“An affair with who?”
“A woman named Mia,” Rossi says. “That’s all she knows.”
“So now you’re throwing Jon under the bus?” Mal asks.
“She’s doing nothing of the sort.”
Mal leans forward. “And how do you explain the carving knife that the West Van PD found in your car?”
“Like I said, her husband threatened her at Rose Cottage. My client grabbed the knife from the kitchen counter to stop him from following her.”
“Did you go directly to your parents’, Daisy, or did you perhaps go back to the Glass House first?”
“Look, if this is a fishing expedition—”
“Daisy, we have sent in your DNA sample and prints, and we’ll have expedited results very shortly from a private lab. We will then run your DNA against DNA evidence found at the crime scene. If—”
“If you do find her DNA inside, it’s because she went to lunch at Northview last Friday. She drank from glasses and handled a carving knife to cut sausage.”
Mal inhales slowly. She opens her folder and slides a photo toward Daisy.
“Do you recognize this pendant?”
Daisy glances at the photo but says nothing.
“How about these images?” Mal shows Daisy several photos copied from @JustDaisyDaily’s Instagram account. Selfies that all show the diamond necklace hanging at the hollow of her throat.
“This pendant,” Mal says, tapping a photo, “was found between sofa cushions at the Glass House.”
Rossi sighs impatiently. He checks his watch. “Like I said, my client doesn’t dispute she was ever inside the house. She could have lost the pendant last Friday. Or her maid might have stolen it. The same maid worked at the Glass House. The maid could have dropped it there. None of this will hold up in court, and you know it.”
Mal runs her tongue over her teeth. “Daisy, why did Kit Darling recently ask to be excused from cleaning your home?”
Rossi says, “My client inquired about the change because she felt her maid was doing a good job. She was informed by Holly’s Help that it was the maid herself who requested a transfer due to a scheduling conflict. Now if you’re done here, Sergeant, we need to get my client to see a doctor.”
“Two more questions. Daisy, did you know that your maid, Kit Darling, was the sixteen-year-old schoolgirl who accused your husband of aggravated sexual assault eighteen years ago?”
Daisy’s face goes deep red. She wipes her mouth with a trembling hand and says to her lawyer, “I’m not feeling well. I’m going to faint.”
Emilio Rossi surges to his feet. He reaches for Daisy’s arm to help her up from her chair. “We’re done here.”
“One more,” Mal says firmly. “Do you recognize these people?” She slides two photos across the table and turns them to face Daisy.
She glances at them. “No.”
Mal taps one photo. “This here is Vanessa North. And this here”—she taps the other—“is Haruto North. These are your friends.”
The redness deepens in Daisy’s face. She refuses to look up. “That’s not them.”
“It is them. These are the owners of the house you attended for dinner.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I think I’m going to pass out. I—I need a doctor.”
As Rossi helps Daisy up and assists her to the door, he glances over his shoulder and says to Mal, “The missing maid was a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl who accused Jon Rittenberg of aggravated sexual assault? Sounds like you have motive for the husband right there, Detective. Imagine finding out your maid was the same woman who tried to sink your career and take you down all those years ago.”
They exit. The door swings shut behind them.
Mal hurriedly gathers up her file and photos. Before going to interview Jon Rittenberg, she stops by the bullpen.
