Hour Game Read Online Free PDF Page B

closet that was broken into. About two hundred thousand dollars’ worth, I understand, including, unfortunately, Remmy’s wedding ring,” said Harry. As he gazed through the file, he added, “And hell hath no fury like a woman shorn of her wedding ring.”
    “And they suspect Junior because he was doing work there?” asked Michelle.
    “Well, a certain amount of evidence seems to pin him to the crime.”
    “Like what?” asked King.
    Harry ticked the points off on his fingers. “The burglar accessed the house through a third-story window. The window was forced and a tool mark was left as well as a bit of metal from the tool that was matched to a crowbar owned by Junior. He also owns a ladder that would reach that window. In addition they found shards of glass in the cuffs of a pair of his pants. They can’t definitively match the glass found to the window at the Battles’, but it’s similar. Both are tinted.”
    “You said he forced the window,” said King. “Where’d the glass come from?”
    “Part of the window broke when it was forced. I suppose the theory is, he got the shards when climbing through the opening. Next we have shoe prints found on the hardwood floor in Remmy’s bedroom. They match a pair of boots found at Junior’s.There was some building material found on the floor of Remmy’s closet: drywall powder, cement, wood dust, the sort of thing Junior would have had on his shoes, considering the line of work he’s in. There was also some soil found there that has been matched to the ground outside of Junior’s home. Similar evidence was also found in Bobby’s bedroom and closet.”
    “So they maintained separate sleeping quarters?” asked Michelle.
    Harry raised a single thick eyebrow. “Knowledge that I’m sure Remmy would have preferred to keep private.”
    “Okay, that’s all incriminating but still circumstantial,” said King.
    “Well, there’s yet another piece of evidence. Or I suppose I should say two pieces. A glove print and a fingerprint that match Junior’s.”
    “A glove print?” said Michelle.
    “It was a leather glove,” answered Harry, “and those have definitive lines and such just like a fingerprint, or so they tell me.”
    “But if he was wearing gloves, how did one of his prints show up?” asked King.
    “Presumably, it had a hole in one of the fingers. And Junior owns such a glove.”
    King stared at Harry. “What’s Junior’s story?”
    “Junior declares his innocence vigorously. He was working by himself until the early morning hours at a new house he’s building for him and his family over in Albemarle County. He saw no one and no one saw him. So there goes any alibi.”
    “When was the burglary discovered?” asked King.
    “Remmy found it around five in the morning after she got home from the hospital. She was in her bedroom around eight the night before, and there were people in the house until around eleven or so. So the crime probably took place between, say, midnight and four.”
    “Clearly within the hours Junior says he was working alone on the house.”
    “And yet with all that,” said Michelle, “you think he’s innocent, don’t you?”
    Harry met her gaze. “I’ve represented people who were guilty before; that comes with the territory. As a judge I’ve seen the culpable go free and the innocent occasionally locked up, and I’ve usually been powerless to do anything about it. Now, with Junior my firm belief is that he didn’t commit this crime for one simple reason: the poor fellow would no more know what to do with two hundred thousand dollars’ worth of cash, bearer bonds and jewels than I would trying to row my way to an Olympic silver medal in women’s fours and coxswain.”
    Michelle looked surprised because while in college she’d done that very thing.
    “Yes, my dear,” said Harry apologetically, “I researched you. I hope you don’t mind.” He patted her hand and continued. “Junior’s being an incompetent