Read Online To Love and to Kill by M. William Phelps - Free Book Online Page B

up—just recently—Emilia went to stay with her mom, he added. She was there now.
    Buie found all of this interesting, but not at all revealing in its entirety. He had a sense Josh knew more.
    â€œAny idea where she might have gone off to?” Buie asked.
    Josh said he felt he knew where Heather was: Mississippi. He mentioned something about her taking off with some “old guy . . . she used to get money off of. . . . I think she left with him.”
    Using that point as a launch, Josh did a good job of selling a story that Heather had taken a sum of money from somewhere (he didn’t know where) and took off on the run, realizing that cops would soon be after her. He was basically calling his wife a thief, saying she ripped someone off for a large amount of cash and booked town.
    Buie said there were no open warrants out for her arrest.
    Josh countered by explaining that it hadn’t all been figured out just yet. In time, the cops were going to be notified, from what he had heard, and it would all come to light.
    Buie asked Josh if he knew Heather’s ATM-card pin number.
    Josh gave it to them and said he hadn’t heard from Heather since she left.
    They were sitting in the living room. The kids came in from time to time and asked their father questions about homework and dinner. The situation, despite the foul aroma of stale marijuana permeating the air, soaking into the carpet and furniture, appeared to be a father taking care of his children. Nothing, save for that smell of weed, seemed to be out of place.
    Buie said, “Listen, before we leave, can you go and get us any weed you have so we can get rid of it?”
    Josh showed them a few roaches in the ashtray and said that was the whole of it.
    Spivey asked Buie to hand Josh one of his business cards. “If anything should come up, if somebody sees her ... we need to know so we can close this case out.”
    â€œI mean,” Josh said, seemingly confused, “well, what’s going on?”
    They explained that Heather was considered a missing person. With any missing person case as old as this one, they needed to maybe get a DNA profile of Heather just in case a Jane Doe body showed up somewhere in the future. Would Josh be willing to help with that?
    He said he would.
    By the time they walked out the door, it was 6:31 P.M.
    Spivey and Buie looked at each other as they sat in the car and prepared to leave. Both had a strong feeling they were going to be seeing a lot of Joshua Fulgham over the next few days.
    He’s lying, both cops thought. He knows more.
    Spivey turned the key, fired up the engine and pulled out.
    They could have arrested Josh. But for now, as a strategy, both detectives chose to let him be.

CHAPTER 16
    SPIVEY AND BUIE waited for a few hours and then returned to Josh’s front door. Josh seemed wired and uncertain this second time around, as if something was bothering him. Buie and Spivey were now prepared to tell Josh he needed to go with them down to Major Crimes for a formal interview.
    The MCSO knew Josh was the last person to see Heather Strong. Detective Buie had interviewed several of Josh’s so-called friends and also one of Heather and Josh’s children. Buie had good information that Josh was in one way or another responsible for Heather’s disappearance, either aiding her escape from town or facilitating her demise. Buie and Spivey had made contact with Emilia Carr, after finding out that Josh and Emilia had been together as a couple and asked her to come in for an interview. Emilia happily and willingly agreed. They were working on picking her up at the moment.
    â€œWe have a warrant on fraud charges,” Spivey told Josh. “It stems from the use of Miss Strong’s debit card.”
    Josh said he understood. However, Josh believed that as Heather’s husband, he had every right to use the card.
    A third detective came in. Josh went with him to Ocala.
    Spivey and Buie