Page 24 of Gage
“The murder weapon was found lying on the floor beside Dawkins body, is that correct? I understand Mrs. Dawkins’ fingerprints were found on the knife. Were there any other prints found?”
“No, only Mrs. Dawkins’ prints.”
Gage nodded. “Was there anything unusual about this knife? Was it an ornamental piece, something like a collector might have?”
“No, it was a large butcher knife. We late confirmed that it came from a knife block from the Dawkins kitchen set.”
“From their kitchen. Where it would have been handled by any number of staff. The cook, the housekeeper, the maid. Yet the only fingerprints found on the blade belonged to Mrs. Dawkins. You didn’t find that suspicious, detective?”
“You’ve been in fancy places before, Newsome, I’m sure. Everything is wiped down, including the silverware. I checked with the housekeeper, who said that each piece of silverware, cutlery, and utensils was polished before it was put away, which would have shown no fingerprints. Mrs. Dawkins was the only person who handled that blade after it was put back into the knife block.” Jansen’s smirk raised the little hairs on the back of Gage’s neck, but he kept his cool. Now wasn’t the time to point out the fallacy of his supposition that there would be no other fingerprints on the knife. Unless the housekeeper never touched the knife after polishing it, there would be at least her prints, unless she held it with the polishing cloth and used that to put it away. Which seemed highly unlikely.
“Can you tell me where the fingerprints were found on the knife, detective? Were they on the handle? The blade?”
Jansen flipped through his notes, frowning. If he was getting this frustrated so early in their meeting, things were going to go downhill fast, Gage thought.
“I don’t have that answer, but I’ll check and find out.”
“Thank you. Mrs. Dawkins stated that she was asleep when the maid came into the bedroom and found Mr. Dawkins’ body and screamed, is that correct?”
“That’s what she claims.” Jansen’s glare turned toward Suzanna. “Of course, we only have her word for it, since they were the only two people in the room.”
“I’m sure the maid gave you her account of what she saw and heard. Did she state that Mrs. Dawkins was asleep when she entered the room?”
“Yes, but she could have been faking it.”
“Good point. Did the maid offer her opinion as to whether Mrs. Dawkins seemed surprised or shocked to find her husband deceased?”
Jansen heaved a heavy sigh before answering. “Ms. Ortega stated Mrs. Dawkins appeared shocked. Screamed when she noticed the blood on her hands and on her clothing.”
“Did Mrs. Dawkins say or do anything after she noticed her husband wasn’t breathing? According to Ms. Ortega, that is.”
“She said that Mrs. Dawkins started screaming, and then climbed on top of her husband, pressing against his chest.”
Gage raised his brow. “Pressing on his chest? Do you mean she tried to perform CPR on her husband?”
“I don’t have any idea what she was doing. I hadn’t arrived yet and neither had the paramedics or EMTs. The maid didn’t know what she was doing except acting like a crazy woman—her exact words.”
“Acting like a crazy woman. You mean like someone who’d just discovered her husband’s body beside her in bed, and tried to help him. I wouldn’t construe those actions as crazy, detective, but the again we are looking at this situation secondhand. Please go on, what other evidence have you found in your investigation?” Gage glanced toward Bas, noting that he was making notes on his phone.Good man.
“We took statements from all the staff present in the home that morning.”
“Good. Were they able to tell you anything about what they’d seen or heard?”
“Unfortunately, no one saw anything out of the ordinary that morning. Nobody knew anything was wrong until they heard Ms. Ortega’s screams. The housekeeper came upstairs and when she saw what was going on, she called nine one one.”
“Excellent.” Gage walked around to stand behind Suzanna’s chair, lightly resting his hand on the back of it. “So, paramedics arrived and worked on Mr. Dawkins before declaring him deceased. Where was Mrs. Dawkins during all this?”
“She was in the back of a squad car, waiting for me and my partner to get to the scene.”
Gage straightened to his full height, a deep-seated heat beginning in his belly. “Are you telling me you had a woman whose husband had died, who was most likely in shock, covered in her husband’s blood, sitting in the back of a squad car? Did you slap on the handcuffs while you were at it?”
“Look, she was the prime suspect in the murder of a prominent social and political figure. She wasn’t under arrest, she was simply being held until we got there, so we could ask questions.”
Gage took a deep breath, biting back the scathing words wanting to spill from his tongue. This man, this whole investigation was a farce. Maybe there was more evidence he hadn’t heard or seen yet, but the case right now was so full of holes he could drive a Mack truck through it.
“Was she seen or evaluated by the medical staff in attendance?”
“I…I don’t know. Maybe? I’d have to ask the uniforms on the scene.”
