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“No! When I get upset I don’t lash out. That’s not in my nature. I simply… crawl into my shell and completely… shut down, I guess.” His lip trembled as he nervously touched it. “I guess it’s the way I’m built—I don’t know.”

“So you gave him the silent treatment.”

“Yes, I did! Because it’s what I always do. We don’t speak for a day, maybe two days, and then we get up in the morning and we both act as if nothing happened, and then finally we hug it out and there will be tears and apologies and remorse and…” He blushed. “Well, make-up sex is popular for a reason.”

“Only this time there was no make-up sex,” said Chase.

He groaned and buried his face in his hands.“This is a nightmare! This is a horror show! My life is ruined! And who’s going to take care of Pussy now?”

Alec shuffled uneasily in his chair. This interview wasn’t going well.

“So where is Pussy now?” he asked.

“Back at the house. Oh, she’ll get all the food and water she needs, but it’s theaffection she’ll miss. Thelove she gets from her papas.” He was rocking back and forth now, hugging himself. “Poor Pussy. Sheneeds her papas.”

“I’m sure Pussy will be fine,” said Chase. “Now let’s go back to last night. So you and Leo had a fight.”

“A very big fight.”

“So you…”

“So I walked out and went into my room, slamming the door. Then I put my music on as loud as possible. Rihanna, of course. Or it could have been Beyonc?. I don’t remember. Leo hated music. He said it messed up his frequency.”

“His frequency?”

“His body’s vibrational frequency. He had this theory that all creation comes out of the void—out of nothingness. So he needed to create a void in himself. Nothingness. No smell, no color, no taste, no sound… He would even put on gloves to cut out his sense of touch. Turn off the light. Meditate for hours and hours. And out of this nothingness, pure creation would ensue.”

“Well, he did create a pretty big business empire,” said Chase, “so maybe he was onto something.”

“I don’t think so. I think Leo was damaged. He had a horrible childhood, with parents who never showed him an ounce of affection. It made him bitter and withdrawn. He lived like the proverbial boy in the bubble, only his bubble was self-created.”

“And then you entered that bubble,” said Alec.

“Yes, I entered the bubble. Oh, don’t get me wrong, Leo wasn’t antisocial. He had lots of friends, and he liked to have fun. Just not when he was working.”

“I see. So back to last night. You were in your room, listening to Rihanna.”

“Or Beyonc?,” Chase added helpfully.

“I blasted my music all through the house at full volume. Five minutes later he came stomping into my room and yanked the speaker from the wall, then threw it out the window!” He laughed, then cried. “It was the last time I saw him! My beautiful, darling boy!”

“So how do you explain you standing at the side of the bed with a knife in your hand?”

“That’s just it! I can’t! I was asleep in my bed. Took me hours to fall asleep, worried as I was about Leo, and the fight we had. When we fight I always sleep badly. And then suddenly I’m wide awake, and I’m standing over him, and there’s blood everywhere, and there’s something cold and metallic in my hand and-and-and… Leo is dead, staring up at me with those lifeless, accusing eyes! As if he knew what I did and he wanted me to know that he knew!” He broke down, and Alec shook his head. They weren’t getting anywhere with this guy. So he and Chase got up and walked out to confer.

“Either he doesn’t remember or he’s a great actor,” said Chase.

“He seems sincere,” said Alec. “But it doesn’t matter. He was there—he did it. No jury will think otherwise, and no judge will decide not to convict him.”

Chase stared through the one-way mirror into the room where their suspect still sat, rocking back and forth again, his arms wrapped around himself and his face turned up to the ceiling, crying bitter tears.

“I feel sorry for the guy, though,” he said.

“He probably just lost it. Felt abandoned, or angry, flew into a rage. It happens, especially with emotional types like him. They bottle up their emotions for a while, then erupt like a geyser.” When Chase gave him a look of amusement, he said, “What?!”

“Is that your professional opinion, Mr. Freud?”

“The hell should I know! But it stands to reason he must have been out of it, made a grab for the knife, and stabbed. And that’s all it took, unfortunately. And when he finally came to, it was too late. The boyfriend was dead.”

“Diminished responsibility?”

“That’s for the judge to decide. I’m just telling it like I see it.”

There was a commotion behind them, and suddenly a blond-haired woman came bursting into the room, accompanied by a man with a camera, and before they could stop them they were aiming the camera at their suspect and the woman was firing off a barrage of questions at the Chief.

“Hey! Get the hell out of here!” he yelled.

Dolores, the police station receptionist, came huffing in.“I tried to stop them, Chief!” she cried. “They pushed right past me!”