Room for Murder - Tim Myers [5]
He just hoped he would be able to help.
Alex walked over to Emma and Elise, with Mor close behind him. Alex said, “Emma, I know this isn’t the greatest time to ask you questions, but did you have any idea your ex-husband was coming to Elkton Falls?”
“I never dreamed he’d come here,” Emma said. “That part of my life was over.” Did she avert her eyes as she answered him?
Alex pushed her harder. “Emma, this is important. You’ve got to tell me the truth.”
Mor said firmly, “Alex, she’s just had the shock of her life. Take it easy on her.”
Alex said, “The sheriff is going to ask her the same questions I’m asking. I’m just trying to get to the bottom of this before he gets here.”
Elise said, “She didn’t kill him, Alex.”
Emma put a hand on her arm. “It’s all right, Elise, I know Alex just wants to help.” She dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief, then said, “The way I’m carrying on, you’d think I still loved the man, but I stopped being anything but afraid of Toby Sturbridge a long time ago. He was a horrid husband, and it wasn’t just the violence, though that was bad enough. Toby gambled our money away faster than I could earn it, and he owed some really bad people. It’s hard to say who I was more frightened of during the last years of our marriage, my husband or the loan sharks who used to come around to the house looking for him.” She waved her handkerchief in the air like a white flag, then added, “It was just the shock of seeing him like that. I know I must sound like a monster, but truth be told, I’m glad he’s gone. The man’s been haunting my nightmares for years. All his bad karma finally came back for him, and I can’t honestly say I’m sorry.”
Alex said, “Emma, the sheriff’s going to ask you about your relationship with him, things you thought were buried in your past. Be ready for his questions.”
She seemed to stiffen her spine. “Alex, I’ve done nothing wrong. The only fault I had was staying with a man like that as long as I did.”
Alex said, “You know Armstrong. He’s going to stay after you until he’s satisfied you’re telling the truth.”
He saw Emma flinch, and on a hunch, Alex asked again, “You didn’t know he was here, did you, Emma?”
“Alex, that’s enough,” Elise snapped as Mor started to speak himself. There was a thunderous expression on the big man’s face that Alex knew was a precursor to the storm sure to follow.
Before he could say anything, Emma said in a hoarse voice, “I’m sorry. You’re right, I knew he was here. He asked me for money, demanded it from me, and threatened me if I didn’t give it to him.” She turned to her brand-new fiancé and said, “Mor, I didn’t tell you because I was hoping he’d just go away.” She turned back to Alex and said, “Is there a chance in the world the sheriff’s going to believe me?”
Alex said, “I honestly don’t know, but you have to tell him the truth. All of it.”
Sheriff Armstrong was going to have a field day with Emma’s blunt honesty and her confession that she knew her ex-husband was in town. Alex knew who Armstrong’s two prime suspects were going to be: the battered ex-wife and her fiancé. It was going to take his best efforts to stop the sheriff from focusing on Emma and Mor and persuade him to look for the real killer.
The thought, however brief, flickered through his mind that maybe one of them had in fact had something to do with Sturbridge’s death. Emma had every right to wish ill of the man, he had been a nasty bully from all accounts, and Alex knew from past experience how protective Mor was of anyone and anything he loved. Was it possible one of his friends could have committed murder?
If Mor thought he was protecting Emma, Alex was afraid the answer to that question wasn’t going to be all that easy to uncover.
Sheriff Armstrong came flying up Point Road in his cruiser with the siren blaring and lights flashing. More than anything in the world,