Page 33 of The Lincoln Lawyer

“This is incredible,” Roulet said. “To have to sit here and listen to this. I can’t believe what has happened to me. I DID NOT do this. This is like a dream. She is lying! She—”

“If it is all lies, then this will be the easiest case I ever had,” I said. “I will tear her apart and throw her entrails into the sea. But we have to know what she has put on the record before we can construct traps and go after her. And if you think this is hard to sit through, wait until we get to trial and it’s stretched out over days instead of minutes. You have to control yourself, Louis. You have to remember that you will get your turn. The defense always gets its turn.”

Dobbs reached over and patted Roulet on the forearm, a nice fatherly gesture. Roulet pulled his arm away.

“Damn right you are going to go after her,” Roulet said, pointing a finger across the table at my chest. “I want you to go after her with everything we’ve got.”

“That’s what I am here for, and you have my promise I will. Now, let me ask my associate a few questions before we finish up here.”

I waited to see if Roulet had anything else to say. He didn’t. He leaned back into his chair and clasped his hands together.

“You finished, Raul?” I asked.

“For now. I’m still working on all the reports. I should have a transcript of the nine-one-one call tomorrow morning and there will be more stuff coming in.”

“Good. What about a rape kit?”

“There wasn’t one. Booker’s report said she declined, since it never got to that.”

“What’s a rape kit?” Roulet asked.

“It’s a hospital procedure where bodily fluids, hair and fibers are collected from the body of a rape victim,” Levin said.

“There was no rape!” Roulet exclaimed. “I never touched—”

“We know that,” I said. “That’s not why I asked. I am lookingfor cracks in the state’s case. The victim said she was not raped but was reporting what was certainly a sex crime. Usually, the police insist on a rape kit, even when a victim claims there was no sexual assault. They do this just in case the victim actually has been raped and is just too humiliated to say so or might be trying to keep the full extent of the crime from a husband or family member. It’s standard procedure, and the fact that she was able to talk her way out of it might be significant to us.”

“She didn’t want the first guy’s DNA showing up in her,” Dobbs said.

“Maybe,” I said. “It might mean any number of things. But it might be a crack. Let’s move on. Raul, is there any mention anywhere about this guy who Louis saw her with?”

“No, none. He’s not in the file.”

“And what did crime scene find?”

“I don’t have the report but I am told that no evidence of any significant nature was located during the crime scene evaluation of the apartment.”

“That’s good. No surprises. What about the knife?”

“Blood and prints on the knife. But nothing back on that yet. Tracing ownership will be unlikely. You can buy those folding knives in any fishing or camping store around.”

“I’m telling you, that is not my knife,” Roulet interjected.

“We have to assume the fingerprints will be from the man who turned it in,” I said.

“Atkins,” Levin responded.

“Right, Atkins,” I said, turning to Louis. “But it would not surprise me to find prints from you on it as well. There is no telling what occurred while you were unconscious. If she put blood on your hand, then she probably put your prints on the knife.”

Roulet nodded his agreement and was about to say something, but I didn’t wait for him.

“Is there any statement from her about being at Morgan’s earlier in the evening?” I asked Levin.

He shook his head.

“No, the interview with the victim was in the ER and not formal. It was basic and they didn’t go back with her to the early part of the evening. She didn’t mention the guy and she didn’t mention Morgan’s. She just said she had been home since eight-thirty. They asked about what happened at ten. They didn’t really get into what she had been doing before. I’m sure that will all be covered in the follow-up investigation.”

“Okay, if and when they go back to her for a formal, I want that transcript.”