Holy Ghost (Virgil Flowers #11)(101)

Virgil said, “I hope you got the good stuff.”

“I did,” Scorese said.

He set his recorder on the table, along with a hand-sized speaker, and started pushing buttons.



* * *



—

Davy Apel: “What do you think?”

Ann Apel: “We’re okay, any way they cut it. No way they’re going to charge us, with our alibis stacked up like that. If they did charge us, they’d never convict. I’d like to move the rifle, but they could be watching. We should wait a few days.”

Davy Apel: “I’m still worried about the cartridge. I can’t figure out why they didn’t print us. They had that warrant.”

Ann Apel: “You know what I think? I think they were playing us. I don’t think they’ve got a fingerprint. We were awful careful.”

Davy Apel: “I thought about that, too. But they better not have a print, because I don’t know how we’d beat that.”



* * *



—

Here’s another good one,” Scorese said, looking at a digital counter on the recorder. More buttons.



* * *



—

Ann Apel: “How long before we can get our money?”

Davy Apel: “If Margery’s will is read in Florida, I don’t know how long that’ll take. But I think we submit our loan papers up here—I think the money has to be passed from Margery’s estate to Barry’s estate, and we submit to Barry’s estate. We need to get a lawyer involved, but I’m thinking six months, even a year?”

Ann Apel: “Stupid loan. I don’t know what the heck we were thinking.”

Davy Apel: “We were flush with the money from your mom, and it sounded like a great idea . . . lots of traffic and all. Shoulda worked.”



* * *



—

And another,” Scorese said.



* * *



—

Ann Apel: “I’m not sure it was necessary to kill Barry. That could be our biggest problem.”

Davy Apel: “Maybe I panicked. But he was looking at me weird, and . . . I don’t know . . . I think he would have said something to Flowers. If he had, then Flowers could have snuck up on us, somehow. Could have used Barry against us.”

Ann Apel: “But if not for Barry, the cops would never have talked to us.”

Davy Apel: “They would have, sooner or later. When they spotted the interest payments. You know what we could have done is, we could have gone to Margery, and said, ‘Look, Barry owes us almost a quarter million, and we need the money. Help us out.’ I think she might have. Then . . . I feel kinda bad about Glen. Not too bad, since you were fuckin’ him.”

Ann Apel: “I don’t wanna hear—”

Davy Apel: “I’ll tell you one thing. We’re gonna have an amicable divorce, split fifty-fifty. I won’t take a penny less. And I don’t want to hear you sneaking around the house at night or you could get shot as a burglar.”

Ann Apel: “Fuck you, David. You better stay away from my end of the house or you’ll get the same thing that Glen did. I’ve still got that old Woodsman under the bed, and I’m carrying it during the day.”

Davy Apel: “Well, fuck you back, bitch . . .”



* * *



—

One more,” Scorese said.



* * *



—

Davy Apel: “I hope to hell you didn’t touch that grille with your bare hands. Flowers said something about bringing a DNA guy down.”

Ann Apel: “I had Tom Benson’s old work gloves on, when I climbed up and down, and I didn’t touch anything with my bare hands except the rifle. I hope you didn’t—you’re as clumsy as a circus clown. But, both our DNA is all over the machine, since we work with it every day. I don’t think that’s a problem.”



* * *



—

There are some more bits and pieces, but those are the best ones,” Scorese said. He looked pleased with himself.



* * *



—

It’s more than enough,” Jenkins said. “It sounded like they were all over the house. How many bugs did you stick in there anyway?”

“Eighteen. We could have recorded a rock ’n’ roll record,” Scorese said. “I got one in the bathroom, Ann Apel took a leak that must have gone on for five minutes.”

“Can’t wait to hear that one,” Virgil said. And, “I’ll call Zimmer.”

“Take them tonight?” Jenkins asked.

“Why not,” Virgil said. “They’ll be tired and disoriented. We’ll separate them, see if we can get them talking about who did what.”



* * *



—

Scorese traveled in a van full of electronic equipment and didn’t like to leave it where somebody might break into it. “The recordings are digital. I’ll ship everything back to the office tonight and leave a thumb drive copy for you guys, and a copy of the warrant, and I’ll keep the originals. If we can get this done early enough, I might pull my mics and drive back tonight.”