21st Birthday, James Patterson [best mystery novels of all time TXT] 📗

A teen wearing big-girl clothes? How had she hooked up with Evan Burke?

Someone who actually loved her was going to be devastated. I felt bad, myself. She’d fought hard, screamed for help, and I hadn’t been able to save her.

The EMTs uncuffed Burke, lifted him onto a stretcher, and flex-tied his wrists to the rails. Before they could carry him out, Burke called me.

“Sergeant.”

Was he going to talk?

“I’m here.”

“You shoot like a girl,” he said. “Lucky me.” He laughed and flipped me the bird.

An EMT wrapped another flex tie around Burke’s upper right arm and fastened it to the stretcher rail, pulling it tight. Burke was cursing as he was carried out through the emergency exit.

I called Clapper.

“We got him, chief.”

“Good work, Boxer. You two okay?”

“Perfect. Burke needs surgery. We’ll have a talk with him in the morning.”

It was close to 11 p.m.

I said, “We should be in the squad room by noon.”

Out in the hallway, Alvarez and I high-fived each other, and then…hell. We hugged.

She said, “Oh, man.”

I said, “That goes for me, too.”

We were both traumatized by how close we’d come to dying in this place. I ripped off the wig and stocking cap and shook out my hair. Then, we followed the paramedics out the emergency exit, leaving the Golden Eagle’s dungeon behind. Forever.

The patrolmen opened the squad car doors for us, and then drove us to the Bellagio.

Chapter 97

Yuki noticed that, this morning, defense counsel was wearing a baby-blue shirt with his fine gray suit.

His five-o’clock shadow at 9 a.m. made him look vulnerable, sympathetic, as though he’d been up all night working out of concern for his innocent client.

Newt Gardner even sounded caring when he said, “Good morning, Inspector Conklin.”

Yuki found it a credible act, but an act it was.

Conklin was Gardner’s target. Conklin’s stated belief, under oath, was that Lucas Burke had lied about the time he had left San Francisco for Sacramento. Conklin had also testified that Lucas Burke was the shadow figure who’d slit Melissa Fogarty’s throat in the school parking lot.

Gardner couldn’t let Conklin’s testimony stand, and that worried Yuki. Conklin was strong, but he was facing Newt Gardner, who was determined to win.

“Inspector, Mr. Burke told you that he was at a resort with his ex-wife in Carmel at about eight o’clock on Friday, isn’t that right?”

“Yes.”

“Did Ms. Conroy corroborate that time?”

“Yes, we have his word and her corroboration. But I no longer believe that the timeline—”

“Thanks, you answered the question.”

Conklin said, “As I was saying, I no longer believe Mr. Burke’s stated timeline because the murder weapon puts Melissa Fogarty’s killing squarely on Mr. Burke.”

A juror gasped, then clapped her hand over her mouth. The judge gave the juror a hard gray-eyed stare, then said, “Mr. Gardner, please continue.”

“So to your mind, this murder weapon nullifies Mr. Burke’s stated whereabouts at eight o’clock the night of Ms. Fogarty’s murder.”

“I believe the evidence, sir.”

At that, Lucas Burke rose from his seat at the counsel table and bellowed, “I didn’t do it. I never killed anyone. It was my father. It had to be. My father is the most evil man that ever lived. He set me up!”

The judge pounded his gavel until the emotions in the room abated.

Yuki calculated that took at least three minutes. She held her breath as the judge asked Gardner if he had anything else for the witness.

Gardner said, “I reserve the right to question Inspector Conklin again after the prosecution introduces their so-called evidence.”

Yuki shot to her feet. “Objection to defense counsel’s characterization of the evidence. Move to strike.”

Judge John Passarelli sighed deeply. “Sustained. Mrs. Clemons,” she said to the court reporter, “Strike ‘so-called.’ Jurors will ignore that characterization, and now let’s move on. Yes, Mr. Gardner, you may recall this witness at a later time.”

Yuki understood that Gardner was both baiting her and attempting to raise reasonable doubt in the jurors’ minds. Had it worked? Had Burke’s plaintive bleating moved someone in the box?

Yuki, herself, had felt moved, but she also had evidence. And, God willing, the evidence would convict Lucas Burke.

Chapter 98

Yuki said, “The People call Crime Lab Director, Dr. Eugene Hallows.”

The doors swung open and Gene Hallows entered the courtroom. He was fiftyish, tall, stooped, and he looked off balance as he walked to the witness stand. Still only six months into the top job as head of the crime lab, the pressure was on him to step into Clapper’s shoes both in the lab and in court.

Yuki approached him and smiled.

“Dr. Hallows, or shall I say Director Hallows, what is your background in forensic science?”

Hallows haltingly listed the key points in his résumé; his two PhDs in criminology from UC Irvine, his years with the crime lab in Chicago, his five years as deputy director under Chief Charles Clapper, and his recent promotion to director of Forensics. Now, he supervised two hundred investigators and scientists at the crime lab at Hunters Point.

Yuki asked, “Have you had a hands-on role in the Burke case?”

“Yes. From the discovery of the Burke baby through now.”

Yuki took him through the elements of the investigation, underscoring the recovery of the razor used to kill Melissa Fogarty.

Yuki went to her table and Gaines handed her a brown eight-by-eleven envelope sealed with red CSU tape.

“Director Hallows, did you seal this envelope?” She handed it to him.

“Yes. That’s my signature.”

“Will you open it for us now?”

Hallows ripped open the flap, then tipped the envelope so that a small weighted plastic bag slid into his hand.

He handed it to Yuki, who held it up. Even through the plastic, the razor, with its carbon-steel blade and chrome handle, glinted in the light. This was it. This was the proof she’d needed, finally in her hand.

She said to Hallows, “Is this the straight razor used to kill Melissa Fogarty?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Could you tell the court how you can be sure of that?”

He said, “Ms. Fogarty’s blood is on the blade and in the hinge, and Lucas Burke’s fingerprints are on