'You broke this when you came in?'
'Like I said.'
'The chain could have been unfastened when you let yourself in.
Then you could have locked it and broken it from inside.'
'Why would I do that?'
'To make it look as though the apartment was locked from the inside when you got here.'
'Well, it was. I didn't have to. I don't get where you're comin' from, man.'
'I'm just making sure she was locked in when you got here.'
'Didn't I say she was?'
'And you checked the apartment? There wasn't anybody else here?'
'Not unless they was hiding in the toaster.'
It was a pretty clear suicide. The only thing problematic was his earlier visit. He'd sat on the knowledge of her death for over twelve hours without reporting it.
I thought for a moment. We were north of Sixtieth Street, so that put us in the Twentieth Precinct and out of Durkin's bailiwick. They'd close it as a suicide unless the medical evidence didn't match, in which case his earlier visit would come to light later on.
I said, 'There's a few ways we could do it. We could say that you couldn't reach her all night and you got worried. You talked to me this afternoon and we came over here together. You had a key. You opened the door and we found her and called it in.'
'All right.'
'But the chain lock gets in the way. If you weren't here before, how did it get broken? If somebody else broke it, who was he and what was he doing here?'
'What if we say we broke it getting in?'
I shook my head. 'That doesn't work. Suppose they come up with solid evidence that you were here last night. Then I'm caught swearing to a lie. I could lie for you to the extent of treating something you told me as confidential, but I'm not going to get nailed to a lie that cuts across the grain of the facts. No, I have to say the chain lock was broken when we got here.'
'So it's been broken for weeks.'
'Except the break's fresh. You can see where the screws came out of the wood. The one thing you don't want to do is get caught in that kind of a lie, where your story and the evidence wind up pointing in different directions. I'll tell you what I think you have to do.'
'What's that?'
'Tell the truth. You came here, you kicked the door in, she was dead and you split. You drove around, tried to sort things out in your mind. And you wanted to reach me before you did anything, and I was hard to reach. Then you called me and we came here and called it in.'
'That's the best way?'
'It looks like it to me.'
'All because of that chain thing?'
'That's the most obvious loose end. But even without the chain lock you're better off telling the truth.
Look, Chance, you didn't kill her. She killed herself.'
'So?'
'If you didn't kill her, the best thing you can do is tell the truth. If you're guilty, the best thing to do is say nothing, not a word. Call a lawyer and keep your mouth shut. But anytime you're innocent, just tell the truth. It's easier, it's simpler, and it saves trying to remember what you said before. Because I'll tell you one thing. Crooks lie all the time and cops know it and they hate it. And once they get hold of a lie they pull on it until something comes loose. You're looking to lie to save yourself a hassle, and it might work, it's an obvious suicide, you might get by with it, but if it doesn't work you're going to get ten times the hassle you're trying to avoid.'
He thought about it, then sighed. 'They're gonna ask why I didn't call right away.'
'Why didn't you?'
' 'Cause I didn't know what to do, man. I didn't know whether to shit or go blind.'
'Tell them that.'
'Yeah, I guess.'
'What did you do after you got out of here?'
'Last night? Like you said, I drove around some. Drove around the park a few times. Drove over the George Washington Bridge, up the Palisades Parkway. Like a Sunday drive, only a little early.' He shook his head at the memory. 'Came back, drove over to see Mary Lou. Let myself in, didn't have to bust no chain lock. She was sleepin'. I got in bed with her, woke her up, stayed with her a little. Then I went on home.'
'To your house?'
'To my house. I'm not gonna tell 'em about my house.'
'No need to. You got a little sleep at Mary Lou's.'
