"Why do you do that?"

"Oh, you never know what you’ll find. Say we’re dealing with a naked corpse, killed by stabbing. We look to see if fabric fibers are embedded along the edges of the wound. If there are some, then the person was knifed while still clothed. If the knife is rusty, we’ll find iron-oxide flakes along the periphery. Stuff like that."

"And did you find any iron-oxide flakes?"

"No."

"Did you find any embedded fabric?"

"No — meaning, as seemed likely at first glance, that Dr. Calhoun’s shirt had been opened before the vertical cut was made."

"Did you find anything unusual at all?"

"Yes."

"What did you find?"

"Well, as I indicated, the breastbone had been split by an extraordinarily sharp cutting tool — and that meant the breastbone had sharp rdges. On one of those edges we found pinkish crystals."

"Crystals, Mr. Feinstein?"

"Yes."

"Did you collect these for analysis?"

"Yes."

"And what did you find?"

"The crystals were quite complex chemically. I was unable to identify them, so I sent them to the department of chemistry at UCLA; we have a contract arrangement with them to do forensics work for us."

"Mr. Feinstein, let me pose a hypothetical: if a human being were to grab the sharp edges of a breastbone split as Dr. Calhoun’s was, and that human yanked hard in order to open up the chest, what would happen to the hands of the human?"

"As I said, the breastbone had very sharp edges. Unless the person was wearing protective gloves, he’d probably cut his fingers in trying to do so."

"Presumably there was a lot of human blood on the edges of the breastbone."

"Oh, yes, indeed."

"Was all of it Dr. Calhoun’s?"

"As far as I could tell, yes. It matched his blood in ABO grouping, Rh factor, and all other categorizations."

"Thank you. In addition to the pink crystals, what other evidence, if any, did you find at the crime scene?"

"I found certain objects."

Ziegler picked a small Ziploc bag off the prosecution’s table. "Are these the objects?"

"Yes."

"Enter as Defense twenty-seven," said Ziegler.

"No objection," said Dale.

"So entered," said Judge Pringle.

"Mr. Feinstein, please describe the contents of that pouch."

"Inside here are three flat diamond-shaped objects found in Dr. Calhoun’s room at USC."

"Diamond-shaped objects? What do you think they are?"

"Objection," said Dale. "Calls for speculation."

"I’ll rephrase. Mr. Feinstein, have you ever seen anything resembling these objects in shape?"

"Yes, they remind me of something I’ve seen before."

"What would that be?"

"To me they look like the scales covering the Tosoks’ bodies."

"Your Honor, at this time, we would like to ask the defendant to stand so that we may directly compare the objects found at the crime scene to the scales on his body."

"Your Honor," said Dale, rising, "sidebar?"

"All right."

Dale and Ziegler moved to stand next to Judge Pringle’s bench. "Your Honor," said Dale, "I object to the comparison between my client’s skin and the scales found at the crime scene. There’s been no foundation to establish that the scales came from Hask, as opposed to some other Tosok.

That they generally match in shape and size Hask’s scales will be prejudicial — they also generally match in shape and size the scales on all the Tosoks."

Pringle nodded. "I’m inclined to agree. Ms. Ziegler?"

Ziegler sighed. "I don’t suppose you’d like to take judicial notice, Your Honor, of the fact that these are Tosok scales?"

"I’m in no position to do that," said Pringle. "You’ll have to build the Date’s house one brick at a time."

"We have black-and-white blowups of photographs of Tosok skin that we could introduce for comparison purposes," said Ziegler.

"Would that be acceptable?" asked Piingle, looking at Dale.

Dale considered. "All right," he said at last—"as long as the photos are presented as generic Tosok skin, and not Hask’s in particular."

"Stand back."

Dale moved back to the defense table, and Ziegler moved to the lectern to resume her direct. She made a gesture at one of her assistants, and he held up the black-and-white photo, measuring about two feet by 1 foot and a half. "This is an enlargement of a picture of Tosok hide," said Ziegler to Feinstein, who was still on the stand. She turned to Dale. I’ll point out that this is a black-and-white photo so the gray color of the image is not to be taken as significant. Mr. Feinstein, you’ll note that a ruler has been drawn in on the bottom of the photo, marked off in with inches and centimeters — this should give you some idea of the scale of the scales, so to speak." Feinstein made a toothy grin at the word play. "Can you tell the Court if there are any similarities in shape between those objects and the Tosok scales?"

"Yes indeed," said Feinstein. "They’re very similar."

"And, again, noting the ruler, can you tell the Court if there is any comparison to the size of the Tosok scales?"

"They in fact seem to be very similar in size to the Tosok scales."

"Thank you, Mr. Feinstein. Now, in addition to the object resembling Tosok scales and the pink crystals on the sternum, what, if any, other evidence did you find at the crime scene?"

"We found what appears to be a mark made of blood."

"Can you be more specific?"

"Yes. If I can rise, Your Honor? Thank you. It’s visible here in photo eleven, and again in photo fourteen. See? Here, and here?"

"Would you please describe what you’re seeing?" asked Ziegler.

"It’s a U-shaped or horseshoe-like mark, measuring about five inches across."

"What could have made such a mark, Mr. Feinstein?"

"Well, I’d never seen anything like it myself, but Detective Schmitter—"

"Objection! Hearsay."

"Goes to effect on the listener," said Ziegler.

"Overruled," said Pringle.

"Detective Schmitter’s comment’s led directly to me checking this matter out for myself," said Feinstein, glaring at Dale and carefully measuring his words. "I have since with my own eyes seen a similar impression."

"Where?" asked Ziegler.

"At the suggestion of Detective Burt Schmitter, I went to 6925 Hollywood Boulevard."

"Which is what building?"

"Mann’s Chinese Theatre."

"Go on."

"Outside the theater, I saw a pair of similar impressions. They were Tosok footprints made in the cement."

"Thank you. One final thing: the amount of blood spilled at the crime scene. Was it copious?"

"Objection. Leading."

"The jury has already seen the crime-scene photos, Mr. Rice," said Pringle.

"No harm, no foul, in stating the obvious."

"Yes," said Feinstein. " ‘Copious’ is a suitable word."

"In your estimation, what would have likely happened to the cleanliness of the person or persons who performed this dissection?"

"Objection. Speculation."

"Overruled."

"Given the rough nature of the work — the rib cage was spread by hand, remember, and the heart had a deep vertical gash in it made as part of the initial slicing of the torso — the person or persons doing this would have likely ended up covered in Dr. Calhoun’s blood."

"Thank you. Your witness, Mr. Rice."

"Mr. Feinstein," said Dale, rising slowly to his feet and moving over to the lectern, "you say the perpetrator would likely have ended up covered in blood?"

"Yes."

"Do you know the previous witness, Dr. Anne Flemingdon?"

"Yes."

"She’s chief medical examiner for the county, isn’t she?"

"Yes."

"Have you ever had cause to visit her at work?"

"From time to time."

"When she greets you at the door to her lab, is she covered with blood?"

Feinstein snorted. "No."

"Not some monster-movie apparition, is she? Dripping crimson all over the carpet?"