Moment of Truth by Lisa Scottoline

Author:Lisa Scottoline
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Tags: Mystery & Detective - General, Detective, Mystery & Detective - Women Sleuths, Mystery & Detective, Fiction - Mystery, Women Lawyers, Legal, General, Mystery & Detective - Series, Rosato & Associates (Imaginary organization), Women Sleuths, (¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯), Thrillers, Legal Stories, Fiction
Publisher: HarperTorch
Published: 2001-01-18T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter 28

Kovich studied the criminalistics report, resting it against the steering wheel of the car, which idled at the curb. Temple students going to class flowed in front of the car but Kovich didn't notice. "The earring back is from a man?"

"That's what it says." Brinkley leaned over and pointed on the report with a cold finger. The heat still hadn't warmed up in the beat-up Chrysler and the tall buildings on Broad Street blocked the sun. "Contained sloughed-off skin cells from a male."

"Okay, so?" Kovich looked over, and Brinkley edged back into his seat.

"I don't know. Let me think. It's a surprise."

"Only because you figured it was the daughter's, which it ain't."

Brinkley collected his thoughts. "Take it step by step. We find an earring back next to the body, which suggests it came off after a struggle with the doer."

"The location suggests a possibility it came off during the struggle with the doer. It coulda come off anytime at all. Fallen off a rug cleaner who wears an earring. A gay decorator who wears an earring. Every guy in Philly wears an earring nowadays, maybe two. My brother wears one, for fuck's sake. Coulda been anybody, anytime."

"Okay, but it's possible that it came off in the death struggle."

"It's possible."

"Good. At least it's possible." Brinkley looked out the windshield of the car at the Temple students. Boys and girls flooded into the buildings in parkas, lugging backpacks like tanks. A couple of the boys had their arms around the

girls, but the backpacks got in the way. Brinkley watched them idly. "I thought it could have been the daughter's because I'm working on the theory that she's the doer, and the father is taking the fall, right?"

"Also you are dumber than you look, in contrast to me. But yes. Right."

Brinkley was thinking too hard to ask Kovich what he was talking about. "If the location suggests the earring back came off during a struggle with the killer, then the killer was a male. So if you combine my theory with this physical evidence, it suggests that a man was at the scene with the daughter."

Kovich nodded. "Unless Newlin wears an earring, and he don't."

"Also, remember that there was dirt on the coffee table, put there by someone's shoe, and it had to be someone who put it there Monday after the maid cleaned. It's consistent with a male, since lots of women don't put their feet up on coffee tables."

"Mostly but okay. So what we got?"

"We got a man at the scene, brought there by the girl. Because I don't believe Newlin is the doer and there's no male in the picture he would protect, except a man he didn't know was there. A male his daughter brought in." Brinkley's heart quickened and he kept staring out the window. Two of the Temple students kissed. Young love, he could barely remember it. And then suddenly he could. "The daughter has a boyfriend."

"How do you know?"

"You saw her. She's a knockout. She's gotta have a boyfriend.

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