Dead Guilty

around the room, looking the glass partitions at the equipment—no
    doubt wondering how much everything cost. ‘‘What more can you tell us about any connection
between these two crime scenes?’’ asked Garnett
when they were all settled. ‘‘It’s an amazing coinci
dence that the man who found those bodies was him
self hung a day later. Are we looking at the same
perp, or were Edwards and Mayberry involved in the
woods murders in some way?’’
Diane didn’t know the answer to that question, and she guessed that Garnett didn’t really expect an
answer.
‘‘I can tell you that the person who tied the knots
on the hanging victims was not the same person who
tied the knots for Chris Edwards.’’
‘‘How can you possibly tell that?’’ asked Garnett.
‘‘I know you’re some kind of expert in knots, but . . .’’ ‘‘My examination is not yet complete, but I’ve seen
enough to know that the same person probably tied
Blue, Red, and Green Doe, but not Chris Edwards.’’ ‘‘Blue, Red, and Green Doe?’’ said Garnett. ‘‘Until we determine their identities, we refer to
them by the color of cord used to secure the rope
when we cut it from the victims.’’
Garnett’s mouth twitched into almost a smile. ‘‘Go
on.’’
‘‘The nooses on the Cobber’s Wood bodies were
tied by first making a loop with a bowline knot, then
pulling the other end of the rope through to make a
noose. I haven’t yet looked at how the rope was tied
to the tree limb.’’
Jin jumped up and left the room. It was such a quick
movement, they all looked after his retreating back. ‘‘He’s going to get something,’’ said Neva. ‘‘You get
used to his energy after a while.’’
Diane’s cell phone vibrated in the pocket of her
gray blazer. She fished it out and looked at the caller
ID. Denver, Colorado. Who did she know in Denver?
She didn’t recognize the number. Probably wrong. She
let the voice mail pick it up.
‘‘I hate those things,’’ said the sheriff. ‘‘They’re al
ways ringing at the wrong time, but you can’t do with
out them. They cause a lot of automobile accidents.’’ ‘‘Actually, more accidents are caused by drivers not keeping their eyes on the road. Cell phones are way
down on the list,’’ said David.
‘‘You don’t say?’’
Jin came back and handed Diane a stack of photo
graphs. She flipped through them until she came to
zooms of the rope tied around the tree. It showed the
rope wrapped twice around the limb with the standing
end of the rope going under the two loops around the
tree. It had an interesting twist—a stopper knot on
the end to make sure the rope wouldn’t slip back
through and release under the weight of the victim.
The perpetrator had also tied a stopper knot on the
end of the bowline knot and one on the end of his
handcuff knot. The stopper knot was set—tightened.
She had not yet examined what kind of knot he used
for the stoppers, but she’d bet they were all the
same knot.
‘‘Okay,’’ she said, ‘‘this is an anchor bend used on
the limb, also called a fisherman’s bend—it was at one
time used to tie anchors to ships.’’
She handed the photos to the sheriff and Garnett.
The chief of detectives smiled as he exchanged photos
of the knots with the sheriff. Diane had observed that
talking about knots did that to people—it made them
smile, as though they were gaining secret knowledge
about a really cool skill.
David and Jin noticed it too. It was one of the
things she valued about the two of them. They ob
served everything. Jin, especially, could maintain
pleasant eye contact, all the while taking in subtle in
formation about a person.
Neva sat very still with her hands clasped in front
of her. She mostly looked at the table, occasionally
making eye contact with Jin or David.
Diane handed her the stack of photographs. ‘‘Have
you had a chance to look at these?’’
She felt that giving Neva something to look at and
study might help her be less self-conscious, a quality
that would make her a better criminalist. Neva took the
photographs, glanced at Diane, and began looking
through them.
‘‘The rope that hung Chris Edwards was tied with
a granny knot, both on the closet rod and on the loop
that made the noose. It wasn’t a noose that tightened.
It was made so that when his head was raised, he
would stop choking.
‘‘I suppose Dr. Webber told you that there was
blood in his hair. She believes the killer may