The Canton Connection by Fritz Galt Page A

Wu’s photo. Then he went to a computer program that printed out nine random shots of males in the same age range with dark hair.
    Jake would ask Stacy if she saw the suspect in the stack of photos.
    Would she pick Wu?
     

Chapter 16
     
    Jake stood at his office window as a gray Jeep pulled off the street and circled the building to the parking lot. He turned to Bob. “She’s right on time.”
    Was Stacy going to finger Wu as the murderer? Maybe he should have asked more probing or relevant questions during his first interrogation, but he had had no reason to doubt her. Now her description of the suspect didn’t fit the facts. For example, she had called him “tall,” and failed to mention his Asian features.
    “This will be interesting,” Bob said.
    Jake needed Bob there to verify Stacy’s selection of a mug shot. A grand jury would not accept only one observer at a line-up. Jake had the paperwork ready for Bob to sign once Stacy made the identification they were sure she would.
    She arrived wearing a white business suit with wide shoulders, a sky blue blouse and a nice necklace and bracelet.
    He shook her hand. This time, her hands were warm and she gave a friendly smile.
    “Sorry to hold up traffic on the A root server,” he said.
    “Things can wait. I keep a scheduled maintenance routine, and this is down time.”
    “Interesting.”
    Jake turned to introduce his boss. Bob was impassive and reserved, all business.
    Before laying out the photographs, Jake needed to explain the procedure.
    “We called you in this afternoon to see if you can assist us in identifying the assailant you saw during the murder last Friday. I’d like you to carefully review ten photos of possible suspects and tell me if you see the person who you saw committing the crime. Are you prepared for this?”
    She pulled her frizzy blonde hair behind her ears and took a deep breath. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
    Jake shuffled the ten photos and laid them on the edge of his desk.
    She didn’t look at the entire group at once. She took her time and reviewed from left to right.
    Simon Wu was number seven.
    She looked at each photo carefully. She paused to pick up the fourth and studied it closely.
    This worried Jake. It was a randomly selected photograph from the general public. Maybe she hadn’t gotten a good enough look at the assailant to recognize him.
    Then she set number four back in its place and continued her systematic review. She passed smoothly over faces five and six and stopped at number seven.
    Would she finger Simon Wu?
    She stared at Wu’s photo for a long time. She looked at it almost critically, then passed on to the next one.
    That momentary hesitation said a lot. But Jake was trained not to react, and watched her continue.
    When she finished reviewing the ten photographs, she leaned back in her chair and looked at Jake evenly.
    “He’s not here,” she said.
    “What?”
    “I don’t see the suspect in any of these photos. I would recognize him, but he isn’t here.”
    “You’re sure?”
    She looked completely poised and unflappable.
    What was the next step? A lie detector?
    Jake glanced at Bob, who shrugged and put a hand on the doorknob, ready to leave.
    Jake turned to Stacy. “Thank you for coming in. We may have to call you again.”
    She gave him a wry smile. “Don’t worry,” she said. “You’ll find your man.”
    He wanted to tell her she was lying, but knew he shouldn’t.
    “Before you leave, will you please review the photos one more time?” he asked.
    She blinked, but complied.
    Once again, she worked her way from left to right. This time she didn’t pause to study number four. She glided smoothly over each picture, her large blue eyes lingering on each man’s face long enough to do it justice.
    She passed more quickly over Simon Wu.
    She finished and looked up at Jake with a troubled expression. “You know,” she said at last, “this isn’t easy for me. The more I look at these