Part 25 (1/2)
”We conducted tests to see how long it would take to burn up two pork chops and gravy. We videotaped the experiments, one with the stove set just above the medium point of the dial, and one a little higher than that. For the lower setting it took twenty-four minutes for the chops to be reduced to cinders and stop burning. In the other test it took twenty minutes for the same final outcome to be reached. From the amount of smoke in the room when Mr. Bakken opened the back door, we estimate that the alarm had been on for about ten minutes.”
Novak nodded, well pleased. ”Your Honor, at this time the state would like to show the video that Lieutenant Whorley has produced.”
”Objection,” Barbara said. ”We conducted the same test, and stipulate as to the results.”
”You accept the results of the state's tests?” Judge Mac asked.
”Yes, Your Honor.”
He was surprised, and Novak was alarmed-or if not alarmed, then more wary than ever. She smiled at him and sat down.
Novak turned once more to his witness, and Whorley's face never changed a wrinkle or line. Stolid at the start, stolid now, waiting patiently.
”Did you reach a conclusion about which setting was more likely to have been used?”
”Yes, we did.” He talked about the blistering of the cabinet finish, and concluded, ”We decided the lower of the two settings was the one that was on.”
”And did this give you an indication of when the time of the murder might have been?”
”Yes, it did. The murder took place between six-thirty and six-thirty-five or six-thirty-six.”
Barbara did not say a word, although Novak paused as if antic.i.p.ating her objection.
When she rose for her cross-examination, she glanced down at the notebook in front of Alex, and realized he was sketching the lieutenant, drawing a caricature of him. She leaned toward him as if in consultation, and whispered, ”Hide that right now.”
He started in surprise and looked down, and she thought he hadn't been wholly aware of what he was doing. He turned the page of the notebook, and she straightened and faced the witness stand.
”Lieutenant Whorley, in your testimony you said the criminologists collected evidence. Did they collect any fibers that could be traced to Mr. Feldman?”
”Not directly.”
”Lieutenant, you've been very precise in your answers. Please be as precise now. Did they collect any fibers that could be traced to Mr. Feldman? Just a yes or no, if you will.”
”No.”
”Did they collect any hair that could be traced to Mr. Feldman?”
”No.”
”Did they collect any physical evidence that could be traced to Mr. Feldman?”
”No, not directly.”
”Is that a no answer?”
”It's no.” He remained as unrattled and stolid as ever.
She nodded. ”When you make a preliminary survey of a crime scene and come up with a possible series of events to recapitulate the crime, is that what you put in your early report?”
”Yes, it is.”
”And that guides you and your team in what lines of investigation to follow?”
”It gives us a starting place.”
”If new evidence surfaces, or if there is something that comes to light that you paid little attention to at the beginning, do you modify that report?”
”Yes, always. We go where the evidence takes us.”
”If the new evidence or neglected item doesn't fit your first recapitulation of the crime, do you modify the reconstruction to take it into account?”
”Yes.”
”Even if it means a totally new reconstruction?”
”Yes.”
”Did you modify your report or your reconstruction in this case?”
”No. There was no need to do so.”
”I see. From your observations of the Marchand house, would you say it was well organized, clean and neat?”
”Extremely clean and neat.”
”No clutter of shoes by the door, or clothes out of place, things of that sort?”
”Nothing like that. Everything put away where it belonged.”
”Did you collect evidence in the lavatory just inside the back door?”
”Yes.”
”What did you find there?”
”The usual bathroom items, towel, soap, washcloth.”
”Did your criminologists find anything on the towel or washcloth in the lavatory?”
”The towel had traces of linseed oil. And the water faucets had linseed oil on them.”
”Is it in your report that Mr. Marchand probably washed his hands in the lavatory, and not in the kitchen?”
”No. I didn't see the necessity of including that.”
”All right. Now, back in the kitchen, was everything there neat and orderly?”
”Yes.”
”No dirty dishes in the sink, or sc.r.a.ps of lettuce, anything like that?”