"Oh God." The words escaped from my lips before I could stop them. It was happening all over again. Weathers glanced back at me and then back at his colleague. "Why don't you finish up here," he said. "I'll take Ms. Reid back and get a statement."
My thoughts were racing, one after the other, too fast for me to track, bits and pieces that were gone like storm clouds before a front. Black widow spider. That's what Weathers was thinking. And everywhere that Maggie went her gun was sure tofollow…
"Come on," Marshall said, "we'll take my car. Someone'll follow with yours."
I let him lead me, not caring about my car. All I could see was Jerry's bloated body, floating before me, the ugly red stain on his chest a stark contrast against the lush tangle of plants, his sightless eyes staring up at an empty sky.
"It was a thirty-eight-caliber gun that killed him, wasn't it? You think I killed him, don't you?" I said. We were not even out of Jerry's driveway. "You're thinking it's the same caliber gun, that it had to be mine."
We were at the end of the driveway and he stopped to look at me. "So now you read minds?"
"Well, it's what I'd be thinking."
"That's you."
"All right," I said, "what are you thinking?"
Weathers turned out onto the road and started toward town. "Don't much matter what I'm thinking."
Marshall Weathers was the most frustrating human being I had ever encountered. He always bounced the ball back into my court, never answered a question, especially if it had anything to do with himself. I looked over at him as he drove. His face was a mask, not an unkind mask, but closed.
"It's all about control with you, isn't it?" I asked.
"I don't follow," he answered. But I knew he did. His mustache twitched.
"You've always got to be in control."
"Well, sure." He said it as if I'd said, "The sky is blue."
"Have you ever not been in control of a situation?"
"Maybe at the start of something," he said. He was uncomfortable with the turn in the conversation. His shoulders tightened and he stared straight ahead, not looking at me.
"Maggie, sit there for a while and think back on everything that happened from the time you got to Sizemore's until the time I got there." He didn't want any more personal questions. "Close your eyes and play it like a movie. When we get back to the office, I want you to tell me everything you can remember."
I didn't want to do it. I didn't want to see Jerry, over and over, floating in his hot tub. I wanted Weathers to do that. I wanted him to take over and fix everything. But that was just the problem. No one else was going to fix it for me. All of my adult life, I'd had to face this same realization, time and time again. I always fixed everything.
At first, I'd been mad about it. There was no Prince Charming and I wasn't Snow White or Cinderella. Then, somewhere along the line, I got to feeling proud. I was Maggie Reid, and I could take care of myself. Still, when things got a bit much, like now, I found myself wishing for a knight in shining armor. Weathers was merely pointing me back to reality. He'd come when I'd needed him, but I was going to have to pull the killer out of the hat to save myself. Doggone it!
I closed my eyes and willed my mind back to Jerry Lee's phone message, then to his house. The gate had been open. Why? Was it always that way? He was expecting me, in a general way, but he had no idea when I'd show up. Had he expected someone else? What had he found out about the mobile home lot? The reality of Jerry's death was dawning on me. I'd asked him to look into Jimmy's lot. He'd found something, and now he was dead.
I gasped softly and my eyes flew open. Weathers was pulling into the underground garage of the police department. He reached a hand over and touched my arm lightly.
"Stay with it, if you can," he said. "Don't try and make sense of what you remember, just go for the details, the little things that might not seem to matter."
"You don't understand," I said. "He's dead because of me. I sent him to audit the Mobile Home Kingdom and he found something."
Weathers didn't react. "Let's go on up," he said. He opened the car door and stepped out into the gloomy underground parking lot. It was deserted except for the two of us, but we were not alone. From every corner, covering every angle, cameras watched and reported back to their monitors. The place was probably wired for sound, too.
Weathers walked quickly to the door, punched in a series of numbers, waited for a dull click, then pulled the heavy metal door open. He held it, ushering me through with a motion of his hand. He didn't want to talk here. We would talk where he said and when he said, and that was probably for good reason. I walked by his side, struggling to match his quick, long-legged stride, my mind rushing in all directions.
We rode the elevator in silence. He stood so close that had I moved merely an inch, I would've been touching his arm. I remembered how it had felt when he held me for that one quick moment after he'd arrived at Jerry Sizemore's. Stop it! How can you think about that now? I yelled silently. But I couldn't not think about it. The attraction that had simmered before threatened to boil over and consume me.
I brought my hands together and pinched the flesh in between my left thumb and forefinger, hard.
"What'd you do that for?" Weathers had been watching.
"To get my attention," I answered.
He raised an eyebrow and shrugged his shoulders. Now he could add dingbat or crazed to the list of adjectives I was sure he carried in his head to describe me.
"Guess that's a woman thing, huh?"
I glared at him. "Like men don't do anything to keep their minds on a task?"
"Don't usually need to," he said.
I thought of Vernell, reciting mobile home statistics to himself while we made love. Weathers was right. Men were the exact opposite of women.
"So what were you thinking that took your mind off Mr. Sizemore?" he asked.
The elevator jerked to a stop, pushing me against his arm. "Nothing," I said, jumping toward the door.
As the elevator door slowly pulled apart, I could've sworn I heard a slight chuckle from Marshall Weathers. I didn't look back. I walked ahead of him, down the long hallway to the CID offices. It was going to be another long night.
Chapter Twenty-Four
It was long past midnight.
Plastic cups littered the table between us. The room smelled of stale cigarette smoke, burned coffee, and Marshall Weathers's cologne. I'd had about all I could take of repeating the details of how I came to discover Jerry Lee Sizemore's body. I wanted out.
"I've told you everything I can remember," I said finally. It was not the first time I had made that statement, but I had hopes it would be the last.
Marshall Weathers was just as tired. His eyes were bloodshot. He stared into the bottom of his coffee cup, as if hoping it would offer him more than bitter dregs and caffeine.
"You're right." He sighed and pushed the coffee cup away. "Let's call it a night."
He pushed back against his chair, brought his arms up, and laced his fingers behind his neck. For a moment he closed his eyes and I watched him. His face was pale beneath his tanned skin. The lines around his eyes had deepened.
"All right," he said, bringing the chair legs down on the ground and startling me. "I'll take you home, or wherever it is you're staying." The little sarcastic tone was back in his voice. It bothered him that I stayed with Jack. He probably figured we were having a torrid affair. The idea tickled me and I tried not to smile, but couldn't help it. He really didn't like that.