Stuart Kaminsky - Blood On The Sun

"He's guilty," said Mac.

"You're sure?" Tabler said, turning to the jury.

"I'm sure."

"Your wife died on 9/11," Tabler said.

"She did."

"You had a breakdown?"

"A short period of clinical depression," said Mac. "Like most people."

"Are you still depressed?" Tabler said, turning back to Mac.

While he didn't look directly at the prosecuting attorney, a slightly plump young blond with long straight hair, Mac did see her, wondered why she hadn't objected to this line of inquiry. Mac knew where it was going and couldn't stop it.

"I'm still depressed," said Mac.

"A man is accused of brutally murdering his wife," said Tabler. "You didn't choose to lose your wife, but you assumed going into the investigation that he had the choice?"

"We work on the evidence," said Mac. "We go where it takes us."

"And this time it took you to my client," said Tabler. "Often evidence doesn't lead. It follows, follows where you want it to take you. Is that right, Detective Taylor?"

"No," Mac had answered firmly.

"You've made mistakes," Tabler pushed.

"Yes," said Mac. He wanted to add, "Haven't you?" but decided not to.

The assistant prosecutor and Tabler made a last-minute plea bargain during the lunch break. Before the judge, the husband had admitted to having taken too many pills for a headache and going wild when his wife had asked him the same question she asked every morning: "One egg or two?"

He had gone into the kitchen and began beating his startled wife.

The plea bargain gave the murderer a minimum sentence of ten years. Mac felt that the settlement was partly due to his own testimony.

Now Mac said nothing, but opened the door and stepped through with Tabler behind him. Shelton and Jacob looked up.

Tabler smiled at the boy and said, "I'm your lawyer."

Jacob nodded.

"Have you told them anything?" Tabler asked, taking the last chair in the room.

Mac stood against the wall behind Tabler, arms folded.

"He was advised not to say anything till you got here," said Mac.

Tabler tried to turn his head to see Mac, but he couldn't.

Mac went on, "We'd like the two of them to tell us again what happened on the night of the murder."

Jacob pulled a folded sheet of yellow, lined paper from his back pocket and handed it to Tabler, who slowly and carefully read it. When he was finished, he handed the sheet back to Jacob.

"He's already made a statement and signed it," said Mac, moving now to sit next to the lawyer. "And it's on tape."

"Can't be used in court," said Tabler. "He did not have a lawyer present."

"He volunteered," said Mac.

Tabler was shaking his head.

"He's twelve years old. No judge will accept it," Tabler said. "However, I have no objection to reading my client's account of the murder of his family."

Shelton looked past Tabler at Mac, arms folded, sitting across from him. Their eyes met. Kyle Shelton looked away.

Jacob cleared his throat and in a shaking voice read the account he had signed. It was within a few words of being exactly what Jacob had said earlier. Essentially, Jacob recounted hearing noises and a scream. He ran into his sister's room where he saw Kyle Shelton stab his sister and then his mother. Jacob was frozen in horror. Then his father, wearing briefs and a white T-shirt, came into the room and ran toward Shelton, who stabbed him many times. He knew he would get Jacob next. Jacob ran, got his bike and rode away, heading for the woods next to the road. He realized that he was covered with blood. He took off all his clothes and ran naked back to the house through the woods and through backyards. When he got back, Shelton's car was gone. Jacob had gone to the murder scene, saw his family dead and with great difficulty put his mother and sister respectfully on the bed. His father was too big to lift or pull. Then Jacob had heard something- the downstairs door? Had Kyle Shelton come back for him? Jacob ran to his room and groped his familiar way to the closet and climbed up to his private place. He had stayed there for two nights. Then Mac had come with the dog.

"Shelton?" asked Mac.

"What the boy says is the way it happened," he said.

"You have questions, I assume," said Tabler.

"We've got lots of them," said Mac. "I'll start with Jacob."

He moved from the wall, uncrossed his arms and moved toward the table. Jacob raised his right hand as if he were in school.

"Yes?" said Mac.

"How is Rufus? I'd like to see him again," said the boy.

"Who is Rufus?" asked a confused Tabler.

"A dog," said Jacob. "He found my private place."

"I'll see what I can do about you paying Rufus a visit," Mac said.

Mac looked at Jacob and went on.

"I'm going to make some statements and then give you a chance to respond."

"Response will depend on your questions," said Tabler.

Mac nodded and asked his first question.

"Your father had a badly bruised bone in his right forearm. Medical examiner says it happened on the night of the murders. Any idea of how it was broken?"

Jacob shrugged and said, "I don't know."

"Your father was right-handed, right?"

"Yes," said Jacob, looking at Mac as he had been told to do. He had been told not to look at Kyle.

"Would you take off your shoes and socks please?" asked Mac.

"Why?" asked Tabler.

Mac looked at Kyle, who knew exactly why Mac was asking.

"Your client claims to have gone barefoot and naked through the woods for a mile two days ago," said Mac. "I have dated photographs that show the bottoms of his feet with no cuts, bumps or bruises."

"I'd like to see those photographs," said Tabler.

Mac handed the lawyer five eight-by-ten photos of the bottoms of the boy's feet.

"For the record, I'll ask again that your client take off his shoes and socks."

Tabler put down the photos and nodded to the boy to do what he was being asked. When he finished taking off his socks and shoes, Jacob lifted one foot at a time. Tabler and Mac looked. Kyle stared at the wall.

"Your client didn't walk home," said Mac. "He never left his house. Mr. Shelton set up the evidence in the woods to make it look as if Jacob had taken his bike, pedaled down the road, went to the clearing, and left his damaged bike and his clothes there where we could find them."

"How can you conclude that?" asked Tabler.

"From the evidence, particularly a leaf from a linden tree and a crushed caterpillar found in Jacob's room," said Mac, looking at Shelton. "The tree and the caterpillar came from the area where Jacob's bike and clothes were found. We can get leaves from those trees and determine which one the leaf I picked up came from. Since Jacob never left home, the most likely person to have stepped on the leaf is Kyle Shelton. Your turn to take off your shoes, Kyle."

The game was almost over.

"We'll test them for traces of blood from the victims and the dead caterpillar," Mac continued. "If we find traces of the caterpillar, we can match it to the dead one I found on the leaf."

Kyle took off his shoes and handed them to Mac, who placed them on the table.

"Kyle, you want a lawyer now?" asked Mac.

"I suggest you do that," said Tabler.

Kyle shook his head "no."

"Then we go on," said Mac. "We got some of your clothes and did a spectrographic collection of your scent and Jacob's. I got a department dog that specializes in human scent, and let him take his time. Your scent was all over the clearing in the woods. There wasn't the slightest trace of Jacob's scent except on the clothing you left. Then I took the dog to check the Vorhees house. Your scent showed up in the upstairs hallway, on the stairway, in the kitchen, in Becky Vorhees' room and in Jacob's room, but not all over the room, just on a straight line to the closet. You want to tell me why you were in Jacob's room?"