A Perfect Evil

Chapter 66

“Am I under arrest?” Ray Howard wanted to know while fidgeting in the hard-backed chair.

Maggie stared at him. His pasty complexion made his eyes bulge out-eyes a dull, watery gray with red veins telegraphing his exhaustion. She rubbed her own exhaustion from the back of her neck. A tight knot pinched the muscles between her shoulders. She tried to remember when she had slept last.

The small conference room hummed with the percolating of fresh coffee, filling the room with its aroma. A stream of orange sunset seeped in through the dusted blinds. She and Nick had been here for hours, asking the same questions and getting the same answers. Even though she’d insisted they bring Howard in for questioning, she still believed he wasn’t the killer. Nothing had changed, but she hoped he might know something, anything, and break under pressure. Nick, however, persisted, convinced Howard was their man.

“No, Ray. You’re not under arrest,” Nick finally answered.

“You can only hold me here for a certain number of hours.”

“And how do you know that, Ray?”

“Hey, I watch Homicide and NYPD Blue. I know my rights. And I have a friend who’s a cop.”

“Really? You have a friend?”

“Nick,” Maggie cautioned.

Nick rolled his eyes and pushed up the sleeves of his shirt. She noticed his clenched fists, his impatience boiling close to the surface.

“Ray, would you like some of this fresh coffee?” she asked politely. The well-dressed janitor hesitated, then nodded.

“I use cream and two teaspoons of sugar. Real cream. If you have it. And I prefer not using those little sugar cubes.”

“How about something to eat. I know we kept you over lunch, and it’s almost dinnertime. Nick, perhaps you could order all of us something from Wanda’s.”

Nick scowled at her from across the room, but Howard sat up, delighted.

“I love Wanda’s chicken-fried steak.”

“Great. Nick, would you please order Mr. Howard a chicken-fried steak?”

“With mashed potatoes and brown gravy, not the white. And I like creamy Italian dressing for my salad. But on the side.”

“Anything else?” Nick didn’t bother to hide his impatience or his sarcasm. Howard shrunk back into the chair.

“No, nothing else.”

“And what for you, Agent O’Dell?” He shot her a look of contempt clouded with frustration.

“A ham and cheese sandwich. I believe you know how I like it.” She smiled at him, pleased when his dark bristled jaw relaxed and his eyes softened.

“Yes, I do.” It was obvious the memory immediately replaced the sarcasm and frustration. “I’ll be right back.”

She set a steaming mug of coffee in front of Howard, then paced the length of the room, waiting for him to relax. She nipped on the overhead lights. The fluorescents flooded the room, making him blink. He reminded her of a lizard with slow deliberate blinks while he tested the hot coffee with a long pointed tongue. He was listening to the noises of the sheriff’s department. Though the walls muffled the activity, it was easy to hear footsteps scurrying, phones ringing and an occasional voice raised above the hum.

Just when she knew he had forgotten her presence, she stood behind him and said, “You know where Timmy Hamilton is, don’t you, Ray?”

He stopped slurping. His back straightened, ready to defend himself again.

“No, I don’t. And I don’t know how that phone got in my drawer. I’ve never seen it before.”

She came around the table and sat down directly across from him. The blinking lizard eyes tried to avoid hers and finally settled on her chin. There was a glance to her breasts. Quickly he looked back up, but not quick enough to stop the red from crawling up his otherwise white neck.

“Sheriff Morrelli thinks you killed Danny Alverez and Matthew Tanner.”

“I didn’t kill nobody,” he blurted.

“See, I believe you, Ray.”

He looked surprised and checked her eyes to see if it was a trick. “You do?”

“I don’t think you killed those boys.”

“Good, ”cause I didn’t.“

“But I think you know more than you’re telling us. I think you know where Timmy is.”

He didn’t protest, but his eyes darted around the room-the lizard looking for an escape. He held the hot mug with both hands, and Maggie noticed the short, stubby fingers with chewed-off nails, some down to the quick. They certainly didn’t look like the hands of a man obsessed with cleanliness.

“If you tell us, we can help you, Ray. But if we find out you knew and didn’t tell us, well, you could end up going to jail for a long time, even if you didn’t kill those boys.”

His head cocked to one side. He was listening again to the activity on the other side of the door, perhaps listening for Nick’s return or maybe for someone to rescue him.

“Where’s Timmy, Ray?”

He brought a hand in front of his face, inspected the fingers then began biting and peeling what was left of his fingernails.

“Ray?”

“I don’t know where any kid is!” he yelled, holding the anger behind clenched, yellow teeth. “And just because I drive the pickup sometimes to cut wood doesn’t mean nothing.”

Maggie dragged her fingers through her hair. The lack of sleep and food made her light-headed. Had they just wasted an afternoon? Keller could easily have hidden the cellular phone in Howard’s room. Yet, Maggie couldn’t imagine anything happening at the rectory without Howard making it his business to know.

“Where do you go to cut wood, Ray?”

He stared at her, still sucking on his fingertips. He was trying to figure out why she wanted to know.

“I’ve seen the fireplace in the rectory,” she continued. “It looks like it would take a ton of wood over the winter, especially starting this early.”

“Yeah, it does. And Father Francis likes…” He stopped and looked down at the floor. “God rest his soul,” he muttered to his feet, then looked up again. “He liked it really warm in that room.”

“So where do you go?”

“Out by the river. The church still owns a piece of property. Out where the old St. Margaret’s is. It was a beautiful little church. It’s falling apart now. I get lots of dried-out elm and walnut. Some oak. There’s tons of river maples. The walnut burns the best.” He stopped and stared out the window.

Maggie followed his empty gaze. The sun sank behind the snow-covered horizon, blood-red against the white. Cutting wood had reminded him of something, but what?

Yes, Ray Howard knew much more than he was letting on, and neither the threat of jail nor the promise of Wanda’s chicken-fried steak would get him to talk. They were going to have to let him go.