“He wasn’t home. I was alone,” Diane said, still looking at Stark.
“I heard something about a home invasion in Rosewood,” said Stark. “That was you?”
“Yes,” said Diane. “You will forgive me if, today, I am a little cranky.”
“You think it was me?” said Doppelmeyer. “I had nothing to do with it.”
“I don’t think you did. I really don’t. I think it had something to do with another case I’m working on. But that’s what I believe. I don’t know.” She turned back to Chief Stark. “I understand that some people are panicked when confronted, even in a mild way, in the dark confines of a parking garage. That’s not true of me or Dr. Webber,” said Diane. “We viewed the situation accurately.”
“So did the security cameras,” said Lynn Webber. “Hospital security can make them available if you want to see them.”
Doppelmeyer looked at Lynn and snarled. “You vindictive freaking bitch.”
Both Fisher and Stark jerked their attention to him. She could see they were surprised by his vehemence—and his inability to keep his temper in check.
Sheriff Braden stood up and faced him. “I don’t know where you were raised, but here we don’t talk to a lady that way.”
Diane was suspecting that there was something more to Doppelmeyer and Lynn’s enmity than what Lynn had described. She was willing to bet that Lynn had rebuffed his attentions and that was a large part of what led to him getting her fired.
“You know,” said Ross Kingsley, “normally in these kinds of meetings, we try to break the ice with small talk and jokes. And I’m ashamed to say that I find this more entertaining, but we have some evidence we would like to show you.”
“That’s why we’re here,” said Stark.
Jin had been standing by a credenza with the box of evidence on top of it. He came over with the box and set it between Diane and Ross.
“This is Deven Jin,” said Diane. “He’s the director of the DNA lab. He was formerly on my crime scene team. He helped gather the evidence and he processed it.”
“Hi.” Jin grinned, as if they were all good friends.
“Dr. Webber has her autopsy report that she will go over with you,” said Diane.
“Let’s get it over with, then,” said Detective Fisher.
Chapter 47
Diane put a diagram of Stacy Dance’s room on the table. She had marked where all the evidence was found. She turned the map to face toward Fisher, Stark, and Doppelmeyer. She also placed their own photograph of Stacy next to the map.
Kingsley explained his firm’s involvement first. Diane noticed he tried to keep all words out of his narration that might in any way suggest that their guests had bungled the case. He used a lot of passive voice and weasel words. He was far more tactful than Diane would have been.
“Her father, Harmon Dance, left her room intact,” Kingsley said. “That’s why I was able to have Diane examine it.” He nodded to Diane and they gave her their strained attention.
“When someone is strangled, they often evacuate their bladder and bowels,” began Diane.
“Oh, here we go, Pathology 101,” said Doppelmeyer.
“Oran, let’s listen,” said Chief Stark. Her voice was quiet, but it held her authority.
Doppelmeyer sat back in his chair, his ears turning red. “We know this,” he said.
“I was just introducing the evidence,” said Diane. “I meant no disrespect.” She pointed to a marked place on the diagram that was in the living room area of Stacy Dance’s apartment.
“This is where she was strangled. We found her urine and feces here and it covered a wide area. It had been cleaned up, but there was enough left for Jin to positively identify it as belonging to Stacy Dance,” said Diane.
“What about the bed?” said Fisher. “Did you check it?”
“Yes. It was negligible. The amount was what you might get from transfer,” she said.
Diane put a photograph of the rope in front of them.
“This was around her neck. Notice that it is tied with a granny knot. If you are involved in cutting off the blood supply to your brain for fun, it’s important for the knot to be easily released when you want it to be, or you lose consciousness. You use a knot that lets the rope slip, or you use a knot that can be released by a pull on the end of the rope. You don’t use a granny knot. Granny knots are incorrectly tied square knots that are notoriously hard to untie, and