“So what does this have to do with a pink cell phone?”

“Dresden admitted that he and Roseanne had a big fight a day before she vanished. As Sergeant Dunn was questioning him about the fight, she dropped her pen and happened to find a pink cell phone-”

Again the judge cut him off with a wave of her hand. “What do you want to do with this cell phone, Lieutenant?”

“Ivan Dresden first claimed it was his phone. When it was clear it wasn’t his current phone, he said it was a phone that he’d lost a long time ago.”

“He owned a pink phone with daisies?”

“We felt that was dubious as well.”

“You didn’t answer my question. What do you want to do with it?”

“For one thing, I’d like to see if it was Roseanne’s most recent phone. We can do that really easily. Just charge it up and see the dates of her last outgoing call. It’s a very simple thing to do…to check whether or not the man is lying. And if it was Roseanne’s most recent phone, it puts her in the apartment on the morning of the accident.”

“It puts her phone there. Not Roseanne.”

Decker was silent.

Puhl said, “Even if Roseanne was there, it doesn’t mean that she still didn’t die in the crash. She could have gone home, lost the phone, and returned to the airport.”

“We timed the round trip, Your Honor,” Decker said. “Rushing and driving at fifty miles an hour, she could have made it with about five minutes to spare if there wasn’t traffic and if she only spent five minutes at home. But she would have been traveling between the hours of seven and eight in the morning. We all know what morning freeway traffic is like.”

“Hmm…” Judge Puhl tapped her fingernails on her desk. “Okay, Lieutenant, this is what I’m going to do. I’m going to give you a warrant to seize the phone that Sergeant Dunn and Detective Oliver describe in these notarized papers. That way you can test your hypothesis on the spot. If it wasn’t her most recent phone-if it was an old phone-then the search ends there. If it was her most recent phone, then I’ll allow you to continue on with a search.”

“Your Honor, there is a very likely chance that Mr. Dresden may have destroyed or misplaced the evidence.”

“Then shame on him! He lives in the twenty-first century, he knows better than to tamper with something like that. If that’s the case, then I’ll also allow your team to search the condo, but I’m putting limits on it, Lieutenant. Don’t even bother with printing, fibers, hairs, or even minor blood seepage. The woman lived there; you’re going to find all of the above. What I’ll allow you to search for is evidence of blood loss and spatter patterns that is beyond and/or defies a reasonable amount of blood loss typical for a household injury. I have no problem with your bringing out your blood-spatter experts. Just don’t make too big of a mess, all right?”

“We’ll do our best. Thank you, Your Honor.”

She spoke as she wrote out the warrant. “One word of caveat. If you or your experts find a large amount of blood loss on a cushion of a couch or a chair, or on the bed, without any concomitant spatter to go with it, please proceed with caution. Men tend to forget that we women sometimes leak during our periods. You don’t want to arrest the man because Roseanne wore a faulty Tampex.”

26

A STRONG SERIES OF raps on the front door produced the wanted voice on the other side. Decker said, “Police, Mr. Dresden, open up.” When no immediate response was forthcoming, he said, “We have a warrant, sir. Open the door now!”

A couple of seconds later Decker heard the dead bolt sliding, but the door remained shut.

The voice said, “I need to see the warrant!”

“I can show it to you as soon as you open the door.”

“And if I don’t, what are you going to do? Break down the door?”

“There’s no need for drama, Mr. Dresden. We have…” Decker rolled his eyes at Marge and Oliver. “We’re here to seize the phone that Detective Sergeant Marge Dunn found by accident a few days ago. That phone is described very specifically in the papers.”

The door flew open. Dresden caught it before the doorknob punched a hole in his interior wall. He narrowed his eyes when he saw Decker. “Who’re you?”

Out came the identification. Dresden studied the credentials as Decker studied the stockbroker. Ivan was a good-looking man in that dark, brooding, Gothic fashion. He wore a muscle shirt and a pair of gym shorts and had a towel around his neck. His face was dry, without a hint of flushing: the workout had yet to occur, or it had occurred a long time ago, or it never occurred at all. He certainly spent more time than necessary on confirming that Decker was who he said he was.

“You have nothing better to do than harass me after I just got home from work?”

“Serving a warrant works out better when you’re home, Mr. Dresden.”

The stockbroker scowled. “Let me see that warrant.”

Handing him the paperwork, Decker was stone-faced as Dresden slowly made his way through the legalese. It wasn’t that complicated.

Dresden slapped the warrant into an open palm. “I told your two lackeys over there, it was an old phone. It’s gone. I threw it away. You wasted your time, but I suppose that being on the government dole, that doesn’t matter much to you.”

Decker’s face was flat. “The warrant states that we can look for it.”

“And mess up my apartment?” Dresden’s chuckle was sarcastic. “No thank you, I’ll pass.”

At this point, Decker had had enough. He bullied his way past Dresden, careful not to knock him on the shoulder. “You don’t have any choice, Mr. Dresden. We’re here to do a job and that’s what we’re going to do.” He stood in the center of the condo’s living room and began to glove up.

Marge and Oliver followed. She said, “If you have the phone, Ivan, make it easier on all of us and just fork it over.”

“Didn’t you hear what I just told you?” Dresden screamed out. “I threw the phone away!”

Decker spoke to his detectives. “Dunn, you take the kitchen; Oliver, you handle the bedrooms; and I’ll do the living room.” His eyes returned to Dresden. “We’re not going away. This warrant says that if we don’t find the phone, then we’re allowed to bring in our blood experts and start looking for evidence of a crime. And that’ll take up even more time. So make yourself comfortable and let us do our job.”

“This is totally absurd-”

“If you have the phone, now’s the time to make your move.”

“I don’t have the fucking phone!” Dresden growled. “I threw it away…what’s the fucking use! I’m calling my lawyer!”

“Whatever you need to do, sir.” Decker took out his cell and connected to the techs. “It’s Lieutenant Decker from West Valley, I’m looking for Mike Fagen…sure I’ll hold.”

“Who’s your captain?” Dresden shouted.

Decker said, “Are you talking to me?”

“Yes, I’m talking to-”

“Hold on a minute,” Decker said to Dresden. “Mike, it’s Lieutenant Decker. It looks like we’re going to need you because Mr. Dresden has admitted throwing the phone away. When do you think you’ll start spraying?”

“Spraying?” Dresden was aghast. “Spraying for what!”

“Hold on a sec, Mike, I can’t have two conversations at once and Dresden’s antsy.” Decker threw a hand over the mouthpiece of the mobile. “My superior is Captain Strapp. If we don’t find the phone, we’re going to spray for blood and blood spatter. Don’t worry about your carpet. It only glows bright blue if there’s blood protein. Otherwise nothing will show up.” He spoke into the mobile. “Sorry, Mike. When can you make it over here?”

“I don’t believe this!” Dresden ranted as he paced back and forth. “I’m still grieving for my wife and you have the nerve to barge in and accuse me of mur-”

Dresden stopped himself and turned away. His face hadn’t been flushed before, but it certainly was now-fire-engine red and bathed in sweat. He now looked as if he had completed that strenuous workout. Decker often wondered about the exact purpose of exercise. If it was just to elevate the heart rate, there were lots of other ways to do that without spending mind-numbing hours killing one’s feet on a treadmill: sex, stress, and caffeine instantly came to mind.