Proof of Intent

Proof of Intent by William J. Coughlin

Book: Proof of Intent by William J. Coughlin Read Free Book Online
Authors: William J. Coughlin
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at that time, I had two concerns. My first concern had to do with the broken window I had observed on the second floor of Mr. Dane’s house. I had been advised by Mr. Sloan, Mr. Dane’s attorney, that he understood an assailant had jumped out that window. There was glass scattered in the yard beneath the window indicating it had been struck from the inside and broken outward. That was consistent with someone escaping the house there. Naturally I examined the ground underneath the window with a great deal of care. It was moist soil from the rain the previous day, with only patchy grass thanks to the fact, I guess, that there’s not a lot of sunlight there. At any rate, given the condition of the soil, I would have expected to find footprints under the window. I didn’t find any. I mean not so much as a dent in the soil. So that raised a serious concern in my mind.
    â€œSecond, I examined the body of the deceased. Normally when a person is attacked, they will defend themselves. The result of this is that the person sustains injuries on their hands and arms as they attempt to ward off the initial blows. Diana Dane’s body showed no evidence of that sort of injury, which indicated either that she was asleep when she was attacked or that she knew her attacker and was therefore unprepared for the assault.
    â€œSo, these two things concerned me a great deal as I went into my interview with Mr. Dane. I was hoping his story would explain these two facts to my satisfaction.”
    Stash Olesky nodded. “And did it?”
    Chantall Denkerberg glanced briefly at Miles Dane. “No, it did not.”
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œThere are two areas that you evaluate when you’re an investigator. One area is the factual circumstances of the case. That’s the old Jack Webb just-the-facts-ma’am side of the case. The other thing you evaluate is the demeanor and actions of the witnesses and parties involved in a crime. And as a trained and experienced investigator it’s my job to take both of those things into consideration. In my view, Mr. Dane came up short on both counts.”
    Stash Olesky interrupted. “Let’s stick with the Jack Webb issues first.”
    Detective Denkerberg nodded. “Given the facts I had gleaned up to that point, his story just flat-out didn’t make sense. In a nutshell, this is what he said: He told me that he was working in his office; he said he heard a noise that concerned him; he was a little vague and evasive in describing the noise, but he said it made him nervous. That’s a direct quote. ‘It made me nervous.’ So he went upstairs to see what it was. I have to mention at this point, by the way, that his office contains a huge weapons collection. Guns, knives, coshes, swords, you name it, all of them hanging on the wall.
    â€œNow I don’t know about you, but if I’m sitting in a room full of weapons and I hear a spooky noise inside my house, I’m going to grab something. A stick, a gun, a butter knife,
something
. But Mr. Dane said he didn’t do that. He just went up the stairs unarmed. Okay, fair enough. So, according to his story, when Mr. Dane reached the top of the stairs, he saw a man in the hallway. The man fled into a bedroom at the end of the hall. Mr. Dane heard breaking glass, he gave chase, he arrived in the bedroom, the window was broken, he looked out, he saw the man fleeing across the lawn toward Riverside Boulevard.
    â€œI should note here that my investigation of the top floor of Mr. Dane’s home demonstrated clearly that if somebody had exited from the second floor without going down the stairs, then he would have had to jump out a window. There were no dumbwaiters, no back stairs, no doors, no fire escape.” Chantall Denkerberg shrugged. “Had to be the window. But if somebody jumped, where were the footprints? It didn’t add up.
    â€œThat was probably the most important thing. But

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