Page 36 of Passions in Death
“Mr. Stillwater,” Peabody interrupted, and gently touched his arm. “Why don’t you sit down?”
He dropped down behind a cluttered desk. “I’ve been so busy, I don’t even know if she’d tried to tag me. I turned off my ’link—no distractions. God. What happened? What happened to Erin?”
“She was strangled.”
His hand lifted to his own throat. “Strangled? Jesus Christ. Where was Shauna? You said Shauna wasn’t hurt.”
“She wasn’t. She wasn’t with Erin at the time of the attack.”
“But they were at the party. That was last night. I’m sure of it now. How—”
“Mr. Stillwater, where were you last night?”
The color that had begun to seep back into his face faded again. “Me? I—I’m a suspect.”
“This is routine. It’s helpful if you can provide that information.”
“I need to take a breath. Breathe. Erin. They’re getting married this weekend, did you know that? You must know that. Shauna and I have been friends for…”
He held out his hands, composed himself.
“Okay. Okay. We worked late—Bill, Tricia, Jorge, Liza, and me. Until, God, close to nine? Working on a major campaign. I think we logged out about nine, then everybody but Liza went for food and drinks—she’s got kids at home, Liza does. Little kids. We went to—where the hell?”
Pausing, he pressed his fingers to his eyes. “Bojo’s. We went to Bojo’s, got something to eat, something to drink, went over the work, again. We were there until, I think, I think we were there until—had to be after eleven, maybe close to eleven-thirty. I walked home from there—turned off my ’link because Tricia was still batting ideas, and I know how that works. I wanted a decent night’s sleep.”
“What time did you get home?”
“I’m not sure. Bojo’s is about ten blocks from my apartment.”
“When’s the last time you saw or spoke with Erin Albright?”
“Ah, maybe a couple weeks? I had drinks with them and Becca and Greg a couple weeks ago. They were full of wedding talk.”
“When’s the last time you had sex with Shauna?”
He leaned back in his chair, let out a long sigh. “Maybe a week or two before she fell for Erin. Was that a surprise for me? Yeah. She’d never dated a woman before. Did I expect it to last? Not really. But I was wrong. They had the deal, the real deal.
“Breathe,” he reminded himself. “Shauna’s my friend, my really good friend. I was happy for her, happy when I saw she had the real deal. And Erin, you had to like her.”
Pausing, he scrubbed at his face again.
“She had so much—what’s the word? Verve. I’d’ve tried to get along with her even if I didn’t, for Shauna. But I did like her.”
“Who didn’t?”
He lifted his hands. “Honest to God, I don’t know. I’d tell you in a heartbeat if I did.”
“When did Erin tell you about the trip to Maui?”
He frowned. “Shauna’s big dream thing? I guess I knew about that since Shauna and I became friends. The one-day-she’d-honeymoon-in-Maui thing. I know they were saving to go, delayed honeymoon. Next year, maybe the year after.”
“Did you ever visit Erin’s art studio?”
“Yeah, a few times. Shauna loved showing off Erin’s work. It’s good—at least to my eye. I actually bought one of her charcoal drawings for my apartment. And later, one of her paintings. I liked her, Lieutenant. I liked her.
“I really need to talk to Shauna, to go to Shauna.”
“She’s staying with Angie Decker.”
