14th Deadly Sin (Women's Murder Club 14)

“How many times?”

“Twice, I think.”

“And you never found drugs or weapons on his person, isn’t that right?”

“That’s right.”

“Was he belligerent?”

“No.”

“How would you characterize his personality?”

“He was a big dumb kid in a crack house. I didn’t give him a personality evaluation. And I didn’t think about him too much.”

“He had no criminal record prior to his arrest for carrying a weapon, isn’t that right?”

“Correct.”

“Was he belligerent when you interrogated him in conjunction with the shootings on February sixteenth of this year?”

“Not really.”

“Could you describe his demeanor in a few words?”

Brand sighed, shrugged, and then said, “He cried. He denied having anything to do with the crimes.”

Yuki said, “So just to make sure I understand this: You’d seen Mr. Kordell before. You didn’t know him to be a drug user or to carry a weapon, and he had no prior record, isn’t that right?”

“Right.”

“But in this instance, you pushed him to confess to a crime that he denied committing, isn’t that true?”

“He had the smoking gun, miss. Those guys were shot in the chest at close range. Only a dummy could get close enough with a gun to kill A. Biggy and his crew. Understand what I’m saying? They weren’t afraid of the shooter, of A-Rey. Anyone else, they woulda defended themselves.”

Brand had just told Yuki something she hadn’t heard before. If he had made a mistake, she might be able to capitalize on it and destroy his credibility.

On the other hand, she could be about to make a big mistake of her own.

CHAPTER 73

THE FIRST RULE of cross-examination was never to ask a witness a question if you didn’t know the answer.

Sometimes, though, you had to gamble.

“Inspector Brand, you just stated that Aaron-Rey Kordell, a ‘dummy,’ was the only person who could have gotten close enough to the drug dealers to shoot them at close range, isn’t that right?”

“That’s right.”

“But you didn’t know that the shots that killed those three men were fired at close range, did you?”

“I don’t understand the question.”

“I’ll rephrase it. Mr. Kordell was arrested for carrying a gun at around noon on February sixteenth. He was brought to your station, and almost immediately thereafter, you interrogated him until the morning of the seventeenth. When did you see the bodies of the dead drug dealers?”

“Couple days after,” said Brand.

“Couple of days after you interrogated Mr. Kordell?”