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Without further prompting from Ski, Lofland said, "I heard Berry scream. Heard their voices. I ran--"
"Were you asleep?" Ski removed his notepad and pen from his pocket.
"What?"
"Did her scream wake you up?"
"Uh, no. I hadn't gone to sleep yet." He cast another look at his wife, who had moved to the window and was looking through the blinds at the ventilation chutes on the roof.
"You were still awake," Ski stated.
"Right."
"But you hadn't heard Starks come into the house."
"No."
"Car engine? Boat motor?"
"You think he came by boat?"
"It's possible. We're checking it out."
"I didn't hear a boat motor."
"Anything?"
"No."
"Okay."
Lofland paused to see if Ski was going to ask something else, and when he didn't, Lofland continued. "I ran along the gallery to the other side of the house." He gave his wife another glance, as though to ensure she'd heard how far away from each other the two bedrooms were.
"When I got to Berry's room, I rushed over to the bathroom. That's where the voices were coming from. Oren was standing in front of the bathtub, his back to me. He must've heard me. He turned around and shot me."
"Did he say anything first?"
"No." Lofland grimaced with discomfort. "Can I have some water, please?"
Amanda went to the bed. She poured water from a carafe into a plastic cup, then leaned over him and guided the bent straw to his mouth. When he'd drunk, he looked up at her and touched her hand. "Thanks, sweetheart."
She gave him a lukewarm smile, returned the cup to the nightstand, and then resumed her study of the ventilation apparatus outside the window.
"He just spun around, saw you in your undershorts, and pulled the trigger," Ski said.
"Yes. He seemed completely unbalanced."
"Why do you think? Jealousy over the two of you being together in the lake house?"
"I don't know the cause for Oren's precarious mental state, Deputy."
Ski disliked his tone. To keep himself from knocking the sanctimonious jerk out of the bed, he scanned several of the sheets in his notepad. "What happened after Starks shot you?"
"I can't tell you. I blacked out."
"Ms. Malone says you were conscious right up till the paramedics got there."
"I was? If so, I don't remember. I must've gone into shock. I don't even remember feeling any pain until I regained consciousness in the recovery room this morning. I didn't know where I was. I was so disoriented, I freaked out. The nurse told me I'd been shot and had undergone surgery. Things began coming back to me then, but between Oren firing that pistol and my waking up in recovery, everything is blocked."
