The Last Mile (Amos Decker, #2)(13)

As Milligan looked at him his thick neck seemed to flare out like a cobra’s. “Based on what?” he asked.

“Inconsistencies.”

“Such as?”

“Morillo was a civilian contractor to the Navy. On page two of the statement he told police that he left for work at Crane Naval Base in Martin County, Indiana, at nine a.m. He said he arrived at the base at eight-fifteen a.m.”

“That’s because—” Milligan began triumphantly, only Decker ignored him and plowed on.

“That’s because at that time Martin County and the naval base had been switched to the central time zone from the eastern time zone, effective April 2, 2006. Thus it was nine a.m. eastern standard time when Morillo left his house but eight a.m. central standard time.”

“Correct,” Milligan admitted grudgingly. “So what’s the inconsistency?”

“Morillo had a motive for killing the victims. But there was one witness for Morillo, Bahiti Sadat. He said that he saw Morillo on the street across from his shop at six-fifteen p.m. The murders, forensic and other evidence determined, occurred at six-nineteen. Since the murders were committed about ten miles from Sadat’s shop, and Morillo was on foot at the time, it was a solid alibi for Morillo.”

“But the police mostly discounted that because Sadat was Muslim,” interjected Milligan. “And this was right in the middle of the wars in the Middle East, and there was a lot of prejudice. Sadat’s testimony was rock-solid. It gave Morillo an alibi, but the jury wouldn’t buy it.” He paused, scrutinizing Decker. “I hope you don’t have those sorts of prejudices?”

Decker ignored this too and continued. “Sadat said he had just finished his evening prayer. That’s when he said he saw Morillo. He remembered it distinctly because he had just looked up from his prayer rug and through the window of his storefront. He made a positive ID.”

“Exactly,” said an increasingly impatient Milligan. “You’re making my case for me.”

Decker said, “The prayer Sadat said he had just finished was the Maghrib, the fourth prayer of the day.”

“Right. Devout Muslims pray five times a day. We all know that,” pointed out Milligan.

“Well, actually lots of people don’t know that, and back then a lot more folks probably didn’t,” said Decker. “But the point is the Maghrib prayer cannot commence before sunset. The religion is strict on that. And on that day in Indiana sunset was at seven-twelve p.m., nearly an hour later than Sadat testified he saw Morillo pass by the shop as he looked up. Now, Sadat is only human, and if he’d been off by a few minutes I don’t think anyone could blame him. But at that time of day the sun would still clearly be in the sky. No Muslim would have begun their sunset prayer when it was so clearly not sunset. And certainly no Muslim would have finished the sunset prayer nearly an hour before the sun had even gone down.”

Milligan’s jaw dropped slightly.

Bogart and Jamison shared a glance.

Davenport kept her gaze locked on Decker.

Decker added, “And in addition to that, according to the drawing the police made that was in the file, the front of Sadat’s shop faces west toward the street where Morillo was allegedly walking at the time.”

Jamison said, “And Muslims face east when praying. Toward Mecca.”

Bogart added, “Sadat’s back would have been to Morillo. When he looked up from his prayer rug he couldn’t have seen him. I’m surprised no one thought to question that.”

Decker said, “A lot of Americans don’t know that much about Muslim customs, and they knew even less back then, when most couldn’t tell you the difference between a Sunni and a Shia. I think you might find Morillo and Sadat know each other and that this alibi was prearranged, even though it didn’t work. It might determine conclusively that Morillo was guilty. But since he’s in prison where he belongs, you might not want to waste your time.”

Milligan sat back looking extremely miffed.

Decker glanced at Bogart. “Can we talk about the Melvin Mars case now?”

“Wait a minute,” barked Milligan. “I was told you just got here today. Were you sent the briefing book earlier?”

Bogart answered. “No, he got it this morning. I delivered the binder myself.”

Milligan turned back to Decker. “And from all these cases you dug up detailed stuff like that on the Morillo case in, what, a few hours?”

“I didn’t have to dig anything up. I read the statements and reports. It was all right there.”

“And knowing the specific Muslim prayers?” said Milligan.

Decker shrugged. “I read a lot.”

“And the sunset timing?” persisted Milligan.

“I’m from that part of the country. I knew that off the top of my head.”

Milligan said, “From a specific day in 2006?”

“Yes,” said Decker imperturbably.

Milligan said accusingly, “Did you know beforehand that I was interested in the Morillo case?”

“Until I walked in this room, I didn’t even know you existed,” replied Decker matter-of-factly. He looked at Bogart again. “Can we discuss the Mars case now? Because I don’t really think any of the others in the binder are nearly as compelling. And since Sadat was lying and Morillo killed those people and we’re not here to free the guilty, I think we need to move on.”