Page 65 of Bring Them Home

“What?” Bill’s strangled cry accompanied widened eyes. “I didn’t do… that. Get that away from me.”

“Valerie, her daughter, and her husband were all abducted on Saturday afternoon.” She exchanged the gruesome photo for two of the black van. One showed it in the mall’s lot and the other in the gym’s. “That your van?”

“What? No. I swear to you.”

“Maybe you’d like a few minutes to consider your response.” She didn’t bring up the voicemails again, but the implication held weight and sank in the room. After several seconds of Bill not saying a word, Amanda said, “No?”

“No. I didn’t do anything to Valerie or her family. Please believe me.” He licked his lips.

“No one could blame you for being angry with Valerie. She rejected your application for a loan. Without that money you’re going to have to close your doors. That’s right, yes?” Their entire theory for his motive hinged on this very fact, but it was his visceral response to the denied loan that birthed it.

“Yes, no. I mean no. I’ll find someone to lend me the money.”

“Your voicemails make you sound quite desperate. It must have really ticked you off when she didn’t call you back.”

“It did, but I didn’t do what you’re accusing me of, I swear.”

“Where were you this past Saturday afternoon?” Amanda pushed forward with no intention of backing off. Not when she had Bill right where she wanted him. Feeling compressed into a corner.

Bill’s eyes darted back and forth between Amanda and Trent.

“Mr. Johnson?” Trent prompted.

“I was at home playing video games.”

“Can someone corroborate your alibi?”

Bill rubbed his throat. “Alibi,” he parroted as if he were choking on the word.

Amanda let the impact of that word saturate. He was their prime suspect, and he had to know it. “If that’s too difficult, you could tell us where your wife, Peggy, is.”

“Peggy?” he blurted out as if the name were poisonous. “Why would I know where Peggy is?”

“Let me lay it out for you, so there’s no room for misunderstanding. We can’t find Peggy, just like we can’t find Valerie and her teenage daughter. You are clearly ticked off with Valerie, and your wife, well, she relies on your monthly alimony payment to cover her living expenses. Do you see where I’m going with this?”

“Not really.”

She was starting to see how Malone’s initial impression of this guy was spot on. Not very bright… “The two of you were in a desperate spot when Valerie turned you down for the loan. I assume Peggy knew you were declined?”

“Yes.”

“And does Peggy know Valerie?” Amanda asked.

Bill nodded. “Uh-huh. Valerie’s been our contact at the bank for years. She goes back to when me and Peg were together and bought our first house.”

“Right, so no money, you close your shop’s doors, and you’re both lining up for food stamps.”

“No, it wasn’t like that. And what you’re saying, there’s no way. Yes, I was pissed off. I’ve been banking with Woodbridge Trust for over thirty years. Yet they couldn’t extend me a loan? I even gathered my financials together, which showed my projections for growth.”

She could fire back the bank didn’t put faith in his numbers, but it would only get his back up and silence him. “Then you have no idea where Peggy is or where Valerie or Brooke Archer are?”

“No, absolutely not.”

If she wanted to move forward, she’d need to change direction. “We weren’t able to reach you yesterday. You weren’t at home or at work. Where have you been?” Asking him was a test of his honesty. Would he be forthcoming about his whereabouts?

“I was at my mother’s. I just needed to get out of town and relax some.”

One check in his favor. “How long were you there?” All they knew was he’d left his mother’s house that morning.