Page 30 of Lone Star Witness

A single gunshot wound to the chest at fairly close range. Slade had thought that felt more like a heat of the moment kind of thing. If Sonny had been hired to kill, wouldn’t he have struck from a distance?

Again, that qualified as a maybe.

“Why did Sonny come to see you last night?” Marise asked.

Rosa gave a weary sigh. “He threatened me, told me to keep my mouth shut, so I assumed that meant he didn’t want me to warn Slade or anyone else for that matter that he was in San Antonio. But now I realize Sonny could have been talking about… something else. Perhaps Hutton’s death?”

Once again they had questions but still not a lot of answers. Slade decided to back up and start from the beginning. Or in this case, start two weeks ago and work forward.

“Go back through the night that you believe you witnessed a murder,” Slade instructed. “Tell me any and everything you remember.”

The colonel shook his head. “That’s just it. I’m not sure the memories are real, including what Sonny might or might not have said when he visited me.”

“Doesn’t matter at this point. We can sort out what’s real and what’s not later.” Slade hoped so anyway.

Rosa didn’t look at all convinced about the sorting, but he did start. “I heard voices. Angry shouts so I think I followed the sound. Not sure where, but I remember walking and opening a door.”

“A door to where?” Slade pressed when Rosa stopped.

“I think Stephanie’s office.” He paused again. “Maybe.” And again, he didn’t seem at all certain of that. “And maybe Stephanie, Julian, and Hutton were there. Annalisa, too.”

All right, so that was new info. Well, if it was real and not a hallucination. If Hutton’s wife was indeed there, then the argument was likely about Stephanie’s affair with Annalisa’s husband.”

“Sonny might have been there, too,” the colonel went on, adding another surprising bit. “I think he was by the window. You know, standing off to the side and watching everything.”

Well, that put a new twist on things, and Slade didn’t know what would have brought that particular mix of people together. One thing popped to mind though. If Stephanie had thought Hutton was going to expose the affair, she might have had Sonny for muscle.

“Annalisa left,” Rosa continued. “I recall her bumping into me when she stormed out.” He groaned and pressed his hands on the sides of his head. “Everything else is a jumble. I believe I heard a gunshot, but I don’t recall holding a gun.”

It was obvious to Slade that the colonel’s frustration was building, building, building. And Slade totally got that. So, he shifted the conversation a little.

“Do you remember eating or drinking anything around the time of hearing that gunshot?” Slade asked.

“A shot of whiskey,” Rosa said, and he didn’t hesitate. “Not in Stephanie’s office but in my own.”

“Did you pour the shot yourself or did someone else?” Marise pressed.

Rosa opened his mouth, closed it, and then shook his head again. “I don’t recall pouring it. And it wasn’t Jameson. That’s my usual brand. I just remember it being in my hand, and I drank it.”

“It could have been laced with a drug,” Marise was quick to point out.

The colonel stayed quiet a moment, obviously considering that, and then made a sound of agreement. “Julian could have drugged it.”

“Julian?” Marise and Slade said in unison.

“Yes. Years ago, I had a background check done on Julian when Stephanie hired him as her assistant. Both Julian and his brother were arrested for drug use and possession when they were in college, but their rich parents managed to get them off with just slaps on the wrist. But Julian’s brother was arrested again just a few months ago for possession of LSD.”

Well, that would do it. A hallucinogenic drug that could alter memories. Slade looked at Marise to get her take on that.

“Yes, LSD could be responsible,” she admitted. “And it’s not usually detected with routine drug tests. But it also doesn’t stay in the system that long. Only two to three days. So, it wouldn’t do any good to test the colonel.”

“How about testing the whiskey bottle in his office?” Slade asked.

Marise lifted her shoulder. “That might show up, but the colonel said it wasn’t his usual brand so it was more likely poured from some other source.”

“A source that could possibly still be in the house,” Slade threw out there. He shifted his attention back to Rosa. “I’d like to get someone in your house to take a look at that.”

“Of course,” the colonel quickly agreed, and it seemed to Slade that he finally saw some hope in the man’s eyes. Hope that all of this could be solved.

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