“But you might have been wrong?”
I peered past her to the morbid photographs spread across the evidence table. “It’s possible. All investigations deal in terms of probabilities, not certainties.”
I thought she might jump on that, but instead said, “And for your investigative approach to work, isn’t it true that the offender must have a stable anchor point? Not just be passing through the area?”
She’d done her research, I had to give her that much. She was quoting almost directly from the fifteenth chapter of my book Understanding Crime and Space.
“That’s right,” I said. “Peripatetic, that is, transitory offenders, skew the results. Imagine a person standing in a closet, spray painting the walls while turning in a circle. If he left in the middle of the job, it might be possible to locate the precise location where he’d been standing by analyzing the patterns and density of the droplets of paint on the walls. But it would obviously be impossible if he walked around the closet while painting.”
“Yes, but what if he is moving, Dr. Bowers? What if the offender is a commuter, so to speak? He drives to the city, commits his crime, and then returns to his home in the suburbs afterward. That’s possible, isn’t it? And that would make the geoprofile completely useless-or at best, inaccurate-correct?”
I’d heard all of these objections before, dealt with them in depth in my book, addressed some of them earlier in the proceedings during Emilio’s examination. “Just like any investigative technique, geographic profiling has its limitations.”
Ms. Eldridge-Gorman opened her mouth, but before she could respond I added, “But so does every method. Before you can match DNA you need to find some DNA. It’s the same for fingerprints or hair or bite mark analysis.”
After a quick breath I went on, “In the latest geoprofiling software, we’ve been eliminating some of the issues you just mentioned. We’ve included spatial temporal movement analysis that calculates the mean center of the crimes based on crime sequence and not just location. This helps us see if the anchor point of the crimes is shifting. Enhanced virtual temporal topographies reveal the synchronic and diachronic changes of crime patterns within specific locations. Also, we’ve added a Bayesian journey-to-crime model that incorporates current research about-”
I noticed the glazed eyes of the jury members.
Oh. That was brilliant, Dr. Egghead. Just brilliant.
Maybe I should have gone into my use of multivariate statistics too. That would have been good. Or spatial density analysis and the use of kernel smoothing routines to reduce the effects of the psychological barriers associated with mental maps. I’m sure that would have really impressed them.
Priscilla looked pleased that she’d lured me into using techno jargon. “So, in layman’s terms,” she said, “you’ve been improving the technology and refining your approach since my client’s arrest thirteen years ago.”
“That’s correct.”
“So you admit, then, that when my client was arrested, your investigative strategy needed improvement.”
“That’s not exactly-”
A slight grin. “Back to my question. If this technique only works with an offender who has a stable anchor point or home base”-she raised her hands in a dramatic display of bewilderment-“how do you know he’s not mobile before you catch him?” Then she gave me a pretend smile. “The answer is you don’t, do you, Dr. Bowers?”
“No-”
“So, your conclusions could be completely-”
I’d had enough of this. “Every investigation is a holistic process. You continually evaluate the evidence and revise your investigative strategy as needed.” My voice had turned harsh, argumentative, and that was probably what she’d been shooting for. I tried to tone it down. “Geographic profiling is just one facet of a well-rounded investigation.”
As I said the words “well-rounded investigation,” I glanced again at the pieces of evidence lying on the table. Juanita Worthy’s faded pink blouse, splattered with dark stains… the scalpel Richard Devin Basque had been holding when I arrested him… the enlarged Associated Press photos of the sixteen known victims… a map of the Midwest with the locations of each crime marked with red thumbtacks… a hatchet, still stained with blood…
Ms. Eldridge-Gorman went on, but the evidence had caught my attention and I was only half-listening to her. “Isn’t it true”-she was pacing theatrically in front of the jury-“that when you were investigating the crimes for which my client was…” She hesitated, searching for the right phrase. “A person of interest… that you compared the timing of the crimes to the work schedules of the suspects to try and narrow down the suspect pool?”
I shifted my focus back to her. “Yes. The nature of these crimes would have required the offender to be present while they occurred.”
But in my mind I was clicking through the items on the table, now removed from the plastic evidence bags: the Smith amp; Wesson Sigma that Basque had fired at me… the key to the slaughterhouse freezer where he’d kept four of the women’s lungs…
Something about the positioning of the evidence on the table didn’t seem right.
“Dr. Bowers.” Priscilla Eldridge-Gorman stalked across the courtroom toward me. “Do you think justice is served when a man is convicted of first-degree murder based on his days off from work?”
She was twisting my research around, trying to make it sound ludicrous. And even though I couldn’t believe any jury would give credence to her line of questioning, by the way the jurors were staring at me, it looked like at least some of them did.
The room still hadn’t warmed up.
Still chilly.
The evidence.
Something about the evidence.
“Given the timing and location of the crimes,” I said, “Mr. Basque’s schedule would have allowed him to be present at the site of each of the murders.”
Ms. Eldridge-Gorman held up a file folder. “And so could at least six other employees of the acquisitions firm he worked for.” She slapped it down, loudly, onto the table. “I checked. And that’s just one company. Thousands of people could have committed those crimes.”
The recorded message in Colorado said, “I’ll see you in Chicago.”
Is Heather Fain’s and Chris Arlington’s killer in the courtroom? I let my eyes drift from the evidence table to the faces of the people in the room, but Priscilla Eldridge-Gorman paced in front of me, blocking my view. “Did you actually witness my client attack Sylvia Padilla?”
One of the men in the gallery made eye contact with me and then quickly looked away.
“No. Mr. Basque was leaning over her body when I arrived.”
The man was wearing a black armband, which meant he was a family member of a victim. But which one? Which victim?
“So you admit,” Ms. Eldridge-Gorman said, “that it’s possible my client heard Sylvia Padilla’s screams, went to offer his assistance-like any conscientious citizen would do-and was reaching down to help the poor woman when you ran toward him.” She looked at me sympathetically. “No doubt with the simple intention of fulfilling your duty as an officer of the law, and then when you aimed your gun at him, he understandably feared for his life and was forced to defend himself by firing his legally registered firearm. That’s possible, isn’t it?”
“He was holding the scalpel.”
The man with the armband was still avoiding eye contact.
“My client found it lying on the woman’s chest and was moving it so he could help stop her bleeding.”
I felt my patience slipping again. “He mocked her as she died.”
She held up a file folder. “According to the police report you filed, my client said, ‘Looks like we’ll be needing an ambulance, detective.’ And then, ‘Looks like we won’t be needing that ambulance after all.’ He was simply showing concern for her.”