Page 74 of Shadow of Doubt
Sierra nodded. “Though of course we can’t concretely prove that he picked up the gun and fired it. The forensic evidence would speak to that.”
Colin scanned the page, disappointment settling in. “No other prints recovered, though?”
Sierra frowned. “I have one partial from the doorknob, but it’s not enough for a solid comparison.”
“So, no luck then on our victim’s ID?” Dev asked.
“Normally I would say no, but we have been working with an engineering student to evaluate fingerprinting using AI. He developed an AI-based system that has learned to correlate a person’s unique prints with great accuracy.”
Dev’s mouth fell open. “Artificial Intelligence in fingerprinting. Is nothing safe these days?”
“How does it work?” Colin asked.
Sierra set down her papers. “The system analyzes the curvature of the fingerprint’s center swirls rather than the minutiae or endpoints in its ridges. Of course, this is controversial at this point and not accepted at all, but it’s possible I can get a lead for you. If I do, it most definitely won’t be accepted as standard practice or hold up in a court of law.”
Colin shook his head. “AI is taking over the world.”
“I hear you,” Sierra said. “Most disturbing about this student’s work is that he claims to have proven not every fingerprint is unique. Something we’ve believed and lived by in criminal courts.”
“Wow!” Reid slapped his hands on the table. “That could open a real can of worms.”
“If it proves to be founded, it could indeed rock our system. Would give many inmates whose convictions are based on fingerprints cause for appeal.”
Dev shook his head. “I’ve been glad to be out of law enforcement, but I keep learning even more reasons why it was a good decision.”
“Amen to that,” Reid said.
The phone sitting on the table near Nick rang.
He lifted the handset. “Conference room.” He listened. “Oh, hey, Kels.”
He listened again and frowned. “Okay. Sure. I’ll tell them.”
He hung up and turned to the group. “That was Kelsey. She managed to plump the finger found in the box to get a print. She wants to see you in her lab as soon as you finish here.”
Colin didn’t care if he finished lunch. He pushed to his feet and started for the door. He had to think she wanted to see them because she had an ID. At least, that was his hope. Maybe the man’s identity would lead to finding Kane Tarver and having him arrested for murder.
18
Blake and Nick joined Brooklyn and the rest of the Shadow Lake team for the trip to Kelsey’s lab. Brooklyn wasn’t surprised to see the anthropologist standing at the table near where the skull had been located earlier, but now additional bones for the lower part of the skeleton had been added to the table. The odor had improved, but Brooklyn’s stomach still roiled around her lunch. She hadn’t been very hungry and shouldn’t have eaten a bite, which she now regretted.
“Oh, good.” Kelsey cast them a ready smile. “Sorry if I interrupted lunch, but I thought you would want to be here when the results came in for the finger.” She tapped a white bin with the plastic-bagged finger. “I was able to rehydrate it faster than I thought. I suspect it hasn’t been separated from the body as long as I first believed.”
“Were you able to generate a valid print?” Nick asked.
She nodded. “I already submitted it to AFIS and got a result back faster than I expected for that too.”
“So you know who our victim is?” Brooklyn tried not to sound excited. After all, they were talking about a man who’d lost his life.
“I know who this finger belongs to, but that’s all at this point, as I will have to clean it to compare to the hand and see if it was excised from these skeletal remains. And Emory’s DNA will conclusively link it to this victim. Or not.” She touched the skull with her gloved finger.
“For now,” Blake said. “Share the name.”
“Okay, here goes.” She moved to the computer in the corner and started something printing, then snatched a page up from the printer to study it. “The deceased’s name is Matteo Albertelli.”
“Albertelli!” Blake’s eyes narrowed. “As in one of the brothers heading up the Albertelli organized crime family. Wow!”
“Pretty much everyone in law enforcement in this state has heard of them,” Colin said. “But what in the world does Tarver have to do with them?”
