Until Dark - Mariah Stewart [87]
“Ian Smith’s watch was found under the body of the last victim,” Adam told him.
“So what?”
“So Ian would have had the watch with him when he was killed, and—”
“And you think I took the watch, maybe gave it to someone?” Webster snorted in disgust. “I don’t know how many times I have to say it. I never saw your brother or his stupid watch. And just for the record, most of my friends don’t do women.”
Kendra looked up at Adam. Webster was not going to give them an inch on this.
“Look, I will tell you what I told the cops who arrested me. I done a lot of things in my life. Things that don’t fit your idea of what’s, well, let’s just say that things maybe you wouldn’t do. But that’s my business and I ain’t in here for none of that.” He looked at Adam. “But I never killed no one. I never saw those two boys. I didn’t touch that kid—Moss.”
“Then why was he crying hysterically when the police pulled you over?”
“I don’t know, and frankly, at this point, I don’t give a shit.” Webster stood up. “I got nothing more to say.”
Without looking back, Webster walked to the door at the back of the room and the guard on the other side of the glass opened it as he approached.
“Well, that was enlightening.” Kendra sighed and stood up. “Let’s get out of here.”
* * *
“I can’t remember the last time I was so happy to see sunlight,” she said after they’d signed out and walked through the front doors of the prison. “And what an ugly man he was. I don’t mean just physically. I mean everything about him. Smirking, creepy, mean-spirited . . .”
“I agree,” Adam said as he unlocked the car. “And I hate to say this, but maybe we should consider the possibility that he’s telling the truth.”
“Are you crazy? That is one mean son of a bitch in there.”
“I agree. But being a mean son of a bitch doesn’t necessarily make him a murderer.”
“He was convicted—”
“On purely circumstantial evidence. From what I read in the reports that were in Gamble’s file, emotions were running pretty high about this case. Two boys missing and presumed dead, the only witness the killer and an emotionally disturbed young man who was found in the company of a man who’d been convicted in several states, over several decades, of raping and beating young boys.”
Kendra stared straight ahead as Adam slowed on his approach to the gatehouse, where he returned their guest passes to the guard.
“Frankly, I believe Edward Paul Webster should spend the rest of his natural life behind bars,” Adam continued. “He’s done some heinous things in his day. He’s a predator and nothing will ever change what he is and what he’d do again if he got the chance. If they let him out tomorrow, I’d bet my last dollar that the first thing he’d do is look for some young boy to assault. I’ve yet to see a reformed pedophile. But I don’t know that he’s a killer. I don’t know that I believe he killed Ian and Zach. Why not admit it? He isn’t going anywhere, either way. Ever. Life without parole means just that. So it shouldn’t matter. He’s already been convicted. Why wouldn’t he admit it if it’s true?”
“But if Webster didn’t kill them,” she swallowed hard, “that would mean . . .”
She hesitated, the thought incomprehensible to her.
“Yes,” Adam said. “That would mean that the person responsible for Ian and Zach’s deaths is still out there.”
Chapter
Eighteen
“Do you realize what you’re saying?” Kendra’s eyes had widened at the thought. “It never occurred to anyone that Webster could be telling the truth. That all these years, he’s been in prison . . .”
“Where he does undoubtedly belong,” Adam muttered, “if not for this crime, then for all the others.”
“While someone else has been free, all this time.”
He’d been silent for a while then, his mind quickly processing the possibilities. He hadn’t liked what he’d come up with.
Adam’s earliest opportunity for a bit of privacy hadn’t come until they reached the airport in Tucson. He used it to first call John Mancini, then Miranda Cahill. After a brief chat, he’d tersely asked her to meet their flight when they landed at Philadelphia