Page 25 of Colton's Second Chance
“I’m sure. You understand that amount of variation will throw off calculations significantly, right?”
“I do. But Scott’s usually so precise. I don’t get it.”
Her expression darkened further. “The experts I consulted also found discrepancies in other areas relevant to determining when the women were killed. I can show you the details of the science if you want, but when I input the new information from the forensic specialists in Seattle, my analysis program and the Seattle experts’ both came up with far different results than Scott did. His estimations concerning the length of time since death for all of the bodies was off across the board.”
“But that makes no sense. Scott knows what he’s doing. He’s never been wrong before.” Eli leaned closer to stare at the jumble of data that could have been in German for all the sense the statistics and detailed charts made for him.
“And…”
Eli’s gut clenched. “And? You mean there’s more?”
She nodded. “The experts asked why critical information from the more recently killed victims didn’t contain more detailed information about fingernail scrapings or inconsistent hairs or carpet fibers found on the victims, the sorts of things that can help identify the perpetrator were missing or incomplete.”
Eli ran a hand over his mouth, dredging up conversations in task force meetings and how Scott had explained his findings. “When we asked him about that, Scott said he hadn’t found any such evidence. We wrote it off as the killer knowing what he was doing and taking pains to leave a clean crime scene.”
“Well, that may be true. But the experts found it suspicious.” Noelle’s returned frown echoed his concern. Fueled his suspicions. “Anyway, I knew this was big. That’s why I hadmy contacts in Seattle double-check everything in my work, and they agreed. Scott’s work is significantly flawed. But alsouniformlyflawed. The incorrect data was consistently off by a specific measure. Possibly to make the discrepancy harder to spot than a single outlier.”
Eli flopped back in the wooden chair and scrubbed both hands on his face. “Were any of Scott’s analysesright? Have we been on a complete goose chase? Did the experts you talked to—and I’m going to need their phone numbers, so I can interview them myself,” he added, wiggling a finger in her direction, “did they agree with strangulation as the cause of death, for example?”
“Yes. Mechanical asphyxia is the term they used, but you can see here…” she pulled up a document and pointed to the laptop screen “…they mention strangulation when they refer to the damage to the hyoid bone.”
“Well, that’s something anyway.” Eli shoved out of the chair and stalked the room like a caged tiger. “If we accuse Scott of negligence or, worse, malfeasance, every case he ever worked for us would suddenly be subject to review. It’s a huge can of worms to be opening, Noelle.”
“I get that. But there’s another issue I don’t think you’ve grasped yet.”
Eli swung back to face her. “Go on.”
“What I found wasn’t one careless error. It was a systematic misrepresentation of easily verifiable data. The glaring omissions all fell under the same category. The pattern of errors indicates he did it on purpose. The question we should be asking is why?”
A chill ran through Eli. “You think he was intentionally throwing off the investigation?”
Noelle raised her hands, her expression regretful. “From my outside perspective, that’s how it looks. Dr. Chou in Seattle suggested as much as well and threatened to call the FBI. I askedhim to hold off until I spoke to you. I knew you weren’t party to any fraud or malfeasance, so…” Noelle sighed heavily. “I asked him to give you and the ABI a chance to sort it out, for the sake of your ongoing investigation and the department’s reputation.”
Gratitude poured through him that she’d asked for a reprieve, for time for his office to sort this mess out. In the bigger picture of Scott’s miscalculations, Eli didn’t miss her statement of faith in his own integrity as a law enforcement officer. Was that belief in him enough to build a foundation for their future? He filed away the gift she’d given him, unwilling to let the ugliness of Scott’s apparent errors—perhaps even corruption—defile the sweetness of her professed trust.
“I need to talk to Asher, but not at work. I need him to come here. I don’t want to risk anyone overhearing this discussion at the office. We have to proceed carefully.” The weight of her discovery settled on his shoulders and in his gut like sacks of sand.
Was it possible Montgomery had tampered with the investigation? To what end? Was he covering for someone? Could he have simply made a consistent error throughout his calculations? The notion of his colleague being so sloppy with his work was disheartening. But the idea that Scott misrepresented his work intentionally was…sickening. Infuriating.
Eli stumbled into his living room and dropped heavily onto the couch, growling his frustration.
Noelle crossed the room to sit next to him. “I’m sorry, Eli. I know this is upsetting to you, and that was the last thing I wanted when I offered to help. I wanted to ameliorate the stress you were under, not add to it. I thought my analysis would pinpoint answers or support evidence. Instead, I’ve all but torn the case apart.”
“Don’t apologize.” He angled his body to face her, sliding a hand beneath her hair to cup her cheek. “If you’re right—andI’m not questioning your work. I’m just saying I want to look into it more myself before we do anything drastic that we can’t undo,” he amended quickly when he felt her tense beneath his fingers, “then you’ve shined a light on a truth that needed to be exposed. Our priority is finding the truth, no matter where it leads, bringing the killer to justice and giving the victims’ families closure.”
“That’s what I want, too. I just wish my efforts didn’t hurt you in the process.”
He stroked her jawline with his thumb. “Thanks for that. And for all your hard work. It sounds like you’ve spent hours on this.”
She pulled a half grin. “I’ve spent a few late nights and missed a few lunches working on it. But I don’t regret it. Not if it proves useful.”
Focusing again on the dark smudges under her eyes, Eli touched them lightly with one finger. “Are these…bruises?”
Her eyes closed as she winced. “Probably.”
He sat up straighter. “What happened?”
“I…had an accident.” She lifted a dismissive shrug. “Hit my nose. I’ll be fine.”
