After Dark (28 page)

"What is your profession?" Matthew Reynolds asked.

"I'm a professor of chemistry at Reed College in Portland."

"Do you hold any other positions at Reed?"

"Yes. I'm also the director of the nuclear reactor facility."

"What does that job entail?"

"I'm responsible for the maintenance, operation and use of the research reactor and its licensing."

"What is your educational background?"

"I obtained a BS in chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley in 1965. In 1970, I received a doctor of science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a specialty in the area of nuclear chemistry."

"Do you have any special expertise in the use of neutron activation analysis?"

"I do."

"Would you please explain neutron activation analysis to the jury?"

"Certainly," Dr. Shirov said, turning toward the jury box. His smile was light and easy and his thick glasses magnified the St. Nick's twinkle in his blue eyes. Some of the jurors smiled back.

"If we take a sample of any material and place it in a source of neutronsatomic particlesthe material will absorb the neutrons and become radioactive. There are ninety-two basic elements and fourteen man-made elements. More than fifty of the basic elements emit gamma rays when they become radioactive.

We have instruments that measure how many gamma rays are given off by the material and their specific energy.

"A nuclear reactor is a source of neutrons. If I have material I want to analyze, I place it in the reactor. Once the substance is radioactive it is removed from the reactor and taken to a gamma ray analyzer, a machine that detects gamma rays and measures their energy.

The information obtained from the analyzer is printed on a magnetic disk and stored so we can analyze the data and determine what elements are present and how much of each element is present."

"Dr. Shirov," Matthew said, "if you were asked to compare two items which appeared to come from the same source, what could you tell about their similarities and differences by using neutron activation analysis?"

"I could tell a great deal. You see, materials in nature contain traces of other materials. Sometimes there are large amounts of one material in the other, but other times there may only be a small amount. Neutron activation analysis is a very sensitive technique for determining the amount of minor elements that exist in a particular object.

"For example, if you filled a thimble with arsenic and thoroughly mixed it with four railroad tank cars of water, neutron activation analysis would be able to determine the amount of arsenic in a one-ounce sample of the water.

"Now, getting back to the comparison of our two samples, if the trace elements in the two are greatly different, it is possible to reach a conclusion with a high degree of certainty that they came from different sources.

"On the other hand, if we see no differences between the two samples, we can say that there is no scientific evidence to support an assertion that they are from different sources."

"Dr. Shirov, I'm handing you what has previously been marked as State's Exhibits 36 and 37. Do you recognize them?"

Dr. Shirov took from Reynolds Exhibit 36, the charred and twisted metal strip with the notch that had been part of the bomb that killed Justice Griffen, and Exhibit 37, the clean metal strip with the point that had been found in Abbie's garage.

"You brought these two items to the college this weekend."

"What did I tell you I needed to know?"

"You told me that you wanted to know if the two pieces of steel plate were attached at one time."

"What did you do to find out.")"

"There was no need to irradiate both exhibits in their entirety, so I took samples of each. This presented a small problem. How to cut a sample without contaminating it. Most of the usual ways of cutting steel involve the possibility of contamination. For example, the steel of'a hacksaw blade might transfer elements to the samples that would give off gamma rays when irradiated. I chose a silicon carbide saw because these elements do not give off gamma rays.

"You explained the importance of the two pieces of steel plate, so I took my samples from the middle of one side so as not to affect the end with the tool markings. I placed each exhibit in a vise and made a vee-notch cut that allowed me to obtain two one-hundred-milligram-size samples."

"How big is that, Dr. Shirov?"

"Oh, say the size of a sunflower seed."

"And that was enough for an accurate test?"

"Yes."

"What did you do after you obtained the samples?"

"I put each sample in a pre-cleaned vial and washed it in distilled water to remove adhering material. Then I dried the samples overnight.

"The next day, I placed each sample in a pre-cleaned polyethylene vial and heat-sealed the vials. The sealed vials were the-' placed inside a polyethylene irradiation container, called a 'rabbit,' for irradiation in the nuclear reactor's pneumatic tube facility. This is similar to the pneumatic tube system used in drive-in banks, but ours ends up in the core of the reactor."

Reynolds returned to the counsel table and picked up two lead containers, approximately two inches in diameter and four inches tall and handed them to Dr. Shirov.

"Dr. Shirov, I am handing you what have been marked as Defense Exhibits 201 and 202. Can you identify these exhibits?"

"Certainly. These are what we call lead pigs and they are used for housing radioactive samples."

"Are the samples dangerous?"

"No. Not at this time."

"What is in these lead pigs?"

"The samples I took from Exhibits 36 and 37."

"If the state wished, could its own scientists retest these samples?"

"Yes, but they would probably want to use fresh samples from the steel plates."

"Thank you. Go on with your explanation, Doctor."

"I performed a five-minute irradiation on each sample. Then I retrieved the samples. Next I punctured the vials with a hypodermic needle and flushed out the radioactive argon gas produced when argon, which occurs naturally in air, is irradiated in a reactor. The vials were then placed in a clear plastic bag and put in front of a high-resolution gamma ray analyzer."

"Explain what you did next."

"When a substance is exposed to neutrons some of the atoms may absorb a neutron and become radioactive. These atoms decay differently depending on the identity of the original atom. No two radioactive nuclides decay with the same half-life and energy.

Therefore, by measuring the energy of the gamma rays emitted during decay at known times after these samples were removed from the reactor, I was able to identify many of the elements in the samples by analyzing the data from the gamma ray detector. I counted the gamma rays emitted at one, five, ten and thirty minutes after the end of the irradiation. I counted the sample again at two and twenty-four hours after the end of the irradiation. The data for each gamma ray count was stored on a disk for later analysis. After the data was on the disk, I used a computer program to identify the energies of the gamma rays."

"Dr. Shirov, what conclusions did you draw from the test data?"

"Mr. Reynolds, I have concluded, after reviewing the information obtained from the analysis, that there is no evidence to support a conclusion that the sample from Exhibit 36 and the sample from Exhibit 37 could have come from the same piece of steel plate. Furthermore, they could not have a common source of origin."

Tracy was stunned and she could tell by the look on Chuck Geddes's face that she was not alone. The two metal pieces so obviously fit that she had assumed they were joined once. Now it looked like she was wrong and the state's case was in shambles.

"Are you saying that Exhibit 36 and Exhibit 37 were never connected?"

Reynolds asked Dr. Shirov." "I am."

"What is the basis for your conclusion?"

"The fragments from Exhibit 37, the clean piece of steel plate, contained observable arsenic, antimony, manganese and vanadium. Exhibit 36, the sample that is charred and twisted, contains manganese, vanadium and aluminum, but no arsenic or antimony. It would not be possible for one piece of steel from a common plate to contain arsenic and antimony and another piece of steel from the same plate to be missing these elements."

"Exhibit 36 was in an explosion. Could that account for the missing elements?"

"Mr. Reynolds, it is not possible that the explosion changed the composition of the steel by removing two elements. It would be more likely that an explosion would add material."

"Dr. Shirov, did you conduct any more tests on the samples?"

"No. Since the observations were conclusive at this point, there was no purpose in further analysis."

"Thank you, Doctor. I have no further questions."

Chuck Geddes stood up. He was obviously fighting to control his emotions in front of the jury.

"May we approach the bench, Your Honor?"

Judge Baldwin motioned Geddes and Reynolds forward.

"Mr. Reynolds gave me Dr. Shirov's test results this morning . . ,"

Geddes whispered angrily.

"No need to go any further, Mr. Geddes," Judge Baldwin said.

"I assumed you'd want to reserve cross. Any objection, Mr. Reynolds?"

"No, Your Honor," Reynolds said graciously.

"Then let's take our morning recess."

As soon as the jurors filed out, Tracy grabbed Reynolds's arm.

"How did you know the two pieces of steel were different?" she asked, unable to keep the awestruck tone out of her voice.

Reynolds smiled. "I had no idea they were different, Tracy.

When I'm dealing with the state's evidence, I follow a simple rule.

I never assume any of it is what it appears to be. I thought I was wasting my time when I hired Dr. Shirov this weekend, but I couldn't think of anything else to do. Fortunately, whoever is trying to frame Abbie didn't know there was a foolproof method of telling if the two metal strips were once joined."

Reynolds turned his attention to Dr. Shirov, who had walked over to the defense table as soon as Judge Baldwin left the bench.

Tracy shook her head. Reynolds was astonishing. Now she understood why so many people, especially other lawyers, spoke of him with such reverence. And why so many clients literally owed him their lives.

Tracy saw Chuck Geddes rushing out of the courtroom and away from the humiliating events of the morning. Just as he reached the door, Neil Christenson came in with a big smile on his face. The investigator said something that made Geddes stop.

The two men conferred. Geddes's back was to Tracy, so she could not see his face, but she could see Christenson gesturing animatedly and Geddes nodding vigorously. Then Christenson stopped talking and Geddes turned and stared at Reynolds and Abbie Griffen. There was a cruel smile on his face, an expression that was hard to reconcile with the stunning blow that had been dealt to his case moments ago.

BarryFrame lived in the Pearl District, an area of northwest Portland once filled with decaying warehouses that had been rejuvenated by an infusion of art galleries and an influx of young professionals and artists who lived in the renovated lofts. Some of the bare brick walls in Barry's loft were decorated with Matthew Reynolds's nature photography. A poster from the Mount Hood Jazz Festival showing a piano floating on a pristine lake with Mount Hood in the background hung above a low white sofa.

Across from the sofa, a metal bookcase stood next to a twenty-seven-inch TV set and a state-of-the-art stereo system. Barry was listening to a CD of Stan Getz blowing a mellow sax when Tracy knocked on his door. She had called from the courthouse as soon as court ended. Barry had been in the field interviewing witnesses during the day and was anxious to be brought up to date on what had happened in the courtroom.

As soon as the door opened, Tracy threw her arms around Barry's neck and kissed him. Then she broke free and grabbed Barry by the shoulders.

"Matthew Reynolds is unreal. I mean, I'd heard he was a grade A genius, but I didn't really believe it until I saw him this afternoon."

"Slow down," Barry said with a laugh.

"I can't. I'm on a fantastic high. You should have seen Geddes. He's such a pompous ass. God, the look on his face as soon as the jurors were out of the room. He went ballistic. It was priceless."

"What happened?"

Tracy grinned wickedly. "What are you willing to do to find out?"

Tracy was loaded with energy and wanted to expend it the same way they had when they missed the last half of Casablanca on Friday night.

"Jesus, I'm involved with a sex maniac. Is this the only way I can get information out of you?"

"Yup."

"I feel like I'm being used."

"Yup."

"And here I thought it was my mind that attracted you."

"Nope," Tracy said as she started taking off her dress.

"Tell me what happened in the goddamn courtroom while I still have the strength to listen," Barry said.

They were lying naked on Barry's king-size bed. Tracy rolled over on her side.

"I guess you've earned the information," she said, smiling impishly.

Then she told Barry about Dr. Shirov's testimony.

"Man, I wish I'd been there," Barry said when she was finished.

"Didn't you know about Shirov?"

"No. This was Matt's baby. He's pulled stuff like this before.

He gets in this zone only he can get to and comes up with these ideas.

If there's a better lawyer in the country, I haven't heard of him."

"Or her," Tracy said, nestling against Barry's chest.

"Excuse me for being politically incorrect," Barry answered as he kissed Tracy's forehead.

"It's all over but the shouting," she said. "Matt destroyed Deems and Dr. Shirov has wiped out Geddes's key evidence. The jury has to have at least a reasonable doubt."

"I never like to get overconfident, Barry said, "but I have to agree with you. It looks like Matt has this one in the bag."

Chapter TWENTY-FIVE

On Wednesday morning, Tracy noticed that no one was sitting at the prosecution counsel table when the defense team entered the courtroom.