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“You called your brother.”

“Yeah.”

“You called Carter before you called 911. Why?”

His teary eyes found hers. Confusion swam in them. “What?”

“Why did you call Carter before you called 911?”

“Because he always knows what to do. Since we were kids, he’s always known what to do. He’s my big brother. I panicked. Couldn’t think straight.”

“We just spoke to your brother.” Josie leaned forward, despite the way the odor of shit burned her nostrils, and rested her elbows on the table. “He told us that Kirstie called him at 10:37. The volume on his phone was turned all the way down so he missed it. Do you have any idea why she called him?”

Dean’s mouth hung open. “What? She called Carter?”

“She did. We saw his call log. Do you know why she would have called him?”

“No. No idea. If there was trouble, she would have called me, but she didn’t. You can look at my phone.”

“Did she call Carter often?”

“No.”

“Did she ever have reason to call him?”

“What?”

“Did Kirstie ever have a reason to call Carter in the past?”

Dean blinked as the realization set in. His voice was barely a whisper. “He told you.”

Josie held his gaze. “I’d like to hear it from you.”

Thirty-Four

He picked at a brown flaky substance matted in his forearm hair. “I’m not proud of it but there were a couple of times in the past that I got angry. Ever since my last concussion, things get messed up sometimes.”

“When was your last concussion?”

“About fifteen years ago. The big homecoming game my senior year in high school. I had to stop playing ball. I know it sounds like an excuse, but it was taking longer and longer to recover every time. The doctors said the repeated concussions could cause permanent damage, so I stopped but maybe the damage was already done.”

“What do you mean?” Josie asked.

“Mostly I’m fine but sometimes Kirstie just gets on something and she won’t stop. Nagging and nagging, and she gets kind of mean. It’s no excuse but there were times she was really on my ass about something and I just lost it. I didn’t hurt her though. Not intentionally. The time she broke her wrist was an accident. I would never hurt her on purpose. I love her.”

Josie leaned back in her chair, trying not to show her disgust as Dean dislodged particles of the substance on his arm, sending them fluttering in her direction. “You weren’t home today at 10:37 when she called Carter?”

“No, no. I told you. I was at the church. You can check with them. Did you check with them?”

“We will,” she replied. “Dean, you didn’t come home early? Kirstie wasn’t nagging you about something? You didn’t get angry, maybe trash the house?”

He wouldn’t have needed to break in through the kitchen window, but the questions had to be asked. It wouldn’t be the first time someone staged a scene to make it look like an intruder committed the crime.

“What? No, no. I would never— Did you see her? How could someone do that to a person? She was my wife. I could never hurt her.”

“Let’s talk about Kirstie. Was she having any issues with anyone lately?”

“No,” he replied. “Not that I knew about.”