door, Mace gave them a couple of minutes to get to the gym and then she punched 411, got the number, and made the call.
“Doc, it’s Mace Perry. I know it’s late, but you got time to meet?”
Lowell Cassell was at his row house in southeast D.C., but he agreed to meet Mace at a coffee shop near Union Station. Mace thanked him, clicked off, grabbed her leather jacket, and ran for the Ducati.
CHAPTER 95
IT REALLY IS CRAZY for me to be meeting you like this, Mace,” said Lowell Cassell.
“Why? I’m just an ordinary citizen.”
“An ordinary citizen who I believe is assisting in the defense of an alleged murderer who is right now cooling his heels in a D.C. lockup.” When she looked surprised that he knew this, Cassell added, “The water-cooler gossip does reach the morgue, you know.”
“Well, I wouldn’t really call what I’m doing assisting. And I really did want a nice cup of coffee. I used to come here a lot when I was a cop. Open twenty-four hours. We’d pop in here after hoodling for a bit if the radio was quiet.”
Cassell leaned forward and spoke in a low voice even though there wasn’t another customer in the place. “I really went out on a limb by allowing you access to my files. In fact, if that comes out, my career is over.”
“It will never come out, Lowell. I will die before that comes out.”
He sat back, apparently satisfied. “I think you would.”
“So why did you do it then?”
“The files?” He spooned more sugar into his cup. “Because I like you.”
“Not a good enough answer for a possible career-ender.”
“Blunt, just like your sister.”
“I like to think I’m more diplomatic.”
“I understand that Mona Danforth is personally trying this case?”
“That’s right. I’m sure it’s only for altruistic reasons.”
Cassell took a sip of his coffee and picked at a pastry on his plate.
“Come on, Doc. I know the sperm was pure, no yolk stuff.”
“That’s right. I assumed you were the reason Beth had me check that.”
“The guy said someone paid him two hundred bucks to do it in a cup.”
“The homeless vet?”
“Yep,” answered Mace.
“You think he just made that up? I mean, sperm in a dead woman is pretty convincing evidence.”
“I agree, and no, I don’t think he made it up. The guy spends most of his time thinking about Twinkies.”
“Circumstantial is also pretty strong.”
“Right again. Our work is cut out for us.”
“So you are working this one?” said Cassell.
“If I can’t be a cop, you know.”
“I know. Solve a big one.”
“Only thing keeping me going.”
“What happened to you was an injustice, Mace.”
“Thirty percent.”
“What?
“That’s roughly the percentage of cops at MPD who think I was bad.”
“That means seventy percent think you were railroaded. A politician would love to have those approval ratings.”
“Well, for me anything less than a hundred sucks.”
“You can’t live your life trying to make people understand something they don’t want to understand.”
“I’m not doing it for them. I’m doing it for me.”
“I guess I can see that.”
She tapped his hand with her finger. “So why did you agree to meet with me tonight?”
“To tell the truth, I’m not sure.”
“Something’s bugging you, isn’t it?”
“The sperm.”
“But it wasn’t yolked.”
“Planted sperm.”
“Okay.”
“It’s happened before, but not very often. In fact, it’s about as rare a forensic misdirection as there is, but not impossible. But the thing is, if you do it and do it well, a conviction is almost inevitable.”
“So you think it wasplanted?”
“The cervix.”
“Come again?”
“The semen was high up on the cervix. I mean really high. I’ve read Dockery’s arrest file. Nearly sixty. Living on the streets for years. I actually saw him in the jail. I haven’t examined him, of course, but to my doctor’s eye he has many serious health problems. Arteriosclerosis almost certainly, high blood pressure, probable diabetes, basal cell carcinomas on his face. He’s at high risk for stroke, aneurysm, and various cancers. And I would bet a thousand dollars that he has an enlarged prostate and possibly even cancer there.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning that for him to be able to even get it up is a miracle, much less rape the woman and shoot his semen that far up in her cervix.”
“Well, he said he did it in a cup.”
“A cup is not a woman’s vagina. Did he say how long it took him to do it in the cup?”
“He said it took some time. He also told us they gave him a girlie magazine.”
“I would bet it took him a long time even with the girlie