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“I’m Special Agent Faith Bold,” she said, “and this is Special Agent Michael Prince. That’s our K9 unit, Turk.”
“He’s friendly,” the man said. “Guess he doesn’t suspect me.” He looked up at the agents and said, “Sorry. I don’t know why I said that. I guess I’m a little out of sorts.”
“That’s perfectly understandable,” Faith said, “Mr. …”
“Oh, right,” he said, “Sorry. I’m Blake Richardson. Everett’s younger brother.”
“Mr. Richardson, I’m sorry for your loss. Thank you for taking some time to speak with us.”
“Yeah,” he said, “of course.”
They sat around the table, and Amy asked if anyone wanted coffee or water.
“I’ll take coffee,” Blake said. “Thank you.”
Faith and Michael asked for water, and Amy disappeared to fetch the drinks. Faith asked, “Mr. Richardson, I’m so sorry to ask this, but can you verify your whereabouts yesterday evening?”
“Yeah,” Blake said. “I was with my wife and daughter at home. They can verify that, but I don’t know if it counts since they’re my family. Maybe the neighbors saw me park and can confirm I didn’t leave until this morning for work, but I don’t know. People mind their own business. It’s possible no one saw me. Sorry, I don’t know why I’m talking so much.”
“That’s all right, Mr. Richardson,” Faith said. “We’ll follow up on that later.”
Turk laid his head on Blake’s lap, and Blake smiled faintly again. “Is he a therapy dog?”
“No,” Faith said, “but he’s pretty good at lifting people when they’re down.”
“Did he comfort you after you lost someone?” Blake asked.
“Not exactly,” Faith said, “but he helped me overcome a very serious personal challenge. I can honestly say I wouldn’t be where I am today without him.”
Michael coughed, and Faith said, “But that’s enough about me. Returning to your brother, Mr. Richardson, can you tell me if his behavior seemed different to you lately?”
“I wouldn’t know,” Blake said. “He and I weren’t close.”
Michael raised an eyebrow. “You two didn’t get along?”
“We got along well enough when we saw each other,” Blake said. “We just didn’t see each other that often. My wife didn’t care much for him, and I can’t say I blame her.”
“Why’s that?” Faith asked.
Blake sighed. “My brother was challenging to be around. He wasn’t a bad person, but he was very … well, he didn’t care much who he offended.”
“Can you explain?”
Blake sighed again. “Everett was … well, I guess the best way to put it is that he was indifferent to the effects his words had on others. He would say things sometimes that would offend people.”
“Can you give us an example?”
“Well,” Blake said, “There was a bad car accident a few years back. An SUV struck a woman and her baby. Killed the baby instantly and left the woman paralyzed from the neck down. Everett confessed to my wife and I that he visited the scene as soon as he heard the news to see if he could find the exact spot where the baby’s head split open on the ground.”
“Jesus,” Michael said.
“Yeah,” Blake said. “You see what I mean about him being hard to deal with.”
“Did you have reason to suspect that your brother may have been involved in criminal activity?” Faith asked.
“You mean do I think he was a murderer because he was fascinated with death?”
“Was he?” Faith asked.
