Wilson tugged at his collar. “I didn’t mean to say he didn’t like him. He liked him well enough, I guess. I should have said that Nate just wasn’t the subject of our conversations. You know what I mean.”
“You said Tyler didn’t think much of Nate. In my book that means he didn’t like him.” Stella pinned the full force of her gaze on him. “Why didn’t Tyler think much of him?”
“Look, I’m not pointing a finger at Tyler in any way. Maybe Tyler didn’t get along with Nate as well as he hoped. But that doesn’t make either of them a bad guy, especially not Tyler.”
Mattie threw out exactly what she was thinking. “Maybe Tyler hoped that you would be his brother-in-law someday, not Nate.”
Wilson stared at her for a few beats. “Maybe, but that wasn’t in the cards. Kasey fell in love with another guy. I moved on. End of story. There’s no more to it than that.”
Stella asked the question that had to be answered. “Where were you last night around eleven o’clock?”
Wilson’s eyebrows shot up. “Here in Willow Springs.”
“With whom?” Stella asked.
Wilson’s skin was starting to look dewy with sweat. “I was at home all evening watching movies. I went to bed early.”
Stella looked skeptical. “On a Saturday night?”
Knowing that was exactly how the detective had spent her own Saturday night, Mattie had to suppress her amusement.
Worry lines etched Wilson’s forehead. “Absolutely. I’d been out late on Friday, and Saturday is a big workday for me. I have more appointments on Saturday than any other day of the week. I was beat. I took the night off.”
“And can anyone verify that?”
“Not really.” It looked like a flash of insight erased his worried expression. “Wait a minute. I made some phone calls during the evening. You can take a look at my cell phone records, can’t you? Isn’t that how it’s done these days? I wasn’t anywhere near Timber Creek, so you won’t get any pings off that tower.”
Mattie studied him as he settled back in his chair, once again sure of himself. Must watch his share of detective shows on television. She sorted through the ways a person could give himself an alibi with a cell phone: leave it at home, leave it with a friend to make some calls, make some calls from home and then turn it off when you travel. But still, she thought, it would be worth checking out. “Will you sign a release form so that we can obtain your records?”
“Absolutely. I have nothing to hide here.”
Stella handed him a form from her notebook and settled back on the sofa, crossing one trouser-covered leg over the other while he gave the form a cursory glance and signed it. “One more thing, Mr. Wilson. There’s a container of gasoline or some kind of fuel behind your shed out back. What can you tell me about it?”
He looked puzzled. “What?”
Mattie studied him, trying to determine what he was thinking while both she and Stella awaited his next response.
He shook his head, narrowing his eyes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Stella showed him the picture of the container and jars on her cell phone.
“I have no idea how those things got there. They’re not mine.” He looked at the photo again. “Anyone could have put that can there. It’s outside the shed.”
“Can we take a look inside the shed?” Stella asked.
Wilson eyed her, shaking his head. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but I don’t like it. I heard somebody set fire to Nate’s van. You’re thinking it was me because you found a gas can sitting out beside my shed?”
His defensiveness was unmistakable, but still, he had a point. Most criminals didn’t leave the tools of their trade sitting out in the open like that. And yes, anyone could have come down the alley and placed them there. Mattie knew the Timber Creek County prosecutor wouldn’t be able to take this discovery to court as evidence. But why would someone plant these things? Was someone trying to frame Wilson?
“The gas can alone doesn’t point to guilt,” Stella said. “We’re taking a broad look at everything right now. So is it all right if we take a look inside the shed?”
“I don’t think so,” Wilson said, standing and adjusting his cuffs. “I’ve told you everything I know about Nate Fletcher, so if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got another appointment that I need to get to.”
Stella closed her notebook and stood. “All right. But if those aren’t your things, can we take them with us?”
Wilson looked cornered, his eyes shifting while he paused, as if trying to analyze the consequences of his choices. “I suppose if I say no, you’ll sit out there until you get a warrant to take them.”
Stella nodded. “It wouldn’t take long to get one. This is a homicide investigation.”
Wilson waved a hand in dismissal. “Go ahead. Take the trash someone dumped. My fingerprints won’t be on anything.”
Stella handed him one of her cards. “Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Nichol. Let me know if you think of anything that might help us in our investigation or if anything comes up.”
Wilson stood to escort them out of the office, closing the door firmly behind them.
Missing Robo’s familiar greeting from the back, Mattie took the passenger seat. Stella started the engine and drove to the back alley. After bagging the items and loading them into the car trunk, they headed for the hospital.
“Sounds like Wilson and Tyler are close but there was no love lost between Tyler and Nate,” Stella said. “That doesn’t give us a motive for murder, but it’s a lead. We’ve got to take another look at Tyler. Can we trust an alibi given to us by his girlfriend?”
“I know what you mean. But what would be Tyler’s motive? Any thoughts on that?”
Stella frowned, obviously thinking about it. “I don’t know. Could he have learned that Nate was cheating on Kasey, making him angry enough to snap?”
That didn’t fit. The crime scene indicated someone who’d planned the murder in advance, not someone who’d snapped.
But before Mattie could speak, Stella nixed the theory herself. “No, too organized.”
“Could Wilson be the one who discovered Nate was cheating and killed him to supposedly protect Kasey?”
Stella pursed her lips, nodding slowly. “But I think those items could’ve been planted outside Wilson’s shed by someone who wanted to throw us off.”
“But who?” If that was a theory worth looking at, it might point back to Tyler. Or maybe Jasmine? Or could they have planned it together? She shared her thoughts with Stella.
They were back at the hospital, and Stella made the turn into the parking lot. “Everything’s muddy right now, but the one thing that’s clear is that Wilson still has a thing for Kasey. I’ll follow up on those phone records to see who Wilson was talking to last night. We’ll see if that sheds light on anything. But first we’ll go ahead as planned and see if Garrett and Leslie have remembered anything new, and then I’ll head on to Nate’s autopsy.”
Though she was frustrated by the lack of clarity in the case, something inside Mattie’s stomach fluttered at the thought of seeing Cole again. And after the interview, she could look forward to an entire uninterrupted hour with him in his truck as they drove home. Maybe she would have an opportunity to bring up that hard conversation she’d wanted to initiate last night.
ELEVEN
It had done Cole’s heart good to see Mattie with Garrett and Leslie. She and Stella had both questioned the Hartmans gently, and Mattie’s warmth toward his friends had been obvious.
Since Garrett’s condition had stabilized, Cole felt comfortable with heading home. Early this morning, he’d called Tess, his office assistant, to ask her to feed and water his animals, but he needed to get home to take care of afternoon chores himself. Then he would head out to the Hartman ranch to check on Garrett’s livestock and make arrangements for a neighbor to help over the next few days. When it came to animal care, there was always something to do.