Dead Cold Mysteries Box Set #1: Books 1-4 (A Dead Cold Box Set), Blake Banner [classic children's novels txt] 📗

Henderson took him to interview room three, upstairs. Dehan and I gathered our notes and went up to talk to him. He was perspiring and didn’t look pleased to see us. As we sat opposite him, he said, “Am I under arrest?”

I shook my head. “No, you’re being held as a material witness. But I can tell you, in light of recent developments in the case, that it is in your best interest to cooperate fully with us.”

“Do I need a lawyer?”

“No, but it’s your right to have one if you want one. I am not planning on charging you with anything, Peter. I just want to ask you some questions.”

He stared at Dehan a moment, then said, “Okay.”

I scratched my chin, organizing my thoughts.

“You want to tell me again about your relationship with Tamara, and when you last saw her?”

He closed his eyes, puffed out his cheeks, and blew.

“I just got so damn sick of her.” He opened his eyes and stared at me, as though he had given me some kind of cogent explanation. “She was—” He took a moment, looking around the room to find words that could express his feelings. “Heavenly. You know what I mean? She was like no woman I ever met, and she made me happy like no other woman. But when she changed, at first I couldn’t handle it and I didn’t want to let her go. So I refused to give her a divorce, like I told you.”

Dehan said, “But…?”

He sighed and shook his head and looked sad, really regretful. “In the end, she was so full of shit, I agreed. I met Sally—I fell in love with a real woman, who was loyal and true and wasn’t playing fucking games all the time—and I agreed to give Tammy a divorce. But she turns around now and says no.”

“When was this?”

“About the time she disappeared. About the time she got that crazy gig she was going on about, that was going to change her life.”

I glanced at Dehan to see if she was going to ask. She was watching me. I said, “So did she put any kind of condition on giving you your divorce?”

He nodded. “I guess you know she did. The condition was that I give her my revolver. I told her I would not, and I asked the crazy bitch what she wanted it for. She said she was in the Bronx in New York; it was a dangerous place to be alone, and she wanted protection.”

Dehan frowned. “She said she was alone?”

“That’s what she said. I asked her if she wasn’t with Steve, and she said things weren’t working out like she’d hoped. She was alone and scared and just needed the revolver for protection. She told me if I would just bring it to her, she would grant me the divorce and bring it back to me when she returned to San Francisco.”

“So that’s what you did.”

“You know I did, or I wouldn’t be here.”

I said, “Where did you meet? Did you go to her place?”

“She had an apartment on…” He paused to think. “Intervale Avenue, opposite the church there. I gave her the gun and begged her not to do anything stupid. And that was it.”

Dehan gave him a “not really” smile. “You booked your return for three days.”

He gave a snort. “To be honest, I was hoping I could convince her to come back to San Francisco with me. I gave myself an extra day hoping we could meet and talk and maybe I could persuade her to stop being such a crazy bitch. But I never had a hope in hell. I spent most of my time in Central Park feeding the ducks. Then I went home. I’ve been waiting ever since for the divorce papers. Is she dead? Was she killed with my gun? Is that why I’m here?”

He had gone a pale gray color.

Dehan shook her head. “No, Peter, we are no longer convinced that Tammy is dead. We don’t know what has happened to her. Does the name Danny Schultz mean anything to you?”

“No. Should it?”

“How about Ernesto Sanchez?”

He squinted at her like she was crazy. “No. Why?”

I leaned forward. “Peter, while you were in New York, did you at any time go and see Stephen Springfellow?”

He looked genuinely astonished. “Are you kidding me? Why would I want to go and see that son of a bitch?”

I pulled a face. “Maybe to shoot and kill him?”

“What?”

“Stephen’s body was found two years back, while you were still in New York. He had been shot with your gun.”

He went white and slumped back in his chair, shaking his head. “Oh, no, no! No, I did not! I would not! No, no way, man…”

Dehan cut across him. “Can you think of any reason why Tammy would want to kill Stephen?”

He did a double take. “What? No! Of course not!”

Dehan pressed on. “Would it surprise you to know that Tammy was also engaged to be married to Hugh Duffy?”

He gaped at her for a moment and then burst out laughing. He stared from Dehan to me and then back again. “What? Are you trying to drive me crazy? Is this some new kind of interrogation technique? Make me lose my sense of reality?”

We both watched him without smiling.

He stopped laughing and became serious. “You mean it? Hugh Duffy? The Hugh Duffy…?”

I nodded. “Yes. That was the gig.”

He narrowed his eyes at me, like he was struggling to understand. “Who the hell was I married to, Detective Stone?”

I sucked my teeth and nodded. “That is what we would like to know, Peter. One last question…” I glanced at Dehan. “Unless…?” She shook her head, so I went on. “There is a woman we