Chapter 31
THIRTY-ONE
Amanda, Trent, and Malone looked at Bill Johnson through the one-way mirror. Johnson was sitting at the table in the neighboring interrogation room and rubbing his forehead.
“He doesn’t look that bright, if you ask me,” Malone said.
Well, he did run into the hood of my car… She was grateful for one stupid decision he’d made. That of not requesting a lawyer. Things would move along faster. She turned to her partner. “Come on, Trent, let’s see if we get anywhere with this guy.” She led the way next door and into the room.
Bill sat up straighter. “Why are you doing this to me? You show up at my house, chase me through the neighborhood, hit me with your car.”
Cue the tiny violin… Amanda stuffed aside the sarcastic voice in her head. But if this man was who they were after, she had no sympathy. She’d put him away for life. She sat across from him, Trent next to her.
Amanda leaned casually back in her chair. “Why did you run?”
“You need to ask? The police came to my house looking for me.”
“To talk,” she pushed back.
“Yeah, right.”
“Why do you think we’d want more than that?” She clasped her hands over the file folder she’d brought in. She and Trent had taken just enough time to gather some photographs and documentation before coming in here.
“Uh, let me see. You chased me through my neighborhood.”
“Only after you ran.”
“Tell me what this is about. I don’t have to stay here. I haven’t done anything wrong.”
Amanda narrowed her eyes, trying to read the man. “Are you sure about that?”
“Yeah, I’m sure.” His trembling voice belied the confidence of his words.
“Do you know a woman named Valerie Archer?” she asked.
Bill shook his head, squinted.
“Think hard before you lie to us,” Trent cautioned.
Bill’s eyes dashed to Trent. “Yes, I know her.”
“And who is she to you?” Amanda asked.
Bill shrugged. “She’s the branch manager at my bank. That’s all. It’s not like I have a personal relationship with her.”
“That didn’t stop you from leaving several threatening voicemails for her.” She pulled a transcript of these from the folder and set it on the table.
“I didn’t mean anything by them. No real harm.” Bill’s mouth opened, closed. His gaze traveled to the printout, back up to meet Amanda’s eyes. “Did something happen to her?”
“I think you know the answer to that question, but if you want to play it that way…” She pulled a photograph of Paul’s remains and put it on the table.
Bill swallowed roughly and sniffled. “Who is… that?”
“Valerie’s husband. That’s what became of his body after you left it in that farmer’s field.”
“What?” Bill’s strangled cry accompanied widened eyes. “I didn’t do… that. Get that away from me.”
“Valerie, her daughter, and her husband were all abducted on Saturday afternoon.” She exchanged the gruesome photo for two of the black van. One showed it in the mall’s lot and the other in the gym’s. “That your van?”
“What? No. I swear to you.”
“Maybe you’d like a few minutes to consider your response.” She didn’t bring up the voicemails again, but the implication held weight and sank in the room. After several seconds of Bill not saying a word, Amanda said, “No?”
“No. I didn’t do anything to Valerie or her family. Please believe me.” He licked his lips.
“No one could blame you for being angry with Valerie. She rejected your application for a loan. Without that money you’re going to have to close your doors.
That’s right, yes?” Their entire theory for his motive hinged on this very fact, but it was his visceral response to the denied loan that birthed it.
“Yes, no. I mean no. I’ll find someone to lend me the money.”
“Your voicemails make you sound quite desperate. It must have really ticked you off when she didn’t call you back.”
“It did, but I didn’t do what you’re accusing me of, I swear.”
“Where were you this past Saturday afternoon?” Amanda pushed forward with no intention of backing off. Not when she had Bill right where she wanted him. Feeling compressed into a corner.
Bill’s eyes darted back and forth between Amanda and Trent.
“Mr. Johnson?” Trent prompted.
“I was at home playing video games.”
“Can someone corroborate your alibi?”
Bill rubbed his throat. “Alibi,” he parroted as if he were choking on the word.
Amanda let the impact of that word saturate. He was their prime suspect, and he had to know it. “If that’s too difficult, you could tell us where your wife, Peggy, is.”
“Peggy?” he blurted out as if the name were poisonous. “Why would I know where Peggy is?”
“Let me lay it out for you, so there’s no room for misunderstanding.
We can’t find Peggy, just like we can’t find Valerie and her teenage daughter.
You are clearly ticked off with Valerie, and your wife, well, she relies on your monthly alimony payment to cover her living expenses. Do you see where I’m going with this?”
“Not really.”
She was starting to see how Malone’s initial impression of this guy was spot on. Not very bright… “The two of you were in a desperate spot when Valerie turned you down for the loan. I assume Peggy knew you were declined?”
“Yes.”
“And does Peggy know Valerie?” Amanda asked.
Bill nodded. “Uh-huh. Valerie’s been our contact at the bank for years. She goes back to when me and Peg were together and bought our first house.”
“Right, so no money, you close your shop’s doors, and you’re both lining up for food stamps.”
“No, it wasn’t like that. And what you’re saying, there’s no way. Yes, I was pissed off. I’ve been banking with Woodbridge Trust for over thirty years. Yet they couldn’t extend me a loan? I even gathered my financials together, which showed my projections for growth.”
She could fire back the bank didn’t put faith in his numbers, but it would only get his back up and silence him. “Then you have no idea where Peggy is or where Valerie or Brooke Archer are?”
“No, absolutely not.”
If she wanted to move forward, she’d need to change direction. “We weren’t able to reach you yesterday. You weren’t at home or at work. Where have you been?” Asking him was a test of his honesty. Would he be forthcoming about his whereabouts?
“I was at my mother’s. I just needed to get out of town and relax some.”
One check in his favor. “How long were you there?” All they knew was he’d left his mother’s house that morning.
“For two nights, and I came back this morning.”
“We spoke to your mother,” she told him.
Bill’s facial expression hardened. “Why?”
“You remember Paul? I can get his picture out again if that would help.”
Bill held up a hand. “No, thank you.”
“Well, Paul’s body was found close to her house.
You must admit your mother’s property would be the perfect place to hold people.
No one around to hear their screams. No nosy neighbors watching your every move.
It would be easy enough to keep your mother away from them.
Are they out there right now as we speak?
” Her heart pounded as she laid all of this out.
“At my mother’s? You’re crazy.”
“Huh, well answer this for us. Why use a pay phone to call Valerie? You have a cell phone and a landline for the business. You even left your first name, but it’s like you didn’t want the messages to be tracked back to you. If you weren’t planning on doing something, why take that precaution?”
Bill scratched the top of his head and said nothing.
“Mr. Johnson?” she pressed.
“I’d like a lawyer.”
She dipped her head and left the room with Trent. Malone met them in the hallway.
“That guy is hiding something,” he said.
“Yeah, two captives while we’re out here jumping through hoops.
” The gripe flowed off her lips. She respected the law, appreciated the need for procedure, but sometimes it was beyond frustrating to play within the confines.
“Just tell me you heard enough to justify getting a warrant for his mother’s place.
You saw how heated he got when I mentioned we saw his mother. ”
“It could just be that he doesn’t want his mother brought into all this.”
“Or he’s hiding the Archers out there,” Trent voiced.
Or their bodies… Trepidation snaked through her gut.
“He responded strongly when you asked about his wife, Peggy, too,” Malone pointed out.
“I imagine there’s a lot of resentment there,” Trent said. “He has to hand over money he doesn’t have to her every month.”
Amanda nodded. “He’d have reasons not to like Peggy, but they’d share motive for wanting to strong-arm Valerie Archer.”
Malone rubbed his trimmed beard. “Something stinks, that’s all I know. He has no alibi, he runs from you, and requests a lawyer instead of simply explaining why he used a pay phone.”
“Right, so what is he hiding?” she began.
“He’s clearly carrying guilt, but we can’t just stand around talking this out, Sarge.
We have a mother and daughter out there who must be terrified.
Surely, we have more than enough to search his van, his home, his phone, and other electronic devices.
His business too. His van is the same make, model, and color of the one that took the Archers, and he has a probable motive. ”
Malone nodded. “I agree. Proceed with calling a judge for those warrants. If any of those prove he had the Archers at one time or the intention, then we’ll have grounds to extend a search out to the mother’s property should it become necessary.”
Amanda left with Trent, hurrying toward her desk. She stuffed the folder under her arm and was on the phone by the time she got to her cubicle. “Judge Anderson…”