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Again, Buckner did one of those eyes wide, mental double take expressions. “Tessa Wainwright?” He sat back and smiled. “Now, that’s a blast from the past, all right.” He repeated her name several times, his smile widening with each repeat. “Where the heck is she?”
“So, you know her?” Bree commented.
“Hell, yeah, I know her. Well, I knew her anyway. Haven’t seen her in…must be nearly twenty years.” He stopped. “Hey, she disappeared for a while. Where’d she end up? I’d love to see her and catch up.”
“When exactly was the last time you saw Tessa?” Bree, again.
“Like I said, it has to be close to twenty years. Why?”
“We need to narrow down some timelines.” Bree didn’t add more. She just stared at Buckner and waited.
“All right, let me see,” he muttered after an annoyed huff. “She had already flunked out of college the last time I saw her so that would mean she was about twenty. Does that sound right?” he asked, directing the question to Rafe. “I mean, you were her go-to guy.”
Rafe had no idea what the hell that meant, and he wasn’t going to press him on it. But it was interesting that even after all this time, Buckner could recall that Tessa had been involved with him.
Buckner huffed again. “Okay, let’s assume Tessa was twenty then, and since I’m a year older than her, that would make eighteen years since I last saw her.”
“And how long after that did you hear she was missing?” Rafe piped in.
Buckner gave them both hard looks. “Did something happen to Tessa?” But he instantly waved that off. “Since you haven’t answered shit so far, I should save my breath and quitasking stuff.” He checked the time on his Rolex. “How much longer will this interview last?”
“Until we have the information we need,” Bree calmly replied. “But hopefully you’ll be forthcoming with what we want to know so you won’t have to be here much longer.”
That didn’t exactly please Buckner, but he made an impatient, get on with it gesture with his hand.
“You said you last saw Tessa approximately eighteen years ago,” Bree reminded him. “When did you learn she was missing?”
Sighing as if it were the most tedious question in history, he put his hand to his forehead, rubbing his temples with his thumb and ring finger. “Probably shortly thereafter. I remember calling her and not getting an answer, so I thought she’d maybe ghosted me. Then, somebody told me she was missing.”
“Who?” Rafe pressed.
“How the hell do you expect me to remember that?” Buckner fired back. “Eighteen years. I’ll bet you can’t recall when you last saw her or how you found out she was missing.”
“Eighteen years, one month and eleven days ago,” Rafe said, quickly doing the math. “And I found out from her father, Wade Wainwright.”
Buckner rolled his eyes. “Well, obviously you cared about her a whole lot more than I did. Look, man, she was just a good fuck, that’s it.” He added a grin, probably hoping it would provoke Rafe.
It didn’t. Yes, once he’d loved Tessa, but right now, he only wanted to learn her fate. And he probably wouldn’t be learning it from this clown.
If Buckner had murdered her and those other women, no way would he be fessing up to that. And if he hadn’t killed her, then it was possible he was telling the truth and that Tessawas no longer on his radar. Bree must have realized that, too, because she moved on to the next item on the agenda.
“Tell me about Gavin McCray,” she threw out there.
No smile or look of surprise, but something did go through his eyes. Worry, maybe. But it was barely a flash of it, and it was gone as quickly as it’d come.
“Gavin, the construction guy,” Buckner said. “Yeah, he did a private job for me at my place.”
“What kind of job?” Bree asked.
“A koi pond,” the man said after a short pause. “He did it off the books so I paid him in cash.”
Bree didn’t show any disappointment, but Rafe figured she had to be. If Buckner had tried to lie his way out of this by denying he knew Gavin, it could be enough to charge him at least with obstruction of justice.
“Do you have photos of the koi pond?” Rafe pressed. “Or maybe we can go to your place and see it?”
Buckner cursed. “It’s not built yet so there’s nothing to see.”
“But you said Mr. McCray did a private job for you,” Bree pointed out.
