Chapter 39
Ray dreaded this one about as much as he had Clint’s. Getting through it was necessary.
Mike would question Larry Medford, and Fitzpatrick would handle Perry Woods.
Ray entered the interview room where Troy Baker waited for him. That was one of the not so good perks of being chief. The jobs no one else wanted were always yours.
“Troy.”
He didn’t look up. Sat at the table, his head bowed as if he were praying.
Ray sat down across from him and opened his notepad. Someone had already brought Troy a cup of coffee. He hadn’t touched it.
“I need some answers, Troy. Why don’t you start with the last time you saw Keith,” Ray suggested when Troy still didn’t look up.
Troy lifted his head. One cheek was bruised and scraped. His nose was swollen; both eyes were black. “You know when I saw him last.”
Ray had expected Troy to be upset. Keith had been his best friend. But where was the anger? The need for vengeance? This resignation was not typical Troy behavior.
“So you didn’t see him at all after Saturday night when Violet dropped you off at home?”
Troy shook his head. “Nope.”
“Where were you yesterday morning?” Ray didn’t like that blank look on Troy’s face. He liked Troy’s lack of emotion even less. This was wrong somehow.
“Passed out in my truck in my own front yard.” He met Ray’s eyes again. “Ask Patricia. She came home from church and found me. I’d climbed in the truck after Violet took me home. That’s where I slept it off.”
That still left him with no alibi until noon yesterday. But why would Troy kill Keith? There was tension between them because of Austin. But enough to commit murder? Ray just couldn’t swallow that.
“I need to see your hands, Troy.”
He flattened his hands on the table. Bruised and scratched. “Did you do all that Saturday night?”
Troy nodded. “Where else? I told you I was dead to the world after that.”
“You don’t know of anyone Keith was having trouble with?”
Troy shook his head. “Nobody except that bastard Austin.”
Hatred glinted in those dull eyes for a beat or two before he looked away again.
“What about suicide? Was Keith having any trouble that might have made him want to end his life?” Ray couldn’t see that.
This was a small town. If Keith and Violet were having any real problems, he would have heard about it.
But even that, he felt confident, wouldn’t have had Keith taking a dive off the edge.
“Can’t think of a thing.”
Ray couldn’t put his finger on the problem, but there was definitely a problem. Troy looked hungover as hell; that was true. But there was more, deeper. A defeat of some sort.
“Any more questions?” Again, Troy didn’t look at him.
“That’s all for now.”
Troy pushed out of his chair and walked to the door.
“You let me know,” Ray said, “if you think of anything that might help with this investigation.”
His hand on the door, Troy didn’t look back. “Sure.”
Ray rubbed his chin and thought about Troy’s reaction for a bit. Definitely off. As badly as Troy had to be hurting, he hadn’t launched a verbal attack as he usually did.
Maybe Ray would get lucky and the ABI would find some usable physical evidence at the scene.
But so far luck had been looking the other way in Pine Bluff.