Stephen Penner - Presumption of Innocence

He turned again to Brunelle. "Death penalty, right?"

Brunelle offered his professional 'no promises' smile. "Every case is different. Once the police finish their investigation, we'll review the evidence and make a decision. Your input will be very important to that decision."

"What decision?" Mr. Montgomery nearly shouted. "It's a murder. What more do you need to know?"

"Not all murders are death penalty eligible," Brunelle started. "There need to be certain aggravating factors present before-"

"Are those here?" Mr. Montgomery demanded.

"Roger, please," Mrs. Montgomery tried again.

"They might be," Brunelle was careful to answer. "As I said, we will review the evidence-"

"If the aggravating factors are there," Mr. Montgomery pressed. "Promise me you'll go after the death penalty."

Brunelle repeated the smile. "The decision isn't mine alone to make. But as I said, your input will be very important to that decision."

Mr. Montgomery was about to argue some more when Brunelle spotted Chen making his way over. "But here comes Detective Chen. I'm sure he has some questions for you."

Brunelle extracted himself as Chen approached, and quickly walked away, but not before hearing Mrs. Montgomery express her displeasure at her husband again, and Chen ask them where they had been that night while their daughter stayed home alone.

Brunelle was curious about their answer, but not curious enough to stick around. He knew he could just get it in the morning from Chen's report. Being curious wasn't the same as caring.

As he reached his car, though, he realized he was curious about more than just why the girl was home alone. He didn't have to prove motive, but damn, that was a strange way to kill someone. There must have been a reason for it. He knew if he was curious, then the jury was going to be curious too. And juries with questions are juries that acquit. So he would have to figure out that motive after all.

Then he smiled despite the weather and the circumstances. He had an excuse to call Kat.

In the event, the call to the fetching young medical examiner had to wait. When Brunelle got into the office the next morning, the message light on his phone was already blinking. It was Chen.

"Dave, forensics got a usable print off the front door note. Ran it through the computer and came back with a possible match. I had the fingerprint people confirm it first thing this morning. Name's Holly Sandholm. Fifteen years old, but a bunch a history out at juvenile hall. We're gonna go out this morning and try to put the habeas grabus on her."

Brunelle deleted the message only to hear Chen's voice again on the next one.

"Got her, Dave. Grabbed her when she showed up for school. Heading to the precinct now. It's, uh, let's see, eight twenty-one right now. Come by if you can."

Brunelle looked at his watch. Eighty twenty-three. He turned on his heel and headed back to the elevator, pulling his cell phone out and pulling Chen's cell number up even as he pulled his overcoat back on.

***

"They're in interview room one," the officer at the reception desk said. She pressed a button behind her bulletproof glass and Brunelle heard the access door buzz and unlock. "Detective Chen said you might be stopping by."

Brunelle walked back into the offices protected behind the security door. He said hello to a couple other detectives he knew, then stepped into the observation room for interview room one. He pulled up a chair and sat down. They were just getting started.

Chen had finished reading Holly her rights and was having the girl sign the form. She looked scared. And dirty. But she wasn't as rough as some of the kids they saw. She wasn't a drug addict. Not yet anyway. All her history was property crimes and low level assaults. Typical running with the wrong crowd stuff. It was a big jump from that to murder. Especially that murder.

"Now, Holly," Chen started. "You need to understand something right from the beginning. Just because I ask you a question doesn't mean I don't already know the answer. In fact, it's just the opposite. We already know what happened and how you're involved. When I ask you something, I know the answer, but I want to see if you're going to tell me the truth or not. Does that make sense?"

Holly glanced up at Chen seated across the metal table, then to his partner, a junior detective named Jeff McCall. She looked like she was considering acting tough, but she just shrugged, and lowered her eyes back down to the tabletop. "Yeah, sure."

The girl seemed tired more than anything. She had dark bags under her eyes and her body language was someone trying to lie down even as she sat in the uncomfortable plastic chair. Brunelle figured Chen and McCall would make short work of her.

"Why don't you start at the beginning," Chen encouraged. "What brought you to Emily's house?"

Holly looked up at Chen, a strange grin on her face. She stared at him for a moment, then laughed. "You don't know shit, do you?"

Brunelle smiled and crossed his arms. Maybe this would be a good show after all.

"We know more than you think we do," Chen managed to answer. "For starters, your fingerprint is on that note."

"What note?"

"The one on the front door," McCall said. "The one you wrote."

"I didn't write it."

"We'll see what the handwriting expert says," McCall countered. "But the fingerprint is iron clad."

Holly frowned. Obviously she was weighing her choices. Brunelle just hoped she didn't ask for a lawyer. That would terminate the interview. Anything short of that they could-and would-brow beat her for however long it took.

"Your fingerprints are going to be inside too," Chen said.

Holly shook her head. "No, you won't. I'm sure about that."

"Because you wiped everything down?" McCall asked.

Holly didn't answer, which was an answer. If it was because she hadn't gone inside, she would have said as much. Silence meant that's exactly what she did. Brunelle frowned. How would she know to do that?

"I'm sure you did the doorknobs and the stair handrail," Chen said. "What about the toilet handle?"

Holly's brow creased.

"One thing we know, Holly, is Emily let you in," explained Chen. "There are no signs of forced entry. The other thing we know is that you were there for a while. It takes time to kill somebody like that. So I bet you took a piss while you were there. And I bet, when you went around wiping everything down, you forgot about the shitter."

Chen's use of profanity wasn't accidental, Brunelle knew. It was designed to shake the girl just a bit. Professional cop man isn't supposed to swear. But every time he does, it distracts her a little, shoots just a little bit of adrenaline into her bloodstream, makes her a little bit more tired. Holly frowned and looked around.

Next came the bit where they drew information from the scene-like the obvious conclusion that Holly Sandholm didn't overcome Emily Montgomery by herself, or if she did, she sure as heck didn't get her tied upside down like that alone-with the ubiquitous distrust criminals have for each other. Add in a guess that a man was involved, justified by both the strength necessary and the statistical fact that most violent crime was committed by men, and the next question was ready to feed the doubt creeping into her mind.

"He told you he wiped everything down, didn't he?" asked Chen. "But I bet he forgot the toilet."

Holly's eyes shot back and forth between the detectives. "I…" But she stopped herself.

"I bet he made sure to wipe down everything he touched," added McCall. "They always do."

"Who always do?" Holly furled her brow.

"Well, see," Chen answered. "In something like this, there's usually the guy whose idea the whole thing was, and then there's the other person. The one who has access to the target. The one who can get him in the front door. But once the shit's gone down, the idea guy makes sure to cover up his tracks, but isn't so concerned about helping out the other person."