Faye Kellerman_Decker & Lazarus 16

by The Burnt House

  It could have been the jewelry, but Marge didn’t stop to figure out what it was. She threw the woman down to the ground and pounced on top of her.

  A .32 Smith & Wesson skittered out of Patricia’s hand, fell to the ground, and discharged, the bullet slicing through the car’s rear passenger tire. Immediately, the car sank off balance. Marge stared at the hapless vehicle.

  What was it with her and flat tires at the most inconvenient times?

  By now Marge was riding Patricia’s back and had yanked her arms around as Oliver clamped on the manacles.

  “That was dumb.” He straightened up and picked up the dancer’s purse. “What else do you have in here, Patricia?”

  “My name is Marina and I don’t have anything in there!”

  “You have Mace.”

  “A girl needs protection!”

  “What the hell is this?” Carefully Oliver pulled out a leather sheath. Inside was a seven-inch boning knife. He handled it gingerly, knowing that he could be looking at a murder weapon. “A gun and a knife and Mace? Are you planning to take on some terrorists?”

  “I didn’t do anything!”

  “Lady, you just tried to shoot me!” Marge exclaimed.

  “I wasn’t trying to shoot anyone,” Patricia yelled back. “If you wouldn’t have jumped me, the gun wouldn’t have gone off!”

  “Oh my God!” Marge’s heart was beating like a hummingbird. She didn’t want to say anything she’d regret, so she kept silent.

  Patricia was yelling. “I was just trying to get rid of the gun so I wouldn’t get into trouble.”

  Marge got off the dancer’s back and jerked her to her feet. “Guess what, Patricia! It didn’t work!”

  DECKER WAS GRATEFUL that he had gone home instead of straight to work. It had forced him to shower, change, and eat and made him much more presentable for the long hours needed for the upcoming interviews. Patricia Childress a.k.a. Marina Alfonse had been charged with capital murder, ADW, weapons possession, as well as resisting arrest. She wasn’t going anywhere. Ivan Dresden was another story. He had been asked to come in voluntarily to answer a few routine questions about the Beemer, using the pretense that the police were planning to return it shortly.

  Decker wanted to see whose story best fit the forensic facts. He figured that both of them were in on the crime. Whoever was deemed the more reliable would be tapped as the state’s witness against the other. It was possible that neither one would qualify, but he wouldn’t know that until he had heard both sides.

  Since Oliver had dealt with Patricia before and since it was likely that Patricia favored men over women, he was elected the primary interviewer of the stripper. Decker would try his luck with Ivan Dresden. He was relieved when Dresden walked into the station house without his lawyer—not likely to remain that way once the questioning got started. It was Decker’s job to put Dresden in a talkative mood.

  “Thanks so much for coming in, Mr. Dresden.” He did a quick once-over of his prey. The stockbroker had on a black muscle T, a pair of black jogging pants, and a sweat jacket. Athletic shoes on his feet. His hair was combed back and he was newly shaven. The man appeared comfortable and that was good. To make him even more comfortable, Decker had brought in two cups of coffee with packets of powder and sugar and laid them on the steel table: that along with three steel chairs composed the furniture in the room. He sat down, took a sip from one of the paper cups, then loosened his tie and tried to appear casual. “Just in case you want some coffee.”

  “No.” Dresden was dour. “How long is this going to take?”

  “How about some water?”

  “You didn’t answer my question.”

  “I know.” Decker grinned. “That’s a police technique we learn at the academy. Never answer questions.”

  Dresden wasn’t biting. “When do I get my car back?”

  “Aren’t you curious why we took it in the first place?”

  Dresden said, “Is that also a technique? To answer a question with a question?”

  “You caught me.” Decker pulled out a pad of paper and his pen. “We’re trying to rule out the possibility that you had anything to do with your wife’s disappearance. We checked your condo and that was clean. Next step was the car.”

  “Then why did you bother with a warrant?” Dresden sulked. “Why not just ask me? You could have checked the car.”

  Decker wrote as he spoke. “We just like to do everything by the book.”

  “And what book is that? The comic book?” Dresden shook his head. “You said you had a few questions and then I’d get my car back. I came here without my lawyer. I’m trying to be cooperative, but everyone has a limit.”

  “Then I’ll sum things up for you,” Decker said. “We talked to Jimbo Jim Franco at Jim’s upholstery. You had the entire car redone about a month after the crash. I’m curious about that.”

  “First of all, I didn’t redo the entire car,” Dresden said. “I changed the carpets and the upholstery. Roseanne had some kind of whitey, creamy color that looked too feminine for my taste.” He looked down at the tabletop. “Also the car reminded me too much of Roseanne. I wanted to keep the car, but I didn’t want a ghost riding around with me. Plus, I sold my own car to pay some debts. So if that’s a crime, sue me.”

  “The upholstery was cream but the carpets were black. Why replace black carpets with new black carpets?”

  Dresden’s eyes shifted. “Didn’t Jimbo tell you the whole story?”

  “Jimbo doesn’t talk a lot. Why don’t you tell me?”

  An exasperated sigh and a glance at his watch. “How long is this going to take? Am I under arrest or something?”

  “Why do you ask?”

  “I mean I can just walk out right now, right?”

  “You don’t want to do that, Ivan.” Decker leaned forward and pushed the coffee in front of him. “Just tell me about your car and we can all go home.”

  Reluctantly Ivan picked up the coffee and began to dress it to his liking. It gave him something to do. “I loaned the car to someone who left it out in the rain with the top down. Everything got ruined. Moldy and wet and smelly. That’s why I had it done.”

  “Who’d you loan it to?”

  “Does it matter?”

  “Yes, it does. We need names to verify your stories.”

  Ivan’s eyes narrowed. “This was precisely why I didn’t want to come in here. Not only are you hounding me, you’re going to get someone else involved.”

  “And you’d rather not get someone else involved?”

  “I know why I’m here.” Dresden glared at Decker. “You think I hurt my wife.”

  Decker said, “You sound outraged!”

  “Of course I’m outraged. Not only did I lose my wife, but you idio—You people think I had something to do with her disappearance.”

  “Do you have any idea what happened to her!”

  “How many times do I have to tell you? I don’t know what happened to Roseanne!”

  “I believe you, Ivan.” Decker leaned in again. “I really do and that’s precisely why I insisted that we call you up and have you come in voluntarily. So you can explain the problem we have.” He paused, giving the words a chance to sink into Dresden’s brain. “We found stuff in the car, Ivan. We need some help with that.”

  “What do you mean by stuff?” His eyes got big. “Oh shit! The cops planted drugs—”

  “Not drugs, Ivan.” Decker shook his head in earnest. “No drugs whatsoever. We found blood, Ivan. Roseanne’s blood.”

  Dresden went white. “What?”

  “We found Roseanne’s blood in the car, Ivan.” Decker sincerely hoped that his words were the truth. He certainly didn’t want to deal with the possibility that the blood was from someone else. “Lots of blood, and that’s troubling. That’s why I brought you in. Out of respect. Because I believe you when you say you don’t know what happened to Roseanne. That’s why I have to hear your side of the story.”

  Dresden�
��s eyes went from side to side. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “So let me explain the situation to you. We know that nothing bad happened to Roseanne in your condo. We searched it and it looked okay. So right away, we didn’t suspect that you did anything bad to her. Are you with me, buddy?”

  Dresden nodded.

  “But here’s the problem. Roseanne didn’t die in the crash, Ivan. Recovery has unearthed things or remains belonging to everyone involved in the crash except Roseanne. Nothing, nothing, puts Roseanne at the crash sight. And this is a problem for us. What happened to Roseanne? I assume because she’s your wife, it’s a problem for you, too. I mean not that you’re a ghoul, but you are entitled to insurance money once we clear up her disappearance.”

  Decker waited for a response but nothing came.

  “I’m sure you would like to put this entire episode behind you. And I’m trying to help you do that.”

  “You’re not trying to help me. You’re trying to trap me to say something I shouldn’t say.”

  “Then don’t talk for a moment and just listen. I’m thinking to myself that if nothing bad happened to Roseanne in the condo and Roseanne wasn’t in the crash, maybe…just maybe…something bad happened in her car. My detective and I were attacking the problem from every angle we could think of. We’ve been relentless: going back over our notes, knocking on door after door after door, reinterviewing witnesses.”

  “What witnesses?”

  “I’m getting to that. All I’m saying right now is we’ve been working nonstop on your wife’s disappearance and it finally paid off. We caught a break. On the day of the crash, the day that Roseanne disappeared, we found a witness who saw Roseanne’s car flying out of the condo parking structure at around sevenish in the morning.”

  Dresden paled, but remained silent. Decker didn’t know how much longer he had before Dresden lawyered up. He tried not to sound too accusing, but the implication was clear.

  “Ivan, this is the kicker. Roseanne wasn’t driving.” He didn’t know that for a fact, but Ivan didn’t have to know that, either. Decker leaned in close. “We did hard-nosed investigating, and we found out that you had the car reupholstered. No big deal concerning that. I accept your explanation. But just for the sake of completion, we learned that you told Jim Franco to throw away the original car mats from Roseanne’s BMW. I think the words you used were ‘to chuck them in the garbage.’ Do you remember telling Jim Franco that?”

  “No.”

  “Well, Jimbo remembers you telling him that. He’s willing to swear to it in court.”

  Dresden was quiet.

  Decker said, “Jimbo’s a businessman, Ivan. He doesn’t like to throw away money. So instead of chucking them, he cleaned them and sold them to someone on e-Bay. I think you know where this is leading.” Decker nodded. “We tracked that person down, found the carpets, and tested them for blood. They tested positive…very, very positive. Once the mats tested positive, that’s when we got a warrant for the car to see if it was just the mats were covered in blood or maybe there had been more blood where that came from. See, I really need to find out what happened to Roseanne. Taxpayers are giving me good money to do my job and I take it seriously. Now, I’m trying to get you out of this mess. So bear with me a moment, okay?”

  Again, Dresden didn’t answer. Decker noticed his skin color had turned slightly green. He sipped coffee.

  “The next step after we tested the mats was to test the car for blood. We stripped the car down and sprayed it with luminol and it lit up bright blue. That means forensics found lots of blood protein. We also found patterns—blood spurting, blood pooling, blood spraying.”

  Dresden buried his head in his hands. “I’m feeling a little sick.”

  “Yeah, it’s pretty sickening. You feel light-headed?”

  “A little.”

  “Can I get a paper bag, some water, and some paper towels, please?” Decker asked the video camera. A minute later, the supplies were delivered. He told Ivan to breathe into the bag while Decker mopped up his brow. “Try to breathe slowly—”

  “Just leave me alone for a few seconds, okay?”

  Decker complied. After the minutes passed, Dresden raised his head. He looked pale and dank. Decker offered him water and the stockbroker eagerly drank it up. “How are you holding up?”

  “I want to go home.”

  “Just let me finish and then we can talk about that.”

  “I still feel sick.”

  “I’m sure you do. It’s nauseating to hear all this, but for your own protection, you should know what’s going on. I’m trying to clue you in so you know what we’re after, okay?” Dresden nodded, although his eyes looked a bit dazed. “We know that something bad happened in that car. We know that for sure. We know that because we found other things besides the blood.”

  Dresden stared at him, sweat pouring down his brow. Decker offered him a paper towel.

  “We found fingerprints, Ivan. Not just your normal fingerprints, because we know that you drive the car. We expected to find your fingerprints. But we found bloody fingerprints.”

  Decker began to tick off his fingers.

  “We’ve got witnesses that saw Roseanne’s car speeding away, we’ve got Roseanne’s blood all over her car, we’ve got fingerprints, and we have your stripper girlfriend, Marina Alfonse, in the next room who is talking as fast as a hurricane—”

  “What?”

  “She’s not feeling very kindly to you right now—”

  “I don’t know what that bitch is saying, but she’s a pathological liar!” Dresden blurted out. “She’s been arrested for prostitution! She’s on drugs!”

  Decker said, “You see, that’s precisely why I want to hear your side of what happened. Because what she’s been telling us isn’t good for you. So set the record straight and tell me what happened.”

  “I don’t know what happened,” Ivan yelled out. “Why don’t you believe me?”

  “I do believe you, Ivan,” Decker said. “So let’s go back to my first couple of questions. Tell me why you got the car reupholstered.”

  “I told you; because Marina left it out in the rain.”

  “So you gave the car to Marina?”

  “No, she took it…she…”

  Decker said, “Ivan, why don’t you start at the beginning?”

  Suddenly Dresden’s eyes watered. He slumped in the chair and shook his head. The next time he spoke, his voice was soft and defeated.

  “What’s the dif? You won’t believe me anyway.”

  “Why don’t you start with the truth and let me decide. Despite what Marina’s been saying, I haven’t arrested you. I’m a fair guy. Help me out so I can help you out.”

  Dresden took in a deep breath then let it out. “This is all I know, okay? And it isn’t much.”

  Decker waved his hand, signaling for him to continue.

  “After Roseanne died in the crash—”

  “She didn’t die in the crash, Ivan.”

  “I know, I know.” Dresden mopped up his sweaty face with the provided paper towels. He took another drink of water. “After I thought she died in the crash, I was a basket case, you know. Everything was like a blur. Especially…” He held up his hand and swallowed with difficulty. “Especially because Roseanne and I had just gotten into a big fight…well, not a big noisy fight. It was a silent fight…”

  He buried his head in his hands, holding up a single finger indicating he needed a minute. Decker waited him out. Again, he lifted up his face.

  “Roseanne wasn’t supposed to come back from San Jose until later in the afternoon. She called me the night before and left a message on the machine, telling me that…that she’d be home tomorrow around two. When I played back the message and heard it, I was with…” Another swallow. “I was…Marina was over the condo. We both heard the message, so Marina decided that rather than have me take her home…it was pretty late and she doesn’t live all that close…well, we d
ecided that she should just sleep over and I’d take her home early the following morning.”

  Decker nodded encouragingly. “Makes total sense.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought. But…” Dresden shook his head. “Roseanne must have changed her schedule and didn’t tell me about it. She came home at six-thirty in the morning and found us together.”

  “Where?”

  “In the condo.”

  “I mean what room?”

  “Oh…not in bed,” Dresden told him. “Thank God for that. I had to go into work early that morning…I told the police that.”

  “Yes, you did.”

  “So we were already dressed and I was making coffee when she came in. But then she saw Marina and saw that her hair was wet. Roseanne assumed the worst.”

  Way more than just a simple assumption, Decker thought. “What happened next?”

  “The marriage was over anyway,” Dresden said. “But I didn’t want it to end…I didn’t want her having ammunition against me in divorce court, actually. And if that sounds bad, well, she wasn’t the saint that everyone says she was. She was fucking around on me just as much as I was screwing around on her.”

  “I know that,” Decker said. “So what did Roseanne do when she saw you two together…and Marina’s wet hair?”

  “She made some little snide comment about how she hoped I liked my whore because I was going to need a place to stay very soon.” He shook his head. “I went nuts. I grabbed her. I shouldn’t have done it, but I was angry. Like I said, she was fucking around, too.”

  “I understand. She got your goat.”

  “Man, did she ever, the little bitch! So I grabbed her and shook her hard and said something like, ‘Talk about whores.’” His eyes welled up. “I don’t remember what happened after that. My recollections get a little fuzzy. I was furious and she was furious. I remember that we tussled. I think I must have pushed her. Her purse fell to the ground and opened up…that must have been when her phone dropped out. I don’t remember if she said anything to me…maybe she whispered ‘bastard.’ But as soon as she was free, she picked up her purse and stormed out of the condo.”