A Flicker of Doubt - Tim Myers [57]
Could he be telling me the truth? I considered myself a pretty good judge of character. If Klein was lying to me, he was doing it pretty convincingly.
“So what are you going to do,” he said, “ruin my marriage and my career based on what some thug told you?”
“No, I don’t work that way,” I said. “But let me warn you, if you had anything to do with Becka’s death, I’ll make sure you’re punished for it”
Klein rubbed his chin. “Morton told me it was a suicide. What makes you think he was wrong?”
“Becka hated pills,” I said. “She didn’t exactly keep it a secret, either.”
“So let me get this straight. You think I was her boyfriend, and that I killed her to cover up our affair. Harrison, think about it. If we were dating, wouldn’t I know she hated pills? I would have come up with some other way of getting rid of her if I’d known that If she didn’t kill herself, you need to think about who wanted her dead and didn’t know her that well Whoever her boyfriend was, I’d think he’d be off the hook.”
The front door swung open abruptly, and Wanda snapped, “What are you still doing here? Hank, come inside this instant”
I thought about saying something about my suspicions, but Klein was right. Unless I had more proof, I couldn’t just break up the man’s marriage. Besides, he’d raised enough doubt in my mind to make me reconsider my stance. Was he telling the truth, or was he just so used to lying convincingly that I couldn’t tell the difference?
“Good night,” I said, but there was no other response than a repeat of the door slamming in my face.
So who had been lying to me? I wondered as I drove back to River’s Edge. Had a thug I was pressuring lied, or had the newspaper editor? On the face of it, Klein was respected in the community, but he wouldn’t be the first man in power who lied to save his station in life. One thing Klein had been right about: I needed more proof before I brought the walls of his life tumbling down on him.
When I got back to River’s Edge, it was dark. I saw a figure sitting at one of the tables in front of Millie’s caf6 as I approached, and I started wishing I’d kept the board I’d used when I realized it was Markum. As the security lights came on, I zipped my jacket and said, “What are you doing out here? It’s starting to get cold.”
“I’m trying to get used to the temperature for my next job” he said.
“Where are you going, Siberia?” I asked as I sat beside him.
“It’s close, but I’m not giving out any more information than that. So, what have you been up to tonight? Stumble over any more clues?”
“I’m not sure.” After I brought him up-to-date on both of my confrontations, he said, “Harrison, if you’re not careful, you’re going to get shot one of these days.”
“I know I shouldn’t have followed him down that dark side street hut I needed to know what he was doing at Becka’s.”
“Yeah, that was dangerous, too, but I was talking about confronting Wanda Klein. I’ve heard stories around town about that woman that would curl your toes. Hey, I almost forgot about the run-in you had with her before.”
“Don’t remind me. I’ve been trying to come up with the answer since I left Klein’s house, but I haven’t had any luck. So what do you think? Which man was lying to me tonight?”
“Who had the most to lose?” he asked softly.
“That depends. If the thug thought I might actually club him, he could have. Then again, there’s a strong reason to believe that Klein had a good reason to lie.”
“Maybe both of them were, then,” he said.
“What do you mean? Somebody besides Klein paid those goons to break into Becka’s house, but he really was having an affair with her after all?”
“It makes sense, if somebody was trying to get the dirt on the editor. I know he’s got a ton of enemies in this town, and it wouldn’t surprise me if his own wife paid someone to go after him.”
“Great, now I’m more confused than ever,” I said.
We sat there in silence a few more minutes, each of us mulling over what I’d discovered, when suddenly there was a voice from the shadows behind us.
Pearly Gray stepped toward us and said, “If I’d known we