Piece of My Heart (Under Suspicion #7) - Mary Higgins Clark Page 0,37
walks into a room and leaves his DNA on every single surface, but it’s much more sensitive testing than was available even ten years ago. Well, last year, Gunther asked a court to order the state to test the knife that was used to stab Lou Finney. He got lucky, and the court actually agreed. Sure enough, the lab was able to get a testable sample from a spot on the very end of the knife’s handle, near the blade, and it didn’t match either Gunther or the other man in the original bar fight. At that point, the case was assigned to the District Attorney’s Conviction Integrity Unit.”
“And what is that?” Marcy asked. She suddenly imagined Johnny sitting in the empty seat next to her, crying. He was everywhere and nowhere.
“Basically, what it sounds like. They reinvestigate closed cases where there’s a reasonable claim of innocence. New York maintains a DNA database that contains samples from certain categories of convicted felons. Through the DNA database, the DA’s Office matched the skin cells on the knife to a man named Mason Rollins.
“At the time, Rollins was just a twenty-year-old with a misdemeanor assault arrest and one conviction for a low-level drug offense. But now he’s got a rap sheet taller than I am, including four years upstate. Guess what for?”
“No idea.”
“Stabbing someone in a bar fight ten years ago.”
“Leo didn’t explain all of this,” Marcy said.
“That’s what I meant about tunnel vision. He probably has some theory as to why Rollins and the DNA don’t matter, because he’s convinced his guy’s guilty.”
“Leo said Gunther confessed.”
“And Gunther says he didn’t. No one else witnessed the confession, and this was before they started routinely videotaping interrogations.”
Marcy didn’t know Leo Farley well, but she knew him to be a good and honest man. She couldn’t imagine him fabricating a statement that hadn’t been made. She told Langland as much now.
“I’m not saying he made it up. He questioned Gunther multiple times over the course of several hours, alone and without a lawyer. Some cops don’t want to believe it, but it’s a proven fact that innocent people can be made to give false confessions under the right circumstances—or the wrong ones, as the case may be.”
“With all due respect, Detective, you don’t sound like a typical police officer. In fact, you sound more like my brother-in-law, Alex, and he was a defense attorney.”
Langland held up her palms. “I’m not saying that’s what happened. But I made a call to someone I know in the DA’s Office in the city, and she said Farley’s got his heels dug in on this case. He sees it as a personal attack on his integrity. She told me that if it were any ordinary detective who had handled the case, Gunther would probably have been released by now.”
“Based on skin cells?”
“They’ve got a hardened criminal’s DNA on the murder weapon, and no explanation for how it got there. I don’t want to get into the middle here, but Leo might not be objective when it comes to this. My focus is on finding your son, Marcy, not something that happened in the West Village eighteen years ago. Think about it: Leo Farley thinks Gunther’s behind Johnny’s disappearance because he’s convinced the man’s the type of sociopath who would kidnap a child to help his case. But if he’s actually innocent and his case is legit?”
Marcy now saw the connection between the new information Langland was providing and her belief that Gunther had nothing to do with Johnny’s disappearance. “Then the last thing he’d do is go out and commit a major new crime when a court is about to exonerate him.”
Langland leaned back in her chair, her point made.
“So you think I should ask Laurie not to pursue this,” Marcy said.
“Laurie and Leo can do whatever they would like. I just don’t think it’s going to help us find Johnny, I’m sorry to say. I don’t want you to have false hopes. And on that note, it’s now tomorrow. I think it’s time to set up the press conference we talked about yesterday.”
* * *
When Marcy returned to her hotel suite, she held three hundred fresh copies of the FindJohnny.com fliers. Her husband immediately rose from the sofa when she entered. Alex and Laurie were there as well.
“Thank God,” Andrew said, greeting her with a long hug. “We were getting worried about you.”