Read Online Past Tense by William G. Tapply - Free Book Online

everything.”
    â€œObviously you didn’t find any fingerprints on that knife,” I said, “or you’d know for sure that it wasn’t Evie or me.”
    â€œOr that it was. You’re right. It’s too bad.”
    â€œSo none of your evidence exonerates either of us, then.”
    â€œNo,” he said. “It doesn’t. Thing is, I’m pretty convinced it wasn’t the both of you, working together, who killed Mr. Scott. If it was, one of you would’ve confessed it, or at least slipped up, when we questioned you, and surely you would’ve come up with better alibis for each other.”
    â€œBut you do think it was one of us.”

    He started to say something, then shook his head. “I didn’t say that. I guess all I’m saying is, I’m still in the market for suspects. As it is, Horowitz says it couldn’t possibly be you, and that leaves me with your friend.”
    â€œEvie didn’t kill anybody.”
    â€œYou don’t know that.”
    â€œYes, I do.”
    He arched his eyebrows at me.
    â€œYou’re the one who’s got to make the case,” I said.
    â€œWe’ve got a damn good circumstantial case, Mr. Coyne. Means, opportunity, and more motive than you can imagine.”
    â€œWhat do you mean by that?”
    â€œHow well do you really know Ms. Banyon?”
    I looked at him and said nothing. That was the question he’d started our conversation with.
    Vanderweigh picked up his iced-tea glass, tilted it up until the half-melted ice cubes clicked against his teeth, drained it, and put it down on the table. “Well,” he said, “I gotta get back to work.” He started to stand up.
    â€œWait a minute,” I said.
    He shook his head. “Go home, Mr. Coyne.”
    â€œWhat about Evie? What did you mean, ‘more motive than I could imagine’?”
    â€œYou talked to her lately?”
    â€œNo,” I said.
    â€œMe neither.”
    I stared at him. “If you needed to have this conversation with me, you certainly wanted to talk with Evie, too.”
    â€œWhen you see her,” he said, “tell her it makes a bad impression, not responding to a polite request after a police officer specifically tells you it’s important to be cooperative.”
    â€œYou’ve tried to reach her?”
    He shrugged.

    â€œShe’s avoiding you?”
    â€œWe’d very much like to talk with her,” he said. “The fact that we’ve tried without success …”
    I knew what he was thinking. He was thinking that Evie was acting guilty.

FIVE
    I called Evie after supper that night. When her machine answered, I hung up, hesitated, then dialed her again and left a message. “It’s me, honey,” I said. “I retrieved my car today down in Brewster and had lunch with Detective Vanderweigh. You and I have got to talk. Please call me.”
    I kept my portable phone by my feet on the coffee table while I read the newspaper with one eye and watched the Red Sox beat the Tigers with the other. Evie didn’t call. I tried her again after the game, got her machine, and didn’t bother leaving another message. I called a third time after I crawled into bed around midnight. This time after her message, I said, “It’s me again. I know you’re listening. Come on, honey. Please pick up the phone. I guess you’re still mad at me. Well, I’m sorry about that, but we’ve got to talk about what happened last weekend. Detective Vanderweigh wants to talk to you, too, and you can’t just ignore him. It makes it look bad for you.”
    I waited. But she did not pick up the phone.

    When I got to work on Friday morning, the second thing I did after pouring myself a mug of coffee was call Evie’s office at Emerson Hospital in Concord. When she didn’t answer, I left a message on her voice mail. “We’ve really got to talk,” I said.