“Like I’d actually do that,” said Winchell, “and risk having to deal with you guys again. Anyway, that first time, when I saw her leaving with him, I gave her a wink and she winked back. Letting me know we were still cool. ’Cause shewascool. No reason for anyone to hurt her unlesshe’ssome kind of psycho.”
“The last time you saw her was…”
“Like a week after I saw her with him at the gym and no, we didn’t call or text. Her leaving the gym made sense. She shouldn’t have been there in the first place, it’s for serious lifting not girlie stuff but she probably went there to meet dudes.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because it worked,” said Frank Winchell. “She met me, thenhim.You ask me, it’shimyou should be looking at, because his thing with her was more recent. And let’s face it, lawyers are halfway to criminal, anyway.”
Milo smiled. “Anything else, Mr. Winchell?”
“Not unless you want my advice on rubber-tipping and flossing. Sorry, I shouldn’t be a wiseass, this is serious.”
He laced his hands together. Twisted them palms-out, thenloosened his fingers and let them drop. “Worse than serious. It’s horrendous.”
Milo said, “Thank you, sir. If you think of anything else, get in touch.”
“Of course,” said Frank Winchell. “Sophie didn’t deserve this. Especially with what she went through in Oklahoma.”
“What’s that?”
“Losing her husband in a car crash. She talked about loving him crazy, said she’d never feel that way about anyone. Did that threaten me? Not even close, like I said, it wasn’t Romeo and Juliet.”
Winchell took two steps toward the Audi and stopped. “What was that last badge you squeaked in?”
Milo said, “Cooking.”
“What’d you make?”
“Beef stew.”
Winchell laughed. “Me too, everyone said it was the easiest. Throw stuff in a pot and heat it up.”
He looked at me. “You also a scout?”
I said, “Did a few years in the Cubs.”
“Why’d you quit?”
Because my raging alcoholic father cut it short. Like most everything I enjoyed.
I said, “Time constraints.”
“Whatever that means,” said Frank Winchell, raising his eyebrows. Nodding at Milo, he left and drove away quickly.
Milo said, “What do you think?”
“If Sophie picked up other guys at the gym, one of them could’ve reacted more strongly than he did.”
“I meantabouthim.”
“No new suspicions. And how would he have access to Mike Heck’s DNA?”
“The same way any suspect would. Follow Heck and Sophie to Heck’s place, watch Heck dump his trash, and retrieve the butts.And his being an ex might mean Sophie would let him in to her place.”
“The same could apply to any ex.”
“True. And there’s nothing in his background—no domestics, no restraining orders—to suggest he’s got temper issues.”
