Chapter 59
Sean pulled Frank Maynard’s body from the water and checked for vitals, but he was gone. Margaret Maynard was crying in the corner, and everyone had gathered to see what happened.
“I need everyone to go back to the dining room!” Sean bellowed, his voice echoing in the pool, giving him some extra gravitas.
The crowd dissipated, save for the man’s wife, who still had her hands covering her mouth, eyes wide in shock, focused on her husband’s body.
“Ma’am, if you need to?—”
“He’s dead?” she asked, interrupting him. “Like, he’s really dead?”
“Yes,” Sean answered.
Margaret lowered her hands from her mouth, and then the shock of the moment faded away. “I had wanted to be the one to kill him,” she muttered.
Sean wasn’t sure if he was meant to hear that or not, but he looked at the woman in surprise.
“I know I shouldn’t say that,” she said, still speaking softly.
“But I’ve wanted to kill him for a long time, and now…
I’ll never get that chance.” She took a deep breath, and when she exhaled, it was like all the tension was released from her body.
“He was getting more violent lately. I know I should have told you that when you came to speak with us, but I had to think about what life would be like after we left here. I didn’t want to make him angry again. ”
Sean remained silent, the dead husband hearing the confession of his wife with deaf ears and blind eyes.
Margaret lifted her shirt, exposing her abdomen and back, and there were a series of bruises and welts in various shapes and sizes.
But there were also clear examples of handprints and fingerprints covering the woman’s skin.
“He would hit me here so no one would see the bruises,” she said.
“Every time I cried, he told me he would hit our son.”
Margaret lowered her shirt and then walked over to her husband’s body and spat on him.
“You got what you deserved,” she said, frowning. “I just wish I was the one who did it.”
Margaret walked out of the pool hall, leaving Sean with the dead man on the tile.
Sean had had his suspicions that Frank Maynard was still abusive, and it was clear that his instincts were dead on. But the man was murdered, and the most likely suspect had just walked out of the room.