Double Jeopardy

32

The two agents came into the living room. In their dark suits, button-down collars, and bland neckties, they looked like aliens from the spaceship Federal. They held up their badges.

“Good morning,” the taller of them said. “I am Special Agent Neal Olshan, FBI, and this is my partner, Special Agent Robert Paul. Which of you is Carly Riggs?”

“I am,” Carly said, giving them a little wave. “And no, you may not speak to me alone. I want witnesses.”

Olshan looked a little worried. “I’m afraid we have to speak about some rather delicate, personal matters,” he said. “Things they might not care to hear.”

“They’ve heard it all before, with all the wrinkles and crevices. And they’ve stood up to it very well. I hope you two can do the same. What do you want to know?”

“Let’s start with your criminal appeals class,” Olshan said.

“Would you like to sit down?” Stone asked, indicating two vacant chairs.

“Thank you, yes,” the agent replied, then did so.

“All right,” Carly said. She took them through her experience, step by step, omitting nothing and finished with her rescue from the river by the teenager. “There,” she said finally, “anything else?”

“You have told others that you recognized your assailants.”

“Rapists.”

“If you prefer.”

“Yes, I do. I didn’t say I recognized them. I, rather, identified them from their eyes, which were uncommonly blue and identical, and from their manner of speaking.”

“You recognized their voices?”

“No. I recognized their manner of speaking.”

“And how would you describe their ‘manner of speaking’?”

“Shorthand,” she said. “They used very few words to communicate, and yet, both understood exactly what was said.”

“I understand that you have said you could pick them out of a police lineup by their eyes.”

“I did say that, and I’m waiting for somebody to take me up on it.”

“We may well do that, if we can locate them.”

“I believe you can locate them about a mile down the road, at their house,” she said.

Olshan sat up even straighter. “They’re on the island?”

“Are you sure?” asked Agent Paul.

“I believe I may have put a shotgun pellet or two into one of them last night, right over there on the back porch.”

Both men got up, walked over to the window, and examined the marks left by the shotgun. “Is this armored glass?” Olshan asked.

“Ostensibly,” Stone said. “You will note that only two pellets penetrated the glass. If the pane had not been armored, it’s likely the better part of it would have shattered.”

“Mr. Barrington, may I ask why you live in a house with armored glass?”

“It came that way,” Stone replied. “I inherited it from a cousin who was a career CIA officer, and it is my understanding that it was built to the Agency’s specifications.”

“I can confirm that,” Lance said.

“Mr. Cabot, is it?”

“It is.”

“Do the specifications include a security system?”

“They do, but it did not operate as intended. Why, is being investigated as we speak.”

“I see.”

“What else do you see?” Carly asked. “I’d be grateful for your insight, if such exists.”

“I believe you have drawn all the correct conclusions,” Olshan said, “except for your untested theory about the police lineup.”

“Then test it,” she said. “I’ve told you where to find the twins.”

“It’s not the sort of thing that can be managed on the island. We would need the cooperation of the Connecticut and Maine State Police, and the use of one of their facilities. If we did it any other way, we would be liable for any failure of the test.”

“Failure by me, you mean?”

“Well, yes, for want of a better word.”

“‘Me’ is a perfectly good word, in the circumstances,” she said.

“First, we’d have to arrest them, then...”

“I don’t see why that’s a problem.”

“We must have a charge.”

“How about the rape and murder of an FBI agent and the rape and attempted murder of his companion?”

“There are other considerations,” Olshan said.

“Political ones?” Stone asked.

“Well, yes. The twins have already been pardoned by the governor for the murders of their parents. We understand that their father was a classmate and friend of the governor at Yale.”

“Are you afraid that, if you arrest them, the governor will pardon them again?”

“There is that to consider,” Olshan said. “My superiors are, ah, sensitive about such matters.”

“Carly,” Stone said, “I believe these gentlemen require a smoking gun.”

“No gun was used.”

“I speak metaphorically. They require better evidence than bright, blue eyes.”

“Like DNA from a rape kit?”

Olshan looked really surprised this time. “A rape kit exists?”

“The examination was made,” Carly said. “Last I heard, it was in the possession of the New Haven police.”

“What lab was it sent to?”

“I have no knowledge of the lab preferences of the New Haven police.”

“Then I think our next step is to run down that kit and its report.”

“And would the rape kit constitute a smoking gun?” Carly asked.

“If it was properly conducted and the results properly examined, retained, and preserved under the proper circumstances.”

“Tell me,” Carly said, “do identical twins have identical DNA?”

Olshan looked at her blankly. “I have no idea,” he said. “I’d have to research that.”

Stone spoke up, “I’m told that the DNA of identical twins can have differences.”

“What is the source of your information?”

“Impeccable,” Stone replied, holding up his iPhone. “Siri.”