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“Sounds good.” He followed Riley into another small room with a wall of monitors. Riley grabbed two chairs and they sat. He pointed to a screen. “This one.” He handed Dan a pair of headphones, then plugged them in.
The view wasn’t ideal—Dan wanted to zoom in to get a closer look at facial expressions, only the camera angle was fixed—but the sound was crystal clear. Dalmont sat at the table, his eyes reddened and puffy, a crumpled Kleenex clutched in one hand. “He’s got good taste. Or someone has,” Dan murmured.
“What do you mean?”
He pointed to the monitor. “That suit? Prada. You wouldn’t get much change from three grand.”
On the screen, Dalmont gave each of them a nod as Gary made the introductions. “Are you the detectives in charge?”
“Yes, Mr. Dalmont. I’m Detective Mitchell, and this is Detective Stevens. When was the last time you saw Mr. Fields?” Dan admired Gary’s calm manner.
“Friday. I went away for a few days to see family.”
“Did you talk to him on the phone over the weekend?” Gary asked.
Dalmont nodded, wiping his eyes. “He was staying home to get some work done. He… he was planning to buy another company and wanted the time to concentrate. That was why I went away. You know how it gets, two people living in each other’s pockets. You need a little space now and then.”
“And he seemed okay when you spoke to him?” Dalmont nodded. “How long were you two together?”
“Three years.” Dalmont’s face contorted, and he covered his eyes with the tissue. “We… we were getting married this year.” Then he straightened. “So have you gotten any closer to catching this maniac?”
“I can’t comment on the case.” Gary’s response was quiet and measured.
“You don’t need to. The media is already doing plenty of that.” He gaped at Gary. “Surely it’s obvious the same man is responsible for Robin’s death. Robin is the seventh victim.”
Dan shuddered. “Mask.”
Riley’s hand was warm on his. “Hey, you all right?” Dan gave him a hopefully reassuring glance, then refocused on the screen.
“So you and Mr. Fields were monogamous?”
Dalmont froze. “Of course we were. Didn’t I say we were getting married? Robin was the only man for me.”
“But you obviously weren’t the only man for him,” Lewis interjected. When Dalmont stared at him, Lewis shrugged. “Hey, just telling it like it is. There was someone else in that apartment, and it wasn’t you. CCTV caught a guy going up there. He had a key.”
“You mean you’veseenhim? Then why aren’t you out looking for him? And I have no idea why Robin would look for sex elsewhere. I didn’t think he was a cheater.”
“Who mentioned sex?” Gary asked quietly.
Dalmont rolled his eyes. “Are you kidding? With everything that’s appearing in the media, you think I can’t put two and two together when the police show up to tell me my boyfriend’s been murdered in our apartment?”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” Gary’s tone was smooth. “I didn’t realize the apartment was in both your names.”
Dalmont coughed. “It was Robin’s apartment, but he was going to make half of it over to me once we were married.” His expression grew pained. “Except that’s not going to happen. It’s only now occurred to me—I’m homeless. Unless Robin made some provision for me.” He paused. “Do you… do you need me to identify the body?” He grimaced.
“Contrary to what you might see on TV, that’s not usually how we do things. Identification will be made using fingerprints, dental records, and DNA. And speaking of fingerprints… we’ll need a set of yours before you leave.”
“What for?” Dalmont gaped at them. “Are you suggesting I had something to do with this? Because that’s… that’s horrible. I just lost my fiancé, for God’s sake.”
“We need them because there were prints all over the place. Once we’ve eliminated yours, Mr. Fields’s, and the cleaner’s, any unknown prints could point us to the killer. Okay?”
Dalmont shuddered. “Of course. I’m sorry. I’m not thinking clearly right now.”
Gary rose to his feet. “Understandable, given the circumstances. Officer Hollins will take you to be printed. Could you leave us your contact details? In case we need to talk to you again.”
“And we will,” Riley muttered. When Dan gave him a quizzical glance, Riley’s face hardened. “This guy gives me a bad feeling.”
Dan patted his hand. “Welcome to my world.”
