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Olivia looks back at her, remembering her own doubts about her own husband, her heart breaking for Glenda.
Chapter Thirty-seven
WEBB PACES HIS office while Moen sits tiredly in the chair opposite his desk and watches him. It’s late. But they’ve got two people being held in the cells – Robert Pierce, who’s been detained since the day before and who must soon be charged or released, and Keith Newell. ‘Newell slipped up when he said the door to the cabin was locked,’ Webb says. ‘Before, he said the door was unlocked and the key was left on the counter.’ Webb stops pacing and looks at Moen. ‘That’s what he wants us to believe. Why would he lie about that?’
‘Maybe he was just confused, like he says,’ Moen says.
But Webb knows they both believe that Keith Newell slipped up – it was obvious. Why else the backpedalling, and the sudden, silent plea to his lawyer to stop the proceedings? ‘You don’t believe that either,’ Webb says with a snort.
‘No, I don’t,’ Moen admits. ‘I think he made a mistake in there a little while ago, and he knows it.’
‘He says he arrived before she did on that Friday,’ Webb says. ‘So he probably retrieved the key from under the oilcan in the shed before she got there. She probably didn’t know about the hiding place. He never said she did.’
Moen is nodding. ‘And he left the key with her, because she was staying, and then he came back, and if it was locked—’
‘And he had to get the key – he would get it from the usual hiding place.’ Webb looks down at his notes. ‘He said, I tried to open the door but it was locked. I got the – and then he stopped.’ Webb continues. ‘If the key was hidden somewhere else, he wouldn’t have known where to find it.’
‘He’s protecting someone,’ Moen says.
‘Whoever killed Amanda Pierce must have known that the spare key was kept under the can in the shed, and put it back there. Keith came back the next day, found the door locked, and automatically went to the shed for the key. But afterward he must have realized that the only other people who knew about that hiding place were the Sharpes. Robert Pierce didn’t know about the hiding place.’
‘Unless Pierce saw Newell pick up the key.’
Webb considers. ‘If Pierce was there, hiding, watching, he might have seen him go into the shed, but he certainly wouldn’t have been able to see him get the key from under the oilcan. It’s way inside the shed, against the wall. He might figure out the key was kept in the shed, but not where.’
‘Newell is trying to protect Paul Sharpe.’
Webb nods. ‘What if Sharpe somehow knew that they would be using the cabin that weekend? What if he came up to the cabin after Newell left, knowing that Amanda would be there? He kills her, cleans everything up, dumps her body and car in the lake – and gets home in the middle of the night.’ Webb exhales loudly. ‘Newell goes up the next day, finds the place deserted and locked, the key under the can.’
Moen says, ‘Sharpe must have been rattled, not thinking clearly. He forgets Newell will come back the next day and find the key in the usual hiding place – a dead giveaway that he’d been there.’
Webb nods again. ‘Then Newell would be rattled himself. He wouldn’t have known what happened, but he must have realized that Sharpe had at least been there. When we questioned him, he knew that if he said the door was unlocked and the key was left on the counter, it meant anybody might have killed her – from her husband to a complete stranger.’
‘Right.’
‘Pierce wouldn’t have known where to put the key,’ Webb says. ‘We’re going to have to release him.’
‘I wonder how long Keith Newell has known,’ Moen muses, ‘that his best friend is a murderer?’
Friday morning they head in to interview Keith Newell again. ‘I want one more shot at him, then we’ll talk to Paul Sharpe again,’ Webb tells Moen.
Keith Newell has spent the night in a cell, and looks it.
‘Let’s get started,’ Webb says, flashing a glance at Newell’s attorney. Then he looks at Newell. ‘I’m inclined to believe you,’ he says. The other man looks at him mistrustfully. ‘I don’t think you killed Amanda Pierce, after all.’ Newell glances at his lawyer. ‘But I think you’re covering up for the person who did.’
‘What? No. I’m not covering up for anybody. I don’t know who killed her.’ He’s agitated, but trying not to show it.
‘I think you do.’
Newell shakes his head vigorously, looks at his lawyer for support, and then turns back to Webb. ‘I don’t know anything about it. I told you. I never thought any harm had come to her until you found her.’
‘And what did you think then, Newell?’ Webb leans in close and fixes him with his eyes.
‘I – I don’t know.’
‘You must have had an uncomfortable time since her body was found. You knew someone had killed her – who did you think it was?’ Newell doesn’t respond, but his eyes look haunted. ‘When you got to the cabin that Saturday, the door was locked.’
‘No, it wasn’t. It was unlocked, and the key was on the kitchen counter,’ Newell says stubbornly. But he won’t look at him; he’s staring at the table.
‘Do you have a point to make?’ the attorney asks. ‘Because we’ve been over this, and he’s told you quite clearly that the door was unlocked.’
Webb gives the attorney a hard look. ‘He also slipped up and told us that it was locked and that he had to get the key. And we think he got the key from the usual hiding place. Amanda Pierce was brutally murdered in that cabin. And whoever cleaned up put the key back in the usual hiding place. Who else knew about that hiding place, Newell?’ He sees that the man’s face has gone ashen.
‘I – I don’t know.’
‘You don’t know. Well, let’s see. Paul Sharpe is the one who told you about it, so he certainly knew, didn’t he?’
Keith Newell looks at his lawyer, and turns back to Webb.
‘Who else?’ Webb demands.
Olivia recoils when she goes to answer the door and finds Detectives Webb and Moen standing on her doorstep looking grim. What can they want now? When is this going to end? Do they want them to help put the final nail in Keith Newell’s coffin? She wants to be done with this; she wants it all to be over.
‘Good morning,’ Webb says, all business. ‘Is your husband at home?’
‘Yes,’ she says, automatically opening the door. She turns her head when she hears Paul coming up behind her.
‘What do you want?’ Paul says guardedly.
‘We have a few more questions,’ Webb says.
‘I’ve already answered all your questions,’ Paul protests. But he looks worried, Olivia can tell. He doesn’t want to talk to them about Keith either.
‘We’d like you to come down to the station,’ Webb says.
‘What for? Can’t you ask me here?’
‘No. We want to interview you again on tape.’
‘What if I refuse?’
‘Then I’m afraid we’d have to arrest you,’ Webb says, without batting an eyelid.
