Death and Relaxation (Ordinary Magic #1)(89)

“If you didn’t, who did? Who had access to it? Who have you let handle it?”

“No one. No one.” He shook his head and gripped the bars again.

I waited, trying to decide if I believed him. I sighed. Even though I didn’t like it, I thought he was telling the truth.

“Okay, so you were waving around an empty gun—not the smartest move, Dan.”

He opened his mouth to argue, then, to my surprise, nodded. “I wasn’t thinking. I just wanted…wanted you to pay attention to me.”

“You have my full attention. I need you to really think about this: who do you know that hates you enough to frame you for shooting me?”

“I told you no one touched my gun.”

“I believe you.”

He was halfway into a syllable before he snapped his mouth shut. “You do?” He narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

I nodded. “So if you didn’t put bullets in your gun, and if no one else did, then there had to be another gun with bullets on the scene. Who knew you were angry at me? Who knew you would go to my house with a gun? Who would want you blamed for shooting a police officer?”

He shook his head, his eyes open with a kind of wonder. “I don’t know. So many people hate me, it’s hard to say.”

I smiled sadly. He wasn’t wrong.

“Have you seen anyone around your place who isn’t usually there? Someone in the vacation home down the street? A car you’re not used to seeing around parking near your house?”

He lowered his eyebrows, thinking. “No. I don’t think so, no. Well, those sisters are renting down the street.”

“Sisters?”

“Lila Carson and the blonde, Margie or Maggie, or—”

“Margot.” I swallowed as a chill washed over me. “Margot Lapointe. How long have they been there?”

“How should I know? I don’t keep track of every little thing in my neighborhood.”

I just stared at him. Waited.

He blushed. “Maybe a couple weeks? The blonde moved in first, I think. Then the other one. See them around everywhere. Well, the blonde. I think she was following me. Spying on me for that Chris Lagon. I have rights, you know. Rights to privacy.”

I was listening with half an ear. I hadn’t even checked to see where the sisters were staying while they settled their business in town. I’d assumed they rented a hotel room.

Still, renting a house near Dan didn’t exactly make them culpable in the shooting. It was a small town. Everyone lived near everyone.

I rubbed at my forehead. “Okay. That might be helpful. I’m glad we had this talk.”

“Wait,” he said. “Are you leaving me? You’re not leaving me here, are you? You can’t leave me.”

“I can’t drop the charges yet, so yes, you are staying here until I can check your gun and see if a bullet was fired from it recently and whether or not that does anything to clear your name.”

“You’d do that for me?” He sounded genuinely surprised.

“If you’re innocent, I’ll do everything I can to make sure that you’re released. That’s how the law works.”

I punched in the code and gripped the door handle to pull it open.

“Delaney?”

I paused, but didn’t twist back to look at him, since I was pretty sure that would make my wound bleed.

“I saw Walt, Heim’s deck hand, the night before Heim drowned. He…he was drunk. He’d been at Jump off Jack’s and was talking about making money that had nothing to do with fishing. I don’t know what he was talking about. Didn’t care. Still don’t care. But…well, he left town the next day and Heim shows up dead. Think that’s anything?”

I let go of the door and turned all the way to face him again. “Was he with anyone?”

“Who?”

“Walt. Did you see him talking to anyone else in the bar that night?”

“Chris was there.”

“Chris is always there. Someone else?”

“Yes!” he said triumphantly, as if it had just occurred to him. “The blonde. She was there. Sat at the table with Walt. I know she did. Left before he got chatty. Is that helpful? Does that help?”

Margot was in Dan’s neighborhood. She would have been aware of his comings and goings. She might have seen the gun he kept in his car. But how would she know he intended to shoot at me?

“Delaney,” he repeated. “Does it help?”

“Not yet. But if it does, I’ll let you know.” I left the room and walked back to my desk. I picked up the desk phone and called Myra’s cell.

“Officer Reed,” Myra answered crisply.

“Hey, Myra. Don’t be mad at Pearl.”

“Where are you?” she growled.

“At the station. I’m fine. She made me happy-face oatmeal and gave me my meds.”

“Delaney…” She reined her voice in to keep the anger down. She was really frustrated. “You need to turn around and drive back to my place and park yourself on my couch. Now.”

“Wow. You sounded a little like Dad right then. So I talked to Dan and Pearl. Turns out Dan blew up his own rhubarb patch.”

“Okay. Why do I care about this?”