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“No. For a while I thought he was having an affair with his boss, Faye Evans, but now I don’t think so. She’s not his type. She’s too old. Hell, according to Kent, I’m too old, and Evans has got at least ten years on me.”
Yep, a real asshole. “Would he have confided in anyone? Maybe the friends he was going golfing with?”
Another bitter chuckle. “Sure, you can ask them. I think they’ve been covering for him. For how long, I don’t know. Kent says how much they like him, but he’s a freeloader. They might just be getting tired of paying his way all the time. They stay in fancy hotels in Vegas and Palm Springs, and they play the really expensive courses. I googled how much one of those hotels cost and I hit the roof. Even the cheapest rooms are more than we can afford. Kent said that his friends pay for his room and greens fees. He just has to buy his food. Now that I know where he was found this morning, I’m wondering if he ever actually went golfing with them or if he was just using it as an excuse to meet women ten miles away.”
“Do you know his friends?”
“No, never met them. I have their names—Dave, Pete, and Garrett—but they’ve never visited. I’ve talked to Pete on the phone. He’s one of Kent’s emergency contacts. Every time I called Pete to ask if Kent was okay because he hadn’t called, Pete said Kent was fine and he’d have him call me. Kent always did and was always impatient with me for worrying. Kent knew them from the army. Saved their lives once, or so he said. Who knows if that’s even true? I’m reevaluating everything right now.”
“I can understand that. Have you contacted his friends to tell them about your husband’s death?”
“No. Like I said, I don’t really know them. Or trust them.”
Good. Kit might be able to catch them unaware and see their reaction to the news. “We’ll need to go through his financials and search his things. Do we have your permission to do so?”
Denise handed Kit the entire folder she’d brought over from the counter earlier. “All our bank statements for the last year. I downloaded them from our bank’s website and printed them out for you. If you need records further back than a year, I can get those for you tomorrow. There are credit card statements in there, too. And his pay stubs from this year. Mine too. I have nothing to hide.” She grimaced. “I don’t have the energy to do anything I’m ashamed of.”
Kit smiled gently. “Thank you for this. Detective Marshall mentioned that you told him you’d packed Kent’s suitcase. What was he carrying?”
Denise blinked, as if she hadn’t expected the question. “Oh. Okay. He was supposed to be gone four days, so I packed five or six pairs of underwear, same with socks. Four pairs of ugly golfing pants. Six golf shirts, two nice sets of slacks, three dress shirts.”
So someone had stolen most of the contents of Crawford’s suitcase, just as Kit had thought. “Shoes?”
“He was wearing his Nikes when he left the house. I packed his golf shoes and a pair of dress shoes. Why?”
“Because most of those items were no longer in his suitcase. What about electronics? I assume he had his cell phone with him.”
“His work phone and his personal. I can give you access to our Verizon account and you can see what calls were made from his personal cell. You’ll have to talk to Shady Oaks about the work phone.”
Kit made herself a note to ask. “Laptop? Tablet?”
“Both.”
“Toiletries?”
“Only his toothbrush, toothpaste, a razor, and shaving cream. He liked to use the shampoos provided by the hotels where they stayed.”
“Thank you. You wouldn’t happen to have the serial number of his laptop, would you?”
Denise’s smile was tight. “Of course. I bought it for him. The receipt and registration information are in that folder.”
Wow. “What about his gun? I’m sorry, ma’am,” she added when Denise flinched.
“No, no, it’s fine. I just have been visualizing him getting shot all day, whether it was by his own hand or someone else’s. I didn’t love him anymore, but I didn’t want him dead. I especially didn’t want him to suffer.”
Kit remembered the photos of the body. “I don’t think he did.”
“That’s good. He had a SIG Sauer M17. Said it was what he’d used in the army, so he bought one for himself when he was discharged. Was…was that the gun he was found with?”
“Yes, ma’am. Do you know if he owned a silencer?”
“Um…no. I mean, I don’t know. That would be disturbing, if he did. You can check his gun safe.”
“Do you own a gun, ma’am?”
“Yes. I’m home alone when Kent works late.” She sighed. “Worked late. Plus the weekends that he went away with his friends. I still practice at the range, but not as much as I used to. Not enough energy for that, either. My gun hasn’t been fired in maybe a year. You can check that, too.”
This woman was being extremely cooperative. Maybe too cooperative. “Ma’am, I have to say that you’re one of the most organized and open family members I’ve met.”
