Mistress of Justice

been collecting fingerprints from all over the world and comparing them, and nobody—none of
my
close friends, I’ll tell you—have been doing that with snowflakes. Go ahead, ask the next-most-popular question.”
    “Uh, do animals have fingerprints?”
    “Primates do, but who cares? We don’t give apes government clearances or put them on the ten-most-wanted list. That’s not the question. The question is twins.”
    “Twins?”
    “And the answer is that twins, quadruplets, duodeceplets—they all have different fingerprints. Now, who first discovered fingerprints?”
    “I have a feeling you’re going to tell me?”
    “Guess.”
    “Scotland Yard?” Taylor offered.
    “Prehistoric tribes in France were aware of fingerprints and used them as cave decorations. In the sixteen and seventeen hundreds they were used as graphic designs and trademarks. The first attempt to study them seriously was in 1823—Dr. J. E. Purkinje, an anatomy professor, came up with a crude classification system. Fingerprints became sexy in the late 1800s. Sir Francis Galton, who was a preeminent scholar in the field of …” He cocked his eyebrows at Taylor. “Daily Double?”
    “Dactyloscopy?”
    “Nice try but no. In the field of heredity. He established that all fingerprints are different and they never change throughout one’s life. The British government appointed Edward Richard Henry to a commission to consider using fingerprints to identify criminals. By around the turn of the century Henry had created the basic classification system they use in most countries. His system is called, coincidentally,the Henry system. New York was the first state to start fingerprinting all prisoners. Around 1902.”
    While she found this fascinating the urgency of the Hanover case kept prodding her. When he came up for air she asked, “If one were going to look for fingerprints, how would one do it?”
    “One’?” he asked coyly. “You?”
    “No, just … one.”
    “Well, it depends on the surface. You—excuse me,
one
—should wear cloth gloves—not latex. If the surface is light-colored one would use a carbon-based dark powder. On dark, one would use an aluminum-and-chalk mixture; it’s light gray. One would dust on the powder with a very soft, long-bristle brush. Then one removes the excess—”
    “How?”
    “Flip a coin,” the detective said.
    “One blows it off.”
    “A lot of rookies think that. But you tend to spit and ruin the whole print. No, use a brush. Now, powders only work on smooth surfaces. If you’ve got to take a print from paper there are different techniques. If the print’s oily maybe it’ll show up in iodine vapor. The problem is that you have to expose it in an enclosed cabinet and take a picture of the print very quickly because the vapors evaporate right away. Sometimes latents come out with a nitrate solution or ninhydrin or superglue. But that’s the big league, probably over your—one’s—skill level.
    “Now, once
one
has the print, he or”—a nod toward her
—“she
has to capture it. You lift it off the surface with special tape or else take a picture of it. Remember: Fingerprints are
evidence
. They have to get into the courtroom and in front of an expert witness.”
    “Now,” she said, “just speaking theoretically, could someone like me take fingerprints?”
    “If you practiced, sure. But could you testify that prints A and B were the same? No way. Could you even tell if they were the same or different? Not easy, mama, not at all. They squoosh out, they move, they splot. They look differentwhen they’re the same, they look identical except for some little significant difference you miss.… No, it isn’t easy. Fingerprinting is an art.”
    “How ’bout a machine, or something? A computer?”
    “The police use them, sure. The FBI. But not private citizens. Say, Ms. Lockwood?”
    “Taylor,” she prompted.
    “Perhaps if you told me exactly what your problem is I could offer some specific solutions.”
    “It’s somewhat sensitive.”
    “It always is. That’s why companies like us exist.”
    “Best to keep mum for the time being.”
    “Understood. Just let me know if you’d like another lesson. Though I do recommend keeping in mind the experts.” He grew serious and the charming banter vanished. “Should the matter become, let’s say, more than
sensitive
—a lot of our people here have carry permits.”
    “ ‘Carry’?”
    “They’re licensed to carry