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2009-06-15T22:00:00+00:00

“Was the bag ever out of your sight yesterday?” Jake asked.

Manny paused to think. “It was beside me in the booth at the diner. I never set it down while I was in the apartment in Brooklyn. Then I talked to all those cops and lawyers and FBI agents.” Manny twirled her hair around her fingers. “I don’t think it was ever away from me, but there were times it was hooked on the back of my chair, or lying under the table. Someone could have slipped the letter out then.”

“But who?” Jake protested. “I thought you left the part about the letter out of the story you told the cops and the feds. No one but Paco knew you had it.”

Manny nodded slowly, trying to process the implications. “I intentionally kept the part about the letter to myself. I knew if I gave it up to them, I’d never find out what it said. I figured after I read it, I could always take it back to them if I thought it contained information I’d get in trouble for withholding. Say I forgot about it in all the excitement.”

She locked eyes with Jake. “So that means whoever stole it from my bag was tipped off by Paco.”

“That leaves out the authorities,” Jake said.

“Does it?”

Jake developed a sudden interest in loading the dishwasher, something he never saw the need for until every dish in the house was dirty. Manny knew he was using the time to form a calm response. Always the scientist, always in control of himself.

“Jake, think about it.” Manny stood up and started firing items back into her purse. “There’s something very fishy about the way Paco has drawn Travis into his circle. And the government’s hands-off attitude toward the Sandovals is stranger still. How do we know the Sandovals aren’t cooperating with the FBI in some sort of terrorism sting?”

Jake slowly closed the dishwasher. “What empirical evidence do you have?”

“I just told you.”

“You take two unexplained phenomena, put them together, and come up with a conspiracy. As a scientist, I look for the most likely explanation first. After that’s been eliminated—and only after it’s eliminated—I move on to consider the more remote possibilities. When you hear hoofbeats, think horses—”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, not zebras,” Manny said, finishing the old adage. “Your problem is, you automatically trust authority unless you see overwhelming evidence that the system isn’t working. I automatically question authority, unless the person wielding it has proven to me that he’s above reproach. And frankly, federal prosecutor Brian Lisnek, Ambassador Sandoval, and the merry crew of FBI agents questioning me last night have not cleared the bar.”

Sam had been watching the exchange like a fan with center court seats at the U.S. Open. Now he intervened before his brother could respond. “I don’t think Manny’s totally out in left field. But, but”—Sam held up his hand for silence as Jake opened his mouth to protest—“you can’t fault Jake’s methodology. Assume the most plausible explanation until it’s proven wrong.

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