“Somebody has to win, eventually. Your investigator should do that, all of that. I think we need to let Hester remember on her own, if and when. And, honestly, the fact that it was dark? I don’t think she really saw him. Just more a shadow, a shape.”
“I’m with you there.”
“The tools wouldn’t be easy. He probably bought them months ago. Who remembers some guy buying a pickax or sledgehammer? But . . . I think you should go to Boston and talk to his wife.”
“What? Eden Suskind? Why would she talk to me?”
“Well, hell, Eli, that shows what you know about women. Especially angry, betrayed or sad women. You were both cheated on—her husband, your wife. That’s a kind of bond. You shared a difficult experience.”
“It’s a pretty shaky bond if she thinks I killed Lindsay.”
“There’s only one way to find out. And while we’re there, we could check out Kirby Duncan’s office.”
“We?”
“Of course, I’m going with you. A sympathetic female.” Laying her hand on her heart, Abra shifted her expression into quiet sympathy.
“That’s good. You’re good at that.”
“Well, I do feel sympathetic. She might feel safer if there’s another woman. One who feels and can show that sympathy and understanding. And we definitely need to show Suskind’s picture around Duncan’s offices.”
“That’s what investigators are for.”
“Sure, yeah, but aren’t you curious? I can’t do it this week, I’m already booked. Plus we should plan it a little more. I can probably juggle time next week. In the meantime, maybe your investigator will win the lottery, and we can keep an eye out for Suskind. And an eye on Sandcastle.”
“We can’t go lurking down there. If he spots us, we could scare him off. And you’re not going near his place. Nonnegotiable,” he said before she could respond. “That’s a line, not in sand, in solid rock. We can’t be sure he doesn’t have another gun, but we can be reasonably sure if he does he’d use it. Duncan had one registered, and it wasn’t found on his body, or—as far as I can find out—anywhere else.”
“Speculative—but I mostly agree. We don’t have to lurk. Come with me, I’ll show you.”
She led the way to the terrace, and the telescope. “According to Mike, the previous owners bought it as an investment property about five years ago right before the bubble burst. The economy bottomed out, people weren’t spending as much on vacations, and so on,” she continued as she turned the telescope south. “It was on the market for over a year, and they had to keep cutting the price. Then—”
She straightened up from her focus. “Oh, for Christ’s sake, I’m an idiot. You need to talk to Mike. He brokered the property.”
“You’re kidding.”
“No, I wasn’t thinking. He was the agent on that property. He might know something about something.”
“I’ll talk to him.”
“For now, you can look.” She tapped the scope. “Sandcastle.”
Eli bent over, looked through the eyepiece. It stood near the north point, two-story clapboard, with a wide deck facing the beach. Windows and sliders shuttered with blinds, he noted. A short driveway and no car.
“Looks like nobody’s home.”
“So, it would be a perfect time to go down, take a closer look.”
“No,” he said, still studying the house.
“You know you want to.”
Damn right he did, but he didn’t want her with him.
“The only thing to see is a house, with the blinds closed.”
“I bet we could pick the lock.”
Now he did straighten. “Are you serious?”
She shrugged, had the grace to look sheepish. “I guess I sort of am. We might find some evidence that—”
“Would be completely inadmissible.”
“Lawyer.”
“Sane,” he insisted. “We’re not breaking into his—or anyone’s—house. We’re especially not breaking into the house of a man who may very well be a murderer.”
“You’d do it if I weren’t here.”
“No, I wouldn’t.” At least he hoped to Christ he wouldn’t.
She narrowed her eyes at his face, then sighed. “You wouldn’t. At least tell me you’d like to.”
“What I’d like is for him to be in there. I’d like to go down, kick in the door then beat the living crap out of him.”
The cold rage in his voice got through, had her eyes widening. “Oh. Have you ever beaten the living crap out of anyone before?”