The air in the courtroom was so thick you could cut it with a…well…a knife, some broody dame was sobbing in the gallery, and the steno guy snuffled as he bashed the keys. It was a year ago today, Valentine’s Day, that the massacre took place. The investigating team was presenting its evidence, it was obvious to everyone but the judge, who’d stabbed the victim, the knife and the body had both been bagged. Trouble is, there was a thread hanging from the attorney’s Armani, but this was no slapdash haberdashery, this was the proverbial chink in the armour through which a guilty blade could easily slip. The wound was inflicted with the kind of blunt edged kitchen knife you can buy in any five and dime store so it was looking like our felon wasn’t gonna face the chair after all…
But wait, new evidence just in, a study of metal particles found in the valentines day wound reveals the presence of nickel and chromium atoms, exactly the same metallic blend on the accused’s kitchen dagger and in exactly the same ratio as the cutting edge of the knife itself. Crank up the juice Eugene, we got ourselves a fryer!
More cloak and dagger this week in David Bradley takes on Sam Spade, over on SpectroscopyNOW. You do know how to whistle, don’t you?