you. He’s the private investigator out of Boston you hired to watch Eli Landon.” Corbett held up a hand before Suskind could speak. “Let me save us some time here. People always think they’re covering their tracks. Like breaking into Duncan’s office, his apartment, getting rid of his records. But when people are in that push of the moment, they forget little things. Like backup files. And what they keep themselves, which will turn up as we’ve got a team searching your house here, and another in Boston going through your apartment.”
He let that sink in.
“Then the weapon you pulled, which we’ve confirmed was registered to Kirby Duncan. How did you gain possession of Duncan’s weapon?”
“I . . . found it.”
“Just a lucky break?” Now Corbett smiled at him. “Where did you find it? When? How?” Corbett shoved into Suskind’s space. “No answer for that. Take some time to think about it, and while you are, add this in. A lot of people figure wearing gloves or wiping a gun covers their ass. But they just don’t think of wearing gloves when they load one. You planted the gun in Abra Walsh’s house, Suskind, but it wasn’t her prints on the bullets the ME dug out of Duncan. Guess whose?”
“It was self-defense.”
“Reasonable. Tell me about that.”
“He came at me. I defended myself. He . . . attacked me.”
“Like Abra Walsh attacked you?”
“I didn’t have any choice. He came at me.”
“You shot Kirby Duncan, pushed his body off the lighthouse cliffs?”
“Yes, in self-defense—and I took his gun. He rushed me, he was armed, we struggled. It was an accident.”
Corbett scratched the side of his neck. “You’re pretty accident-prone. But the thing is, we’re good at our jobs around here. Kirby Duncan wasn’t shot at close range during a struggle. Forensics doesn’t back that story up.”
“That’s what happened.” Suskind folded his arms now. “It was self-defense. I have a right to defend myself.”
“You have a right to break into private property, to dig around in it, to walk away from an injured woman who fell because you’d broken into her home while she was sleeping, to assault another and to kill a man? You’re going to find out the law doesn’t give you a single one of those rights, Suskind, and you’ll have a long time to think about that in prison when you’re serving a life sentence for first-degree murder.”
“It was self-defense.”
“Is that going to be your story for why you killed Lindsay Landon? Did she attack you, threaten you, so you had to bash in the back of her skull to defend yourself?”
“I didn’t kill Lindsay! Landon killed her, and you cops let him get away with it. Money, family name, that’s why she’s dead and he’s free, and he’s lording it in a house that’s rightfully mine.”
Corbett glanced toward the two-way mirror, gave the faintest nod. Nearly sighed. He hoped he wasn’t making a mistake, but a deal was a deal.
“How do you know Landon killed her?”
“Because he did. She was afraid of him.”
“She told you she was afraid of her husband?”
“She was a wreck after he went at her in public that day. She said she didn’t know what he might do. He’d threatened her, told her he’d make her sorry, make her pay. It’s on record! I promised her I’d take care of her, take care of everything. She loved me. I loved her. Landon was already done with her, but when he found out about us, he couldn’t stand that she was happy. He went over there, and he killed her, then he bought off the cops and walked.”
“So Wolfe was paid off?”
“Damn right he was.”
Corbett glanced around, nodded again when Eli walked in. “Eli Landon entering interview. Mr. Suskind, I think, again, we can save some time, get this all straightened out, if Mr. Landon’s a part of this process. If you object to having him here, just say so and he’s out.”
“I’ve got plenty to say to him, here and now. You murdering bastard.”
“That was going to be my line. But let’s talk.” Eli took a seat at the table.
Thirty
“YOU DIDN’T WANT HER.”
“No,” Eli agreed, “I didn’t, and I wanted her less when I found out she’d lied to me, cheated on me, used me. Did she know why you started the affair? Did she know you were using her to get information on me, on Bluff House, the family, the dowry?”
“I loved her.”
“Maybe you did, but you didn’t start sleeping with her out