Chapter 35
35
“How dare you come here and ask me about Ruthanne’s gun? What the hell are you getting at? I’ve just about had it with the North Heron Sheriff’s Department’s incompetence and harassment!” Harry’s narrowed-eyed glare made his weasel face appear more comical, but Aaron found nothing funny about the situation.
“Mr. Malroney,” Sam proceeded. “We’re asking if you will let us see the weapon and want to know if it has been fired lately?—”
“Do you have a warrant?”
“Sir, we do not. If we had, we would have presented it to you at the beginning of our conversation. But we can get one.”
“I’d like to see you try! Not with me making a call to the governor!”
“Harry! What on earth is going on?”
Aaron looked beyond Harry standing in the doorway to his house and saw Ruthanne approaching. She nudged her way under Harry’s arm as he tried to block her, but she managed to smile at him and Sam.
“Oh, Detectives Bergstrom and Shackley. How nice to see you again.”
“No, it’s not!” Harry groused.
“Harry!” she admonished. “Let them in.”
Harry’s brows lowered, and he twisted to look down at his wife. “Ruthanne, I don’t want?—”
“Harry, honey, I have never turned away anyone who has come to my door. And I don’t expect to start now. The detectives have a job to do, and it’s an important one. You and I have nothing to hide, so we have no reason not to let them in our house.” She looked toward Aaron and Sam and stepped back as she pushed the door open farther. “Please come in. There’s no need to have this conversation on our stoop when we have a perfectly comfortable place to sit inside.” Looking up at Harry, she reached out her hand. He sighed heavily, then linked his fingers with hers. They led the way into the den, and all four were seated.
“Now, Detectives,” she said, “how can we help you solve this case?”
“Mrs. Malroney, we’re asking to see the pistol registered in your name,” Sam said.
Aaron added, “Seeing if it had been fired recently will help us eliminate you from suspicion.”
Harry made a noise that sounded like a growl, but Ruthanne simply nodded. “I understand. I assume that we were the only people in the area that had a relationship with Mr. Gaston.”
“Yes, you are the only people in the area listed as his clients. That’s not to say there wasn’t someone else over here that he would try to see that day, but we would like to move further to eliminate you from our inquiries.”
“I noticed you made a distinction between clients and someone else he would have a relationship with. I’ve already told you that our relationship with Bill was purely professional. We did not see him socially. And we didn’t see him at all when he was here.”
Ruthanne leaned forward, her gaze resting on Aaron and Sam. “Detectives, I can’t remember the last time my weapon was fired. I personally don’t care for firearms, but Harry used to travel for work and insisted that I have one. He would take me to a firing range to ensure I knew how to use it.” She looked at Harry, a crease forming between her brows. “Is it still in the upstairs bedroom closet? In the safe?”
He nodded, his expression pinched. “I’ll go get it.”
Sam stood to his feet quickly and nodded. “I’ll go with you.”
Aaron could see that Harry was about to argue, but Ruthanne simply interjected, “That’s a lovely idea.”
As the two men walked out of the room and up the stairs, Aaron looked over at Ruthanne and had to admit there was nothing about her that seemed violent or vicious in the least. He could never imagine her using a gun on anyone, but then just because the weapon was registered to her didn’t mean that Harry wouldn’t have used it.
Ruthanne leaned closer, resting her clasped hands on her knees, and pinned him with her gaze. “Is there anything you can tell me about Mr. Gaston’s demise? I know it’s still an active investigation, but I feel so badly. I remember when we met last year, we were in his office, and he had a lovely photograph of his family. His wife and three children. I thought they made a beautiful family and told him so.”
“The investigation is still ongoing, Mrs. Malroney. We’re making progress, and your cooperation is exactly what we need to help us narrow down people of interest.”
“I understand, Detective.”
They both turned at the sound of Sam and Harry descending the stairs. Harry was still grumbling, but with Ruthanne’s nudging, he agreed that they could take the weapon to be tested to see if it had been fired recently. Even though Aaron and Sam had the paperwork for him to sign that claimed they were taking possession, Harry continued to spout the legalities that he would follow if the gun were lost or damaged in anyway.
Just before they left, Harry cornered them in the front foyer. “How long will you make the Mathersons stay in the area? They’re bugging me about wanting to leave, saying their trip to the Eastern Shore has been tainted! I told them my rental agreement had no provision for a tainted experience! Our rental agreement was for a month, but he wants out of it! Says he’s going to sue to get his money back.”
“If you have a lease agreement with them for a month rental, that should hold up in any court,” Sam placated. “I agree that whether their experience has been tainted or not, they are legally bound to the agreement of your rental lease.”
At that, Harry’s demeanor changed. He nodded emphatically. “That’s what I told him. They paid for a month, and I’m not giving them any money back just because they found a dead body!”
By the time they left the Malroney’s house, Aaron felt like he had run a marathon and wasn’t sure if he’d made it to the finish line. “Jesus, he is as aggravating as she is sweet.”
“We’ve got the gun, and we’ve got the bullet from William’s body that Cora gave to us. I can send these to the Virginia Department of Forensic Science. I’ll send it to the Eastern lab in Norfolk. I have a buddy there who can put a rush on it for us. But it still may take a couple of days just in transport.”
Aaron looked over and grinned. “Would it be any faster if we drove it over?”
Matching his grin, Sam nodded. “I’ll call it in, and we’ll take a trip over the CBBT.”
Sam had no problem getting Colt to approve their trip, and an hour later, they arrived at the lab. They moved through the security and were met by Sam’s friend, Thomas. After introductions and handshakes, they handed off Ruthanne’s firearm and the evidence bag from Cora.
“You’re in luck. We’re usually slammed, but right now, we don’t have much of a backlog. If you guys want to go to lunch somewhere and don’t mind hanging out for a few hours, I’ll get this going for you.”
Aaron took the opportunity to check in with Belinda, finding she was doing better than the day before but still looking at photographs. Sam talked to Hayley at the same time, discovering that she was working on her marketing clients but also helping Belinda with the photograph searches.
Driving to a restaurant in Norfolk, they ate lunch and then anxiously headed back to the forensic lab. Met at security by Thomas, he handed the weapon and the evidence bag to them after they signed all the forms necessary. “Well, don’t keep us in suspense,” Aaron prodded
Thomas shook his head. “It’s not a match. This weapon was not the one used to fire this bullet.”
Thanking him, they headed back over to the CBBT with Thomas’s report. Aaron sighed. “I know this might sound weird, but part of me is glad. I know Harry is a pain in the ass, but I really hated to think that Ruthanne was involved, whether directly or just because Harry did something that would affect her.”
“I feel the same way,” Sam said. “Just like last month when we were working the investigation on the skeleton found in my yard. I remember being in the hospital after Malcolm had tried to hurt Hayley and admitted that he’d been involved in the death of that young man many years ago. His wife, Anne, reminded me a lot of Ruthanne. I saw Anne at the hospital after Malcolm confessed, and she seemed ravaged. Somehow, the idea that we were going to have to face the same thing bothered me.”
“I know what you mean. Sometimes, we barely get over one investigation before another big one hits us, and there isn’t always enough time to process how we feel about what occurs.” After a few more miles of silence, Aaron asked. “So does that remove the Malroneys from our inquiries?”
“We’ll talk to Colt as soon as we return to the station. But that over ten-hour discrepancy has got to mean something. William was somewhere for all that time before he headed back to Virginia Beach.”
Driving back up the long lane to the Malroney’s house, Aaron looked at the large house that was now familiar at the end of the drive. “Harry certainly has money. This house and those large rentals. God only knows what the Mathersons paid to stay in that beach house for a month, and Harry has several rentals.”
“Do all of Malroney’s beach rentals have beachfront property?”
“When we investigated the thefts at a couple of his properties before, he has several right on the bay. He also has a couple more that are in the Dunes Resort, but they’re not beachfront. I can’t remember if there’s another one, but then this place is set back away from the beach. He has a view, but it’s not directly on the bay the way the house is that the Mathersons are staying in.” He looked at Sam and asked, “Any reason you asked?”
Sam chuckled and shook his head. “No, just curious. You’re right, though—he’s got money.”
“Then it just doesn’t make any sense that William would drive this close to a client who has all this real estate, plus more that he has invested in, and not stop to see them. That doesn’t add up. We have no evidence that he stopped to talk to Harry, yet he did something with those hours.”
“I agree. I can’t imagine what the fuck he did with all that time.” Stopping outside the Malroney’s house, they both climbed out and moved to the front door, ringing the bell. The door swung open, and instead of Harry’s angry face, a smiling Ruthanne greeted them.
“Oh, my goodness, Detectives. Please come in. We didn’t expect you back so soon! Of course, I only know about these guns and bullet tests from what I see on TV. You know how it is—they always make it seem so easy, but I hear in real life it is much more difficult.”
“Yes, ma’am, it usually is. But we decided to expedite it, so we drove it to Norfolk. I have a friend who works at the lab there, and I can tell you that your weapon does not match the bullet that killed Mr. Gaston.”
Aaron expected her to show relief, but she simply nodded slowly with a sad expression.
“I am so sad to think about his life ending in such a tragic way.”
“I assume since you knew that this gun had not been used, you’re not surprised by the lab's findings,” Sam said.
At that, her lips quirked up ever so slightly. “You’re right, Detective Shackley. I knew that neither Harry nor I had fired this weapon. In fact, I can’t even remember how long ago it was. To be honest, if someone broke into the house, I’d be so flustered I wouldn’t even remember the combination to get into the safe and get the weapon! But we bought it years ago, as I said, when Harry traveled a lot.”
Aaron looked past her but didn’t see Harry. “Is Mr. Malroney at home?”
“No, he decided to walk down the beach. One of our rentals is only about half a mile down the beach.” She sighed and shook her head. “I wish the Mathersons would stop threatening to leave and sue because of everything. I told Harry we should just let them go and give them back their money! But you know Harry… he has a strong sense of right and wrong.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Sam said, firing off a side glance toward Aaron.
“Well, if you’ll sign that we have returned your weapon, we’ll be on our way.”
She looked at the paperwork and then signed in the appropriate place. “I’ll be sure to let Harry know that you came by. He’ll be sorry that he missed you.”
At that, Aaron had difficulty hiding his scoff, covering his mouth with his hand as though coughing. They turned to leave, but what had been puzzling Aaron couldn’t be squelched. He stopped and turned back toward Ruthanne.
“You don’t have any idea where Mr. Gaston would have gone while he was here? We have several hours where he is unaccounted for, and we’ve come to a dead end, trying to uncover where he might’ve been.”
Shaking her head, she said, “I’m so very sorry, detectives. I just can’t imagine. He didn’t come here to see us, and we were home all that day and evening.” She leaned forward, whispering conspiratorially, “Harry only likes to go out about once a week or so to get gas and groceries. He’s not much of a people person, if you know what I mean. After all, that’s why we moved here. Harry loved the view of the water from our previous house but hated that we were right on the beach where just anyone could walk past or even up to the back deck if they wanted.”
Covering his smile again, Aaron nodded while Sam thanked her. Back in their SUV, Aaron looked over at his partner. “Wow, imagine that—Harry isn’t much of a people person!”
Sam burst out laughing as they headed back to the station.
When they reported their findings to Colt, he called a detective meeting. Once inside the conference room, Aaron and Sam updated everyone on their findings. “As you can see,” Aaron said in summation, “we have no reason to suspect the Malroneys anymore, but we have a fucking long amount of time that William Gaston was on the shore before he drove his car back over the CBBT. We’re still in contact with the detective in Virginia Beach, but we’re not sure what may have occurred while he was on the Eastern Shore. Because we have a large gap, we’re still working with Virginia Beach but haven’t concluded our investigation yet.”
Aaron looked over to Hunter and Brad. “Any luck on the photographs that Belinda took?“
“We made it all the way back to where she was taking some nature shots at Kiptopeke. Honestly, she probably took about a hundred that day, and there’s a lot of water or forests in the background. We’re enlarging each on our computer screen and carefully reviewing them. We keep hoping we’ll find somebody doing something they shouldn’t, but so far, we’ve looked at a lot of loons.”
The gathered detectives began to chuckle, everyone needing to release tension. Colt thanked them all, and then Aaron and Sam headed out. Belinda had left a message that Hayley had just left the apartment, and she was hanging out with Ivy, who’d come after work. Ivy came over when his dad had left to take Sally to an appointment. He felt safe with that arrangement since a deputy was still stationed outside.
It had been another long, frustrating day, but Aaron couldn’t believe how much of a difference it made to know that Belinda waited for him. He had hoped that he could give her the peace of knowing that they had whoever had shot her. Hating that he couldn’t work on that, he could at least give her that comfort as soon as they could get their hands on the fucker.