Chapter 19
Isabella had tracked his phone.
"I'm sorry to have to tell you, but your wife is deceased," I said.
"Deceased?” he repeated, not showing much surprise in his expression.
"When was the last time you spoke to your wife?"
Bobby shrugged. "I'm not sure. It's been a few days.”
"How long have you been staying aboard this boat?"
"Maybe a month. Things haven’t been great at home.”
"Tell me about that.”
Bobby shrugged again. "There's not much to tell.”
We stood in the cockpit, the sun dipping below the horizon.
Bobby shifted nervously.
"It wouldn't have anything to do with Andrew Holt, would it?”
Anger tightened his jaw. "It would have everything to do with Andrew Holt.”
"You know he's dead, too.”
"I heard. Too bad for him.”
"Convenient for you.”
"Keeps him from banging my wife.”
"Well, your wife’s not going to be sleeping with anyone ever again.”
He frowned.
"Have you seen your wife today?"
Muscles in his jaw flexed, and he swallowed. "No."
"Are you sure about that?”
He hesitated, then nodded. "Yeah. I’m sure."
Bobby hadn't asked me how she died. I suspected he already knew.
"How did you feel when you found out she was having an affair with Andrew?"
"I felt like someone had stabbed a knife into my belly.”
I lifted a curious eyebrow and shared a glance with JD. Interesting choice of words. I said to Bobby, "I bet you were devastated.”
"That's an understatement. She was everything to me. I never could have imagined she was capable of such betrayal."
"Made you mad, didn't it?”
Bobby’s eyes narrowed at me. "No, it made me overjoyed," he snarked. "How do you think it made me feel? Have you ever been cheated on, deputy?”
"I bet you wanted to kill both of them.”
"The thought had crossed my mind. But it was just a thought," he assured.
"You mind if we take a look around your boat?"
"You do not have permission to search.”
I smiled. "Good thing we don't need permission to do a routine compliance inspection. You have everything in order?”
His face tensed again. “It’s not my boat.”
"It seems to me you're currently in control of the vessel," I said.
We carried out our inspection, and it didn't take long to find a fire extinguisher past its expiration date. But that wasn't the most interesting thing we stumbled across.
The sneakers on the deck in the forward V berth had what appeared to be speckles of blood on them.
I pulled a pair of latex gloves from my pocket, slipped them on, then picked up the shoes and looked at the tread. I showed them to Jack with a knowing glance. Crusted blood lined the grooves in the tread. The pattern matched the shoe prints at Tess’s residence.
Bobby went pale when we found the shoes. "I can explain that."
"Oh, I'm all ears," I replied.
"Tess called. She wanted to talk. I went over to the house, and when I found her, she was dead. I freaked out. I didn't know what to do. I stepped beside her and felt for a pulse. Her skin was cold. I left and came back here."
"Why didn’t you report it?”
"Because nobody would believe that I didn't kill her."
"You're right about that. Turn around and put your hands behind your back.”
His eyes rounded. "I didn't do anything. I swear!"
I drew my pistol. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way."
"Okay, okay." Bobby complied.
Jack ratcheted the cuffs around his wrists and read him his rights.
I called dispatch and had them send a patrol unit. I searched the rest of the boat, looking for the murder weapon, but didn't find it.
We escorted him to the parking lot and stuffed him into the back of Mendoza’s squad car when he arrived. Bobby was taken to the station, processed, printed, and put in an interrogation room.
JD and I logged the shoes into evidence, then filled out after-action reports. After Bobby had time to sweat, we paid him a visit. We went through the whole scenario again.
His story didn't change.
"Tell me about Andrew?" I asked.
"The guy’s a scumbag. Was a scumbag."
"You kill him too?"
Bobby scowled at me. "I didn't kill anybody.”
"You certainly had a motive.”
"I'm sure there are a lot of other people with motives, too. You ever think this might have something to do with the work they were doing at the institute?"
"You mean the establishment of protected habitats?"
"No. I mean the real work they were doing over there.”
My eyes narrowed at him. "What kind of real work?”