“What then?” Pierce asked.
Wayne looked up, his eyes tortured. Even with the distance between us, I felt his pain. “Then I went to work. She promised we’d talk about it at breakfast since I was working the night shift. When I got home in the morning, she was gone.”
Spencer tapped his fingers on the table. “That’s all we have to say until you tell us what’s going on.”
Pierce ignored him. “Did you ever hurt your wife?”
“Of course, not,” Wayne burst out. “I loved her.” He looked like he was telling the truth. Although I had seen good liars before. Tears gathered in his eyes. “Why are you opening Imogen’s case again, Detective Pierce?”
Pierce settled back in his chair. “I regret to inform you that we found your wife’s body last week.”
Wayne’s expression fell. More tears gathered in his eyes. He drew shaking hands to cover his face. “Oh, no. She’s really dead?”
His brother slid an arm over his shoulders. “I’m so sorry, Wayne.” He glared at Pierce. “That’s how you had to tell him, by questioning him first?”
Pierce slightly turned his head. “Spencer, you practice tax law. I know the criminal justice system is new to you, but yeah, that’s how I had to tell him. I needed to get any information from him I could.”
“Sheriff Franco repeatedly interviewed him back in the day when she went missing,” Spencer objected.
“I know. I have the case files,” Pierce said.
Wayne dropped his hands to his lap. “How did she die?”
“She was stabbed to death along with Richard Basanelli, most probably fifteen years ago.”
Spencer’s shoulders dropped. “She was killed the night they left town?”
“It looks like it happened sometime that week. That’s as close to the time of death as we can get. Where were you at that time, Wayne?” Pierce asked.
Wayne sniffed. “I was working that night. Then I was searching for my wife the week after.” He looked over at his brother. “I called Spencer, and he finished the cruise he was working on and flew home. What was that? About a week after she left me?”
Spencer nodded. “Yeah, I was on an Alaskan cruise at the time, so I was able to get home quickly.” He shook his head. “I figured Imogen really wanted out and wasn’t coming back.”
Pierce reached for a file folder and flipped through it. “I have the background here that confirms you were on the ship and when you arrived in Silverville.” He looked up and, I was sure, gave Wayne that quizzical, intense look he got. “However, we don’t know whereyouwere that night or that week, do we?”
“I was at work,” Wayne insisted.
“You were at work until that morning. Yes. But after your shift, you took the week off,” Pierce said.
Wayne threw up his hands. “I took a leave of absence so I could look for my wife. Sheriff Franco helped me. You need to—”
“I’m aware of that,” Pierce said calmly. “But what I’m saying is, your whereabouts are not accounted for during that week.”
“So, what?” Spencer asked. “You’re saying he did…what? Nobody saw Imogen or Richard after that night. We talked to everybody in town. So did Sheriff Franco. They just disappeared.” He shrugged. “Honestly, we all figured they headed to California or somewhere warm to start a new life.”
Wayne wiped away tears. “I always hoped she’d come home to me.” He hung his head, making him look even older than he had just a few minutes before. “That she’d come to her senses and realize what a jerk Richard was. I didn’t think she was dead.”
“I’m sorry, Wayne,” Spencer said.
Wayne shook his head. “It feels like the light has left the world, you know?”
I stepped closer. How could he still love her after she left him like that? Fifteen years later?
Spencer removed his arm and settled himself back on the chair. “For the record, I have no idea who would’ve killed Imogen and Richard,” he said. “However, I do remember there being some sort of talk around town about those kids of his.”
Wayne nodded. “Heck yeah, there was talk. Don’t you remember the whole story that the day after Richard and Imogen left, all three of those boys were bloodied and bruised and looked like they’d been in fights?”
Spencer frowned. “I don’t really remember that, but I showed up a week later.”
