Alex Kava Bundle - Alex Kava [112]
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.
CHAPTER 67
Nick hung up the phone and sat back in his office chair, rubbing the sting of anger from his eyes. He realized that Maggie must have seen how badly he wanted to hit something, maybe even Ray Howard. How could she remain so cool and calm?
He couldn’t stop thinking about Timmy. He felt as though a time bomb had been planted inside his ribs, the ticking getting faster and faster, drumming against his chest. The ache was unbearable. It didn’t help matters that he couldn’t erase the image of