Double Jeopardy (Stone Barrington #57)(31)

“One is Vivian Bacchetti, a retired police officer who is COO of a large security company. The other is a possible witness to a related crime. May we begin now?”

“All right,” she said, then drew a deep breath. She launched into a detailed description of everything she could remember about her kidnapping and rape.

“So,” Stone said, when she had finished, “there is nothing else you can tell us that would assist us in our investigation?”

“Well,” she said, “how about the names of the two men who raped Tim and me?”

“You know them?” Stone asked, astonished.

“Let’s say I recognized them,” she replied.

“Please explain.”

“The two men had the same startlingly blue eyes as each other, and the same eyes as the twins who conducted the criminal appeals class that I and Tim are taking. I believe they are Eben and Enos Stone.”

“Let me understand you. Your identification of these two men is based entirely on the color of their eyes?”

“I suppose you might say that,” she replied. “But they are uniquely vivid, identical, and exclusive to them.”

“Did you tell this to the police?”

“No. When I talked to the police, I didn’t yet remember where I’d seen them before.”

“Ms. Riggs,” Stone said. “You are a senior law student, by your own account. Can you imagine what a defense attorney for these twins would do to your testimony in cross-examination?”

“Well . . .”

“He would introduce expert witnesses who would testify that there are three zillion people with vivid blue eyes and that no one could identify a person on the basis of a few seconds’ glimpse of his eyes.”

“I suppose that’s true.”

“You say these men spoke to you when you were tied to a bed?”

“That is correct.”

“Can you say, for certain, that their voices were identical to those of the twins who teach your class?”

“I suppose not. I hadn’t made that comparison.”

“Have you any other evidence to offer that would support your conclusion?”

“All right, I have not.”

“Then I think we will not detain you further. We thank you for your time.” Stone hung up. He was sweating a little.

“God help the courts when she starts practicing law,” he said.





28

Carly Riggs put down the phone and wondered if she was having bizarre hallucinations associated with the drug she had been given. If so, that had been a very long and detailed hallucination.

There was a sharp rap at her apartment door. She walked rapidly toward it, then slowed and looked through the peephole, something she almost never bothered with. What she saw were the two detectives, a man and a woman, who had interviewed her after she was found in the lake.

She had forgotten their names. “Who is it?” she called out.

“Detectives Doris Spelling and Maury Miller. We spoke to you at the hospital.”

Carly unlocked the door, let them in, and offered them seats in her small living room. The woman was carrying a shopping bag. “What can I do for you?” she asked.

“I’m afraid we’ve brought sad news,” Spelling said.

“Is it Tim Scott?”

“Yes. We found the boat with Tim’s body still in it. His parents have been notified and will be claiming the body.”

“I’ll write them a note,” Carly said.

“That would be kind of you. Also,” Detective Spelling said, holding out the shopping bag, “we found your clothes and handbag in a disused shed near the water. By the way, you were not in a lake but in the upper reaches of Quinnipiac River, where it is broad and may look like a lake. You were in East Rock Park.”

“Thank you for clearing that up for me,” Carly said, starting to go through the shopping bag.

“Are all your things there?” Spelling asked.

“Let’s see: jeans, thong, shoes and socks, shirt, jacket. And my handbag.” She looked inside. “They didn’t take my money.”

“Good,” Spelling said.

“Tell me,” Carly said, addressing Spelling’s partner. “Why do you never say anything?”

“I’ll answer that,” Spelling said. “Because I tell him to shut up. He’s new at this, and he’ll learn more that way.”

“You should ignore her and speak up anyway,” Carly said to the man. “You won’t learn much by not asking questions.”

“Now,” Spelling said. “Have you thought of anything else we should know since our first interview?”

“Yes, I’ve identified the kidnappers/rapists.”

Spelling blinked. “How did you do that?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know who they are first?”

“All right.”

“Eben and Enos Stone, identical twins, who are teaching a class in criminal appeals that both Tim and I are taking.” Carly told them about the eyes.

“Are you aware of the background of the twins?” Spelling asked.

“Yes, they were serving a life term for the murders of their parents, when they were pardoned by the new governor. In prison, they wrote a lot of successful appeals for prisoners, and since they had been Yale Law students, the college asked them to teach the course in summer school.”