“Got it. And how many homicide cases had you handled at that point in your career?”
“Maybe a dozen.”
“A dozen. When you say a dozen, you don’t mean you handled those cases solo, do you?”
“No.”
“But the Luke case, you’d never handled a murder case on your own before, had you?”
“I’m afraid I have to reject the premise of your question. Nobody ever handles a murder case on their own. We work in conjunction with the medical examiner’s office, the Bureau of Criminal Investigations, and any number of other supportive personnel.”
“Right,” Cutler said. “Of course. But you’re still the one directing the investigation. You’re calling most of the shots, isn’t that right?”
“I suppose that’s true.”
“You suppose. Okay. Again, I just want to make sure I have a clear picture of what you found. From your own report, from BCI’s analysis, there was no blood at the scene where Ellie Luke was found.”
“No. She had decomposed to the point there was very little soft tissue left on her remains. No blood.”
“No DNA other than Ellie’s?”
“That’s correct.”
“And that’s true for her car as well, right? Because you searched that within a few hours of her disappearance.”
“Is what true for her car?”
Better, I thought. Keep it together, Gus.
“No foreign DNA, blood samples, hair, fingerprints. Only Ellie’s.”
“Her car was clean of any of those things, that’s correct.”
“Okay. Thank you for clarifying that,” Cutler said. “How many witnesses did you interview in this case?”
“Do you mean before or after Ellie Luke’s body was found?”
“Either. In total.”
Gus squared his shoulders. “I believe it was around a hundred.”
“One hundred. It’s one hundred and seven according to your report.”
“That sounds right.”
“One hundred and seven witnesses. Including Jamie Simmons, right?”
“Yes.”
“Not one of them mentioned any concerns they had about Mr. Simmons, did they?”
“Objection to the extent Mr. Cutler’s question calls for hearsay,” I said.
“I’m not soliciting statements to prove the truth of the matters asserted. I am questioning this witness, the lead investigator in the case, about the trajectory of his investigation.”
“I’ll allow it,” Judge Saul said. “The witness may answer.”
“Detective, do you need me to repeat it?” Cutler asked.
