Page 123 of After Anna

Judge Gardner nodded. “So admitted.”

Linda signaled, and the text appeared on the screen.

Anna, will you meet me at my house @915 tonight? I’m sorry and I want to work this out. Please don’t tell your mother.

“Detective Hickok, did you consider this text relevant to your investigation?”

“Yes, it was highly suggestive of guilt. The literal terms of the text, the fact that the meeting place was at the defendant’s home, and that defendant was present on the scene at the time the victim was murdered and was the one to call 911.”

“And what did you do next?”

“We proceeded with our investigation through the night.”

“And what, if anything, did you conclude?”

“We concluded that defendant had committed the murder of Anna Desroches.”

“On what did you base your conclusion?”

“We had ample evidence. In addition to the defendant’s text to the victim, we considered the existence of a PFA Petition that had been filed by the victim against the defendant on Monday, May 8, only two days before the murder.”

“Detective Hickok, excuse me, why was that relevant?”

“It showed that the defendant had attempted to engage in prior sexual misconduct with the victim, supporting our theory that the defendant lured the victim to his home for another attempt at sexual misconduct, was rebuffed, and killed the victim in a fit of rage or a crime of passion, which generally occurs by strangulation.”

“Did you consider other evidence to form your conclusion that the defendant had committed the murder?”

“Yes, we also considered the autopsy report and the trace evidence of hair, fibers, and DNA evidence that had been collected and analyzed by the criminalists, all of which supported our theory.”

Linda cocked her head. “Isn’t it true that typically, in a strangulation murder, the victim will fight back, leaving so-called defensive wounds on the perpetrator?”

“Yes.”

“Did defendant have any such defensive wounds?’

“No.”

“Did that undermine your conclusion that the defendant committed the murder?”

“No. Defensive wounds typically occur on the arms, and the defendant was wearing an oxford shirt with long sleeves at the time he was taken into custody.”

Noah listened, his chest tight. Detective Hickok was coming off as smoothly credible, and Linda was preemptively asking questions that she anticipated Thomas would be asking on cross-examination. Unfortunately, Detective Hickok had an answer.

Linda paused, head still cocked. “Isn’t it also true that typically, in a strangulation murder, the defendant will get the victim’s skin cells underneath his fingernails, during the struggle?”

“Yes.”

“Did the defendant have Anna’s DNA under his fingernails?”

“No.”

“Did that undermine your conclusion that the defendant committed the murder?”

“No. We knew that he was a doctor and had access to gloves, and his text to the victim demonstrated planning, so he could have had the gloves with him.”

“Detective Hickok, were gloves found on the defendant’s person when he was taken into custody?”

“No.”