Spare Change (Wyattsville #1)(80)

“And this shirt you found under the bed, you know it’s Scooter’s?”

“For a fact,” she said. “Week after week, I washed that shirt, then I’d stand there and iron the wrinkles from it…yes, I know it’s his shirt.” She gave a sigh of weariness then went on, “I saw all that blood and couldn’t imagine what he’d been up to, so I set the shirt aside thinking I’d ask him about it that night. All this happened before I’d heard about the murders.”

“The day you found this shirt with blood on it, was it the same Sunday I brought Ethan Allen Doyle over here to stay?”

“Yes, but earlier on. I pretty much knew Scooter was carrying on with Susanna Doyle, they’d been going at it for six or eight months, but when you told me her and her husband was both murdered; I couldn’t believe Scooter had a part in it.

“Later on that night, when I started asking about how he happened to come by all the blood on his shirt, he got bristly as a starved alley cat. Right then I knew. I knew sure as I was standing there, Benjamin Doyle’s blood was what was all over Scooter’s shirt. ‘I know what you been up to,’ I told him, and he gave me a look that felt like a razor slicing down my back. I believe he wanted to tear me apart right then and there, but I warned him I’d put the shirt away for safekeeping and if he laid one finger on me, it was gonna make its way to the sheriff’s office. Then he stomped off and that was the end of it.”

“You’ve still got the shirt?”

She gave a slight nod of her head, barely any movement at all, mostly her eyes, looking up then down. “I thought my holding on to it would force him to stop this sort of behavior,” she said, “I figured, maybe he’d start acting the way a man ought to act. I never dreamed he’d drag Sam into this mess, or cause harm to that little boy.”

“Where is the shirt?”

“Put away.”

“Washed?”

“No,” she answered, “but I’m not giving it up unless you promise to let Sam go free. I know my Sam; he hasn’t got his daddy’s meanness. He’d never harm that little boy; I’d stake my life on it. His daddy’s the one who’s got to be held accountable.”

“I wish I could promise you such a thing, Emma, but it’s not in my power. Sam’s being held over in Wyattsville. Whether or not he’s released is up to the District Court in that area. But, I’ll sure see what I can do. I’ll put in a word for him, let the arresting officer know the circumstances of his situation.”

“He’s all I’ve got, Jack.”

“I know,” Jack sighed, he then wrapped his arm around Emma, who burdened by the weight of her words had become smaller and quite pitiful.

After a long while of sitting in silence, Emma finally pushed herself to her feet and walked through to the back of the house. Jack remained where he was. He knew she’d be back and he knew when she returned she’d be carrying the shirt in her hand.

He was right.

The following morning Mahoney was standing at the crime lab when the door opened. “I think the blood on this shirt might match one of the victims in the Doyle murders,” he said and handed the detective an evidence pack.

“I’ll get back to you this afternoon,” the detective, known for his lack of patience answered. He tucked the package beneath his arm and disappeared through the swinging door.

Mahoney then went to the Eastern Shore station house. He sat at his desk, drank a cup of coffee, and then called Olivia Doyle. “I’m sorry for what happened with Officer Cobb,” he said, “that was not a department authorized visit; he came out there on his own.”

“Sorry?” Olivia shouted back. “Sorry? That’s what you say when a policeman shows up and frightens a child witless?”

“If I’d known what he was planning, I’d have taken measures—”

“You said he was no longer on this case!”

“He’s not; but I have reason to believe that Officer Cobb’s father may have asked him to speak with Ethan.”

“Oh? Now, our lives are in danger? Is that it? We have to go into hiding like—”

With Olivia being on a tear as she was, Mahoney had to interrupt to squeeze in an answer to even one question, let alone the barrage she was throwing at him. “That’s not it at all,” he said, “Officer Cobb’s locked up in the Wyattsville jail and there’s a good possibility we’ll be taking his daddy into custody sometime today. So, neither you nor Ethan Allen have anything to worry about.”

“That’s easy enough for you to say!”

“Actually, I don’t think Officer Cobb ever intended to harm the boy. Our understanding is that he came there to try to find out the truth of what happened; probably because his father has been identified as a suspect.”

“He scared Ethan Allen half-to-death, is that not harm? Do you have any idea what might have happened if I hadn’t had a baseball bat ready?” Once Olivia got wound up, there was little chance of stopping her; the words came in rapid fire succession. “I’ll tell you what probably would have happened…” she went on, “Ethan Allen and I would have been murdered stone cold dead! We’d have been lying here in a pool of blood on our own doorstep!”

“That’s not true,” Mahoney said, “If Officer Cobb intended to harm either of you, he would have been wearing his service revolver. Sergeant Gomez of the Wyattsville Police Department said he wasn’t carrying a gun or any other type of weapon. And that’s the truth; I checked Officer Cobb’s locker here at the precinct—both his gun and gun belt are in there.”