Mickey sat across from Michael, his hands cuffed to a long chain that was attached to the table so that he could move his arms several feet in any direction but couldn't reach Michael. Mickey's eyes were bleary like he hadn't gotten much sleep the night before.
"You doing okay inside?" Michael asked, pushing a cup of coffee across the table to Mickey as a small thank-you for agreeing to the interview. It was fully within Michael's job description and responsibilities to interview suspects, but he wanted to be on Mickey's good side. He found that honey went a lot farther than vinegar in getting a suspect to cooperate.
"I'll manage," Mickey said, his voice tired. "I've been in before. I know how it goes."
"Okay," Michael said and opened up the file he'd brought along with photos of the bodies and the autopsy report. He pulled out the sheet of paper that had Dr. Keller's drawing of the location of the wounds on John Doe's body and on Sutton's. "What I wanted was to go back over the murders one more time, clarify a few issues. I have these from the autopsy report. You can see that there are defensive wounds on John Doe's arm here and here," Michael said, holding up the several sheets of paper for Mickey to view. "Also on Sutton's back and chest."
"Yeah, I see," Mickey said, his voice sounding bored. He avoided looking at the drawings.
Michael then held up the corresponding photos of the bodies, including one of the body on the autopsy table and one of John Doe after he had been removed from the outhouse and before he had been cleaned off. Keller had taken photographs of the man's arms, showing the defensive wounds and those on Sutton's back.
Mickey didn't look too pleased at the sight of John Doe's body after it had come out of the outhouse receptacle. He even made a face of disgust.
"Yeah, it's pretty revolting," Michael said. "Harsh way to die."
Mickey nodded. "Bastard deserved it."
Michael didn't respond to his comment. Instead, he placed the photos back in the file and then folded his hands on the table.
"So, I want you to show me what you did when you killed them."
"What do you mean? I stabbed them both. That's all."
"Yes, I know," Michael said in a friendly tone, "but show me how you did it. Re-enact the kills."
Mickey seemed aghast at the request and frowned. "You actually want me to pretend I'm killing them again?"
"Yes, exactly," Michael said plainly. "Show me how you did it. Your moves. We need you to do it for the record, so we have everything wrapped up."
Mickey sat there, not meeting Michael's eyes. He looked angry or upset at the prospect.
"There's enough give in those chains that you should be able to show me. Pretend you have the knife and are stabbing Sutton -- the first man you killed. You said," Michael said and glanced down at Mickey's written confession, "that you came upon Sutton and John Doe in the middle of filming Sutton assaulting Sadie on the sofa. You said, and I quote, 'I came up behind him and I just started to stab him. I stabbed him over and over again. He fell forward and knocked into Rachel's father, knocking him to the floor."
"That's right," Mickey said, nodding. "That's exactly what happened. I just lunged at Sutton and started stabbing."
"Show me," Michael said again. "Show me exactly how you did it."
Mickey frowned, but finally, he reached up and stabbed, and it was then Michael saw it -- he used his left hand, stabbing downward a dozen times in a row.
"I don't know how many times," Mickey said. "I just stabbed and stabbed."
Michael nodded. "And then, when Rachel's father got up, you stabbed him, too?"
"Right," Mickey said and motioned that he stabbed downward and outwards towards Michael, like he was stabbing someone. He was using his left hand again.
He really didn't even think of it.
It was then that Michael knew Mickey hadn't killed either man.
Someone had, of course, but it wasn't Mickey. Mickey didn't realize that whoever killed the men was right-handed, so he just pretended to do what he thought Michael wanted to see.
"Thanks," Michael said. "I appreciate the help."
"Will the judge expect me to act it out in court?" Mickey asked, looking like he didn't want to have to perform in front of a judge.
"No, no," Michael said and closed the file. "You just have to tell the judge the truth. Exactly what happened. That's all." Michael smiled and stood up. "Thanks for your help. I'll get back to you if I have any more questions."
"Sure," Mickey said. "Thanks for the coffee."
"You're most welcome."
With that, Michael left the interview room and went to his Jeep, sitting for a moment, trying to get his mind clear on what to do next.
Obviously, Mickey was covering for someone, but who?
Why would he agree to take the fall in the double homicide? Who was he protecting?
It had to be someone in the criminal underworld.
Maybe Robinson.
Michael drove straight to the police station to speak with Detective Chambers, the detective in charge of the case, whose office was in the Major Crimes Unit on the second floor of the building. After he arrived and parked his Jeep, he checked in with the MCU's admin person, who ushered Michael into the office space where Chambers was standing with a cup of coffee in hand.
"Michael," Chambers said. "Come in, come in. What can I do for you? How are things in the DA's office?"
"We’ve run into a few snags, which is why I'm here to see you. I have something you will want to hear."
"Shoot," Chambers said.
"Do you have somewhere we can speak?"
Chambers nodded and said something to the other detective.
"What's up, Michael? Something with the case?" he asked as he led Michael into a small meeting room off to the rear of the building.
Michael sat down and placed the file on the table. He shrugged, knowing that what he was about to say would screw things up royally.
"Mickey didn't do the killings," he said plainly.
Chambers frowned and then sat back, his hands on the table. "Go on."
Michael sighed and opened the file of evidence he'd compiled. "Mickey's left-handed. According to the ME's report, the killer used his right hand."
"Huh," Chambers said. "We usually check that sort of thing when we're interviewing a suspect."
"But maybe not one who has confessed and who was definitely at the scene of the crime. When you have a confession and physical evidence, and you have witnesses who say the suspect left with one of the missing persons, why would you doubt it?"
"Apparently we wouldn't," Chambers said with a sigh. "Okay. Show me the evidence."
Michael laid out the autopsy report drawings and the photographs showing the defensive wounds. He also showed the lines in the ME's report on the location of the wounds and the handedness of the killer.
"Crap," Chambers said. "And you got Mickey to re-enact the murders?"
"I did. He didn't hesitate to use his left hand both times. He never thought about it. Neither did we."
Chambers nodded slowly. "Okay. What's your theory of why? Who's he covering for?"
"Maybe Robinson? He returned to the crime scene and took the memory card, which suggests he knew what was on it at a minimum and felt it was important enough to attack me to get it. But why would Mickey take the fall for Robinson?"
"Maybe he owes Robinson? I don't know. Mickey used to be involved in some bad shit before his jailhouse conversion." He shook his head and laughed ruefully. "Thanks, Michael. Just what I need -- starting over again with a case we all thought was open and shut. This is something we'll have to track down."
"Sorry," Michael said. "Something just didn't sit right with me about Mickey's confession, I guess."
Chambers shrugged. "My captain isn't going to like this. Maybe we should go in and break the news to him together."
Michael laughed. "Yeah, I know your game. You want me to take some of the heat."
"You got it," Chambers replied. "Two targets is better than one. Let's go. I think he's in now."
Michael followed Chambers down the hallway to meet with the Captain in charge of the Major Crimes unit.
Captain Steve Hall was seated behind his desk, reading glasses perched on the end of his nose, staring at his computer screen. The top button of his shirt's collar was unfastened, his tie loosened. What little hair he had was mussed, like he'd been rubbing his head.
"Come in, come in," Hall said, waving the two men inside. "Have a seat."
Michael and Chambers sat in the chairs across from Hall's desk.
"What's up?" He glanced between them. "I don't like the expression on either of your faces.”
Chambers looked at Michael and took in a deep breath. "We might have to reassess our view about Mickey Lowell being the killer in the Silver Lake double homicide.”
"Uh, oh," Hall said and leaned back in his chair, pushing the reading glasses up on top of his head. "I don't like the sound of that. Tell me more."
Chambers nodded towards Michael, who leaned forward. "I interviewed him again today and asked him to re-enact the murders. Show me how he did it. I saw the video of him signing the confession with his left hand and I remembered that the murderer used his right hand to kill both men, according to the ME's report."
Hall sighed heavily. "Any chance his right hand was hurt and that's why he used his left?"
Michael shook his head. "No. He's in good shape today and he used his left hand. He's left-handed. It would be completely out of the norm for him to use his right hand if he is truly left-handed. Whoever killed Sutton and our John Doe was right-handed. Keller agrees with me."
"Damn," Hall said. "Well, I guess we better spend some time talking with Lowell. How do you want to approach this? Should we dig a little more or should we just confront him with this and see how he reacts?"
"It might help if we have a theory of who Mickey was protecting first,” Michael offered. “Maybe it’s James Robinson. If so, we should know a bit more about Robinson, so we can understand why Lowell was willing to take the fall for him. Then, we will be operating from a position of power. This way, he could double down and make up an excuse. I don't want him going to jail for someone else."
"I'm with you. I want to know why Lowell would be protecting Robinson, if he’s the real killer, before we go in there and reveal our hand.”
"I agree," Michael replied and turned to Chambers. "What do you think?"
"Sounds right to me."
Michael sighed and a moment of silence passed. He knew that all three men were probably reflecting on this new development.
It meant they’d have to start over, reassess everything.
That trip down to Redding would have to be postponed even longer, if that was the case…