Page 119 of The Lincoln Lawyer

“I would say so, yes. Her face was very badly cut and swollen.”

“Then please tell the jury about the impact injuries you found on Mr. Roulet’s hands.”

“He had wrapped a cloth around his fist to protect it. There were no injuries on his hands that I could see.”

“Did you document this lack of injury?”

Booker looked puzzled by the question.

“No,” he said.

“So you had Ms. Campo’s injuries documented by photographs but you didn’t see the need to document Mr. Roulet’s lack of injuries, correct?”

“It didn’t seem to me to be necessary to photograph something that wasn’t there.”

“How do you know he wrapped his fist in a cloth to protect it?”

“Ms. Campo told me she saw that his hand was wrapped right before he punched her at the door.”

“Did you find this cloth he supposedly wrapped his hand in?”

“Yes, it was in the apartment. It was a napkin, like from a restaurant. It had her blood on it.”

“Did it have Mr. Roulet’s blood on it?”

“No.”

“Was there anything that identified it as belonging to the defendant?”

“No.”

“So we have Ms. Campo’s word for it, right?”

“That’s right.”

I let some time pass while I scribbled a note on my pad. I then continued to question the detective.

“Detective, when did you learn that Louis Roulet denied assaulting or threatening Ms. Campo and that he would be vigorously defending himself against the charges?”

“That would have been when he hired you, I guess.”

There was a murmur of laughter in the courtroom.

“Did you pursue other explanations for Ms. Campo’s injuries?”

“No, she told me what happened. I believed her. He beat her and was going to—”

“Thank you, Detective Booker. Just try to answer the question I ask.”

“I was.”

“If you looked for no other explanation because you believed the word of Ms. Campo, is it safe to say that this whole case relies upon her word and what she said occurred in her apartment on the night of March sixth?”

Booker deliberated a moment. He knew I was leading him into a trap of his own words. As the saying goes, there is no trap so deadly as the one you set for yourself.

“It’s not just her word,” he said after thinking he saw a way out. “There is physical evidence. The knife. Her injuries. More than just her word on this.”

He nodded affirmatively.