Page 90 of Witness 8

Ordinarily, I would object. Have the judge direct the jury to disregard the witness’s last statement.

I didn’t. Instead, I reminded the jury exactly what Chase had said, counting off his points on my fingers as I spoke.

‘Thorough. Meticulous. Professional. Is that right?’

‘Dam— Sorry,absolutelyright.’

Chase was getting a little tetchy. He didn’t like any criticism. Real or inferred. He was going to have to get used to it.

‘When you inspected the crime scene at Margaret Blakemore’s home, you found no evidence of a struggle. Did you find any evidence that anything in the home had been disturbed?’

‘No. The house was clean and orderly, with the exception of the victim lying on the floor and the fact that the front door was left open.’

‘This home had a lot of expensive furniture, fittings, lighting. There was jewelry sitting on dressing tables upstairs, and the deceased wore a number of expensive rings. Is it safe to say you did not consider this to be a robbery?’

‘At first, I didn’t rule anything out, but you are right. After looking around the property, there was no evidence of itemsbeing stolen. As you say, there were a number of pieces of personal property that could have been taken, but were not. Mr. Blakemore also confirmed, later that day, that nothing in the property had been taken. I then formed the theory this was not a robbery homicide.’

‘Detective, most women in the United States are murdered by someone close to them. A partner, a boyfriend, a spouse. Correct?’

‘Correct. However, Mr. Blakemore was not in the state at the time of the murder. That alibi has been verified.’

I didn’t ask him if he suspected Alan Blakemore. He had anticipated my line of questioning, and tried to head me off at the pass. This was Chase’s first mistake. One that I was going to jump on.

‘I didn’t ask you if Alan Blakemore was a suspect. I asked you about homicide perpetrator statistics. So you’re telling me that Alan Blakemore was your first suspect until you ruled him out of the investigation?’

‘Ah, I— Well, he was never anofficialsuspect, but, like I said, my team was thorough, meticulous and professional.’

I could’ve argued with Chase, made him confirm that he had investigated Alan Blakemore and had him as suspect number one. But I decided it was better to use Chase’s reluctance to admit this.

‘You have already confirmed there was no sign of forced entry, so, with your thorough, meticulous and professional approach, you were looking for people who knew Margaret Blakemore who might have a motive to kill her?’

‘We were looking for other suspects, yes.’

‘Suspects who perhaps were romantically involved with Margaret Blakemore?’

‘Perhaps. We did ask Mr. Blakemore if he knew of anyone who might want to harm his wife and he confirmed that he didn’t know of anyone.’

It was time to bring this thing to a head.

‘So, if Mr. Blakemore wasn’t an official suspect, are you telling me you had identified no suspects prior to the anonymous caller?’

I liked this question. It gave no room for a good answer. If he said there were no suspects prior to the anonymous call, he looked incompetent. If he said there were, then it looked as though he was keeping something from the jury.

He paused to think.

‘Is that a difficult question?’ I asked. ‘It’s just that we know there were no less than two suspects identified by police who were suspected of killing Margaret Blakemore – isn’t that right?’

Chase nodded, said, ‘Yes, there were.’

‘So was your reluctance to admit that because you want to hide the existence of those alternative suspects from the jury?’

‘No, not at all . . .’

‘Detective Chase, you’re not telling this jury the whole story, are you?’

‘The two suspects identified were quickly ruled out. They had alibis.’

‘They were at a party on West 74thStreet on the night of the murder?’