“Visiting my brother in Seattle. When things went south with Sharon and she left town, so did I.” Morris wrote a name and phone number on a piece of paper and handed it across the desk. “I gave this to the sheriff already. I’m sure there are traffic cameras showing me coming and going, and we also attended a birthday party for a friend at Clopper’s Bar on Fifth. There were security cameras everywhere.”
“Even so, we’ll need a detailed timeline of your activities for the past month,” Laurel said. “Also, can you account for your activities last Tuesday night into Wednesday morning?”
“Is that when the other woman died?” Morris asked.
Laurel nodded. “Yes. Where were you?”
Morris shrugged. “At school and then at home. By myself. While there are security cameras here on campus, there aren’t any at my house.”
So he didn’t have an alibi for Charlene’s murder. “Have you met Dr. Charlene Rox? Ever seen her?” Huck asked.
“No. I’ve never heard of her,” Morris said. “Sorry.”
Why was he sorry? Laurel cleared her throat. Morris didn’t seem to hold the kind of mania needed to inflict the damage she’d seen on the victims, but if he were a psychopath, he’d be able to hide it well. That rage couldn’t be kept at bay for long, though, and the killer would have to murder again soon. How many women had to die? She had to find this miscreant. “Where are you living now?”
“I rented a house two blocks over and can walk to work.” Morris drew a keychain out of his pocket. “You’re welcome to search my home, off ice, vehicles, or person. I just don’t care.”
“We’ll set that up,” Huck said quietly. “Thank you for cooperating.”
If Morris had been bluffing, he was going to regret his actions. But Laurel didn’t envision him as a killer. “When was the last time you saw your wife?”
He looked down at his hands. “She dropped by the office here on her way out of town. I think she was going to have me served with papers that week, but then we talked, and I don’t know. Something clicked. She said she’d think about us while on her writer’s retreat, and I believed her. In fact, she said it was over with Big Boy.” Morris flushed. “She didn’t call him that. Just said that she’d made a mistake and had ended it with the man she’d been seeing. I thought maybe we had a chance.” Tears filled his eyes. “Now she’s dead.”
Huck shifted on the plastic seat. “Did she indicate how Big Boy took the breakup?”
“No. Just that it was over, and she’d ended it. Said she’d screwed up.” Morris swiped both hands over his eyes, wiping them. “I was just so grateful that they’d ended things that I didn’t ask why. Maybe I thought it was because of me. That she wanted to work on our marriage.” He looked up, his lips drawn tight. “She said she’d think about it. It was the first hope I’d felt in months.”
Huck took the piece of paper with the alibi. “That was very understanding of you. I mean, to want to stay married after she cheated on you.”
Morris’s gaze dropped again. “I loved her.”
Laurel caught movement as his gaze moved to the left. She ran through the conversation. “Did you also commit adultery?”
Morris sniffed. “How did you know that?”
“You’re giving visual cues that you’re hiding something, and that’s the most logical assumption, considering your lack of anger at your wife’s adultery,” Laurel said. There was some anger but not what she’d expect.
Morris winced. “I really screwed up. Once. Got drunk at a conference for accountancy professors, which is my field, and went to bed with an old girlfriend. It was stupid. I was really drunk, Sharon and I had had a fight before I’d left for the weekend, and I regretted it. Told her about it the second I got home, and I thought we were going to be okay. Four months later, she was dating Big Boy.” A snot bubble popped out of his left nostril.
“Who was the woman?” Huck asked.
“Her name is Jennie Smith and she teaches at Seattle University. She’s an old friend but that’s all. Not married and didn’t want anything beyond that night with me.” Another tear leaked from Morris’s eye, and his face began to puff up. “One stupid night. That’s all it takes to ruin everything.”
Huck’s expression hadn’t altered. “What did you and Sharon argue about before you left for your conference and broke your wedding vows?”
Laurel blinked. Was there judgment in that statement?
Morris sniffed again. “I don’t remember. It was about something stupid. Something about her dumb nephew. Kid got into trouble, and his folks finally put some restrictions on him, making him pay restitution or whatever. The kid was supposed to weed our lawn and prepare it for winter to make some cash, and he didn’t do the job. Yet she wanted to pay the little shit anyway.”
Laurel sat up straighter. “Her nephew? Would this be Tommy Bearing?”
Morris nodded. “Yeah. Both those kids are spoiled brats if you ask me. Even the lawyer.”
“Do you know why Tommy was in trouble?” Laurel had to acquire his juvenile record.
“No. The mayor had that hushed up fast. If Sharon knew, she didn’t tell me.” Morris leaned toward them, his gaze intent. “That kid’s rotten, I tell you. Sharon hinted that he’d been in trouble before, but that’s all I know.” He dropped his head into his hands. “We didn’t pay him, and the next day, somebody egged our house and slashed my tires. Kid swore up and down it wasn’t him, but seriously. Of course, it was him.”
Laurel looked at Huck. That was interesting. He nodded.
