Page 96
Which took him by surprise. ‘Why ever not?’
Doyle didn’t respond.
‘Why not, Estelle?’ he repeated. ‘I need to see where it happened.’
‘I don’t want you seeing where my father lived,’ she said eventually.
‘Is it because he was poor?’ Bradshaw said. ‘Because Poe doesn’t care about things like that, do you, Poe?’
‘You do know I’ve seen photographs of his study?’ he said to Doyle. ‘And Elcid wasn’t poor, Tilly. Far from it; he was quite wealthy.’
‘I still don’t want you seeing where he lived, Poe.’
Poe didn’t understand. He knew he worked best when he’d seen everything for himself. When he had a visual image running in the background, day in, day out. Ruining his sleep. Doyle had known him long enough to know this. She wasn’t telling him something.
He folded his arms. ‘As soon as that crime scene’s released, I’m going inside.’
‘You’re a stubborn, stubborn man, Poe,’ Doyle sighed.
‘I’m not putting your future in the hands of some dipshit CSI photographer and an ambitious SIO. You’re the villain of their piece and they aren’t considering other explanations. And if they aren’t considering other explanations, that means the only things they photographed were the things that fit their narrative. I want to look at the things theydidn’tphotograph.’
‘But—’
‘I’ll be honest, Estelle,’ Poe cut in. ‘Tilly’s going to science the shit out of the positive firearms discharge residue test. By the time she’s finished rubbishing it, inmates on Florida’s death row will be filing appeals.’
‘There’s a point to this uplifting tale, I assume?’
‘Unfortunately there is.’
She tilted her head. Her lips curved in a quarter-smile.
‘We can’t explain how someone can cross fresh snow without leaving a footprint,’ Poe continued. ‘And that’s the whole ball game. If we can’t put someone else at the scene, we’re all going home.’ He replayed what he’d just said. Spotted his error. ‘Well, you won’t, obviously, but you get my point.’
‘And you think this conundrum will be defogged by your visit?’
He hesitated before answering. Lack of hope was a killer – literally – in prison, but he also needed to prepare her for what was likely to happen. They could knock down as many of the CPS’s buildingblocks as they wanted, but unless they explained away the foundation of their prosecution, Doyle was going to be convicted of her father’s murder. No ifs, no buts; it was happening. Poe chose his words carefully.
‘I know you didn’t shoot your dad, Estelle,’ he said. ‘And that means someone else did. That someone wasn’t in the house when the police arrived, and there’s no evidence to support him or her having left before you arrived. Unless Tilly can explain away the snow, there’s got to be something in the house that Northumbria have missed. And I won’t be able to find it by looking at photographs.’
‘And if you can’t find it?’
‘Then you’re spending the next twenty years in here.’
She took a silent moment then said, ‘Thank you, Poe.’
‘For what?’
‘Your honesty.’ Doyle faced Bradshaw. ‘So, Tilly,cansomeone walk across snow without leaving footprints?’
‘Legolas could,’ she said. ‘Humans can’t.’
They both looked at Poe. Doyle fought a smile.
‘Ha! I actually know that reference,’ Poe said. ‘He’s an elf inLord of the Rings. I read it at school.’
‘Yes, Poe. A Sindarin Elf from the Woodland Realm.’
‘Dork,’ he said.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96 (Reading here)
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 155
- Page 156
- Page 157
- Page 158
- Page 159
- Page 160
- Page 161
- Page 162
- Page 163
- Page 164
- Page 165
- Page 166
- Page 167
- Page 168
- Page 169
- Page 170
- Page 171
- Page 172
- Page 173
- Page 174
- Page 175
- Page 176
- Page 177
- Page 178
- Page 179
- Page 180
- Page 181
- Page 182
- Page 183
- Page 184
- Page 185
- Page 186
- Page 187
- Page 188
- Page 189
- Page 190
- Page 191
- Page 192
- Page 193
- Page 194
- Page 195
- Page 196
- Page 197
- Page 198
- Page 199
- Page 200
- Page 201
- Page 202
- Page 203
- Page 204
- Page 205
- Page 206
- Page 207
- Page 208
- Page 209
- Page 210
- Page 211
- Page 212
- Page 213
- Page 214
- Page 215
- Page 216
- Page 217
- Page 218
- Page 219
- Page 220
- Page 221
- Page 222
- Page 223
- Page 224
- Page 225
- Page 226
- Page 227
- Page 228
- Page 229
- Page 230
- Page 231