Proof Positive (2006) (19 page)

Jacob's head sagged and his hands began worrying each other.

Jacob, Doug said. When he didn't answer, Doug repeated his name. Jacob managed to raise his head.

I want you to think very hard, okay?

His client did not acknowledge the question, and Doug wasn't certain that Jacob had heard him, but he forged on.

Don't answer quickly, okay? Just think for a moment. I know you believe that you saw the devil and you may have but there's another possibility I want you to consider. Could the thing you saw have been a human being a man or a woman? You said it was dark. According to the police reports it was raining and the cloud cover was blocking the moon. It would have been pitch-black in your lot. Think about it. Could you have seen a person and just thought you saw the devil. People do terrible things at times, Jacob. They create horror that is worthy of the devil.

A person can't float or fly, Jacob said.

No, but someone might seem to on a very dark night if the person was dressed in dark clothing. Doug held up his hand. Don't answer me now. Just think about what you saw. I'm not saying that you didn't see the devil. I just want you to open your mind to other possibilities, okay?

Jacob nodded.

Good. Now I have a few more things to say to you. If you want me, I'm going to be your lawyer again and I'm going to work as hard to help you this time as I did the first time, when we won. So, do you want me to represent you in this case?

You set me free, Jacob said. You didn't let them put me back there.

That's right, Jacob. I protected you and I'm going to try to protect you again. It's going to be harder this time, but we' re going to fight together, okay?

Jacob nodded.

Jacob, do you trust me?

Yes.

Do you trust me to do what's right for you?

Jacob nodded.

I'm going to ask you a favor and I want you to think before you answer. And I want you to promise me that you will not get upset or excited. Will you promise?

Jacob looked suspicious. What do you want?

Another lawyer came to visit you yesterday. Her name is Amanda Jaffe.

Jacob started to tense up.

You just promised me that you wouldn't get upset or excited.

She's one of them.

No, she's not. She's someone I trust very much and she is a brilliant attorney who I need to help me win your case. She's an expert at research and she's one of the best trial lawyers in the state.

Jacob glared at Weaver but held his tongue. Doug saw that as progress.

Look, Jacob, either you trust me or you don' t. Think about what I' ve done for you. No one thought I could win that case and set you free, but I did win. And I want to win this case, especially now that you' ve told me that you didn't murder this woman. But I need help. A death penalty case is too big for one lawyer to handle. And the lawyer who can help me the best can best help you is Amanda. Trust me on this. Tell me I can bring her on board. It's really important.

Jacob closed his eyes, and Doug prayed while he waited for his client's answer. He could handle Jacob's case without Amanda; he could bring in another lawyer, like Marge Cross, to second-chair. But the odds on a good result would go way up with Amanda Jaffe as part of Jacob's team.

Finally, Jacob nodded and Doug smiled with relief. Good decision, he assured his client. You won't regret this. Now, let's get back to your case. You just told me that someone, who you think may have been the devil, murdered that woman in your lot. But you did touch the knife?

Yes.

How did that happen?

Jacob's eyes dropped and he pressed his hands against the sides of his head.

God has given me so many trials. I was tired of it all, tired of living like an animal, tired of the voices in my head.

Tears formed in Jacob's eyes. So much suffering, so much pain. I thought, maybe, this was a sign. That God was telling me that it was all right to end it.

Jacob sighed. I know I'm going to Hell when I die, but it couldn't be worse than His head dropped. I thought the blood, her suffering, was a sign.

You were going to kill yourself?

Jacob looked up. I'm already dead. It would have been easy.

Then why did you stop?

Jacob shook his head. I don't know, I don't know.

Jacob closed his eyes, and Doug took a moment to think. If Jacob was to be believed, he was a witness to a murder and not the murderer, but the evidence said that he was lying or so crazy that he had convinced himself that the devil had murdered Jane Doe so he wouldn't have to accept responsibility for what he'd done.

Let's go back a bit, okay? Doug said. You' re in your car and you see someone or something go across the lot, right?

Jacob nodded.

What did you see this thing do next?

It dropped down, like it was kneeling or praying.

Okay.

Jacob squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his fists. Doug could see how hard he was trying. His eyes snapped open.

A hand came up and down. He was striking her. He did that a lot. Sometimes, he would pause. Then he would do it again.

That sounds right. The woman was stabbed many times and she was hit with a crowbar, too. That would be consistent with what you saw. What happened next?

I was afraid. I didn't want to go out there, even when it was gone.

You saw the man leave?

Jacob nodded.

The detectives found you next to the body. How did you get there?

I had to see. I was afraid, but I had to see.

So you went over to find out what had happened?

Yes.

Did you go right away?

No, I was afraid. I stayed in my car for a while.

Do you have any idea how long?

No, but he had disappeared.

The killer?

Jacob nodded.

Okay. So, after a while, you went over to the body.

When I saw her My brain was on fire. I don't remember everything clearly.

You told me that you picked up the knife.

Jacob nodded.

Did you touch her with the knife, even accidentally?

No.

What about the crowbar, did you touch that?

No, just the knife.

Jacob, the police have found some physical evidence that connects you to the murder. I need to know if you have an explanation for what they discovered, okay?

Okay.

Here's the evidence against you. First, the detectives found you next to the body, which you' ve explained. Second, your prints were on the knife, and you' ve told me how that happened. Now, they also searched your car. There were some plastic bags that you were using for your clothes and books. There was one in the front seat, and the criminalist who looked through it found two T-shirts with blood on them that matched the victim's blood. Can you tell me how her blood got on the shirts?

Jacob looked confused. The shirts were in my car?

Doug found the photograph of the shirts Cashman had taken inside the car. Jacob stared at the photograph for a few moments.

Are these yours? Doug asked.

Yes, but I wasn't wearing them when that woman was killed and there wasn't any blood on them when I took them off.

Do you have any idea how the victim's blood got on your shirts?

No.

Did anyone go to your car after the woman was killed and before the police came?

I didn't see anyone, but they could have. He stared into space as he remembered how he had felt kneeling next to the battered, blood-soaked corpse. My mind left me, at times. I didn't even feel the rain.

Did you change clothes after you went over to the body? Could you have done that and not remembered?

No. When they took me to jail I was wearing the same clothes I had on when I went to look. The police will have them. You can see them. I don't know anything about the blood.

You' re saying that you didn't leave the body from the time you discovered it to the time the police arrived?

Jacob nodded.

Did you get a good look at the body? Doug asked.

Jacob ran his tongue over his lips and nodded again.

The police report states that the killer removed the victim's hands and eyes, Doug said, trying to describe the desecration as delicately as possible. Did you see the hands or eyeballs?

Jacob's brow furrowed. He shook his head. I don't remember seeing them.

They weren't on the ground near the body?

They could have been. I didn't look around. Mostly, I prayed.

Doug decided to move on.

Okay. Let's talk about the last piece of evidence. And I don't want to embarrass you, but murder is the most serious charge there is and this was a torture murder, so the DA is probably going to ask for the death penalty. You understand that, don't you?

Jacob nodded.

I wish there was some delicate way to put this, but I want to save your life, I don't want you to die. So you' ve got to be one hundred percent honest with me. If you don't tell me the truth and I believe what you tell me, I'll use what you tell me to make decisions. I could do something stupid that could really hurt you. Do you understand what I'm getting at?

I won't lie.

Good. The dead woman was partially undressed.

Jacob turned bright red and twisted in his seat.

There's no evidence of sexual assault, no semen, Doug said quickly, but the police did find something near the woman's genitals that implicates you.

Jacob turned away and began mumbling to himself. It was difficult to understand him but Doug thought he was repeating some of the biblical quotes about fallen women, which he'd heard before.

Jacob, please, this is important. The police found two of your pubic hairs attached to the woman's thigh with her blood.

Jacob clamped his hands over his ears.

I know this is embarrassing, Jacob I know how you feel about women but we' ve got to talk about this. I need to know if you if you took down your pants and touched that woman.

Jacob shook his head from side to side and began rocking on the chair.

Doug took a deep breath and leaned back. Everything had gone so well until he had mentioned sex. Now he'd lost him.

Please, Jacob. The district attorney is going to tell the jury that the only way those hairs could end up where they did is if you were lying naked on top of that woman. If you didn' t, you have to tell me how they got on her thighs, in her blood.

Chapter
25.

BERNARD CASHMAN WAS FASCINATED BY THE CRIMINAL MIND. Driving home from a particularly gruesome crime scene, he would often wonder how the person who created it felt the morning after. The criminalist had read true-crime books about serial killers like Ted Bundy, had watched television interviews with incarcerated murderers, and had read police interrogations of killers he had helped bring to justice. He knew that there were murderers who were consumed by guilt and actually confessed to ease their conscience. Some killers appeared to be totally unaffected by what they had done, while others were bothered by their deeds but were able to live with them. On occasion, Cashman had thought about how he would hold up if he killed someone. Now he knew.

Bernie had felt terrible when Mary was his captive, and hurting her had made him sick. Like most criminalists, Cashman was able to distance himself from the violence he saw at a crime scene, but he had not been able to do that while he was killing and disfiguring Mary. Yet to his astonishment, he got past his bad feelings quickly.

Cashman believed that he was able to sleep soundly and to purge himself of any guilt he had felt initially because, unlike someone like Bundy, he was not really a murderer. True, he had killed Mary, but he had acted for the greater good. Soldiers killed people in battle, and no one thought that they were murderers. Soldiers felt that they were doing the right thing when they killed, because they were defending their country. While he regretted having to take the life of someone he knew and liked, Cashman believed he had been defending the citizens of Oregon when he killed Mary.

Several days after Mary's disappearance, Bernie was in a positively cheerful mood when Carlos Guzman walked up. Cashman was finishing up a fingerprint comparison in the liquor-store robbery case he had worked with Mary Clark on the evening she'd accused him of lying about the print in Hayes.

Any luck? Guzman asked.

I hit the jackpot. I used AFIS the day after the robbery, Cashman said, referring to the automated fingerprint identification system, but it couldn't come up with a match. But I just got the prints of two men who were arrested last night for another liquor-store robbery with a similar MO. Cashman grinned. I' ve identified enough points of comparison to tie both of them to the first case.

Great work, Bernie.

Thanks.