Chapter 22 #2
Gary shook his hand. “We will, I can assure you of that.” He met Mr. Westfall’s gaze. “And you have helped.” He’d provided another piece of the puzzle.
It could also prove to be another nail in Dalmont’s coffin.
“Thank you again for coming in to make a statement.” Gary glanced at the neatly written document Dalmont had signed.
Dalmont waved his hand. “It was no problem. I hope and pray you’re getting somewhere with your investigations.”
“Actually, we’ve made a lot of progress during the last two days.”
Beside Gary, Riley scanned the statement. “You’ve mentioned a couple of things here that need a little clarification, if that’s okay.”
“Oh?”
“You’ve stated you were away for the weekend, visiting your family.”
“That’s correct.”
“Where do they live? Where did you go?”
Dalmont frowned. “My parents live in Springfield. What does this have to do with Robin’s murder?”
“So you were in Springfield the whole weekend?”
“Didn’t I say that in here?” Dalmont reached across the table and tapped the statement with a manicured fingernail.
“You did, but we’ll come back to that in a moment. Do you know who the beneficiaries are in Robin’s will?” Riley removed a sheet from the folder.
Dalmont stuck his chin out. “I haven’t seen a copy of his will, so I wouldn’t know.”
“I see. Well, you’ll be delighted to know Robin did make provision for you.
According to the will he had drawn up early last month, apart from the sum of ten thousand dollars which he left to Simon Westfall, the remainder of his fortune—comprising his property and all his assets—goes to you, in anticipation of your marriage. ”
Dalmont’s jaw dropped. “I… I had no idea. What a generous man he was.”
Gary frowned. “Okay, now I’m confused.”
“About what?”
“You just stated you didn’t know about the new will, and yet….” Gary removed another sheet from the folder, and Dalmont’s gaze locked on it like an Exocet missile. “You told Axel Washington all about it on May twelfth.”
Dalmont sat very still. “Who?”
“Axel Washington. You remember him, surely. You visited his apartment at 22 Abbotsford Street, Roxbury.”
“I don’t know anyone called Axel Washington, and I don’t recognize that address either.”
Riley tapped the sheet. “We have his statement right here, along with the records from Grindr showing the two of you making contact on May tenth and arranging to meet May twelfth. It showed up on your phone records too.”
Dalmont reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a phone. “There’s been a mistake. I don’t have Grindr on my phone. See for yourself if you don’t believe me.”
“That proves nothing. You could’ve deleted the app. But for clarification purposes…. Is this phone’s number 585-301-4986?” Dalmont nodded, and Gary smiled. “But what about your other phone?”
Beats of silence.
Then Dalmont cleared his throat. “What… other phone?”
Gary peered at the sheet. “484-457-8754.” He raised his head. “We have records for both phones, registered in your name. I’m assuming Robin didn’t know about the second phone. Was that in case he checked the other one?”
“I can understand why you’d do that,” Riley commented. “For a man who claims he and his fiancé were in a monogamous relationship, it might be a little awkward to explain all the hookups.” He peered at the sheet in front of them and blinked. “My, there were a lot of them.”
Dalmont was doing an excellent impression of a statue.
Gary folded his arms. “The GHB we found in the nightstand drawer. Was it yours?”
Dalmont shook his head. “That was Robin’s. He….” His face flushed. “I’m sorry, but I feel our sex life should remain private.”
“I see. Unfortunately, this is a murder inquiry, so we have to ask these things. Robin liked to use GHB during sex?” Gary leaned back.
“Yes. I wasn’t that keen myself, but I went along with it. He said it was better to have both of us take it. Something about the timing of doses. I didn’t really understand, but….”
“Something else that was mentioned in the statements we got from Axel Washington, Drew Gorton, and Mike Miller….” Riley pulled them from the folders.
“We asked them specifically about the use of GHB during sex. What do you think they told us? Or are you going to deny meeting them for sex?” He glanced at the sheet.
“Mike Miller states you and he met up on several occasions, and that you were the one who suggested using GHB. Drew Gorton confirmed the same thing but added that it wasn’t the only substance used.
He said you used ketamine to… relax certain muscles. ”
Gary had to admire Riley’s tact. Dalmont’s flush deepened, and his breathing grew a little erratic.
“So on the one hand we have you stating Robin liked to use substances during sex, but you didn’t, and then we have his ex telling us Robin had a horror of drugs. Yet the only fingerprints on the bottle of GHB were his.
“Which brings us to the most puzzling part of your statement.” Gary opened the folder in front of him and removed a photo.
“This was recorded by street cameras on the night of Monday, May twenty-eighth. It shows an Uber pulling up on Seaport Boulevard, one block from the apartment.” Gary placed the photo on the table and pointed to the figure getting out of the car. “That is you, isn’t it?”
Dalmont leaned forward. “He looks a little like me, I suppose. But no, it’s not me.”
“Well, now you see why we’re confused,” Riley chimed in. He opened another file and withdrew a sheet. “This is your Uber account. It shows a car picking you up from Six Corners in Springfield at eight o’clock that night and dropping you at Seaport Boulevard.”
“That’s a trip of around ninety minutes, give or take,” Gary added.
When Dalmont stared at him, he smiled. “I make that trip once a month, so I know it well. That ties in with the time on the camera footage. The Uber dropped you off at nine forty. Then another Uber picked you up at eleven at the same drop-off point and took you back to Springfield.”
Riley whistled. “That was some expensive trip, I’ll bet.” He cocked his head to one side. “Where did you tell your parents you’d gone, for, what… several hours?”
“I’m sure this can be cleared up,” Gary said in a pleasant tone. “We can contact them. All we’d need is a statement that you didn’t leave until the twenty-ninth.” He sat back again and waited for the first cracks to appear.
Dalmont gaped at them, his lips parted.
“You didn’t plan this, did you?” Riley said. “You saw the murders and thought we’d simply accept that Robin was the next victim.”
“You learned about the new will, and you thought, ‘Why wait for him to die naturally?’” Gary said.
“The murders were a godsend. It was too good an opportunity to miss.” He leaned forward.
“If you had planned it better, you’d have covered your tracks more carefully.
If cameras picked you up on Seaport Boulevard, they could’ve picked you up in other locations.
But you only thought about the CCTV in the building, hence the hoodie to hide your face.
You forgot to wear the hood up when you got out of the Uber. ”
“Did you think the ketamine would be missed during the autopsy? Or did you just think the medical examiner would pronounce his death due to cardiac failure?” Riley narrowed his gaze. “We’ve seen Robin’s medical records. We know he had problems with his heart. Which you probably knew all about.”
“So how did it go down?” Gary demanded. “Did you come back that night to surprise him with an early return? Did you slip something into his drink? When he was incapacitated, did you undress him and tie him to the bed?”
“Did he wake up and struggle?” Riley’s face was hard.
“He must have been so scared. Maybe he saw you without your mask on. Maybe he saw the real Quinn Dalmont that night. The lethal dose of ketamine would have finished what you started.” He locked gazes with Dalmont.
“You broke his heart in more ways than one.”
“You had plenty of time to clean up after yourself,” Gary noted.
“Prints didn’t matter, though, not when you lived there.
But the GHB… that was a different story.
You had to clean yours off and then press Robin’s dead fingers against it.
I’m only guessing he was dead by then, of course.
I don’t think he’d have even touched it if he’d been alive. ”
Dalmont’s face was like milk. “I want my attorney. I’m not saying another word until he gets here.”
Gary nodded to Riley, who intoned, “Quinn Dalmont, you are under arrest for the murder of Robin Fields. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot….”
Gary watched Dalmont’s face crumple as Riley Mirandized him.
Dan saw through your mask. He saw your greed.
Now all they had to do was find the killer who was hidden from sight.