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“What about her?”
“They found her body yesterday.”
There was a brief hesitation. “She’s dead?”
“You didn’t know?”
“Was it on the news?”
“I can’t say. I haven’t watched the news.” She’d been too focused on basic survival, Jill and Vince, her phone line. She hadn’t even turned on the TV last night at Heather’s apartment. “When I got to where she was dumped, there were no reporters. But you’re the last person to see her alive.”
He took another sip of coffee. “She was perfectly fine when I left her. If someone hurt her, it wasn’t me.”
Did the news of April’s death upset him? Not that Francesca could tell. He seemed agitated but not particularly upset. “I just told you that a woman you’ve been involved with is dead. You don’t care?”
He smiled. “Of course. Can’t you tell? I’m broken up inside.”
She hoped the sarcasm carried through to Jonah and the others. “Any chance you can prove she was alive when you went your separate ways?”
His chair creaked rhythmically as he swiveled from side to side. “No more than you can prove she wasn’t.”
“Do you mind telling me what you two did Saturday night?”
“Not at all. We met at the Pour House at seven o’clock. Then we drove out to a little Mexican place called the Rio Grande about fifteen miles from here. After dinner, we were anxious to be together, if you know what I mean, so I pulled off the road and we, uh, got busy in my truck.”
“You’re saying you had sex with her.”
The swiveling and its attendant creaking stopped. “I’m saying it was consensual.”
Somehow, Francesca couldn’t see a teacher like April being quite so easy. According to April’s sister, and the e-mails she’d read on April’s computer, this was the first time April had actually met Harry Statham, aka Butch. And everything else in her life revealed her as conservative, cautious. In Francesca’s mind, Butch was only admitting he’d had intercourse with April to explain any foreign DNA they might find. He was smart, smarter than the average rapist, if that was the appropriate term. “And then?”
“After it was over, she wanted me to take her home with me. It was as if she thought fifteen minutes of sweaty sex committed us for life. I told her I couldn’t do that. I was tired and had to work the next morning. I don’t know how I could’ve made it any plainer that the date was over. But she was so insistent that I finally had to tell her I was married. That was when the shit really hit the fan. She freaked out. Started screaming and demanding I stop the truck.”
“On the highway?”
“That’s right, on the highway. I didn’t want to let her out. I knew it was a hike to get anywhere from that point. But she wouldn’t listen. She was sobbing and hitting me, and we were weaving all over the road. When she opened her door and threatened to jump, I pulled over and let her out.” He steepled his fingers. “I’m not proud of how the night ended,” he added, “but I had no choice other than to let her do as she wished. I’ve never seen a woman so worked up.”
“You sound surprised that she’d be unhappy, Butch.”
His smile dissolved and he dropped his hands. “I am. She was a stupid bitch. I bought her a meal and she gave me a quickie. As far as I’m concerned, it was an even trade. We both had a good time. She loved the buildup, the e-mails we exchanged, the idea that she was falling in love. I gave her that for weeks. And then she had to ruin it all by acting as if I’d cheated her. I mean, what did she expect?”
“Maybe she wanted more than fantasy. Maybe she wanted it to be real.”
“Give me a break,” he muttered.
“Was a little honesty too much to ask?”
“Everyone knows you can’t believe half the shit you read on the Internet. She should’ve been more careful.”
“Sometimes hope makes you believe things you otherwise wouldn’t.”
“Not if you’re smart. How she could mistake a quick piece of ass for true love, I don’t know, but once I realized, I knew I had to end it right there.”
“And telling her you were married was the fastest way.”
“Yeah.”
Francesca hated him even more for breaking April’s heart before killing her. She was tempted to let him know it, to tell him how pathetic she thought he was. But she didn’t. She figured she might get more out of him if she kept her opinions to herself. “When you left her on the highway, that’s the last time you saw her?”
