this? Caroline wondered. She rushed ahead. “The point is, she wouldn’t get over it quickly. The effect lasts not for hours but for days. So that what Brett describes so well—semi-blackout, then flashing on his body, then enough recovery to tell her story—is utterly consistent with the chemistry of memory as affected by drugs. Please, trust me that this is not just defense lawyer’s bullshit.” She added softly, almost reluctantly, “Which does, however, bring me to Miranda.”
“Somehow I thought that it might.” His eyes were keen now. “Go ahead. I’m listening.”
“You already know, Jackson. In fact, I already know when you started calling the shots—when they held Brett at the hospital until they got the warrants to search her person and the property by the lake. That’s when they started doing things right. But by then it may have been too late.” Caroline kept her voice quiet, respectful. “When they called to tell you they’d picked up this naked, blood-speckled girl with a bloody knife, taken her to jail, and then gotten her to point them to the lake, what did they say about Miranda warnings?” Jackson’s watchful half smile was no smile at all. “You tell me.”
“There were none. Which means there’s a good chance that Brett’s lawyer—whoever that is—could suppress the
first statement about where to find James’s body and all the evidence based on that; perhaps the body itself and certainly the search of the lake, the search of Brett, and her later statement about the circumstances of James’s death.” Caroline snapped her fingers. “Gone, just like that. Leaving you with nothing.” Jackson’s smile had vanished. “Caroline,” he said in a voice of wonderment, “of all the conversations I ever imagined us having, this is not one.” His tone became crisper. “You’re also wrong. The bloody knife was in plain view, giving the police good reason to feel that someone else might have been hurt. But they didn’t know who or what or why, or even whether Brett and whoever else had been attacked by a third party. And no court is going to punish the police for asking if there’s a wounded person out there whose life can still be saved. It’s called the exigent circumstances doctrine.” He leaned forward. “Let me ask you this: Are you willing to advise her to take a lie detector test. Given by one of our people?” He was very clever, Caroline realized. In a quiet voice, she answered, “I don’t believe in them. And a clever police examiner can use a lie test to interrogate her.” You don’t believe in her, she saw him think. But it seemed to give him little pleasure. “Then, viewing this as a professional, I must tell you that Brett has real problems. For the reasons you already know, and some that I’m sure you don’t. “Your defense, if you even have one, is that someone followed them to the lake. But look what that requires of your imaginary killer: to start, knowing that she would leave James by himself after all, who could reasonably expect to hack two able-bodied college students to death? Also knowing that James would be too drunk and/or stoned to defend himself.” He gazed at Caroline intently. “And knowing how he—or she—could then vanish in the woods without leaving a trace.” Caroline felt a jolt. “Is that what the crime lab people tell you?”
Jackson folded his hands. “When she fled the scene, Brett left a trail behind—trampled brush, broken branches, flecks of James’s blood on the leaves. If Brett’s story is right, there’s no way that the killer wouldn’t have left the same trail. So far we’ve found nothing …. ” “That just can’t be. The local police were there, and the EMTs. You can’t tell me that there aren’t footprints all around the lake, and all sorts of signs that the cops—or someone—were thrashing about in the woods. I doubt the crime lab people can tell who else might have been there.” Jackson leaned
“Somehow I thought that it might.” His eyes were keen now. “Go ahead. I’m listening.”
“You already know, Jackson. In fact, I already know when you started calling the shots—when they held Brett at the hospital until they got the warrants to search her person and the property by the lake. That’s when they started doing things right. But by then it may have been too late.” Caroline kept her voice quiet, respectful. “When they called to tell you they’d picked up this naked, blood-speckled girl with a bloody knife, taken her to jail, and then gotten her to point them to the lake, what did they say about Miranda warnings?” Jackson’s watchful half smile was no smile at all. “You tell me.”
“There were none. Which means there’s a good chance that Brett’s lawyer—whoever that is—could suppress the
first statement about where to find James’s body and all the evidence based on that; perhaps the body itself and certainly the search of the lake, the search of Brett, and her later statement about the circumstances of James’s death.” Caroline snapped her fingers. “Gone, just like that. Leaving you with nothing.” Jackson’s smile had vanished. “Caroline,” he said in a voice of wonderment, “of all the conversations I ever imagined us having, this is not one.” His tone became crisper. “You’re also wrong. The bloody knife was in plain view, giving the police good reason to feel that someone else might have been hurt. But they didn’t know who or what or why, or even whether Brett and whoever else had been attacked by a third party. And no court is going to punish the police for asking if there’s a wounded person out there whose life can still be saved. It’s called the exigent circumstances doctrine.” He leaned forward. “Let me ask you this: Are you willing to advise her to take a lie detector test. Given by one of our people?” He was very clever, Caroline realized. In a quiet voice, she answered, “I don’t believe in them. And a clever police examiner can use a lie test to interrogate her.” You don’t believe in her, she saw him think. But it seemed to give him little pleasure. “Then, viewing this as a professional, I must tell you that Brett has real problems. For the reasons you already know, and some that I’m sure you don’t. “Your defense, if you even have one, is that someone followed them to the lake. But look what that requires of your imaginary killer: to start, knowing that she would leave James by himself after all, who could reasonably expect to hack two able-bodied college students to death? Also knowing that James would be too drunk and/or stoned to defend himself.” He gazed at Caroline intently. “And knowing how he—or she—could then vanish in the woods without leaving a trace.” Caroline felt a jolt. “Is that what the crime lab people tell you?”
Jackson folded his hands. “When she fled the scene, Brett left a trail behind—trampled brush, broken branches, flecks of James’s blood on the leaves. If Brett’s story is right, there’s no way that the killer wouldn’t have left the same trail. So far we’ve found nothing …. ” “That just can’t be. The local police were there, and the EMTs. You can’t tell me that there aren’t footprints all around the lake, and all sorts of signs that the cops—or someone—were thrashing about in the woods. I doubt the crime lab people can tell who else might have been there.” Jackson leaned
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