Animal Instinct by Rosenfelt, David (novels for students TXT) 📕

succumbed to complications from lupus, and Doris Landry died of pancreatic cancer.

Doris Landry’s death certificate is the last one I look at. It was prepared by the coroner of Atlantic County, New Jersey, and lists Landry’s name, gender, address, date of birth, date of death, and cause of death. It’s standard stuff, but one thing about it strikes me as odd. I know I must be wrong, but I check it anyway.

The certificate was prepared on June 17 and lists the date of her death as June 16. I google New Jersey procedures and find that this makes sense: you can get a death certificate on a one-day turnaround.

But that is not what is strange. I look at the copy of the newspaper obituary that Lisa had in her suitcase. The date at the top of the page says June 15.

If the death certificate is correct, and death certificates usually are correct, then Doris Landry’s obituary came out the day before she died.

“COREY Douglas was a police officer in Paterson for twenty-five years,” says Dylan Campbell.

“By all accounts he served the community well, and I have no interest in disputing that. I’m sure he made mistakes, but we all do. But, ladies and gentlemen, you are not here to render judgment on Mr. Douglas’s service as an officer, good or bad.”

Dylan stands at the lectern as he talks. His style is formal, almost professorial. But he has a strong voice and he commands the room.

“You are here to decide whether or not Mr. Douglas brutally murdered one Gerald Kline, by slitting his throat with a knife and watching him bleed to death. It will not be a tough decision; we will place him at the scene along with his bloody clothing, and his bloody knife, all of which he unsuccessfully tried to hide. You will hear this evidence, and I believe that you will come to the conclusion that we have proven our case beyond a reasonable doubt.

“I brought up Mr. Douglas’s police record for two reasons. One is to acknowledge his service, but the other, more important reason, is because during that service he made a decision that he came to regret.

“It haunted him ever since and caused him to hate Mr. Kline and to vow revenge. He swore a vendetta against Mr. Kline and he acted on it. He got his revenge in the most heinous way imaginable.

“Service as an officer does not allow someone to do what was done to Mr. Kline. You may not think that Mr. Kline was a good person, although many think that he was. And you may even think that Mr. Douglas was correct in despising him. But you cannot think that Mr. Douglas acted properly in committing this act; our society simply cannot function if such an act is not punished.

“You will see photographs that I wish you did not have to see. But you are here to do a job, perhaps the most important job any citizen can ever do. So you must not look away; you must tackle this head-on and face it down.

“I know you will. Thank you.”

Dylan was effective; the jury seemed to hang on every word. Judge Wallace calls on Andy to give our side of it, and he gets up, ready to wing it.

“Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Campbell and I agree on something, and it is likely to be the only thing we will agree on for the duration of this trial. And that is that Corey Douglas was a hell of a cop.

“Twenty-five years … and no matter who Mr. Campbell calls to the stand, you will not hear one negative thing about Corey’s record in all that time. But you’ll hear about his commendations, and his heroism … I’ll make sure of that. His service is something to be proud of, and something we should all be grateful for.

“But it is true that everyone makes mistakes, and Corey Douglas believed he made one. He thought he should have gone overboard to protect a citizen that he thought was in danger. You will hear all about it, but understand one thing. He did not make a mistake; he acted properly and according to correct police procedure.

“But it bothered him; it bothered him a lot. That’s because he was a good cop, and he cared about the people he had sworn to protect. He came to believe that Gerald Kline was a criminal, perhaps a murderer, and he set out to prove it. That’s right … to prove it. He is now a respected private investigator, but he took on an assignment without pay, simply because he felt that he owed it to the person that he was unable to protect. It was not a vendetta, as Mr. Campbell would have you believe. It was a man doing his job, even though it was no longer his job.

“Do you know how Mr. Campbell became aware of this … of Corey’s belief that Mr. Kline was likely a criminal who should be brought to justice? Because he made no effort to hide his presence at the scene; he was open about it. And that is because he fully intended to do things by the book, according to the law. And he also made no effort to hide his belief that Mr. Kline was a murderer, because he had no intention of taking the law into his own hands.

“But there is something else you should know, and it concerns a vast conspiracy that to this date has left three people dead, one of whom was Mr. Kline. You will hear about it and you will wonder who is behind this conspiracy, and what they are trying to accomplish.

“But you will know one thing: it is way bigger than Mr. Kline, and Corey Douglas, and you will wonder why Mr. Douglas is the person you have been called upon to judge.

“Thank you very much.”

Andy comes back to the defense table and sits down. I lean over and say, “You are really