Last Writes: A Forensic Handwriting Mystery by Sheila Lowe

Author:Sheila Lowe [Lowe, Sheila]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, General, Mystery & Detective
ISBN: 9781101457641
Google: kq6S4K_hzxkC
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2010-07-06T07:00:00+00:00

The note was unsigned, but what stunned her even more than the words was the handwriting, which Claudia recognized at once.

The writing was a match for the samples she had discovered at the back of Rodney Powers’s file cabinet.

Even though she didn’t have the other writing to compare with it side by side, there was no question in her mind. This handwriting shared the same features as the file cabinet writing. The same uphill baselines; the same jumpy, nervous rhythm.

Claudia’s mind went back to the note Erin had showed her and Kelly—the one written by her husband. She was reasonably certain that the handwriting had substantial differences from the handwriting she had viewed in Rodney’s office and thus was different from this one, too. Her memory of Erin’s note was that the writing had been block printed with heavy pressure, unlike the one she held in her hand. In this one, the ink trail had light pressure and stayed very much on the surface of the paper. The pen tip made no impression at all. She knew that it was virtually impossible for two such different pressure patterns to be adopted by the same writer.

And then there was the matter of the different printing styles. One was block printing, the other, manuscript printing in upper- and lowercase; another reflection of two quite different personality types. Unless she was dealing with a multiple personality, which was possible but rare enough to make the possibility unlikely, Claudia would have to look elsewhere for answers.

Had she made an error in assuming that the writing in the file cabinet and the sample that Stedman had given her were Rodney Powers’s? It seemed unlikely, considering the content of the note.

She read it again, asking herself what the note might mean: the evildoing.

The “my child” had to be Kylie. What the hell was going on here? This was a far more serious accusation than sending a child off to what amounted to a convent.

What were the chances of someone trying to trick Claudia into believing the note was from Rodney? Who? Lynn Ryder? For what purpose?

Then it struck Claudia that the more troubling question was, how had the note found its way into her briefcase? Had Ryder come to her room while Claudia was out barging in on James Miller’s assignation with Kelly? No, that didn’t work. Why put it in the briefcase, rather than leaving it out in the open for her to find?

The answer arrived in a flash of memory. Goth Girl with the purple hair. She had been a decoy, distracting Claudia while the note writer—whoever it was—had slipped the paper into her briefcase. She remembered that the briefcase had been on a shelf under the lectern while she spoke with the AV guy. Her back had been turned to it for at least four or five minutes. She’d quickly stuffed her papers back into the folder after her lecture without paying much attention. She might not have found this note at all if she hadn’t decided to organize her papers tonight.

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