Dead to Her(85)

His eyes were wide open and he’d fallen from the chair onto the shitty carpet with piss stains on it that they’d never been able to afford to change and that frozen expression had looked so terrified and in pain but she knew he was gone and she didn’t know what to do next and then Janey came in behind her and shrieked and broke the spell and then with shaking hands Savannah had called 911 and then the circus had begun.

“It wasn’t the whiskey that killed him though, was it?”

“They thought so at first,” Marcie said. “I thought so too. That he’d drunk himself stupid and his organs couldn’t take it anymore. Not after a few weeks clean. But they tested the bottle and then they found it.”

“Say it out loud, Marcie. For the tape. What did they find in Jonny’s whiskey?”

“Coolant.” The word was barely a whisper.

Anderson sat back in her chair. “Just like with William.”

“Mrs. Maddox was found to be not responsible for Jonny Newham’s death.” The barely awake man beside Marcie finally spoke. “His death was ruled a suicide, as is clear from the records.”

“Eventually it was, yes,” Anderson said. “Although there was a nasty air of suspicion left hanging over you, wasn’t there, Marcie? Enough that I imagine the Boise police department will be taking another look into Jonny’s death now. I mean, what are the odds of two men you know being poisoned the same way? Ingesting coolant in a drink?”

Marcie’s blood chilled. “You think it was me? You think I poisoned William?”

Anderson looked down at the yearbook and then back up at her wryly. “Well, it would be fair to say that you might have a prior. Even if you didn’t kill Jonny, his suicide could have given you the idea. From his death you knew that ethylene glycol—coolant—disappears from the body quickly. If it hadn’t been found in the liquor bottle then it’s possible no one would have known how he really died. Same could be said for William. Another few hours and no trace may have been found in his system. So yes, it’s possible.”

“But why?” Marcie asked, aghast.

“Jason was in financial trouble. Maybe he’d told you about what he’d been doing and how he was close to getting caught. With your background it would be hard to give all this luxury up and live in some shitty condo, waitressing to pay the rent, visiting him in jail every couple of weeks for years. Or maybe you did it for Keisha? Maybe she was the better bet.”

“Detective Anderson, this line of questioning—” Her attorney at last made a half-hearted attempt to do his due diligence in the room even though he looked exhausted and just wanted to get home rather than sit in with a murder suspect.

“I’m not asking a question,” Anderson cut in. “I’m simply telling Mrs. Maddox my thoughts.” She turned her attention back to Marcie. “We’ve seen the texts between you. Very close. Maybe too close. You two have been hanging out a lot and my colleagues in London tell me that Keisha preferred women sexually before she met William. Played for both teams at the very least. She’d been seeing one girl back home who she stayed in touch with when she got here, a Dolly Parker, but she cut off contact with her recently. Maybe she’d fallen in love with someone here? Maybe you?”

This was all crazy. “If you’ve seen our texts then you’ll know that I was backing off from Keisha. She was too unstable. Too unhappy. Maybe you should try asking her about William again. She had the most to gain from his death. She was always saying she wished he was dead!” She stung with her own betrayal. It wasn’t Keisha who’d put her here. It was Jason. Her supposed beloved husband had sold her out.

“I’m sure we will. But Keisha Radford commented on the coolant right after spending the morning with you. Maybe you’d had time to loosen the cap at some point. You knew about the hidden needles and syringes. You had as much motive and opportunity as either Keisha or your husband.”

“Maybe I did!” Marcie finally snapped. “But even if I’d wanted to kill William—even if I’d known about the shit Jason had gotten himself into—why would I be so stupid as to try to murder William with coolant? After what happened with Jonny? What I went through with that?”

“Like I said, maybe you thought there would be no detectable traces left in his body by the time he was found. He was lucky he was found so early.”

“I know how coolant kills people. Massive organ failure? There’s no way that there would be no investigation into that, especially for someone so powerful and influential in this town as William. And then the carton would be found and that would be that.”

“True. But the obvious suspect would be Keisha, not you.”

“Except that someone out there sent that yearbook and note to Jason on the night of the party. It literally arrived a couple of hours before we left and he demanded I explain everything, which I did. And it wasn’t pleasant. He wouldn’t even speak to me. Why on earth would I then go to William’s house and calmly try to poison him that night, knowing that Jason would think it was me, and more importantly someone else out there who knew about Jonny would think it was me? I didn’t do it. Someone else did. Maybe whoever sent that yearbook to Jason did it. Maybe it’s the same person who tipped you off to investigate him?” She sat back in her chair, breathing hard.