The Gods of Guilt(11)

La Cosse hesitated and in that I knew there was a problem.

“Tell me, Andre.”

“Well, I grabbed her. She wouldn’t look at me and so that made me think she was lying. So I grabbed her up around her neck—with one hand only. She got mad and I got mad and that was it. I left.”

“Nothing else?”

“No, nothing. Well, out on the street, when I was going to my car, she threw an ashtray down at me from her balcony. It missed.”

“But how did you leave it when you were up in the apartment?”

“I said I was going to go back to the hotel and knock on the guy’s door myself and get our money. And I left.”

“What room was it and what was the guy’s name?”

“He was in eight thirty-seven. His name was Daniel Price.”

“Did you go to the hotel?”

“No, I just went home. I decided it wasn’t worth it.”

“It seemed worth it when you grabbed her by the throat.”

He nodded at the inconsistency but didn’t offer any further explanation. I moved off the subject—for now.

“Okay, then what happened? When did the police come?”

“They showed up at about five yesterday.”

“Morning or afternoon?”

“Afternoon.”

“Did they say how they came up with you?”

“They knew about her website. That led to me. They said they had questions and I agreed to talk to them.”

Always a mistake, voluntarily talking to the cops.

“Do you remember their names?”

“There was Detective Whitten and he did most of the talking. His partner’s name was something like Weeder. Something like that.”

“Why did you agree to talk to them?”

“I don’t know, maybe because I did nothing wrong and wanted to help? I stupidly thought that they were trying to find out what happened to poor Giselle, not that they came with what they thought happened and just wanted to plug me into it.”

Welcome to my world, I thought.

“Did you know she was dead before they arrived?”

“No, I had been calling and texting her all day and leaving messages. I was sorry about the whole blowup the night before. But she didn’t call back and I thought she was still mad about the argument. Then they came and said she was dead.”

Obviously, when a prostitute is found dead, one of the first places the investigation goes is to the pimp, even if it is a digital pimp who doesn’t fit the stereotype of sadistic bruiser and who doesn’t keep the women in his stable in line through threat and physical abuse.

“Did they record the conversation with you?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Did they inform you of your constitutional right to have an attorney present?”

“Yes, but that was later at the station. I didn’t think I needed an attorney. I did nothing wrong. So I said fine, let’s talk.”

“Did you sign a waiver form of any kind?”

“Yes, I signed something—I didn’t really read it.”

I held my displeasure in check. Most people who enter the criminal justice system end up being their own worst enemies. They literally talk their way into the handcuffs.

“Tell me how this went. You talked to them at first in your home and then they took you to West Bureau?”

“Yes, first we were in my place for about fifteen minutes and then they took me to the station. They said they wanted me to look at some photos of suspects but that was just a lie. They never showed me any photos. They put me in a little interview room and kept asking questions. Then they told me I was under arrest.”

I knew that for them to make the arrest they had to have physical or eyewitness evidence linking La Cosse to the murder in some way. In addition, something he told them must not have squared with the facts. Once he lied, or they thought he lied, he was arrested.

“Okay, and you told them about going to the victim’s apartment on Sunday night?”

“Yes, and I told them she was alive when I left.”

“Did you tell them about grabbing her by the neck?”

“Yes.”

“Was that before or after they read you your rights and had you sign the waiver?”

“Uh, I can’t remember. I think before.”

“It’s okay. I’ll find out. Did they talk about any other evidence, confront you with anything else they had?”

“No.”

I checked my watch again. I was running out of time. I decided to end the case questions there. Most of the information I would get in discovery if I took on the case. Besides that, it’s a good idea to limit the information you get directly from a client. I would be stuck with whatever La Cosse told me and it might color the moves I made later in the case or at trial. For example, if La Cosse told me he had indeed killed Giselle, then I would not be able to put him on the stand to deny it. That would make me guilty of suborning perjury.