“A lock of sorts?”
“You can open the drawer with a knife. Maybe even a paper clip.”
“When did you see his gun last?”
“See it? A week or so ago.”
“When was the last break-in, did you say?”
“I didn’t. It was about four days ago.”
Hartmann paused to write a few things down in a notebook. Then she looked up and asked, “Where were you last night between say, seven and ten?”
“I was mostly here.” Amanda moved restlessly again. “Mostly alone. Leo and Giles left about seven. I was working on pieces I wanted to fire today after I unloaded the kilns this morning so I stayed late.”
“Did you see or talk to anyone while you were here?”
Amanda sat up straight and squared her shoulders. “Eubie called me about seven, I think. Leo was gone. Giles was still here. Eubie asked to meet with me. I told him I would be in my studio until about ten and he was welcome to come talk to me.”
“Giles — which one is he?”
“The blond. Leo’s the dark-haired one.”
“And he was here when Kane called?”
Amanda nodded. “I was talking to him, planning what we were going to do with kilns for the next couple of days. My cell rang and I took the call.”
“I heard Kane accused you of stealing from him. Why’d you agree to meet him?”
“I figured it couldn’t hurt to try to settle this thing between us. But I finished earlier than I expected. I called him. Told him I was going home. I got voice mail and left a message.” She picked up the pen again and played with it.
“I’ll need a statement from you about what you did yesterday. Want to do that now?” Hartmann asked.
Amanda hesitated for a moment. “Well, I have all that mess out there, but okay. The mess will be here when I get back.”
Giles interrupted. “Amanda, can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Sure, what’s up?”
“I think we better do this privately.” He cut his eyes toward the detective.
Amanda shook her head. “Whatever it is, let’s get it out in the open.”
He produced a neatly folded white towel with red stripes and dark splotches of what looked like dried blood on it. “I found this under that big pile of broken glass.”
“That’s not one of our towels,” Amanda said.
“No,” Giles said, “it looks like the ones Bullseye instructors use to clean glass in the classroom.” He carefully unfolded the towel. Inside was a clip of bullets. “This was wrapped in it. It looks like the one for Leo’s gun. How do you think … ?”
Hartmann interrupted. “You found a clip you believe came from Leo Wilson’s gun in a Bullseye towel here?” She stood up and reached for the towel. “I’ll take it. I want to talk to you and Leo, too. Will you be here for a while? Amanda and I are going to the precinct. Should be back in a couple hours.”