The Perfect Marriage(75)

“Yes. I heard that voice mail. I can’t be sure you said it verbatim, but I have no reason to doubt it if you make that representation.”

“Oh, I make that representation, Lieutenant. That’s what she said. Can we agree that was only the latest of many threatening statements Haley Sommers had made toward James Sommers prior to his death?”

“Yes.”

“And I suspect that a man with your experience on the NYPD takes that type of threatening language very seriously.”

“Yes.”

“Okay. So, with respect to Haley Sommers, she checks off a lot of boxes, right?”

Gabriel knew exactly what Kaplan meant but said the opposite. “I don’t think about suspects as checking off boxes.”

“The terminology hardly matters. Let’s just talk facts. Haley Sommers had motive, right?”

“Yes.”

“She refused to provide DNA too, right?”

“That is correct.”

“In your experience, Lieutenant, do innocent people usually refuse to provide DNA?”

This, of all things, caused Salvesen to come to his feet. “Objection.”

Judge Martin shrugged. “Overruled. Lieutenant, you can answer.”

“Not usually, no,” Gabriel said.

“What about an alibi? When you first spoke to Haley Sommers, what did she tell you regarding her whereabouts at the time of this crime?”

Clever question. In fact, for Kaplan it was better than that. It was a twofer. The answer would prove that Haley Sommers had no alibi and that she had lied to the police.

“She initially provided an alibi that she was with a friend during the time in question.”

“As a police lieutenant with more than two decades on the job, did you believe that alibi?”

“I was skeptical.”

“Did you later learn that Ms. Haley Sommers had lied to you? That, in point of fact, she wasn’t with a friend when this murder occurred, but at the scene of the crime?”

“We can verify that Ms. Sommers was in a restaurant next door to Mr. Sommers’s place of business during the window in which he died inside that place of business.”

Gabriel watched Kaplan replay the last question and answer in her head. Apparently, she had gotten enough, because she went on to a different subject.

“So we have three suspects so far,” Kaplan said. “Each with motive. Each refusing to provide DNA. Each with no alibi. Anyone else? Maybe a business partner who was afraid of going to jail if Mr. Sommers cooperated against him. Does that ring a bell, Lieutenant?”

“Reid Warwick was working with James Sommers to sell stolen art. Mr. Sommers had been caught in an FBI sting. So, anticipating your next question, Ms. Kaplan, that told us that Mr. Warwick also had a motive. But he did ultimately provide a DNA sample, and it wasn’t a match for the blood at the crime scene. And he did end up giving us an alibi, which checked out. Reid Warwick is no longer a suspect in this crime.”

It was possible that Kaplan hadn’t known about Warwick’s alibi until Gabriel testified about it. Nonetheless, the attorney acted as if nothing could have mattered less.

“Good to know Mr. Warwick is only an art thief, and the NYPD has chosen to believe what this criminal told you about his whereabouts at the time of Mr. Sommers’s murder.”

Gabriel would have countered the assertion, but Kaplan quickly segued. “Am I correct that you never considered Owen Fiske a suspect until a few days ago?”

“He was not among the first people we questioned, that’s right.”

“In fact, you never questioned him at all. Isn’t that correct?”

“Yes. It is.”

“Why was that?”

Another why question.

“We had other initial suspects. Their motives, on first consideration, seemed stronger . . . until we had the forensic evidence regarding the possible DNA match.”

“You’ve just said the million-dollar word, Lieutenant. Actually, three letters and one word: DNA match. That’s why we’re here, after all. So let’s talk about that. You found some blood at the scene, right?”

“Yes.”

“And your investigation led you to a private genetics company that indicated the blood matched, at least in part, a fellow named Howard Fiske, who lives all the way in Oregon. Do I have that right?”

“You do.”

“Good. Is Howard Fiske a suspect too?”

“No. He is not.”

“I’m glad to hear that. We have quite enough of them already, don’t you think?”

Gabriel looked over at Salvesen. The guy really sucked at his job.

“I’m sorry, was that a serious question?” Gabriel asked, still staring at Salvesen.

“No. I guess it wasn’t,” Kaplan said with a smile. “So this private company—which one was it, by the way?”

“FamilyTreeDNA.”

“So FamilyTreeDNA tells you that the person who left the blood in Mr. Sommers’s workplace is related to this Howard Fiske. Do I have that right?”

“Yes. The DNA left at the crime scene was a match for a blood relation to Howard Fiske.”

“I’m going to ask for a clarification, Lieutenant. This is important because I know you want to be precise in your testimony. You keep saying that DNA was left at the crime scene. But that’s not really accurate, is it?”