A Good Marriage(118)

“Wait, there was a man?”

Fuck.

“Yes, definitely. Like I said, I only saw him for a split second. And he had on dark clothes and a horribly creepy ski mask, so I couldn’t see his face. But I’m convinced it wasn’t Zach. As much as I hate him, I’m sure it wasn’t. I saw Zach across the room at my party. He’s noticeably short. Shorter than me. This man was much taller.”

Sam was tall. But this guy had come with a ski mask? Could the monster in Sam’s cage be that bad?

“Not just tall.” Maude held her arms out, demonstrating. “Big, too. At least I think. I’m less sure about that. I only saw him for a second, and he was already turning around.”

Sam wasn’t big like that, was he? No, but Xavier Lynch was. Shit. I’d been so quick to write him off entirely because his story was true. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t involved somehow. At least, theoretically.

“Nothing else identifying?” I pressed, trying to sound calm.

“Amanda was all I could see.” Maude was ashen now. “There was so much blood, too. Everywhere at the bottom of the steps. I raced down, and she didn’t have a pulse. I started CPR, right away. I know how to do it. And I called Sebe. I was going to call nine-one-one, too, but then I looked down, and there was blood all over me. My hands, my arms, my shirt. I think it was on my face. And the golf club that I’d been holding with my fingerprints all over it? It was on the ground in Amanda’s blood. How was I going to explain any of that to the police? How could I explain why I was in the house in the first place, and hiding in a closet? My prints would have been in there, too. I’m sorry, I know I should have called them anyway. But all I could think about was Sophia needing me and I panicked.”

“I was there faster than an ambulance would have been anyway,” Sebe said. “And I can assure you that Amanda was dead when I arrived. Her head wounds were very traumatic. I think the result of multiple impacts. Maybe that man hit her with something, or maybe she hit her head by falling more than once. Even postmortem it would be difficult to tell the difference between the long side of a golf club and the rounded metal edge of those stairs. You could see in the blood where somebody had slipped. It could have been Amanda.”

“There was so much blood,” Maude said again. “Sebe had to physically lift me out so I didn’t track it everywhere. I didn’t leave the golf club there on purpose to confuse things either. I want to make that clear. I dropped it when I tried to help Amanda. And I was so sure they’d come for me anyway, once they found it. My prints must have been all over it. But then they didn’t come, even after I stupidly slipped and mentioned the golf club to Sarah. To be honest, for a little while I thought it was justice if Zach went to jail for Amanda’s murder after what he did to Sophia.” She shook her head. “But once he was getting beaten up, I knew I couldn’t be that person, couldn’t let him get killed, not with Case. And then I thought about whoever it was who had really hurt Amanda. The fact that he was still out there because they’d arrested Zach …. So I gave Zach the alibi.” She looked up at me, her eyes aglow once more. “I didn’t actually mean to imply that we’d had sex. In the context of the party, you assumed, which was understandable …” Maude grimaced. “After everything with Sophia, that made me absolutely sick. Not that the alibi mattered in the end.”

“And you have no idea who the man in Amanda’s house was?” I asked.

“All I know is that he was big and wearing all black. I was at the top of the steps, and he took off right away. I didn’t see much. Oh, and he also had on these red sneakers.”

My breath caught. Sam’s basketball sneakers are white. Sam’s basketball sneakers are white.

“Red sneakers?” I asked. “You’re sure?”

“Yes, they were very noticeable,” Maude said. “Red high-tops.”

I held my breath, legs trembling, impatiently counting the floors as the Young & Crane elevator glided up. It was obvious now that I’d had too much riding on Maude’s fingerprints. I’d been so sure they’d do all the work: prove that Maude had killed Amanda—accidentally—thereby exonerating Zach. And clearing Sam. As it turned out, Maude’s fingerprints had given me only a witness to the crime and a vague partial description of the actual killer: male and large, with red sneakers.

Xavier Lynch. He was still a totally reasonable possibility, at least I was determined for him to be. Maybe he’d been after Amanda’s money or had some other twisted reason for killing her. He’d hinted at a criminal past. I’d call the St. Colomb Falls police department. Someone there could easily know more about him. It was a small town.

I considered texting Sam, too, but to say what? Good news! I’ve almost proved you’re not a murderer! In my defense, Sam had seemed pretty worried he was a murderer, too.

The receptionist desk was empty as I swiped my key card and headed fast for my office. There were several doors open, lights on, at my end of the hall. I could hear voices and spotted a couple of weekend secretaries scattered at the outer desks.

In the far corner, Paul’s door was also open. He’d sent me an email late the night before, asking for three different things on three matters having nothing to do with Zach. Apparently he’d moved on. I turned toward my office, hoping not to see him.