really be very helpful if you both went over the events again. Maybe this time you might remember something that hadn’t occurred to you when you gave your statement earlier.”
The couple exchanged glances as if that helped them to decide their next course of action. And then the husband inclined his head, still not a hundred percent sold yet. “Well, if you think it’ll help—”
“We do,” Riley was quick to assure him.
Robert Wilson blew out a long breath. “I guess we can go through it one more time,” he said with resignation.
“We appreciate your cooperation,” Wyatt told him, feeling as if his words were coming after the fact. This new partner of his, he thought, was a regular little ball of fire.
Chapter 6
A t the last moment, because the woman looked so shaken, Riley decided not to separate the couple as initially planned. When Wyatt began to ask the husband to come with him, she laid a hand on her partner’s arm and minutely shook her head.
Confused, Wyatt took his cue, wondering if changing her mind was a common thing with her.
Still scowling, whether at them or the situation was unclear, Robert Wilson began talking, telling them the way the robbery went down.
“They came in while we were asleep—”
Unable to contain her nervous energy, his wife broke into the narrative with her own reaction to the events. “I thought I heard a noise. When I opened my eyes, theywere standing over us. On either side of the bed,” she added breathlessly. She covered the lower part of her face with trembling hands. She gave the impression that she was trying to smother a scream. “It was awful.”
“How many of them were there again?” Sam asked, looking at Mrs. Wilson now.
“Two.” Shirley Wilson blurted out the word as if she couldn’t keep it in her mouth a second longer.
“Two that we saw,” her husband corrected, giving her a condescending look. Shirley Wilson’s eyes widened with fear.
Sam’s attention shifted back to Wilson. “Do you think there were more?”
Wilson appeared to lose all semblance of patience. “How should I know?” he snapped.
“No, there were only two,” Shirley told them. “I’m sure of it.”
“Right. The expert,” Wilson grumbled darkly.
“What happened next?” Riley asked, trying to get the couple focused on the details of what had transpired during the robbery instead of arguing with each other.
It was obvious to her that Wilson and his wife were both scared in their own fashion. In addition, she was sure Robert Wilson felt more than a little humiliated because he couldn’t protect either his home or his wife. That had to shake a man up, mess with his self-image.
“They dragged us out of bed, tied us up,” Wilson recited through clenched teeth, obviously resenting having to go through this again. “Then they put duct tape across our mouths—”
Shirley grabbed onto Riley’s wrist, pulling the detective’s attention toward her. “I thought I was going to suffocate,” the woman cried in a whimpering, shaky voice.
“But you didn’t, did you?” her husband pointed out tersely, glaring at her. It wasn’t clear if he resented her interruption, or the fact that she was bringing further attention to the fact that he’d been helpless to come to her aid.
“No.” His wife stared down at the floor. Not, Riley thought, unlike a dog that had been beaten. Her own resentment immediately shot up. She was about to say something to the man when Wyatt spoke.
“Mr. Wilson, we realize that you’ve been through a lot, but so has your wife. There’s no need to keep snapping at her,” Sam told him. His voice was calm, but an underlying strength resonated in his words. “Now both of you take a deep breath and let’s go on.”
“Can I get you some water?” Riley asked the woman. Clasping her hands together in her lap, Shirley shook her head. Riley shifted her eyes toward the woman’s husband. “You?” she asked more formally.
“I’d like a
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