Most days I’m working until ten and that usually includes Saturdays and more and more Sundays now, but yeah, I’d hear people over there while I was home.”
“Were they selling drugs?”
Maguire chewed on his lower lip as he thought it over. “I don’t know,” he said. “I never saw anyone smoking crack outside the building, if that’s what you mean. But could they’ve been selling drugs? I never really thought about it before.”
Shannon gave him a long look. “You never thought they could be drug dealers?”
“Nope.”
“Even after they were beaten to death?”
“What can I say? The thought never occurred to me.”
“You better forget about being a detective then,” Shannon said.
“Hey, I don’t think that’s fair.” A hurt look formed over Maguire’s mouth. “I just never saw anything that made me think they were drug dealers.”
“Why were they killed?”
“What?”
“I’m giving you a chance to play detective. Why do you think they were killed?”
“Jeeze, that’s some question. To be honest, I haven’t given it much thought. The last six months work has been totally nuts. We’re trying to get our next round of funding and the stress has just been unreal. And now when I’m home, I’m having one reporter after the next bugging me.”
“You’ve got some time now. Give it some thought. If you want, you can think of this as a job interview.”
“Hey, I wasn’t entirely kidding before. If my current job washes out, I might just want to do something different like PI work. Why the fuck not do something fun for a change?”
“Then think of this as an interview for an internship. Why were Taylor Carver and Linda Gibson killed?”
As Maguire thought about it, he started drumming on the steering wheel then nodding his head as if it were some kind of bobble head doll. Finally he became still. “How about this,” he said. “We know they were beaten to death and from what I heard it was pretty bad. I guess it could be drugs, but I just never saw any evidence of that. So why couldn’t it have been a crime of passion, someone close to them who just went nuts. I’d have to think it would take some pretty intense emotion to beat two people to death. So maybe it was a family member or a close friend. I think that’s the angle I’d look into. So how’d I do?”
“I’ll grade you later. Any suspicious behavior before the murders? Any strangers hanging around the building? Anything odd, out of place?”
“The police had already asked me about that. There was nothing I could think of.”
“Did you see or hear anything the night they were killed?”
Maguire shook his head. “We had a field trial at work scheduled the next day at a potential customer’s site and I couldn’t leave until I finished one of the features we’d promised. I didn’t get home until three in the morning and when I did everything was quiet and peaceful. They must’ve been killed before then. The next day a police detective banging on my door woke me up. I guess their door had been broken into and there was some blood outside of it, but I was too tired to have noticed it when I got home the night before.”
“How about your wife?”
“She didn’t hear anything.” Maguire’s round face seemed to shrink as he stared straight ahead. “My wife hadn’t been sleeping well for a while and was taking sleeping pills by then. She never got used to moving out here. Misses her family, friends, the ocean, lobster, the weather, foliage, Quincy Market, Newbury Street, the Boston Globe —you name it, she misses it. Anyway, she was sedated and out like a log that night.”
“I’m sorry to hear she’s unhappy here.”
“Thanks.” Maguire gave Shannon a quick glance. “How about you, you get used to it?”
“It’s been a good change for me.”
“Are you married?”
“Divorced. But we’re reconciling, and it’s been a good change for her also.”
“I guess it takes time.” He pulled onto
“Were they selling drugs?”
Maguire chewed on his lower lip as he thought it over. “I don’t know,” he said. “I never saw anyone smoking crack outside the building, if that’s what you mean. But could they’ve been selling drugs? I never really thought about it before.”
Shannon gave him a long look. “You never thought they could be drug dealers?”
“Nope.”
“Even after they were beaten to death?”
“What can I say? The thought never occurred to me.”
“You better forget about being a detective then,” Shannon said.
“Hey, I don’t think that’s fair.” A hurt look formed over Maguire’s mouth. “I just never saw anything that made me think they were drug dealers.”
“Why were they killed?”
“What?”
“I’m giving you a chance to play detective. Why do you think they were killed?”
“Jeeze, that’s some question. To be honest, I haven’t given it much thought. The last six months work has been totally nuts. We’re trying to get our next round of funding and the stress has just been unreal. And now when I’m home, I’m having one reporter after the next bugging me.”
“You’ve got some time now. Give it some thought. If you want, you can think of this as a job interview.”
“Hey, I wasn’t entirely kidding before. If my current job washes out, I might just want to do something different like PI work. Why the fuck not do something fun for a change?”
“Then think of this as an interview for an internship. Why were Taylor Carver and Linda Gibson killed?”
As Maguire thought about it, he started drumming on the steering wheel then nodding his head as if it were some kind of bobble head doll. Finally he became still. “How about this,” he said. “We know they were beaten to death and from what I heard it was pretty bad. I guess it could be drugs, but I just never saw any evidence of that. So why couldn’t it have been a crime of passion, someone close to them who just went nuts. I’d have to think it would take some pretty intense emotion to beat two people to death. So maybe it was a family member or a close friend. I think that’s the angle I’d look into. So how’d I do?”
“I’ll grade you later. Any suspicious behavior before the murders? Any strangers hanging around the building? Anything odd, out of place?”
“The police had already asked me about that. There was nothing I could think of.”
“Did you see or hear anything the night they were killed?”
Maguire shook his head. “We had a field trial at work scheduled the next day at a potential customer’s site and I couldn’t leave until I finished one of the features we’d promised. I didn’t get home until three in the morning and when I did everything was quiet and peaceful. They must’ve been killed before then. The next day a police detective banging on my door woke me up. I guess their door had been broken into and there was some blood outside of it, but I was too tired to have noticed it when I got home the night before.”
“How about your wife?”
“She didn’t hear anything.” Maguire’s round face seemed to shrink as he stared straight ahead. “My wife hadn’t been sleeping well for a while and was taking sleeping pills by then. She never got used to moving out here. Misses her family, friends, the ocean, lobster, the weather, foliage, Quincy Market, Newbury Street, the Boston Globe —you name it, she misses it. Anyway, she was sedated and out like a log that night.”
“I’m sorry to hear she’s unhappy here.”
“Thanks.” Maguire gave Shannon a quick glance. “How about you, you get used to it?”
“It’s been a good change for me.”
“Are you married?”
“Divorced. But we’re reconciling, and it’s been a good change for her also.”
“I guess it takes time.” He pulled onto
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