“No.”
“And why not?”
“The Lakeside Bar was closed due to a water main leak the entire week, including the night before Ellie went missing and all through the next day.”
“So he lied about his alibi.”
“That’s what I believed at the time.”
“You confronted him about that, didn’t you? You interviewed him again?”
“Yes.”
“Did he give you a different alibi?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“Your Honor,” I said. “Again, counsel is soliciting hearsay testimony.”
“I agree,” Judge Saul said. “You can’t ask the man what Dane Fischer said.”
Cutler huffed, but recalibrated his question.
“All right. Let me ask this, then. Were you able to exclude Mr. Fischer based on his second story about where he was the morning Ellie went missing?”
“No, I was not.”
“It didn’t check out? The new alibi?”
“No.”
Cutler nodded, satisfied with himself. “So he threatened the victim. Lied about where he was the morning she disappeared … twice. But that wasn’t the only thing that had you suspicious of Dane Fischer, was it? Tell me what you found in Mr. Fischer’s vehicle.”
“There were drops of blood in the trunk of Mr. Fischer’s car.”
“Drops of blood. You were able to type those blood samples, weren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“They were B positive, isn’t that right?”
“Yes.”
“What was Ellie Luke’s blood type?”
“Mr. Cutler, blood type isn’t dispositive. The lab was unable to extract any DNA.”
“That’s isn’t what I asked you. What was Ellie Luke’s blood type?”
“B positive.”
“Thank you. I have no further questions.”
I traded places with Cutler at the lectern. “Detective Ritter, what was Dane Fischer’s blood type?”
“B positive,” Gus practically shouted his answer.
