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“And the city and I owe you our thanks,” Ballard said. “Let’s get back to this. Maddie, what can this private company do with the photos that our own lab didn’t do?”
“He said law enforcement lags behind in the use of identifiers that help in cases like these,” Maddie said.
“Like what?” Ballard asked. “This just sounds like a sales pitch.”
“Like ears,” Maddie said. “There are a number of studies out there that say the lines of the external ear—you know, the lobe, the helix, something called the concha, and various other shapes—all combine to be as unique an identifier as a fingerprint. There is this thing called Cameriere’s ear identification method that can be used to compare and confirm identity.”
“Wow, interesting,” Hatteras interjected.
Ballard realized that Hatteras was still standing behind her listening to the conversation.
“You showed me the file of photos you turned over to our lab,” Maddie said. “It had photos of the Thawyer victim named Betty that showed her right ear, but all the known photos of Elizabeth Shortyou submitted were headshots that didn’t show much of a side view of either ear. So I don’t think the lab did this kind of comparison.”
“I think I would have heard about it if they had,” Ballard said.
“I went online,” Maddie said. “Even the side-view mug shot of Short taken during her 1943 arrest in Santa Barbara didn’t have it. Her hair is over her ear.”
“So we have nothing to compare?” Ballard asked.
“No, we do,” Maddie said excitedly. “I found several, actually. They’re all from the crime scene on Norton Avenue where the killer left her body. In those photos, her face is turned to the side in the grass and you see her full right ear. But you didn’t include any of those shots in the lab package.”
“Because her face was bloodied and her cheeks were cut through like the Joker in that Batman movie,” Ballard said. “Horrible. And I didn’t think they were good photos for comparison.”
“They weren’t, not for normal facial comparison,” Maddie said. “But now we have clear images of her right ear to compare. I really think it’s worth a shot, and the guy said they would jump on it right away.”
“I think it’s worth a shot too,” Hatteras said.
Ballard turned to take in Hatteras again.
“Colleen,” she said, “why don’t you go to your pod and get ready to walk us through what you found yesterday.”
“No need,” Hatteras said. “I’m ready to go. I was waiting for you.”
“Well, go over there and we’ll join you in a minute, okay?”
“Okay.”
She said it like a child being sent to her room and walked away with her head down. Ballard turned her attention back to Maddie.
“Okay, go ahead with it,” she said. “Quietly. And I want you to write up some kind of confidentiality agreement and get Camerero or whatever his name is to sign it. I don’t want word of this leaking out.”
“No, Cameriere is the guy who invented the comparison index. The guy I talked to at FFI is named Ortiz, first name Lukas.”
“Okay, well, you can tell Mr. Lukas Ortiz to put a rush on it and that we’ll pay his people by the hour.”
“Okay, cool. I’m excited. I think it’s going to work.”
“That’s only going to be half the battle. Even if they call it a complete match, we’ll still need to convince the district attorney,” said Ballard.
“If this is as good as fingerprints, he’ll have to sign off.”
“Maybe. But this was good, you coming up with this, Maddie. Get it going.”
“I’ll head there now.”
48
NO VIDEO FROMthe roller-hockey player had come in from the captain. Ballard tried to push the problem she was facing with him out of her mind as she pulled her chair around the raft and sat down next to Hatteras.
