Two Bits Four Bits (15 page)

Thankfully, John and Kandy
arrived, saving me from the possibility of being accidentally
cold-cocked by this shadow-boxing steroid junkie. Bob Clemmer led
us to an interrogation room with a table in the center and two
chairs on each side. He ushered us in then pulled in an additional
chair from beside a desk outside the door. Kandy looked
nervous.

Clemmer left the three of
us alone in the room for a few minutes. Kandy started to speak, but
Donnelly put a hand on her arm and shook his head, nodding toward
the mirrored two-way glass on the opposite wall.

Clemmer finally returned
to the room, along with Puckett. Clemmer carried a stack of files
and Puckett carried a file storage box with the words CHILTON,
RUSSELL and a case number written on the end. Puckett dropped the
box on the table loudly with the labeled end pointed directly
towards Kandy, so her dead husband’s name would take up a big chunk
of her field of vision.

Both detectives then
removed their sport coats and hung them on the backs of their
chairs, exposing the butt-end of their weapons parked in their
shoulder-holsters, as well as the black leather handcuff holsters
they wore on their hips. It was a subtle intimidation technique
designed to accentuate the seriousness of the situation in the mind
of the subject they were about to interview. I had done the same
thing myself thousands of times over the years, working their side
of the table.

They both sat down and
Clemmer pulled out a pair of reading glasses, and then opened one
of the files he had been carrying. Reese sat sullenly with his arms
folded in a pose that emphasized his massive arm and shoulder
muscles, something that he was possibly using for intimidation, but
may have also been a subconscious action from years of being the
narcissist he was.

After almost a full minute
of flipping through his paperwork, Clemmer looked up and smiled at
the three of us, as if we had just appeared.

“Thank you again for
coming back down here, Kandy. I know you’re busy, and this is an
unpleasant reminder of what happened to Russell. We just wanted to
meet with you again to bring you up to date on how the
investigation is going and to see if you could help clear up some
questions we have.”

Kandy nodded and gave a
strained smile.

“I’ll help in any way I
can.”

“Good.”

He adjusted his reading
glasses and looked down at his notes.

“Now, when we talked last
week, we were having some problems with the timeline. You told us
that you woke up to find Russell gone from your bed. You said you
thought that Russell had just gone for an early-morning swim,
something that he was apparently in the habit of doing.”

“That’s right. Russell had
trouble sleeping sometime, and in the summer he would get up and go
for a swim before he got ready for work.”

“But this was a Saturday
morning. Isn’t the bank closed on Saturdays?”

“It is, but Russell went
in to work on most Saturdays. He would get up and go to work early
and let me sleep in.”

“I see. But this
particular Saturday, you got up early? You said you got up and took
a shower before you went outside to check on Russell, found him
floating in the pool, and then you went back inside and called the
emergency operator. And the call was logged there at, let’s see,
6:18 a.m. That would mean that instead of sleeping in this
particular Saturday, you got up at what, six-o’clock? Or, earlier
depending on how long your shower took.”

“I guess. I know it was
early. I couldn’t sleep.”

“You and your husband had
attended some sort of reunion gathering the night before, hadn’t
you?”

“Yes, it was a class
reunion.”

Reese spoke up, looking
directly at me.

“You were there too,
weren’t you?”

“Yes, I was. Kandy and I
graduated in the same class.”

“High school sweethearts?”
he asked with a sneer.

“We were. Twenty-six years
ago.”

“Anyway,” Clemmer said,
interrupting Reese before he could respond. “We talked to some of
the other attendees at the reunion and several people told us you
didn’t leave until sometime after 2:00 a.m. Does that sound about
right?”

“I guess so. I know it was
late, but I didn’t look at the time.”

“Did you go directly home
from the country club?”

“Yes, we did. I went to
bed right away. I think Russell stayed up for a while, watching TV
or doing some work on his computer.”

“So, considering driving
time, let’s say you got home and into the house by 2:15 a.m. at the
earliest. And, if you’re anything like my wife, it probably takes
you a good half-hour to get ready for bed. This would put you
getting into bed at around 2:45 a.m. Does that sound
close?”

“It could be. Like I said
before, I didn’t look at the time.”

“And you said Russell
stayed up even later than that, doing something in another part of
the house. So, he didn’t get to bed until what, three?
Three-thirty?”

Kandy shrugged.

“I-I don’t know. I guess I
was asleep already. I don’t remember when he came to
bed.”

Clemmer studied her over
the rims of his reading glasses for a long time, his brows knitted
in worry.

“Let me ask you this. And,
I want you to think about it carefully before you answer. Are you
absolutely sure that Russell came to bed that night?”

Kandy stared at the table,
blinking rapidly as her face slowly turned a deep shade of red. She
turned to John Donnelly and some unspoken communication passed
between them. She looked back at the table, gathering her resolve
before answering.

“No. I’m not
sure.”

“And now, Kandy. When you
went outside, you said you saw Russell floating in the pool and you
immediately turned around, went back inside and dialed 9-1-1. Is
that correct?”

“Yes.”

“You could tell right away
that something was wrong and you needed to summon help,
correct?”

“Yes. The water in the
pool was red from all of the blood”

“You didn’t try to stop
and help Russell?”

“No, I could see he was
already dead. He was just floating there, and there was just so
much blood. I-I just knew he was already gone, I don’t know
how.”

Clemmer waited for more,
but she lapsed into silence, staring down at the table. Clemmer
glanced at me and then reached into the folder and pulled out a
typewritten report.

“There’s a report here we
need to talk about, Kandy. Our crime scene technicians did some
testing around the pool area and inside the house, looking for
evidence. I’m sure you’ve seen on TV how they can do these tests
for blood stains that don’t show up to the naked eye. They spray
this stuff called Luminol on there and then look at it under a
blacklight. If there’s blood there, or even traces of blood, it
shows up.”

“Anyway, they did some
testing on the concrete walkway around the pool. And on the walkway
to the gate that leads to your back driveway, and also on the
walkway that leads to your bedroom door. And, they did some tests
on the carpet inside your bedroom right beside the door that leads
outside to the pool.”

Kandy was no longer
looking at the table, but paying close attention to the
detective.

“You know how when you get
out of a pool, at first you’re dripping wet and then the dripping
slows down, but if you walk across something you still leave these
wet footprints? Well, when they did their testing, they found that
there had been some big puddles of bloody water beside the pool, on
the deep end. Now, not bloody enough that they would look red or
anything, but with enough blood to show up when they spray the
Luminol on them. They also found remnants of some smaller puddles
of bloody water, these were foot-shaped puddles, leading to the
bedroom door. There were quite a few of them. And, they also found
some traces of that same bloody water leading from your bedroom
door toward the back gate that opens onto the driveway that leads
to your garage. In fact, that water was actually in the form of a
partial shoeprint, indicating that someone stepped into the bloody
water and then walked toward the back gate wearing
shoes.”

Kandy was concentrating
hard on Bob Clemmer as a tear slowly leaked down the side of her
cheek. He paused and looked up at her as if it were painful for him
to continue, allowing her an opening to offer an
explanation.

“Okay, Kandy,” he
continued. “So there are these bloody footprints leading to the
bedroom. Now you told us that you woke up early and found Russell
missing, you decided to take a shower. And, when you finished with
your shower, you said you went outside to check on Russell and saw
him floating face-down in the pool, so you ran back inside and
called emergency services. You didn’t say anything about getting
into the pool, or reaching into the pool, even though the officer
who interviewed you asked about that.”

He stopped and studied her
for a long time as she sat dabbing at her flowing tears with a
wadded ball of tissue.

“Now, Kandy, can you see
how what you’ve told us about that morning isn’t making any sense?
It raises a lot of questions that we’ve got to answer. Like, who
dripped all of that blood-tinged water from the pool to the bedroom
door? Was this person, or persons in the pool at the time of the
shooting? Why are there bloody footprints leading to the gate that
opens onto the driveway?”

John Donnelly, who hadn’t
spoken since Clemmer began talking, cleared his throat and shifted
in his seat.

“Is there some place Kandy
and I can talk alone?” he asked.

“Sure,” Clemmer said. “Let
me take you across the hall to the conference room.”

Detective Clemmer led
Kandy and John Donnelly out the door of the interrogation room,
leaving me alone with Reese Puckett. He sat studying me with his
thick arms crossed as he rocked back on the back legs of his
chair.

“It doesn’t sound like
your little sweetheart has been telling the truth, does it?” he
said.

“Listen,” I said. “I told
you we dated twenty-six years ago, but—“

“No, you listen,” he
hissed, leaning forward and pointing a stubby finger at me. “If
you’re mixed up in this or helping to cover this up, I’ll be coming
after you like a Pit Bull on a Chihuahua you dirty son of a
bitch!”

I leaned forward and
looked him squarely in the eyes.

“Detective, I was putting
killers away when you were still getting your ass kicked in
elementary school, so let me share something. Like I said the other
day, your technique sucks. Do you really think that if I had
something to do with this you’re going to scare me into admitting
it? That might work when you’re shaking down a teenager to find out
who sold them a baggie of pot, but trust me, it doesn’t work in
here. But, I’ve gotta give you props for the Pit Bull on a
Chihuahua line. That shows real promise, Sport.”

I winked at him and leaned
back in my chair.

“Oh,” I added, leaning
forward again. “I almost forgot. If you ever point that finger at
me again you’ll find it broken off and sticking up your ass the
next time you go to take a crap.”

* * * *

CHAPTER
TWENTY-NINE

Bob Clemmer re-entered the
room and sat, glancing briefly at Puckett’s angry face and then at
me.

“I hope we’re about to
find out what really happened,” he said. Then looking at me, “I
know you’ve been doing some work on this, do you have anything
you’re willing to share with us yet?”

“Nothing I can connect to
the shooting,” I said. “So far it’s stuff around the fringes that
may not relate to the murder.”

“If you do come up with
anything you think might help, we’d appreciate being kept in the
loop.”

The door opened again and
Kandy entered, followed by John Donnelly. Kandy appeared composed
and calm, even though her eyes and nose were red from crying. They
took their seats again and Donnelly spoke first.

“There were some things
that happened the morning of Russell Chilton’s murder that Kandy
wanted to keep private, to protect her and her children from public
embarrassment. She was concerned about how things might appear, and
about people making up stories about what happened. Now she’d like
to tell you what happened and answer any additional questions you
have, with the understanding that you maintain, as much as
possible, tight control over the information.”

“I understand,” Clemmer
said. Then, he looked at Kandy over the top of his reading
glasses.

“Kandy, we’ll do
everything we can to keep what you tell us private. Now, if some of
what you tell us is germane to the case, and we have to use it in
court, then we may have to discuss it there. But, please rest
assured we’ll do what we can to protect your privacy.”

Kandy sat up and seemed to
gather thoughts before speaking.