Bastinelli walks back to his table. “Thank you, Trooper. No further questions.”

Now it’s Tess Hardy’s turn. She walks to the lectern and introduces herself to Josephs. Seems calm and courteous. And really curious.

“Trooper Josephs, when you made that traffic stop that night, how long had you worked?”

“That shift? About nine hours.”

“So nine hours until the point where you stopped the Sentra?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And then you followed the tow truck with the Sentra to the impound lot and guarded the car until the remains were transferred to the medical examiner’s van, correct?”

“Correct.”

“How long were you there?”

Josephs has to think for a couple seconds. “Around… five hours.”

“And this was the middle of the night—actually, the wee hours of the morning at this point, am I right?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Hardy tucks a strand of her neat blond hair behind her ear. “So, after working fourteen hours, more or less, what were you doing while you were guarding the vehicle and waiting for the ME van to arrive?”

The trooper seems puzzled. “I was just sitting. In my cruiser.”

“How long did you sleep?”

Josephs looks puzzled. “Not at all.”

Hardy leaves the lectern and walks forward until she’s standing about four feet from Josephs. He’s a big guy, but in this configuration, Hardy is looking down at him.

“Are you sure? Isn’t it possible that you dozed off and that, during that time, somebody might have tampered with the contents of the trunk? Removed or added something?”

“The trunk was locked, ma’am. I had the key in my pocket.”

“Was the Sentra alarmed?”

“No, ma’am. It wasn’t.”

“Trooper Josephs, how many vehicle break-ins have you investigated in your career as a law enforcement officer?”

Bastinelli jumps up. “Objection! Relevance!”

Hardy turns to the judge. “Your Honor, I think chain of custody with regard to human remains is extremely relevant.”

Dow nods. “Overruled. I’ll allow it. But let’s not make this a long detour, Ms. Hardy.”

“Thank you, Your Honor. Trooper, do you need me to repeat the question?”

“If you don’t mind.”

“How many vehicle break-ins have you investigated?”

“I can’t say, ma’am. I’m not sure.”

“Less than fifty? More than fifty?”

“Probably more, but…” Josephs looks a bit rattled.

“So you know that professional thieves with the right tools can unlock a car door or a car trunk quickly and with very little noise. Am I right?”

“They can, yes.”

“And if you had dozed off, after fourteen straight hours of work, in the wee hours of the morning, you might not have seen it happen. You might not even have known it had happened. Isn’t that right?”

“But I wasn’t sleeping!” Josephs shifts in the witness chair.

“So you said, Trooper.” Hardy looks at the jury. She raises her eyebrows slightly. “No further questions.”

A seed of doubt, nicely sown.