got up about seven-thirty, maybe closer to eight the next morning. She’d gone, left an omelet in the warming drawer. She feeds people, can’t seem to help it. I don’t know what time she left.”
“So you don’t have an alibi.”
“No,” he said to Wolfe. “By your standards I guess I don’t. Exactly why do you think I killed him?”
“No one’s accusing you, Mr. Landon,” Corbett began.
“You’re sitting here asking for my whereabouts. The head investigator from my wife’s murder is with you. You don’t have to accuse me to let me know I’m a suspect. I’m wondering about my motive.”
“Duncan was a solid investigator. He was investigating you, and you knew it. And all of his records on that investigation are missing.”
“You know him.” Eli nodded at Wolfe. “Odds are he was a cop at some time. You knew him. Did you hire him?”
“We’re asking the questions, Mr. Landon.”
Eli swung back to Corbett. “Why don’t you ask why the hell I’d kill somebody I never met.”
“He could’ve dug up some evidence on you,” Wolfe began. “Could’ve made you nervous.”
“He dug up evidence on me in Whiskey Beach on a crime I didn’t commit in Boston? Where the hell is it? A solid investigator keeps records, makes backups. Where’s the evidence?”
“A smart lawyer who knows the ins and outs would make sure he destroyed that evidence. You took his keys, drove to Boston, walked right into his office and got rid of his records, his computer files, the works. Did the same at his apartment.”
“His office and apartment in Boston were rifled?” Eli sat back. “That’s interesting.”
“You had the time, the opportunity, the motive.”
“In your mind, because you’re so damn sure I killed Lindsay, I had to have done this.” Eli continued before Wolfe could speak. “So, walk it through. He either agreed to meet me at the lighthouse in the middle of the night—in the rain—or I somehow lured him there, and that’s after he dug up evidence that proves I already killed once. It also means I snuck out of the house while Abra was sleeping—not impossible, I agree. I then killed Duncan, went to the B-and-B, snuck in there, got all his things, took them and his car. I assume I drove his car back to Boston, went to his office and apartment, took care of that. Then drove back. It would be stupid to drive his car back here, but how else do I get back? Then I have to ditch his car somewhere, walk back to Bluff House, get back inside without Abra knowing I ever left.”
He knew better than to appeal to Wolfe, so turned to Corbett. “For God’s sake. Just looking at the logistics, the timing, I’d’ve needed some incredible luck to get all that done before Abra got up to make a goddamn omelet.”
“Maybe you didn’t do it alone.”
Now Eli felt his temper snap, and rounded on Wolfe. “You’re going to drag Abra into this? A woman I’ve only known a few weeks suddenly decides to help me commit murder? Jesus Christ.”
“You say a few weeks. Duncan was working the case here, and here’s where he found enough to be a threat. How long have you been banging the housekeeper, Landon? Screwing around on your wife, she finds out. It just gives you another reason to kill her.”
The anger he’d managed to hold at a steady simmer boiled over. “You want to come after me again, you come. But you leave her out of it.”
“Or what? Are you going to try for me next?”
“Detective Wolfe.” Corbett snapped the words out.
“You think you got away with it once, so you figure you can get away with it again.” Ignoring Corbett, Wolfe slapped his hands on his thighs, leaned forward.
Close in, Eli thought, the way he liked to crowd into personal space in interviews.
“Yeah, I knew Duncan. He was a friend of mine. I’m making it my mission in life to bring you down for him. You won’t slip through this time. Everything you and the woman do, have done, think about doing, I’ll know. And when I bring you down, you’ll stay down.”
“Threats and harassment,” Eli said, oddly calm again. “That should give my attorney an excellent springboard. I took it before, and I let the life I had go down the drain. I won’t take it again. I’ve answered your questions. You’ll need to go through my lawyers now.” He got to his feet. “I want you out of my house.”