She shook her head and looked over to Harvey who was still yakking away. “It’s only happened once. He’d been drinking. He came back and apologized.”
“They all do,” Skylar added. “Look, I’m not going to pressure you but if you won’t speak to someone, then call me, at any time. Day or night. And Jenna. These things have a way of escalating pretty quick. Sometimes it’s best to cut ties. There are a lot of good men out there.”
Her thoughts went to Ben Walker. She felt a wave of guilt for the way she’d acted around him earlier that afternoon. She’d been a fool. Maybe he was right. Perhaps she was avoiding her own issues in the hope they’d just go way by themselves.
“I appreciate that,” Jenna said heading back over to the body.
Harvey ended his call. “They got prints back on the gun. They match Iris Bowman’s. In fact the gun is registered in her name. But that’s not all, it seems Iris has a record.”
Skylar’s eyebrows shot up. “Well how about that? I guess it’s time we had a little chat with our little spring breaker.”
Chapter 6
Franklin County Sheriff’s Office was buzzing with activity that afternoon. Sandwiched between Eastpoint and Carrabelle, the department’s green and cream building was located just off State Road 65. Skylar squeezed past several deputies who were on their way out. Harvey gave a nod and made a comment to one of them.
Harvey sniffed hard. “Well I’m thinking we should have this wrapped up by the end of the day. She probably shot him because he pissed her off or we’ll find out he was cheating on her. Typical run-of-the-mill.”
“I doubt it. Think about it. Why would you show up at a crime scene if you were the one that murdered him?”
“Perhaps she dropped the gun by mistake and she came back to collect it only to discover we beat her to the punch,” Harvey replied pushing through another door and holding it open for her. Inside the main office deputies were talking on the phone and pecking keys on their computers. Two were wrestling with one guy who was drunk and acting disorderly. Crime never ceased.
“You want a coffee before we go in and speak to her?” Skylar asked walking over to the vending machine. The crap it spewed out was tough to stomach and she’d been on at the chief to have Donnie supply bags of his coffee but the idea hadn’t stuck.
“Nah, I got to watch how many cups I’m consuming each day. My stomach has been acting up lately. Elizabeth wants me to cut back to one a day.”
“One a day? For you? Yeah right.”
“That’s what I said.”
Skylar went in and grabbed one before scooping up the folder Hanson had put together on Iris. On the way down to the interview room Harvey was quiet. Before heading in he would usually be giving her the speech on how he needed to be at the helm and asking the questions but not today. Skylar pushed the door open and entered to find Iris looking all somber. She lifted her eyes and then became all theatrical waving her arms.
“When am I getting out of here?”
“Soon. We just need to ask you a few questions.”
“You guys already have. I don’t understand. I’ve told you everything.”
Skylar sat down across from her and Harvey remained standing.
“You’re from Carrabelle?” Skylar asked.
“Born and raised,” she replied.
“You mentioned you don’t remember too much about where you were last night.”
“I didn’t say that. I said that I had a lot to drink and I can’t remember everything.”
Skylar looked at Harvey and he rolled his eyes. “So how about you take us through what you do remember?”
She leaned back and sighed and sat there thinking for a second. “A group of us were planning on going for drinks at around seven, I forget the name of the bar. It was something like Harry or…”
“Harry’s Bar and Package?”
“That’s it,” she replied.
“Was Matt with you?”
“No, he was going to meet up with me later. Him and his pals were going to head out on the boat.”
“Whose boat?”
“Gabriel Barber.”
“And so did you meet up with him later?”
“He didn’t show up.”
“What time were you meant to meet?”
“Around nine.”
“And the others, where were they?”
“They showed up, sometime nine thirty, maybe nine forty-five.”
“Did they say why they were late or where Matt was?”
“Yeah, they said he had a bit too much to drink and was sleeping it off down at the boat.”
She nodded and took down a few notes. “How many guys came down for spring break?”
“Um, including Matt, seven.”
“And where can I find them?”
“They’d be at the beach house.”
“Beach house?”
“Yeah, apparently it’s cheaper that way.”
“But they have a boat.”
“It’s not big enough for all of us.”
“It’s bigger than mine and I could fit at least seven people on mine.”
“Well Gabriel didn’t want people staying on it.”
“Okay, so you have an address for this place they rented?”
Skylar slipped across a piece of paper to have her jot it down. While she was doing that she continued with her line of questioning. “Okay, so Matt never showed up for the rest of the night. What time did you leave the bar?”
“I can’t remember. Like I said, I must have had a lot to drink because all I recall is waking up on the beach.”
“The beach?”
“Yeah, farther down from where Matt was found.”
Skylar looked at Harvey.
“And you were the only one there? None of your friends were there?”
“Just me. I started making my way back and that’s when I saw the commotion. Then I saw his body and just…”
“Freaked,” Harvey added.
“Did you call anyone to come and pick you up?”
“I was going to but I wasn’t getting much of a signal out there. I figured if I walked closer to the town I’d eventually get a signal.” She sighed.
“Just out of curiosity, was Matt in the habit of wearing pink shorts?”
She scoffed. “No, those weren’t his. At least I’ve never seen him wear a pair like that.”
“And you would know that because?”
“He had thinner legs than the other guys and he was self-conscious about them. He didn’t like wearing shorts.”
“I imagine that would have created some tension. Did you ever hear anyone putting him down over it?”
“His pals ribbed him but that’s to be expected. How many guys do you see wearing jeans down at the beach? He just needed to get over himself.”
“Did you see him before you headed out for drinks last night?”
“Briefly.”
“What was he wearing then?”
“Jeans and a white T-shirt.”
“Interesting you can remember all of that but not what happened after the bar.”
She scowled at Skylar. Harvey interjected opening a folder and holding up a picture of the gun. “What about this gun? Do you remember this?”
She squinted and then her eyes widened. “That’s…”
“Yours. Yeah, we looked into who the gun was registered to and it’s under your name and the prints we found are yours.”
“My father wanted me to have it.”
“Why?” Skylar asked.
“Look, he didn’t want me going off to the university without some form of protection. Call him overly protective but that’s him.”
“So you want to explain how that gun just so happened to end up on the beach? Did you drop it?”
“I don’t remember. But I know I didn’t do it. I loved Matt. There is no way I would have attacked him. If you honestly think I killed him then we have nothing more to say. I want a lawyer.”
�
�Did you obtain a lawyer when a boyfriend of yours got a restraining order on you?” Harvey asked. Skylar just observed her reaction.
Iris looked confused for a second. “That happened a long time ago.”
“Two years isn’t a long time,” Harvey added.
“He was the crazy one not me. I was just defending myself against him. It’s another reason why my father wanted me to have a gun.”
Harvey pressed her into a corner to see if she would break. It was an old tactic. Deliver information that was close to what had happened to the victim and then see if a suspect would break under pressure. “Was that what you were doing last night? Just defending yourself?”
The chair screeched as Iris stood up. “I didn’t do anything. I want a lawyer and I want to speak to my father.”
“Just answer the question,” Harvey said.
“I just did. I had nothing to do with the death of Matt. I loved him. He was the only guy who actually treated me with respect.”
“Well you know how this looks. He shows up dead with a bullet in him and your gun is found at the scene. The bullet also matches your gun and your prints are the only ones on it. Oh and you don’t remember what happened. So tell me, did you get into a fight?”
Iris began to break down in tears so Skylar intervened to get Harvey to back off her. “I didn’t do it. I want to speak to my lawyer.”
Skylar came around the table and placed her hand on her shoulder. “You’ll get your lawyer. Just hang tight.” She made a gesture to Harvey and they both went outside. As soon as the door closed Harvey was beaming.
“I told you, open-and-shut case. The girl is a nutjob who explodes on her exes. You said yourself that you saw her on the boat with other guys. No doubt she has been cozying up to those who have muscle and she’s grown tired of Matt. She meets him out at the Point, they get into an argument and…”
“She beats him to the point of nearly killing him and then puts a bullet in his back?” She paused for effect. “Come on, Harvey, you can’t possibly believe that. Look at the girl, she is probably a buck twenty wet. And there were no wounds on Matt’s knuckles, no blood, skin or hair under the nails to indicate that he fought off an attack. And we know that the bruises came before the gunshot wound.”
“Okay so she has the next guy she’s going to date beat him up and then they drop his limp body off at the beach, she goes along and shoots him then goes back home and returns in the morning acting like she can’t remember.”
“Nah, something doesn’t add up. She’s just a drop in the bucket on this one. I want to speak to this Gabriel Barber. And I know just where to find him.”
She glanced down at her watch, her stomach grumbled. She hadn’t eaten since the morning and it was getting late in the afternoon. “You want to go for a bite to eat?”
“Can’t do it. I promised I would meet up with Elizabeth. Why not take out Ben Walker? I’m sure he would appreciate that.”
“I doubt it.”
He nodded and went back into the interview room to gather more details from Iris. Both of them knew that as soon as her lawyer arrived, the chances of them getting any more out of her would be slim to none. Skylar headed out into the main office and spotted Resnik with his feet up on his desk, eating an apple and glossing over some magazine. She ambled over and perched on the side of his desk.
“I never took you for a home and décor kind of guy.”
He peered over the magazine. “It’s Hanson’s. He says I need to update my apartment. Don’t tell him but…” He pulled down the magazine to reveal another magazine inside that was about golfing.
“Ah I figured.”
“Anyway, what do you want?”
“Did you get any hits on surveillance cameras in the area?”
“Oh there’s a whole lot of activity but zero with Matt on them.”
“Well he couldn’t have just shown up there.”
“He could if he arrived by boat,” Reznik said taking a large bite of his apple and wiggling his feet. “The surveillance cameras only cover the outside of the businesses, the parking lots and main road. There were no vehicles that pulled up to the beach between ten and twelve, so unless he walked there, my guess is he was dropped off by boat or he was dropped off farther up the road and he walked down the beach.”
Her mind went back to Gabriel and the boat down at the harbor. She breathed in deeply. “And what about the hospital?”
“Why do you think I’m reading a magazine? I’m still waiting to hear back. They keep putting me on hold. I finally got a hold of security and was told they would need an hour or two to go through the footage and get in contact with the main desk.”
“No one is manning it?”
“Oh staff are manning it but you know how hospitals are. Everyone is rushed off their feet.”
She nodded. “Right.” Skylar tapped the desk a few times before she slipped off. “Keep me informed, okay?”
“Sure thing.”
She headed out and caught a lift back into town with one of the deputies. He dropped her off down at the Moorings so she could pick up her truck and get a bite to eat. She also wanted to see if Gabriel was around. Before she did that she ducked into Vagabond. It was quiet inside because the lunch rush hour had already gone by. Donnie sat behind the counter clearing off food from a plate. There were a few patrons sitting in booths chatting and drinking coffee, and on the far side of the room was… Ben Walker. Oh, great, she thought. For a second she was going to leave but he spotted her. She lifted a hand but he didn’t return the gesture. Instead he returned to reading a book and sipping on his coffee.
“Skylar, glad to see you have some pants on,” Donnie said.
Her head turned towards the cashier area.
“Donnie.”
“What can I get you?”
“Just a sandwich to go. Ham, and go light on the mustard please.”
“Coming right up.” As he went about making it she glanced out the window to where her boat was. The frat boys’ yacht was there but there didn’t appear to be anyone topside. She leaned against the counter and looked over at Ben. She felt really bad about how things had played out earlier and was contemplating going over and apologizing when he got up and tossed down some money and walked out without even a hello. She watched him return to his vehicle and drive away.
She grimaced. “Donnie, you ever burned bridges?” she asked.
“Only once,” he said buttering some bread. “This one time back when I was in my late teens, several friends of mine met up to smoke pot and drink. I don’t do it now but back then it was all the rage. Anyway things got out of control, and somehow this 100 proof rum caught on fire and so did the bridge we were under at the time. You should have seen it.” He paused for a second reflecting. “I never knew a bridge could burn that fast.”
She started laughing. “No, I don’t mean physical bridges, I mean relationships.”
“Oh, those ones.” He nodded. “In that case. Many. Why? You screw up again?”
She scoffed. “Well that’s the thing, I think I did and this time it was with someone I actually give a damn about.”
He turned around still holding the knife and tapped it against his cheeks, leaving a blob of butter on his face. “There is a saying … The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” He paused again and sighed then went back went back to finishing her sandwich. She pondered it. He always had something good to say when she came in, even if it took her a while to process it.
“By the way, how did it go with the coffee?”
“Right on time,” she said.
“I told you. It works like clockwork.”
“Let’s hope it lasts,” she said looking back out the window toward Gabriel’s boat.
Chapter 7
Skylar’s mind was in a first-class funk as she exited Vagabond. There was no real cause. No deadline before her, or worries about how she was going to pay her bills, or even anything she didn’t think she could
solve with a little time, that included her relationship with Ben. Still, she felt maxed out and the more she thought about it the more it got her down. Upon approaching the boat belonging to Gabriel she called out to him but got no response. She contemplated hopping on board and poking around but after the stunt she’d pulled that morning and the comment Harvey had made about a civil lawsuit she opted to leave it. They weren’t going anywhere.
As she made her way down into the cabin of her boat and tossed her lunch on the table, her eyes spotted a leather jacket slung over the back of one of the chairs. She picked it up and smelled it. Men’s cologne.
“Well hello, sweet cheeks!”
The same guy she’d seen over the weekend came out of the bathroom; the sound of a toilet could be heard flushing.
“What the hell are you doing here?” she asked.
He leaned against the wall acting all cool. “I was giving some thought to all those rules of yours and well, I thought why would someone come up with so many rules?”
She eyed him carefully. “And?”
“I figure you do it to keep men at a distance. But here’s the thing, I’m not like all men.”
“Really?” she said shifting her weight from one foot to the other.
“Yeah.” He ambled over with a swagger to his step like he was all cool. He had on a dark pair of pants and a jean shirt, and was looking her up and down like she was a slab of meat. He grabbed her around the waist and his hand slipped down to her butt. “You see, I know what women like you want. So here’s what’s going to happen.”
Before he could get another word out, she reached around and grabbed his hand and twisted two of his fingers causing him to buckle, she thrust the hand up and could have broken both fingers but just held him there.
“Don’t bother,” she said. “Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to take your jacket and get your ass off this boat and don’t come back here again. You got it?”
He nodded, groaning in agony. The guy was close to two hundred and twenty pounds of pure muscle but he was wincing like a baby. She released him and without saying another word he grabbed up his jacket and double-timed it out. She heard him call her a crazy bitch once he was on the dock. She just chuckled and slumped down into her seat to eat lunch. In the silence with only the sound of water lapping against the boat, she found herself thinking of Alex. The conversations they had, the time they spent with one another. Skylar eyed a half-filled bottle of bourbon on the counter and considered having a drop. Another hour and her shift would be over. It wouldn’t harm her to have a drop. She got up and went to grab it when the phone rang. Snatching it up but still eyeing the bottle she answered.
Death Blow Page 5
