Page 53 of The Summer Guests

“What’s the deal with this phone, anyway? Who cares?”

“We most definitely care. Now let’s start over. How did you get it?”

A pause. “I found it.”

“Where?”

“Bed of my pickup, underneath some trash I was hauling. I don’t know how it got there. I just noticed it today.”

“And it just magically ended up in your truck?”

“Hey.” He shoved his chair back from the table and stood up. “I don’t need that snark from you, Thibodeau.”

“Sit down.”

“You haven’t changed one bit since high school, have you? Still a bitch. No wonder there’s no ring on your finger.”

“Sit down, Mr. Wade,” said Mike, rising to his feet.

“Or what?”

“Or I get to try out my new Taser.”

The two men eyed each other. Farley sat down.

“Again,” said Jo. “How did you get this phone?”

“Again, I found it in my truck.”

“You know who it belongs to?”

“No idea. I turned it on, but it has a passcode. I left it to charge and went out to shoot a few rounds.”

“What were you doing at Maiden Pond on Monday?”

Farley paused, obviously thrown off by the abrupt change in subject. “What?”

“Just answer the question.”

“What makes you think I was there?”

Jo pointed to the green beer bottles on his counter. “Heineken, Original. You left one at the side of the road.”

“How do you know it was me?”

Jo glanced at Ingrid Slocum, who’d handed in the bottle. Jo had no idea yet whose fingerprints were on it, but Farley didn’t have to know that. She looked him straight in the eye. “It has your fingerprints.”

He swallowed and looked away, clearly rattled.Gotcha.

“Again. What were you doing at Maiden Pond?”

“Why does it matter?”

“It matters because you’ve got stolen goods in your bedroom closet. Some of those items were reported missing from cottages on Maiden Pond, as well as Lake Cameron. At the very least, Farley, you’re going to be charged with multiple burglaries. Now tell me again—what were you doing at Maiden Pond on Monday?”

He wouldn’t meet her gaze. He knew he was in trouble. “I go there sometimes. To fish.”

“What do you fish for?”

---