tried to break her fall?”
He eyed me questioningly.
“That’d mean,” I said, choosing my words with care, “she had some awareness of what was happening. A fall from that height takes less than two seconds—add another second for the horizontal momentum. There wouldn’t have been time to assess the situation mid-flight.”
His lips pursed.
“You’re thinking no one who’s gone off a building and about to hit the freeway is going to assess, ” I explained. “What I mean is take in the situation enough to react. Putting out a hand to break your fall is the natural reaction. Stunt doubles have to train ourselves not to do that. You coach
yourself, you practice, you do a run-through of the fall in your mind, you know the safest landing is on your back, arms and legs out. And still you can barely keep yourself from trying to land face down with your hands and knees breaking the fall.
“But if you were drugged, or if a car you didn’t see hit you from behind, you wouldn’t have time to even take in what was happening or where you were. You wouldn’t be aware enough of the situation to have a reaction.”
Korematsu was staring at the floor.
“But that’s not how her hands got so mangled, is it?”
“That may have been part of it.” He hesitated, as if asking again if I really wanted to know the next thing. “When the body lands, the force flings the arms and legs out. Drivers see the body, swerve, and if they miss the body, likely they run over the hands or feet. Probably that’s what happened with the drivers in the first vehicles. In the ones after that, people are essentially driving blind. They know there’s a problem, but they can’t see what. Maybe they saw the body fall, but they haven’t had mental time to process that it’s a body in front of them. Bad enough it’s any object falling out of the sky. It’s dark; ahead of them taillights are suddenly glowing. Brakes are squealing, metal crashing all around them. They can’t see anything. They’re just standing on the brakes and hoping. So whether they run over her—it’s a crap shoot. Chances of them braking and being rear-ended into her—” He shrugged. “We’re lucky to have fingers. That’s the truth. If we get prints, we’ll be real lucky. It’s not like we’re going to be able to send them through the system in the condition they’ll be. We’re going to need leads to match them.” He took a step toward the door.
“Give me a moment.” I turned back to Karen, this woman I may not have known at all. I touched a square of flesh on her mangled hand.
I lifted my hand, but the chill of her skin stayed on my fingers as I walked out of the room and started down the hall. Korematsu must have signaled a lab assistant to wheel her body back to the freezer. He was only a minute in catching up with me, as if he wanted to warn me one last time.
Before he could speak, I said, “The killer had to be in the car with her, right? You’re not assuming she met him up there on the parking slab . . .”
“Another conclusion we would have reached. I’d be happy to question him if we knew who he was—if we knew who she was. So if you have other information—”
“Look, I’ve been with her less time than I’ve been with you today. I couldn’t know any more.”
“But your brother can.”
“Fine. Go get him!” I snapped. This was like dealing with Dr. Korematsu and Mr. Hyde.
“Where is he?”
“I have no idea.”
“I think you do.”
“You think in error. If I knew where he was, I wouldn’t be here; I’d be there.” I pushed open the outside door and was relieved to feel the fresh air.
Korematsu caught my arm. “I’ll say this to you again,” he said louder. “We are on the same side. John ought to be on that side. It’s not doing him any good to think he can deal with this off the books. Sure, he’s pissed about his car and the brass being furious and the rest of the guys laughing their heads off. I can
He eyed me questioningly.
“That’d mean,” I said, choosing my words with care, “she had some awareness of what was happening. A fall from that height takes less than two seconds—add another second for the horizontal momentum. There wouldn’t have been time to assess the situation mid-flight.”
His lips pursed.
“You’re thinking no one who’s gone off a building and about to hit the freeway is going to assess, ” I explained. “What I mean is take in the situation enough to react. Putting out a hand to break your fall is the natural reaction. Stunt doubles have to train ourselves not to do that. You coach
yourself, you practice, you do a run-through of the fall in your mind, you know the safest landing is on your back, arms and legs out. And still you can barely keep yourself from trying to land face down with your hands and knees breaking the fall.
“But if you were drugged, or if a car you didn’t see hit you from behind, you wouldn’t have time to even take in what was happening or where you were. You wouldn’t be aware enough of the situation to have a reaction.”
Korematsu was staring at the floor.
“But that’s not how her hands got so mangled, is it?”
“That may have been part of it.” He hesitated, as if asking again if I really wanted to know the next thing. “When the body lands, the force flings the arms and legs out. Drivers see the body, swerve, and if they miss the body, likely they run over the hands or feet. Probably that’s what happened with the drivers in the first vehicles. In the ones after that, people are essentially driving blind. They know there’s a problem, but they can’t see what. Maybe they saw the body fall, but they haven’t had mental time to process that it’s a body in front of them. Bad enough it’s any object falling out of the sky. It’s dark; ahead of them taillights are suddenly glowing. Brakes are squealing, metal crashing all around them. They can’t see anything. They’re just standing on the brakes and hoping. So whether they run over her—it’s a crap shoot. Chances of them braking and being rear-ended into her—” He shrugged. “We’re lucky to have fingers. That’s the truth. If we get prints, we’ll be real lucky. It’s not like we’re going to be able to send them through the system in the condition they’ll be. We’re going to need leads to match them.” He took a step toward the door.
“Give me a moment.” I turned back to Karen, this woman I may not have known at all. I touched a square of flesh on her mangled hand.
I lifted my hand, but the chill of her skin stayed on my fingers as I walked out of the room and started down the hall. Korematsu must have signaled a lab assistant to wheel her body back to the freezer. He was only a minute in catching up with me, as if he wanted to warn me one last time.
Before he could speak, I said, “The killer had to be in the car with her, right? You’re not assuming she met him up there on the parking slab . . .”
“Another conclusion we would have reached. I’d be happy to question him if we knew who he was—if we knew who she was. So if you have other information—”
“Look, I’ve been with her less time than I’ve been with you today. I couldn’t know any more.”
“But your brother can.”
“Fine. Go get him!” I snapped. This was like dealing with Dr. Korematsu and Mr. Hyde.
“Where is he?”
“I have no idea.”
“I think you do.”
“You think in error. If I knew where he was, I wouldn’t be here; I’d be there.” I pushed open the outside door and was relieved to feel the fresh air.
Korematsu caught my arm. “I’ll say this to you again,” he said louder. “We are on the same side. John ought to be on that side. It’s not doing him any good to think he can deal with this off the books. Sure, he’s pissed about his car and the brass being furious and the rest of the guys laughing their heads off. I can
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