Superposition

^{CHAPTER 8}

Judge Roswell called a short recess, after which Haviland continued his questioning of Officer Brittany Lin. Lin gazed straight at him with a confident expression as she answered, only occasionally looking to the jury when clarifying a word or technical term. She was a well-rehearsed and experienced witness.

“In the course of your investigation of the underground bunker, did you check for fingerprints?” Haviland asked.

“Yes, I did.”

“Can you share with us your findings?”

“Yes. Aside from those fingerprints that matched the victim, there were fingerprints found on a pair of microscopes and on a length of steel pipe. One of the microscopes had been badly damaged, possibly by being struck with the pipe.”

“And were these fingerprints matched to a person?”

“Yes. They were Jacob Kelley’s.”

“Could the fingerprints have been left from some previous visit that Mr. Kelley made to the bunker, sometime before the murder?”

“Yes, theoretically they could have, but given their clarity, it is unlikely they were there for many days. Also, the fingerprint evidence is consistent with other indicators we have that Kelley was at the scene at the time the murder took place.”

“What evidence is that?”

“A pair of size twelve New Balance athletic shoes left footprints in the victim’s blood. Bloody tracks from those shoes were found in a clear path leaving the bunker, then traveling up the stairs of a maintenance exit leading to the forest.”

“And were these shoes identified?” Haviland asked.

“Yes. Jacob Kelley was still wearing them several hours later, when he was apprehended by police.”

Haviland shuffled his notes to let this revelation sink in before continuing. “One more question, Officer. Did you examine the door that led to this secret underground bunker?”

“Yes, sir,” Lin said.

“Can you tell us your findings?”

“The door had been fitted with a fingerprint recognition lock.”

“Could you explain to the jury what a fingerprint recognition lock is meant to do?”

Lin faced the jury and shrugged in a way that communicated that of course they all knew what it was already. “It’s meant to permit entry only to certain, designated people, based on their fingerprints.”

“Just entry? Does that mean anyone could lock it?”

“No, I’m sorry. The lock is an electromagnetic bolt that can only be activated or deactivated by the designated person. To be locked, the door must be closed, and the lock can only be engaged by a person whose fingerprints are recognized.”

“It can’t be locked by an approved person when the door is opened, and then closed by someone else?”

“No. The mechanism can only be activated when the door is closed.”

“So the person who locked and closed the door must have been one of the people whose fingerprints were programmed into the locking mechanism.”

“Correct.”

“Had the lock been reprogrammed since Mr. Vanderhall’s death?”

“No. The internal computer logs clearly showed the lock programming had not been changed in years.”

“How many people was this lock programmed to allow to enter the room or lock it?”

“Two.”

“Who was the first?”

“The deceased, Mr. Brian Vanderhall.”

“And the second?”

She nodded toward me. “The accused, Mr. Jacob Kelley.”