Jacob

I woke up early Friday morning and got ready for another day of summer vacation. I had no plans on this day except watching CrimeBusters at 4:30 PM. Little did I know how everything would change.

"Jacob, you have a phone call," my mom said. "I think it might be your friend Christopher. He sounds very upset."

I picked up the phone wondering why Christopher would be calling me. We hadn't talked since school ended in May.

"Jacob, I need your help. My neighbor's dog is dead, and I want to find out who did this to him. Can you help me?"

"Describe the scene of the crime."

"The garden is 4 feet by 4 feet, and Wellington is in the middle of the garden. He's lying on his back with a fork stuck in his side. There is dried blood around the area."

"How big is the fork?"

"It's a gardening fork."

As Christopher spoke, I reached to the counter and found a fresh notebook. I began taking notes on what he was telling me.

Scene: Dog was found dead i garden. There is a fork in the dog's side and dried blood around the body.

Evidence: Blood, fork

"Have you touched anything," I asked. You never ever touch anything at a scene of the crime unless you're wearing latex gloves so that your fingerprints are not mixed in with the suspect's prints.

"No, you've told me not to ever touch anything at a scene of the crime. Mrs. Shears wanted to remove her dog, but I told her that she couldn't touch the dog until you came."

"OK, good. I'll be there as soon as I finish breakfast."

I quickly finished my breakfast of blueberries and cream. After that, I gathered the things I'll need to solve this mystery. I packed a bag with packing tape, magnetic powder, a makeup brush Mom has given me for fingerprint collection, paper bags, and my notebook. I decided that if I can't lift prints on the gardening fork, I'll package it in an evidence bag and bring it back here to photograph the print.
"Jacob, where are you going?" Mom asked.

"Christopher wants me to come over and help him find out who killed his neighbor's dog."

"You'll be good at that," Mom said.

"Thanks."

As I'm in the mud room putting on my shoes and bike helmet, I heard the phone ring. It's probably for Mom so I'll ignore it.

"Jacob, it's for you. You're popular today!"

"I need to go, Mom. Christopher's waiting."

"It's Annabell. She's in town for the vacation you told me she was planning after your visit."

Annabell is someone I met earlier this summer when I took a trip to New York. She's visually impaired but is very independent. The visit was fun except for the night I spent in jail after her seizure and the next few days when I had to go to court. After that got cleared up, we had a good visit. She had told me that she might be in Townsend later this summer for a vacation. I just didn't think it would be today when Christopher needs my forensics skills.

"Tell her I'm helping someone with forensics."

Mom relayed the message and came back to the mud room.

"She wants to know if she can come with you to the crime scene. She's never seen you use your forensics knowledge."

"I don't know what the crime scene will be like. I don't want her to contaminate anything by touching something she shouldn't."

"Jacob, she travelled all this way to see you. I'm sure she wouldn't touch something she shouldn't touch if she knows this ahead of time."

"Mom, I need to concentrate on solving this crime. She'll probably ask all kinds of questions about what I'm doing."

"She might, but what better way for both of you to learn something? She can learn more about forensics, and you can learn how to explain things in a way that non forensic scientists will understand. I think this would be a good experience for both of you."

"If you think so. How will she get to Christopher's house?"

"I'm not sure, but let me talk to her."

As I put on the helmet, I heard Mom's end of the conversation.

"Our house is on Green Mountain Road. It's a yellow house second on the right as you're travelling down the street."

Just then, the doorbell rang.

"Jacob, it's Annabell."

I slung my backpack over my shoulder and went to greet Annabell.

"It's great to see you, Jacob. How's your summer going?"

"It's great! I'm on my way to solve a crime for Christopher."

"Who's Christopher?"

"He attends the same school I graduated from. He knows about my forensics knowledge and asked me to do this."

"Mind if I come with you? I've never seen you solve anything. I mean, I solved the crime you staged when you visited me in May, but I've never seen you actually solve anything."

"You can't touch anything."

"I know. My prints will contaminate your samples, therefore you can't make an accurate AFIS match."

"Right, but I don't have access to AFIS. I'll be making matches in a different way. It's going to be more primitive than what you've read in your Michael Connelly books."

"I'll be riding my bike over there. Do you have a bike here?"

"Jacob, I can't ride a bike."

"You can't ride a bike?"

"Nope. I have crappy balance. Plus, you wouldn't want a visually impaired person riding a bike. It's not safe."

"Everyone rides bikes."

"Not everyone rides a bike, Jacob. You really don't want me riding a bike. It would be much too unsafe."

"But you told me that you have vision. Therefore, you should be able to ride a bike. Anyone with vision can ride a bike."

"Jacob, it's not as simple as you're making it out to be. Riding a bike is unsafe for certain people. I'm in that group because of my poor balance and limited vision. If Christopher lives within walking distance, I'm able to walk there if we remain together. Since I've never been to his house, I don't know the route."

Annabell is so hard to convince! Anyone should be able to ride a bike. I know she has vision because she told me in May that she can see some things. Therefore, if she has vision, she should be able to ride a bike. It's not that difficult.

I hop on my bike and begin pedaling towards Christopher's house. I see Annabell isn't close by. What's going on? I stop and look back. She's closer to my house so I turn around and pedal back to her.

"Jacob, we need to stick together because I don't know this route."

"It's not that difficult. It's 2 blocks away from here with no turns. It's just like the route we walked from CABVI to your apartment in May except shorter."

"I don't walk as quickly as you ride your bike. You'll need to slow down so that I can keep pace with you."

We begin again this time I'm pedaling much more slowly. If only she could walk as quickly as I ride my bike. As we're moving, I'm thinking about how I'm going to approach the crime scene. Annabell begins talking, but my mind is somewhere else, and I don't focus on what she's saying.

"Jacob, are you listening to me?"

"Sorry, I'm thinking about what needs to be done when we get there."

We finally arrived at Christopher's house and rang the bell.

"Hi, Jacob."

"Hi, Christopher. I'm ready to start."

We walked through the house to the garden. Christopher's house is smaller than my house as he lives with his father. His mother left 2 years ago. Annabell hurried to keep up with us. When we got to the garden, I immediately saw the scene of the crime. Christopher had already secured the perimeter with yellow crime scene tape.

"Christopher, I need you to give me more specific information about what happened last night so that I can develop an accurate chronology of events."

"I had dinner at 6:00 because Dad wasn't home from work yet. He didn't get home until 10:00 last night. In the meantime, I did my homework and played computer games. I saw him arrive home at 10:00, but he didn't come into the house for 15 minutes. As soon as his car pulled into the driveway, Wellington began barking like he always does whenever someone comes home. After a few minutes, I didn't hear Wellington barking anymore so assumed he had calmed down. Dad came in and went to bed like he always does if he comes home this late. I went out into the garden to check on Wellington because it's unusual for him to be this quiet. Mrs. Shears was there too and started yelling at me that I had killed her dog. I told her that I was inside all evening, but she didn't believe me. I saw Wellington lying still with the fork stuck into his side. Mrs. Shears wanted to touch him to remove the fork, but I told her that I'd figure out what happened. She shouldn't touch anything. I came in then and went to bed. When I woke up this morning, I decided to call you."

"That's a good summary. I'm sure I can crack the case."

I snapped on a pair of latex gloves so that I could touch things without getting my prints on anything.

Annabell touched my shoulder, but I didn't notice her presence. When I'm solving a crime, I'm totally focused on what I'm doing. A tornado could blow through the area, and I'd never even notice.

"Jacob, it's obvious that Christopher's father killed Wellington," Annabell said.

"I doubt it. I haven't even lifted any prints yet. Why do you say that?"

"Well, he said that his father didn't come into the house for 15 minutes after he drove home. Then Christopher said that Wellington stopped barking soon after his father arrived home. He also said that he was inside all evening. With all these pieces of nonvisual evidence, it's obvious that his father was the killer."

"I doubt it. Forensics doesn't rely on hearsay like this. Christopher's statement is important to establish his alibi, but it doesn't exonerate his father. Only forensics will do that.

After Annabell told me her weak theory, I began working the scene. Wellington was lying on his left side with the fork sticking out of his right side. There was dried blood pooled on the ground by the site of the injury.

When I examined the fork, I saw a latent print on the handle. It wasn't a very good print, but I lifted it anyway. Christopher was standing off to one side watching me work.

"Have you found any prints?"

"Yes, there's a latent print on the handle of the fork. It's not very good, but with Photoshop, I can make it bigger. I'll need to go inside and lift a print from a glass or something else that your father has recently touched."

"He's at work so that won't be a problem."

Annabell touched my shoulder.

"Jacob, what about the blood? Aren't you going to collect a sample of that and type it?"

"Annabell, I don't have all the high tech gadgets that Henry Lee has. We'll need to use latent prints to find the perp."

"I thought you were the hot shot CSI who knew everything about forensics. Have you been deceiving me all this time?"

I don't know what her problem is. I thought she wanted to watch me work a crime scene, but now, she's telling me who the perp is and how to even collect evidence. I know much more about forensics than she does.

After I safely packed my samples into evidence bags, we trooped inside. Christopher pointed to a coffee cup on the counter next to the sink. I unpacked my supplies and prepared to lift a print.

"Will you teach me how to lift a print?" Annabell asked.

"You can't even see prints. How are you even going to lift one?"

"Jacob, I only want to learn the process. It's only for my enrichment. I'll never use this stuff in a career like you will. I've been interested in forensics since we met."

"You need vision to even find a print, and there's no way to make it tactile."

I don't know why my mother thought it was a good idea for Annabell to come with me to this scene. She's making this work much slower and more difficult than it needs to be. I moved away from her and prepared to lift a print. I saw 3 good prints so lifted each of them. Once they were safely packed into evidence bags, I turned towards Christopher.

"I'm going to have to take photos of the print I lifted from the fork because it's not very good in its present condition. Once I upload the photo into Photoshop, I can enlarge it. The prints lifted from your father's cup are great prints."

"How long will that take?"

"Not very long. If I leave now, I can have this done within an hour."

"That's great. You're fast!"

We said good bye to Christopher and left. Remembering the problems getting here, I opted to walk my bike home rather than ride it.

"Jacob, I tell you, his father is the killer. It's obvious based on what he told you. Why don't you believe me?" Annabell said.

"I have to work the scene and analyze all the forensic evidence. No one solves a crime based on nonvisual evidence. It's all visual."

"I'm 100% sure that his father is the killer. Why are you so stubborn?"

"Because they never solve any crime on CrimeBusters without using any forensic evidence. There are always CSI's collecting evidence and lab techs analyzing the evidence. Even though the cops have an idea who the suspect might be, they never say for sure until all forensic evidence is in and analyzed. I'm just doing everything the way it's done on CrimeBusters."

"CrimeBusters is a TV show and not even accurate."

"Of course it's accurate!"

"Maybe in your world, but in the real world, cops don't work this way."

"Of course that's the way cops act in the real world. They always collect forensic evidence and send it to a lab for analysis. They also lift prints in order to find an AFIS match. No cop ever walks onto a scene and immediately knows who the perp is."

"That's one way to solve a crime scene. Forensics aren't always right. What about planted evidence?"

"That's just a ploy authors use to get more readers. No evidence is ever planted on CrimeBusters."

"Jacob, not everything in the real world goes exactly how CrimeBusters goes. CrimeBusters is a Hollywood production. Hollywood jazzes things up to bring in more money."

"There's no jazz music on CrimeBusters."

"I don't know what I'm going to do to convince you that his dad is the one who killed the dog."

"Let me analyze the prints using Photoshop, and then we'll see who's right."

I took 2 photos of the print I had lifted from the garden fork as well as the prints lifted from the coffee mug. I then downloaded the pictures into my computer and opened Adobe Photoshop. As soon as I cropped the images so that only the fingerprint was visible, I discovered there was a clear match between the print on the fork and the print on the coffee cup.

"What did you find?" Annabell asked.

"There's a clear match between the print lifted from the coffee cup and the print lifted from the fork."

"I told you from the beginning. You didn't have to lift prints."

"Yes, but forensic science is dependent on visual evidence not hearsay like I told you at Christopher's house."

"You're so rigid!"

"I'm not rigid. If everyone solved crimes by what they thought happened, criminals would be roaming our streets free to do as they pleased. Crimes have to be solved systematically and using visual evidence."

"Jacob, not everything has to be done by the books. There has to be room for interpretation in the world."

"If that happened all the time, the world would be less structured and more difficult to live in."

I called Christopher to tell him what I had found.

"How sure are you?" he asked.

"100% sure. The prints are an exact match. I can e-mail you the pictures so you can see for yourself."

"Oh I believe you. I wouldn't even know where to look to determine if it's a match."

I e-mailed Christopher the pictures and went into detail about how each print had the same whirls and minutia, thus making a perfect match.