I was breathing heavily. I hadn’t felt as if I had really exerted myself, but I must have. I wasn’t tired, though. I was tingling all the way down the length of my body, ending at my toes, and I had never felt so high. I gazed down at her and thought of Marilyn, how in her house in Beverly Hills she had been found in the soldier’s position. Chloe wasn’t in the soldier’s position. I thought she looked like she was in “child’s pose” in yoga, but resting on her side with her arms extended above her head. I gave her a kick, sending her face-first into the floor. Now she looked good. Now when the coroner came he would write, “the body was found in ‘child’s pose.’” That one line would remain, long after Chloe was in the ground. Just like Marilyn’s soldier’s position.

I took a couple of minutes to compose myself. My eyes kept drifting back to Chloe to make sure she was dead.

My attack on her had been so sudden and so forceful that she really didn’t have time to defend herself. The entire thing had been so one-sided that I knew she hadn’t had the opportunity to pull any of my hair out during the struggle. Kneeling again by her side, I wiped her neck with the sleeve of my jacket. Lifting fingerprints off a dead body can be extremely difficult, but it can be done. I retraced my steps from when I entered the house. I hadn’t touched the doorknob when I walked in. I realized I’d had a few sips of the rosé wine, so there would be DNA left on the rim of the glass. I picked up the bottle of rosé and the two wine glasses and moved into the kitchen. Pouring the remaining wine down the sink, I then flipped on the hot water with the side of my hand. I let the water heat up until it steamed and then I let it run over the glasses. My hand was turning red from the hot water, but it felt good, it didn’t hurt, and the steam was rising into my face.

I carefully soaped each wineglass, paying particular attention to the rims. Grabbing a dishtowel, I dried both glasses and found the cupboard where they belonged. I replaced the two next to the six other glasses to complete the set of eight, in two rows, four glasses in each row.

With the dishtowel, I rubbed the cabinet door and then the bottle of Joy I had used. Then I had an inspiration. Moving over to my purse, I removed the plastic Baggie and dropped the dirty Kleenex onto the ground next to Chloe.