Chapter 13

  JUNIE MOON SLIPPED into the interview room at the women’s jail wearing an orange jumpsuit and new worry lines in her youthful face.

  She was followed by her attorney, Melody Chado, a public defender¹ who would make a reputation for herself with this case, no matter how the jury decided². Chado wore black - tunic³, pants, jet-black beads⁴ - and was all business. She settled her client in a chair, opened her black leather briefcase⁵, and looked at her watch several times as we waited. There were only four chairs in the small room, so when my good friend Assistant District Attorney Yuki Castellano entered a moment later, there was standing⁶ room only.

  Yuki put down her briefcase and leaned against the wall.

  Ms. Chado appeared to be just out of law school. She was probably only a couple of years older than her client, who looked so vulnerable I felt a little sorry for her - and that pissed me off.

  “I’ve advised my client not to make any statements,” Ms. Chado said, setting her young face with a hard-ass expression that I found hard to take seriously. “This is your meeting, Ms. Castellano.”

  “I’ve talked with the DA,” Yuki said. “We’re charging your client with murder two.”

  “What happened to ‘illegal disposal of a body’?” Chado asked.

  “That’s just not good enough,” Yuki snapped. “Your client was the last person to see Michael Campion alive. Ms. Moon never called medical emergency or the police - and why not? Because she didn’t care about Campion’s life or death. She only cared about herself.”

  “You’ll never get an indictment⁷ for murder,” Chado said. “There’s enough reasonable doubt in your theory to fill the ocean.”

  “Listen to me, Junie,” Yuki said. “Help us locate Michael’s remains⁸. If it can be determined⁹ in autopsy¹⁰ that his heart attack would have killed him no matter what you did, we’ll drop the murder charge and pretty much get out of your life.”

  “No deal,” Chado interjected. “What if she helps you find his body and it is so decomposed¹¹ that his heart is just rotted meat? Then you’ll have a demonstrable connection to my client and she’ll be screwed.”

  I reevaluated Melody Chado as she fought with Yuki. Chado had either had a great education, grown up in a family of lawyers - or both. Junie fell back in her chair, turned a shocked face toward her breathless attorney. I guessed that Chado’s description had blown off whatever romance was left of Junie’s memory of Michael Campion.

  “I want to hear about the knife, Junie,” Rich said, steering¹² the interview to our only piece of evidence.

  “The knife?” Junie asked.

  “We found a knife under your sofa. Looks like bloodstains on the blade. It’ll take a few days to get the DNA¹³ results, but if you help us, Ms. Castellano will take that as another sign of your cooperation.”

  “Don’t answer,” said Melody Chado. “We’re done.”

  Junie was looking at Rich, and she was talking over her attorney. “I thought the knife went into one of the garbage bags,” she said to my partner. “So I don’t know what knife you found. But listen, I remember the name of the town.”

  “Junie, that’s enough. That’s all!”

  “I think it was Johnson,” Junie said to Rich. “I saw a sign when we got off the highway.”

  “Jackson?” I asked. “Was it Jackson?”

  “Yes. That’s right.”

  “You’re sure about that? I thought you said you drove up the coast.”

  “I’m pretty sure. It was late, I got confused. I wasn’t trying to remember,” she told me, her eyes downcast. “I was trying to forget.”

1 defender   

n.保卫者，拥护者，辩护人

参考例句：

• He shouldered off a defender and shot at goal.他用肩膀挡开防守队员，然后射门。
• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 tunic   

n.束腰外衣

参考例句：

• The light loose mantle was thrown over his tunic.一件轻质宽大的斗蓬披在上衣外面。
• Your tunic and hose match ill with that jewel,young man.你的外套和裤子跟你那首饰可不相称呢，年轻人。

4 beads   

n.（空心）小珠子( bead的名词复数 )；水珠；珠子项链

参考例句：

• a necklace of wooden beads 一条木珠项链
• Beads of perspiration stood out on his forehead. 他的前额上挂着汗珠。

5 briefcase   

n.手提箱，公事皮包

参考例句：

• He packed a briefcase with what might be required.他把所有可能需要的东西都装进公文包。
• He requested the old man to look after the briefcase.他请求那位老人照看这个公事包。

6 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

7 indictment   

n.起诉；诉状

参考例句：

• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
• They issued an indictment against them.他们起诉了他们。

8 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

9 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

10 autopsy   

n.尸体解剖；尸检

参考例句：

• They're carrying out an autopsy on the victim.他们正在给受害者验尸。
• A hemorrhagic gut was the predominant lesion at autopsy.尸检的主要发现是肠出血。

11 decomposed   

已分解的，已腐烂的

参考例句：

• A liquid is decomposed when an electric current passes through it. 当电流通过时，液体就分解。
• Water can be resolved [decomposed] into hydrogen and oxygen. 水可分解为氢和氧。

12 steering   

n.操舵装置

参考例句：

• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration. 他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。
• Steering according to the wind, he also framed his words more amicably. 他真会看风使舵，口吻也马上变得温和了。

13 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。