“My brain was a little fuzzy. I had a lot to drink. But I remember enough to know I’m telling the truth.”

“What happened after you tossed the knife?” Decker asked.

“I gotta think.” He started pantomiming, doing little things with his hands. Then he said, “I think at this point, the bitch must’ve realized what she did. She just folded. She started breathing hard and she dropped to the ground, screaming and crying … Crazy cunt!”

“And Pauline?” Decker asked.

“Dead.”

“You took her pulse? You checked her breathing?”

“Didn’t have to do anything like that because I know what dead looks like.” He blew out air. “The bitch was in full panic mode. Kept on saying like, ‘What do we do? What do we do?’ What do we do, bitch? You mean what do you do!”

“What did she do?”

“She killed Pauline. That’s what I’ve been telling you.”

“Okay,” Decker said. “Got it. What did Elsie do after she killed Pauline?”

“Put her in the trunk of the car.” He shook his head. “I helped her. I’ll cop to that. Elsie was going nuts, and I couldn’t leave Pauline on the side of the road. I couldn’t do that to her. Plus, everyone would suspect me. We’d been fighting that night.” He rubbed his eyes again. “We brought her back to Elsie’s place.”

“SID went over the car, Baer,” Decker said. “There wasn’t a drop of blood in the trunk.”

“That’s because Elsie was driving Pauline’s car. Elsie’s was in the shop and she didn’t get it until the next day. I don’t know where she was having it fixed, but how many auto shops can there be in that area? Check it out.”

Decker’s thoughts were whirling. The story, however crazy, had a ring of truth. “What’d you do after you got Pauline back to Elsie’s house?”

“Cleaned her up. Kept her in the kitchen while we figured out the best place to dump her. Elsie came up with the spot.”

“It’s a long way to drive to dump a body,” McAdams said.

“I didn’t know that at the time. All Elsie said was she knew a spot that was far away and wouldn’t throw suspicion on either one of us. Besides, Pauline didn’t work. It wasn’t like someone was expecting her.”

“Go on,” Decker said.

“We both wanted to do it soon because … fuck, let’s face it. Who wants a dead body in the house? The next night we left Baniff in separate cars. I took Pauline’s body and Pauline’s car. Elsie took her own car. I followed her. After we buried her, we went our separate ways. I never looked back and I never saw the bitch again.”

“And when again did you bury her?”

“I dunno. After midnight.”

“What day?”