Chapter 73

  YUKI WAS STILL STEAMING from Red Dog’s rebuke¹. Or maybe she was hot under the collar because he’d been right.

  Learn to love the beast.

  Yuki slapped her pen down on her notepad, straightened her jacket as she stood, and approached Charlie Clapper at the stand.

  “Lieutenant², I won’t keep you long.”

  “No problem, Ms. Castellano.”

  “You’re a member of law enforcement, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “And in the course of your twenty-five-year-long career in vice³, homicide, and crime scene investigation⁴, have you been involved in matters concerning prostitutes?”

  “Certainly.”

  “Are you familiar, generally speaking, with the lives of prostitutes and their customs?”

  “I’d say so.”

  “Would you agree that in exchange for a fee, a prostitute engages in sexual relations with any number of men?”

  “I’d say that’s the job description.”

  “Now, there are many subsets of that job description, wouldn’t you say? From streetwalker to call girl?”

  “Sure.”

  “And some prostitutes work mostly out of their homes?”

  “Some do.”

  “And is it your understanding that Ms. Moon falls into that last category?”

  “That’s what I was told.”

  “Okay. And would you also agree that as a matter of hygiene⁵ and practicality, a prostitute working at home would do her best to shower after her sexual encounters?”

  “I would say that would be a common and hygienic practice.”

  “Do you happen to know how much water is typically used by a person taking a shower?”

  “Twenty gallons, depending.”

  Yuki nodded, said to Charlie, “Now, based on your general knowledge of prostitutes, and given that Ms. Moon worked at home, would you agree that she probably showered after having sex with each of her tricks, maybe six to ten times a day, seven days a week -”

  “Objection,” Davis called out. “Calls for speculation⁶ on the part of the witness, and furthermore, I strongly object to the way counsel is characterizing my client.”

  “Your Honor,” Yuki protested. “We all know that Ms. Moon is a prostitute. I’m only asserting that she’s probably a clean one.”

  “Go ahead, Ms. Castellano,” Judge Bendinger said, snapping the rubber band on his wrist. “But get to the point today, will you?”

  “Thanks, Your Honor,” Yuki said, sweetly. “Lieutenant Clapper, could you tell us this?” Yuki drew a breath and launched into what was becoming her trademark⁷ - an uninterruptible run-on question.

  “If a man was dismembered in a bathtub, and in the three months between the day the crime was committed and the time you examined the bathtub a large amount of soap and shampoo and water passed through that two-inch drain - by my calculations, 100 gallons of soapy water daily - and now let’s double that for the johns who took a shower before going back to their dorm or office or home to their wives - so even if Ms. Moon practices ‘Never on Sunday,’ that would still be about 130,000 gallons by the time CSU examined the drains - could that activity have completely cleansed⁸ that bathtub of residual⁹ trace evidence?”

  “Well, yes, that’s very possible.”

  “Thank you, Lieutenant. Thank you very much.”

  Yuki smiled at Charlie Clapper as the judge told him that he could step down.

1 rebuke   

v.指责，非难，斥责 [反]praise

参考例句：

• He had to put up with a smart rebuke from the teacher.他不得不忍受老师的严厉指责。
• Even one minute's lateness would earn a stern rebuke.哪怕迟到一分钟也将受到严厉的斥责。

2 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

3 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

4 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

5 hygiene   

n.健康法，卫生学 （a.hygienic）

参考例句：

• Their course of study includes elementary hygiene and medical theory.他们的课程包括基础卫生学和医疗知识。
• He's going to give us a lecture on public hygiene.他要给我们作关于公共卫生方面的报告。

6 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

7 trademark   

n.商标；特征；vt.注册的…商标

参考例句：

• The trademark is registered on the book of the Patent Office.该商标已在专利局登记注册。
• The trademark of the pen was changed.这钢笔的商标改了。

8 cleansed   

弄干净，清洗( cleanse的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The nurse cleansed the wound before stitching it. 护士先把伤口弄干净后才把它缝合。
• The notorious Hell Row was burned down in a fire, and much dirt was cleansed away. 臭名远场的阎王路已在一场大火中化为乌有，许多焦土灰烬被清除一空。

9 residual   

adj.复播复映追加时间；存留下来的，剩余的

参考例句：

• There are still a few residual problems with the computer program.电脑程序还有一些残留问题。
• The resulting residual chromatism is known as secondary spectrum.所得到的剩余色差叫做二次光谱。