"Yes, but..
"Yes or no?"
"Yes Peter did not let the jury see how elated he felt. If he could convince the jurors that Downes had taken advantage of Gary's low intelligence to trick him, he would destroy a major part of the state's case.
"When you questioned Mr. Harmon, did he appear sleepy to you?"
"We were both tired by the end."
"How long did the interrogation last?"
"About seven hours from the time we got him to the station house."
"So, there are two hours of interrogation that are not on the tape?"
"Yes.
"It was during that part of the interrogation that you had Officer Robert Patrick play a little trick on Mr. Harmon, wasn't it?"
"I don't understand the question."
"What is a black light, Sergeant?"
Downes colored. "A, uh, black light is like a flashlight, but it shoots out an ultraviolet light beam."
"Did you have Officer Patrick dust a Coke can with an invisible powder that shows up orange under ultraviolet light?"
"Yes."
"After Gary handled the can, did Officer Patrick, on your orders, shine the black light on Gary's hands?"
"Yes," Downes answered uncomfortably.
"Did officer Patrick then tell this young man, who has an IQ of sixty-five, that the orange splotches on his hands were the blood of Sandra Whiley?"
Yes.
"That was a lie, wasn't it?"
Downes looked as if he was going to say something else at first, but ended by simply agreeing.
"Where did you learn your 'projection transfer' technique, Sergeant?"
"Nowhere," Downes answered proudly. "I made it UP."
"Made it up?" Peter responded incredulously.
"Yes, sir."
"Are you aware that the technique you used on Mr. is Harmon i identical to the technique used by hypnotists to in duce a trance?"
"Objection," O'Shay said. "That question assumes facts that are not in evidence."
"We intend to offer such evidence, Your Honor," Peter told the judge.
"Very well. With that assurance, I will order the witness to answer."
"I don't know what technique a hypnotist would use, Mr. Hale."
"Whether you knew or not, isn't it true that you led Mr. Harmon to give those answers that you wanted to hear?"
"No, sir. That's not true."
"Look at Marker seventeen. Don't you suggest that the man and woman Mr. Harmon said he saw kissing in the park might be doing something other than kissing, despite the fact that Mr. Harmon told you several times that was the activity in which they were involved?"
suggested that they would not have been kissing if the couple was Whiley and her killer."
"Thus planting that suggestion in a mind susceptible LEM to suggestion both because of Mr. Harmon's fatigue and IQ."
"Objection," O'Shay said. "Mr. Hate is making a speech."
ASJ "Sustained. Save the oratory for closing, Mr. Hale."
"Sergeant Downes, did you not lead Mr. Harmon to say that the man he saw in the park was holding a weapon after Mr. Harmon repeatedly told you that he had not seen a weapon in the man's hand?"
"Gary brought up the hatchet."
"Look at marker twenty-nine. Read the top few lines on that page, please."
"I ask, "Did you see anything shiny, Gary? It would probably have been right then. In that split second." And he says, "Shiny?" and I say ..
"Stop there. You were the first person to mention the word 'shiny,' weren't you?"
"Yes," Downes said, after a moment's hesitation.
"And it is you who mentioned that the weapon wou probably be in the killer's right hand?"
Downes read the page, stopping to reread one sentence.
"I ... I may have mentioned that first."
"You put those words in Mr. Harmon's mouth."
"No, sir. I just asked the questions and he supplied the answers."
"Only some of them were your answers, weren't they?
"Nothing further, Your Honor," Peter said before O'Shay could object.
"I only have a few questions on redirect, Sergeant."
The deputy district attorney sounded undisturbed by Peter's cross. "Mr. Hale pointed out that the defendant described the hatchet wounds the killer inflicted as being on the right side of Miss Whiley's face, whereas the wounds were actually on the left side."
Yes.
"When Mr. Harmon was describing these wounds verbally, was he also demonstrating the strikes?" -Yes, ma'am. I gave him a ruler to hold and I told him to pretend this was the weapon. Then I stood in front of him and dipped down a little, so I would be more like Miss Whiley's height. Then I asked him to act out the blows." -Were the defendant's physical actions consistent with what he said?"
"No, ma'am, they were not. See, while he was talking I stood opposite him.
Now Mr. Harmon had that ruler in his right hand and he was saying the blows were landing on my right side, but really, with me facing him, it was on his right, but the left side of my face. See what I mean."
"I'm certain the jurors understand," O'Shay said.
Peter also understood with sickening clarity that he had lost one of his major points.
"Mr. Hale asked you if you had Officer Patrick shine a black light on the defendant's hands after a powder had been transferred to Mr. Harmon's hands from a Coke can," O'Shay said.
Yes.
"This powder then showed up orange on Mr. Harmon's hands under the ultraviolet light, is that correct?"
"Yes.
"What did Mr. Harmon do when Officer Patrick told him that the orange glow was Sandra Whiley's blood?"
"He stared at his hands and began wringing them in an effort to scrape off the blood."
"Now, Mr. Hale asked you if you led the defendant to say that the man in the park had a weapon."
"Yes."
"Did you ever suggest that the weapon used by the person who murdered Sandra Whiley was a hatchet?"
"No, ma'am. When I was talking to Gary we didn't know what was used to kill her, other than it was a sharp-bladed instrument."
"Who is the first person to say that the murder weapon was a hatchet?"
"Gary. The defendant."
"And, lo and behold, the murder weapon did turn out to be a hatchet, didn't it, Sergeant?"
"Yes, ma'am. Much to my surprise, it certainly did."
Chapter TWENTY-TWO.
Dr. Leonard Farber, Kevin Booth's treating physician, had thinning brown hair, clear blue eyes and an easy smile. His cheerful disposition seemed odd when you considered that he spent his days with people who were often in horrible pain. While he walked with Becky O'Shay, Farber explained that his patient had recovered enough to be moved out of isolation in the burn ward to a regular hospital room. O'Shay showed no emotion when the doctor described Booth's injuries and the process of grafting human skin and pigskin onto areas that had been horribly burned, but listening to a scientific explanation of the effect of ignited lighter fluid on human skin was not the same as seeing a person who had been set on fire.
Dr. Farber had arranged for Booth to be temporarily placed in a hospital room that was big enough for the judge, the court reporter, the attorneys and the jury. A policeman stationed outside Booth's door looked up as the doctor and the D.A. approached.
"We're set for two, right?" Farber asked.
"You should probably be here a little before two. Say, one forty-five. just in case the judge or Harmon's attorney has any questions."
"See you then," Farber said and he headed back to his office The police guard opened the door to Booth's room as soon as he checked Becky's ID. Booth was sitting up in a hospital bed that had been elevated so he could watch television. The set was showing a game show. As soon as the door opened, Booth turned off the set.
J O'Shay kept her poise when Booth turned his head toward her. His face was covered with silver sulfadiazine, a white, greasy cream. The right side of the face looked normal, but O'Shay could see bright red circles and blobs of healing outer skin through the cream that covered the left side. In addition, Booth had an eighthof-an-inch tube in his right nostril through which supplemental nutrition was administered. O'Shay also noticed that Booth's left eyebrow was gone.