“Which night was this?”I knew what night it was.I was positive from the venom in her voice she’d been the hit-and-run driver.But I needed her to say it.
“Oh, come on, Chief.”She finally took a sip of her water.Once she’d swallowed, she set the paper cup down, looking resigned.“Don’t treat me like I’m dumb.I’m sure you already know I’m the one who tried to run Spencer over.”
Hearing her say it so flippantly was disturbing.“Why don’t you tell me about that night?”
“You probably won’t believe me, but that wasn’t planned either.”She looked up at the buzzing fluorescent lamp above us.“It just kind of happened.”
“What made you go after Spencer?”
She took a shaky breath.“Spencer came into the Rusty Anchor that night.He sat at the bar and he started talking to Gil.At first I thought he really had just come in for a drink and dinner.He used to come in a lot.”She frowned.“But then I caught on that he was actually there to pump Gil for information.”
“What kind of information?”
Her mouth thinned.“I stupidly let it slip to Spencer that Gil had made an offer to Rosa for Eddie’s boat.I didn’t even realize I’d screwed up until he started asking questions about money.Then I caught on that I had truly goofed.He’s like a damn pit bull.”
She wasn’t wrong.
“I could see the excitement in his eyes when I told him about Gil buying the boat,” she groaned.“I was so mad at myself.But Spencer is so easy to talk to sometimes, you just end up telling him stuff you didn’t plan on saying.”
Once again, she wasn’t wrong.Spencer was very good at getting people to talk.
“So he came into the Rusty Anchor and he was talking to Gil,” I said.“And that made you mad.”
“Yes.Gil was wasted.He was suffering so horribly after Eddie died.”She said that as if she wasn’t the reason Eddie had died.“He was drinking a lot that night, and Spencer started asking him where he got the money to buy the boat.I knew right away it was a trap, but Gil was just running his mouth because he was drunk.”
“What specifically did you hear that concerned you?”
“Spencer got Gil to basically admit that he’d got the money illegally.Gil didn’t even realize he’d been played.But I knew.I could hear everything because I was right there behind the bar.”She grimaced.“I could see where it was heading.I knew Spencer would keep digging, and he’d figure out the poaching angle.Then everything would come out.”
“So what did you do?”
“I really liked Spencer, but I knew I had to shut him up.Stop him from telling anyone what he’d learned.”She played with a tendril of hair near her ear.“I got more and more scared as the night went on.Gil was just too loose-lipped that night.I had no choice other than to make sure Spencer didn’t talk.”
“I see.”I had to hide how angry her flippant tone made me.She’d tried to murder Spencer in cold blood.But to her, it seemed no more serious than if she’d sprayed some ants on her kitchen counter.
“Spencer paid his tab and left,” she said.“I remember standing behind the bar watching him walk out the door.I just kept thinking, he’s going to ruin everything.He’s going to keep asking questions until he finds out the truth.Then Gil is going to prison and it’s all going to be for nothing.Eddie dying, all the guilt, all the lies.For nothing.I knew I had to go after him.”
“But you were working.How were you able to go after Spencer?”
She wiped her nose with the back of her hand.“It was like divine intervention when my manager, Terry, told me to take my fifteen-minute break.The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.Spencer had just left, so I went out the back after him.I’d driven Craig’s truck to work that night because my car was almost on empty and Craig was out on the Blue Whale.The truck was parked out back.”
“What time was this?”
“Maybe nine-thirty.I don’t know exactly.Spencer had just left.I know where Spencer lives, so I knew the route he’d take home.”
That sent a chill down my spine.“So then what did you do?”
“I got in the truck and I drove up Tideline Road.I knew I’d pass him somewhere on the stretch past the switchback where there aren’t many streetlights.I kept telling myself I was just going to scare him.I wanted to make him think twice about coming around and asking questions again.”Her voice dropped.“But when I saw him walking on the shoulder, something just took over.I turned the wheel toward him and I hit the gas.”
“You hit the gas,” I repeated blankly, resisting the urge to reach across the table and strangle her.
“Yes.”She sounded breathless as she continued.“I felt the impact.I knew I’d hit him.And I just kept driving.I made a U-turn a few feet up the hill, then I drove back down.I saw him in the ditch.He wasn’t moving, and that comforted me.I didn’t see any other cars.I parked behind the Anchor, went back inside, and finished my shift.Gil didn’t even know I’d been gone.Nobody did.”
The room was quiet.Bree had stopped writing and was staring at Tess.I took a slow breath.
“Was there damage to Craig’s truck?”I asked in a surprisingly calm voice.
Tess watched me nervously, as if she’d picked up on my anger.“His truck is big.Sturdy.There was a dent on the front bumper.Nothing too obvious.Nobody knew I’d driven his truck instead of my car.I figured if the police checked my car, it would be clean.Craig’s truck already had a few dings on it.He didn’t notice.”
