Page 33 of Jon's Helter Skelter Cold Case

“The GPS history I can kind of see,” Donovan muttered, “but they really should have looked at the time stamps of the text history. That would have showed if our victim was actually alive when Dwayne was at work or not.”

“They really should have. No one did, sadly.”

Abby practically vibrated with outrage next to me. “You can say that, but I think they should have checked the GPS history better, too. I mean, Dwayne’s cool, but he’s not Superman. It’s not like he can be in two different parts of the city in thirty seconds!”

“That alone is a good argument for a retrial. Much less everything else.” I rubbed my hands together with glee. “If they can use circumstantial evidence to lock him up, us dismantling said evidence is an excellent way to throw the verdict and sentencing out. Oooh, Solomon, I thank you for being an arrogant know-it-all.”

“Only good thing that’s coming out of this.” Abby abruptly stood, her lines sparking hot red. “I’m getting a drink. I need to calm down before I punch something.”

I let her go without a word, still thinking. “Sho, can you assemble all of this into a presentation? Something we can show a judge or use in court?”

He gave me a casual two-finger salute. “Yup, consider it done. In fact, I’d be delighted. Also, let me know if Dwayne accepts Abby’s dad as his lawyer. I can start funneling information over to him.”

“You bet.”

I was still flabbergasted about all this. I knew the case against Dwayne was sloppily thrown together, but still…this was beyond sloppy. This was so stupid, which I supposed described Solomon to a tee.

Donovan’s phone rang and he scooted back from the table, his chair rolling and then fetching up softly against the wall before he pulled his phone free to look at the screen. “Huh, Archer’s calling. Be right back.”

I let him go, my focus remaining on this stupid evidence which wasn’t nearly as damning as it appeared on the surface.“I’ve got to wonder what kind of psychic can manifest this kind of stuff. It has to be manifested.”

“Got to be,” Sho agreed promptly. “No other way to do it. Didn’t you tell me Alan is researching all the different types of psychics and making, like, an encyclopedia of them?”

“I did. And yes, he’s the perfect person to ask this question.”

“Let me talk to him. Alan and I will research the psychics and come up with a list of who in the area can manage all of this. I know you said there’s no obvious connection to someone else killing Tylesia, but maybe she had a stalker they didn’t know about.”

“I’d give that theory very high odds. Sure, do it. Tell me when you’ve got a list.”

Sho flashed me a thumbs-up, then paused uncertainly. “Uh, what are the odds Alan’s asleep right now?”

“He’s on Grant’s sleep schedule.”

“So who the fuck knows?”

“Pretty much. Try texting first.”

“Yeah, probably the safer bet.”

My eyes were drawn back to the screen and those ridiculous time stamps, and I had to wonder: Was this whole case just an elaborate series of smoke and mirrors? It certainly felt that way.

12

Archer normally called if there wasa.a case he needed Jon’s help with, orb.he was in the area and wanted to catch up. I was okay with either, although I was hoping it was Option B considering everything we had on our plates right now.

I stepped into the office before answering. “Hey, Archer, what’s up?”

“Nothing much. How you doing, Donovan?”

“Well, Jon’s managed to find a nationally famous cold case to crack.”

“So same old crazy?”

“Pretty much, yeah. He’s got an apprentice, you heard about that yet?”

“What?Wait, there’s another Reader in your area?”

“Sure is. Abby. Really sweet kid.”

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