The Case Against Fred Raylor

Authorities believed that Fred Raylor had conceived the perfect crime, like something out of Hitchcock. In a criminal case, the standard jury instructions are that the government must prove the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt but not to scientific certainty. The case against Fred, the mysterious drownings of his wife and stepson, the insurance policies, and in the background, the story of another wife who'd also drowned inexplicably, it all looked bad. Maybe Fred was a Malibu Job, pitiable, cursed. That's what his friends thought.