“Where were you yesterday morning?” Ray didn’t like that blank look on Troy’s face. He liked Troy’s lack of emotion even less. This was wrong somehow.
“Passed out in my truck in my own front yard.” He met Ray’s eyes again. “Ask Patricia. She came home from church and found me. I’d climbed in the truck after Violet took me home. That’s where I slept it off.”
That still left him with no alibi until noon yesterday. But why would Troy kill Keith? There was tension between them because of Austin. But enough to commit murder? Ray just couldn’t swallow that.
“I need to see your hands, Troy.”
He flattened his hands on the table. Bruised and scratched. “Did you do all that Saturday night?”
Troy nodded. “Where else? I told you I was dead to the world after that.”
“You don’t know of anyone Keith was having trouble with?”
Troy shook his head. “Nobody except that bastard Austin.”
Hatred glinted in those dull eyes for a beat or two before he looked away again.
“What about suicide? Was Keith having any trouble that might have made him want to end his life?” Ray couldn’t see that. This was a small town. If Keith and Violet were having any real problems, he would have heard about it. But even that, he felt confident, wouldn’t have had Keith taking a dive off the edge.
“Can’t think of a thing.”
Ray couldn’t put his finger on the problem, but there was definitely a problem. Troy looked hungover as hell; that was true. But there was more, deeper. A defeat of some sort.
“Any more questions?” Again, Troy didn’t look at him.
“That’s all for now.”
Troy pushed out of his chair and walked to the door.
“You let me know,” Ray said, “if you think of anything that might help with this investigation.”
His hand on the door, Troy didn’t look back. “Sure.”
Ray rubbed his chin and thought about Troy’s reaction for a bit. Definitely off. As badly as Troy had to be hurting, he hadn’t launched a verbal attack as he usually did.
Maybe Ray would get lucky and the ABI would find some usable physical evidence at the scene.
But so far luck had been looking the other way in Pine Bluff.
40
3:30 p.m.
Emily was summoned to City Hall. Ray wanted her to come in and answer a few questions.
Keith was dead.
She couldn’t believe it. God, Violet and the kids would be devastated.
Emily hadn’t left her room since returning from Clint’s place the day before. Part of her kept hoping her parents would call and invite her home. Maybe she should have taken the first step, but she hadn’t. She’d tinkered with her lists some more, finally had them in shape to turn over to Ray. Outside that, she’d spent a good deal of time trying to banish the confusing episode in the barn. She couldn’t say she regretted what she’d done. But she felt uncertain about herself. About everything.
The chief’s secretary wasn’t at her desk, so Emily went straight to his door and knocked.
“Come on in!”
Emily steeled herself and opened the door.
Ray pushed to his feet and offered his hand across his desk. “Thank you for coming, Emily.”
