She sure sold you on it.
If its a setup, its the best one were ever going to see. The ME says hes got her skin under his fingernails, and shes got big stripes on her legs where he peeled it off. Her legs are a mess, her back and ribs look like shes been in a gang fight, her face is completely blue with bruises, except where its cut. Her old mans fingerprints are all over the golf trophy. In blood.
Okay…
But just in case, said Sloan, reversing direction, we should bump her a little. I was gonna get Loring to do it, becauses hes such a mean-looking sonofabitch, but I cant find him. If youre gonna be around, after we get the statement, could you do it?
Yeah, sure.
Bump was Sloans private code word for frighten. Hed be the nice guy and get all the basic information, but even with a voluntary statement it sometimes helped to shake up the suspect. You could never tell ahead of time just what might fall out…
A tall, white-haired attorney named Jason Glass, known for handling spousal abuse cases, a court reporter, and Sloan gathered around Audrey McDonalds bed. She was propped half upright, with a saline solution dripping into one arm through an IV. Lucas stepped into the room and looked at her. He hadnt seen much worse, he thought, where the woman actually survived. He stepped back outside the open door and leaned against the wall to listen.
Sloan led McDonald through the routine, with interjections by her attorney: Yes, she was making the statement voluntarily. No, she hadnt been offered anything in return for making the statement. No, she hadnt been asked to answer police question before her attorney arrived, but yes, she had told police that shed shot her husband, Wilson McDonald, with a twelve-gauge shotgun.
As Lucas listened to her recount the sequence of violence, Frank Lester, the other deputy chief, straggled down the hall, peeked in the door, and said, Hows it going?
Lucas shrugged: She aint arguing. She says she did it. And McDonald was the guy: nothing shes saying makes it seem any other way.
Were getting some preliminary stuff back from the lab. Everything is consistent with what she said early on.
They had a history, Lucas said. The question now is, can she live without him?
Shes got a problem?
When I saw her, at ODells, she was virtually a hand puppet. She had no personality left that he didnt supply.
Well… you know theyre pleading self-defense, Lester said.
Yeah.
If the lab comes through, I doubt shell even be indicted.
If the lab comes through, she shouldnt be, Lucas said. Speaking of the lab, did we ever get that spectrographic analysis on the slug fragments?
Mmm, I heard somebody say something about it. I think its back, but I dont know what they said.
All right…
They listened for a minute: Audrey was telling of the pursuit down the stairs, of the panicky call to Helen. You gonna bump her a little? Lester asked.
Yeah, when shes done. Im starting to feel kinda bad about it, though, Lucas said.
I dont know, Lester said, peering up at him. I thought you were looking pretty cheerful.
Yeah?
Yeah. You getting laid again?
Jesus, you married guys dont think about anything but sex.
Thats true, Lester said. Well, let me know what happens.
Lucas nodded. I will.
And say hello to Sherrill for me. You know, when you see her.
SLOAN HAD GOTTEN THROUGH THE SHOOTING, AND now was working backward: Did Audrey McDonald know that her husband was suspected of committing a number of murders?
No… A little fire now, but in a prissy way. That ridiculous Davenport person is pushing this. Wilson would never kill anybody. Hed lose control and hed beat me up, but sometimes I was asking for it. Last night… last night I just couldnt help myself, I ran into the bedroom to hide and there was the shotgun and the shells on the floor and he was coming and I knew how to load it… She started rambling down the path to the shooting again, and Sloan cut her off.
Did your husband own a pistol?
No. Well, yes, years ago…
State firearms records indicate he purchased a. 380-caliber Iver Johnson semiautomatic pistol at North Woods Arms in Wayzata in 1982.
Im sure youre right. But he never used it. He called it his car gun because he had to work down in the colored area sometimes, way back when.
Do you know where he kept it?
No, I assumed he gave it away. Or disposed of it.
He doesnt have it in his car now?
I dont think so; I think I would have known…
Do you remember how you heard the news that Andy Ingall was lost up on Lake Superior?
Well… I think somebody from the bank called and told us.
Mr. McDonald was with you when you found out?
Why, yes. Somebody called him, not me.
You dont know if hed been in Duluth about that time.
Im sure he wasnt; it would have stuck in my mind.
Sloan was pushing a dead end. Lucas waited a few more minutes, listening, then breezed into the room, as though he was in a hurry. Sloan looked up and said, Chief Davenport… Mrs. McDonald.
She seemed to shrink away from him, what was left of her. Most of her face was black with bruises and subcutaneous bleeding around the cuts; a row of tiny black stitches marched up one cheek like a line of gnats; her hair was cut away on one side of her head, and a scalp bandage was damp from wound seepage.
Mrs. McDonald, Ill be brief, Lucas said. Were virtually certain that your husband was involved in the deaths of Kresge, Arris, and Ingall. And were wondering how, if he killed all those people, you could not have known about it.
Why… why… he didnt do that.
And her attorney, Glass, was sputtering, Hey, hey, hey… were not answering those kinds of questions. You should, Lucas said. If Mrs. McDonald doesnt cooperate, well, Mr. Glass… you know how it looks. I mean, if a person has ambitions to resume her life in society.
What? Audrey McDonald looked dazed, swinging her face from Glass to Lucas. Resume my life?
Thats a lot of horse pucky, Lucas, Glass said. To Audrey McDonald: Ignore him.
At your own risk, Lucas said. You know how people talk.
People, she said.
Lucas added, We will be executing a search warrant at the McDonald home this morning, looking for more evidenceBut we already have substantial support for the idea that Wilson McDonald killed all three of them. And we will want to understand what your role was in the killings… if you had one.
You cant…
Mrs. McDonald, Lucas said, suddenly going soft. I mentioned this the other night. I recognize your voice.
What? As though she hadnt heard him correctly. And Glass peered at her, a frown on his face.
Youve called me, he said. You knew your husband was killing people.
Thats utterly She groped for a word other than ridiculous, but couldnt find one. ridiculous.
What are you doing, Lucas? Glass asked.
And Audrey seemed so genuinely nonplussed that Lucas, puzzledwhy would she deny it now? Having helped stop him could only be to her credit, now, and he wasnt around to strike backbacked away, and tried again. Mrs. McDonald, how often did you visit the Kresge cabin?
Why, why… She struggled to think. Its so hard tothinkwith these things they are putting into me.
You dont have to answer these questions, Glass said. And I would recommend that you dont.
You suggest that she not tell me how often she went to Kresges? Why wouldnt she tell me that? Lucas asked.
Because you might try to make your pigs ear into a silk purse, and theres no reason to help you do that, Glass said.
Maybe six times, she said.
Mrs. McDonald, you dont have to answer, Glass said. In fact, Im telling you: Keep quiet. LucasChief Davenportif you have any more questions about Mr. McDonald, ask me first. I may advise Mrs. McDonald to answer them. But she wont answer any more questions about herself. Glass looked at the stenographer. Could you read that back to me?