“Maybe it’s better if Thomas goes upstairs, too,” says Clay. “And Caroline.”
“Happy to go with my client,” says Caroline.
“Agreed,” says Zoey. “Andy?”
Andy Kimmich helps Thomas to his feet and leads him away with Caroline walking a step behind. A strange calm falls over the basement room. All eyes are on Steph.
She waits until she hears Thomas’s footsteps on the floorabove, then says, “Thomas had nothing to do with Teddy Hawkins’s death or removing the body. I know, because it was me.”
“Stop, Steph,” says Zoey. “I’m sorry. I’ve seen this a hundred times. A parent claiming responsibility to save their kid from—”
“No,” says Steph. “Listen. Please.” Steph sits down, drops her face into her hands, takes a breath, then puts her hands on the table. “Wags had been threatening me because of the divorce. He threatened to hurt me and he threatened to hurt the kids. And on top of that, do you know that I’ll have to pay Wags spousal maintenance? He hasn’t done a damn thing to help raise the kids. He’s barely contributed to supporting the family financially. He has not been faithful. And yet because I make more money than him, I’ll have to pay. And it’s not like he’s going to chip in for the kids’ college. It’s on me. It’s all on me.”
Steph reaches over and places her hand on the back of the chair where Thomas just sat. “Someone has to provide for my kids. Someone has to keep them safe from their father. I told you, Judd, back when you were chief, that Wags threatened me and the kids. You said there was nothing you could do. Same with you, Zoey. You said until he did something, you couldn’t help me. So I helped myself.”
“And how’d you do that?” says Zoey.
“I tried to frame Wags for stealing catalytic converters because I wanted him to go to jail. He couldn’t hurt us from jail. So I told Clay that Wags had a bunch of catalytic converters stashed away. I figured he’d tell you, Zoey, and you’d arrest him or at least bring him in for questioning. But nothing happened…” She eyes Clay, then looks back at Zoey. “Then I put a bunch of catalytic converters in the trunk of his car. I found an old key hethought he’d lost, and one night I drove over to his apartment and put the catalytic converters in the trunk.”
“Where did you get the catalytic converters?” says Zoey.
Steph drops her eyes. “I went to Hensel’s scrapyard. I wanted to buy a few of them and do it that way. Robert wasn’t in, but his son Eli was. And we had a conversation.”
“About catalytic converters?”
“Yes,” says Steph. “At first. And then he told me about how he was working at the scrapyard to save money to move to London. He wants to write a modern-day version ofOliver Twist. I asked him how it was working for his father, and he said it wasn’t that bad. He’d worked there in high school and also worked at a scrapyard up in the Twin Cities to put himself through college. He said for an aspiring writer, it’s a good job. He can read and write when no one else is there. And the grittiness of a scrapyard makes him feel like he’s not losing touch with the working class.”
“How nice that he lowered himself to be among the people,” says Judd.
“He’s a smart, sensitive young man,” says Steph. “Everything Wags is not. God, I was so stupid to marry that man. Anyway, Eli and I talked for over an hour, and then he asked if I wanted to have a drink sometime. It was very flattering. I’m twenty years older than him but I figured, what the hell? Men have been chasing women twenty years younger since the beginning of time.”
“You and Eli are having an affair?” says Zoey.
Steph nods, keeping her eyes away from Clay’s. “And during our time together, we came up with a plan to solve both of our problems. We would find scrap metal and recycle it for cash. But not at Hensel’s. We didn’t want any record of what we weredoing in town. Instead, one or both of us would drive the metal up to the cities and take it to the yard where Eli had worked in college. He told me that they tended to look the other way when questionable items were brought in.”
“Questionable meaning stolen?” says Zoey.
Steph nods.
“And where did you get the metals?” says Clay.
Steph’s lower lip begins to tremble. She waits for it to steady. “Teddy came into the salon one day. He asked if I had any work for him. I had hired him in the past to do some handyman chores. Changing my outlets to the GFCI ones. Replacing cartridges in my faucets. Changing out the old fluorescent tubes for LCD ones…” She looks over at Clay and says, “I’d known Teddy since I was a kid. You would take me over to Teddy and Deb’s. They’d make us dinner. We’d all watch a movie together after. Teddy’s always had his issues, but I’ve always liked him as a person. I’ve trusted him. And so I brought up the idea of finding metal and bringing it to me. I told him I’d give him one-third of whatever I could get for it. No questions asked. And he’d be protected—I’d never tell anyone where it came from.”
Steph swivels her head toward Zoey and says, “That was the extent of us forming a criminal conspiracy. Teddy got to work. He brought me a few catalytic converters one day. Another day he brought me several sections of copper pipe. One night he wanted me to meet him at the salon, so I did. He had a bunch of copper sheeting back there. I have no idea where it came from.”
“Dorset-Cornwall,” says Clay. “Teddy helped himself to some building materials.”
Steph nods. “It was all going well. Teddy brought in metal.Eli and I drove it up to the cities and drove back with cash. We split it three ways. Eli saved up for his move to London. I don’t know what Teddy did with his share. And I took care of my family.”
“You mean,” says Clay, “you took care of your family with off-the-books income to make it look like you made less money at the salon. That way your spousal maintenance payments to Wags would be less. That’s why you wouldn’t let me pay for my haircut. It’s why you’ve been remodeling the salon.”
“Yes,” says Steph. “And then Eli noticed that the old power lines were still up. I mentioned it to Teddy, and he said he thought he could cut down quite a bit of it.”
“Did you drive Teddy early Friday morning? First to Kwik-Trip for the gloves and then to Miller’s Bluff?”
Steph nods. “He didn’t want anyone to spot his truck. Sometimes kids go up there at night. And those mountain bikers and hikers start early in the summer. He was going to cut down the line, hide it in the brush, and walk out of there like a hiker. He was supposed to call me for a ride home from the pay phone outside Kwik-Trip. Then Eli was going to pick up the power line the following night. But Teddy never called…”
“How did you communicate with Teddy?” says Judd. He says this with a soft resignation in his voice. He isn’t angry at Steph. He seems more relieved now that he’s getting answers.
