Blood Defense - [12]

He exhaled, but his expression was pained. “No, I’ve never dated a crime victim before.”

“But since you’ve been working in Homicide for the past ten years, I’d guess victims are off the table. Hopefully. What about witnesses?”

He shook his head. “No. No one.”

“Tell me about that burglary.” From what I’d heard, the burglar had been Suspect Number One. Our first strategy would be to dig up evidence that showed the police should’ve stuck with that theory instead of zeroing in on Dale. “Was there forced entry?”

“No. The girls had a small balcony with a sliding glass door where they kept a few potted plants. They said they liked to leave it open to let in the air, and they forgot to lock it when they went out that night. When they got home, they found it pushed open wide.”

I could relate. I left my windows open all the time. Even in my office. “What’d he take?”

“Just jewelry. But it looked like pretty nice stuff. Chloe had photos. A diamond necklace, two-carat diamond studs, a tennis bracelet. I can’t remember exactly what she said it was worth. Something like ten grand, I think.”

“Did you believe it was worth that much?”

Dale shrugged. “Seemed about right to me, but that’s the insurance company’s problem. I just take the report.”

“Did they have anything else? Like a TV, a laptop, a stereo?”

“Yeah, but they weren’t high-end, and it would’ve been tough to get anything big over that balcony. It didn’t seem like a planned hit to me. The building’s nothing special. Neither is the neighborhood. You wouldn’t go there thinking you’d find anything worth stealing.”

“So you think this guy happened to spot the open sliding glass door and decided to take a chance?”

“Yeah. That’s why I had the place dusted from top to bottom. The job was strictly amateur hour, so I figured he had to have left prints.”

“But he didn’t.”

“I think he probably did. The print guys just couldn’t find any that were usable.”

“Did that have to do with your print guys or the conditions in the apartment?”

Dale sighed. “Spangler isn’t the best tech in the world. But the wood on the balcony was rough and splintered, and it’d been raining, so everything was damp.” He shrugged. “I think the jerk just got lucky.”

“How could Chloe afford that jewelry? From what I read, she was pretty close to homeless just a few months earlier. I would’ve thought she’d have pawned that stuff long ago.”

“Me, too.” Dale’s expression was sad. “But they might’ve had sentimental value, gifts from friends back when she was still big-time-”

“Did she tell you who gave it to her?”

“She said a bunch of different people. Her manager, a boyfriend… she didn’t give me any names. But she didn’t flinch when I told her I’d have to run the photos to see if they turned up in any pawnshops.”

So however she’d acquired that jewelry, it was legit. “What can you tell me about those neighbors who say they heard you and Chloe fighting that night?”

Dale stared down at his hands for a long moment. When he looked up, there was real pain in his eyes. “That they’re telling the truth. We did have a fight. A big one. Chloe was high. She’d started using again in the past few weeks, and we’d gotten into it a few times. But that night it really got ugly. She slapped me, started scratching and clawing at me. I tried to hold her off, but she just kept coming. I-I hit her.” He rubbed his face, and his hand covered his mouth briefly, as though he wanted to stop the next words from coming out. “Harder than I meant to-”

“Where? In the head? The stomach?”

“I think… the side of her head. It’s all kind of a blur now. We’d both been drinking.” Dale swallowed hard. “I started to leave, but she came at me again. She took a couple of swings. I think I shoved her, but I might’ve hit her again… I don’t know. I just know she fell down.”

“Did anyone take photos of you?”

Dale nodded. “When I got arrested. But it’d been more than a week by then. I don’t know if the photos will show much.” He looked at me, his eyes pleading. “You’ve got to believe me-when I left her apartment, she was alive. I know she was.”

“Did she say anything?”

“Yeah, when I said I was sorry, she told me to go fuck myself.”

“Where was she? On the floor? On the bed? What was she doing?” The more detail he could give about how she’d looked when he left her, the more credible he’d sound.

Dale paused and let his gaze drift over my shoulder. “She was on the floor. And she was starting to push herself up.”

“Do you think she was high that night? And when you say she was using, I assume you mean something serious, like meth or heroin?”

“Heroin, yeah. I don’t know for sure that she’d been using that night. But she seemed high. It should be in the tox report.”

We wouldn’t get the toxicology and autopsy reports for a while. It’d be good if the tox report backed up his story, but it wasn’t of critical importance right now. There was no question about cause of death. Chloe hadn’t overdosed; she’d been stabbed to death. “And where was Paige during all this?”

“Out. On a date with a guy they called Mr. Perfect. I saw her when I came to pick up Chloe that evening. Chloe said she probably wouldn’t be back till morning.”