“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 decided that she should just sleep over and I’d take her home early the following morning.”