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“Really?” She couldn’t hide her surprise.
“I know what you’re thinking, like everyone else. Shoulda been me, right? Well, I was in it first, while she was teaching, and we had rip-roarin’ fights over it. Makin’ good money, but it’s finally what broke us up. She ended up with the business in the divorce. How do you like that?”
“Wow.”
“Yep. So if you wanna see her, you gotta head toward the beach. She lives out thataway.” He hooked a thumb toward the west.
“Actually, I wanted to talk to you about the guy who ran into Tanner’s car. I think you fixed both vehicles.”
“You mean the guy Tanner ran into.”
“I guess I heard it the other way around,” said Delta.
“Look, Tanner’s dead, and I liked him, but he was a liar. No gettin’ around that. Who d’ya think stabbed him?”
Delta found his way of hitting the issue straight on refreshing, and a little scary. “A lot of people think it was me.”
“I know who did it.”
She smiled faintly, before realizing he was dead serious. “Okay, who?”
“One of his girlfriends. Tanner always had a few extras around. One for show . . .” He swept a hand in Delta’s direction. “And the others for . . . other things.”
“Maybe. Who are those girlfriends?”
“One of ’em’s your lawyer,” he said meaningfully. “Saw that today. Couldn’t believe you actually hired Amanda Forsythe.”
“I needed someone good.”
“I get that. Still, it’s a
surprise. I saw them at the barbeque, y’know, Amanda and Tanner.”
“I remember you being pretty stoned.”
He chuckled. “Oh, yeah, but I still saw them. In fact, I saw a lot of things. Some I really shouldn’t have. Have kept ’em to myself.” He put a finger to his lips. “But you wanted to know about Mr. Josh McGill. Tanner sideswiped his car and acted like it was the guy’s fault, even though it was pretty easy to tell it wasn’t. McGill’s a hothead. He challenged Tanner in the parking lot, from what they both said, and there was a lot of shouting. Maybe some shoving, but Tanner was smart. He backed down when he was losing. Had to, but it was hard for him. He was a guy who couldn’t be wrong. You know the type.”
Woody was describing Tanner in terms that were spot-on, but no one had ever had the courage to say so before.
“The police already asked me this. Bailey’s dad,” Woody added.
“Oh.” She should’ve expected that. But as long as she was here . . . “Who else was he with?”
“Zora. Always liked her. Tanner said they got pretty hot and heavy on her pool table before Amanda. Ellie was a score in college. Amanda was high school.”
“How do you know all this?”
“Ahhh, let’s just say we had a mutual confidante, back in those days.” He rubbed his nose, faintly smiling. “She’s the one told me about Ellie and Chris at the barbeque too. A lot of that going around that night.”
Ellie and Chris . . . McCrae. She’d ignored the rumor about them at the barbeque, had put it down to wild gossip, but maybe it was true. She wished it didn’t affect her so much at this late date, but it did, to some extent.
“What about you?” Delta asked lightly.
“At the barbeque? Oh, I stayed true to Crystal.”
“What about afterward?”
“You want me to kiss and tell?” He wagged his finger at her. “That could get me in serious trouble.”
