Page 53 of Murder in Calusa Cove
His words weren’t defensive. Just tired.
“What about your ex-wife?” Hayes asked gently. “I mean no disrespect, but we heard she cheated on you. Was that why you divorced?”
Cole looked up slowly. His eyes filled with a kind of sadness that screamed something…but it wasn’t pain, nor was there an ounce of anger there “No. That’s not true. I know that’s what some people say, but that ain’t what happened. My wife and I had our share of problems. Mostly because of me. We separated right before my last deployment. We did it quietly, for the sake of our family. She started seeing someone else during that time—the man my ex-wife married. But she never betrayed me. She was a good woman. The best.” His voice was calm. There was no edge to it. No sense of malice or even hurt—just sadness and regret.
Silence filled the room for a long moment. Chloe sat down across from him.
“And your daughter? What about her?”
“She was fourteen when we split. She stayed with her mom and stepdad. After that last deployment…I wasn’t the same. I didn’t reach out like I should have. I was drinking a lot, and the demons ate me alive. It was tough for my kid to see me, and truth be told, I didn’t want her to see me like that either. I was already living on the edge. When I learned what happened to her mom, I couldn’t face her. I figured it was too little, too late.” Cole turned his head as tears fell down his cheeks. “Shame can do horrible things to a man. When you choose to live your life the way I have, you can run from it, but you can’t hide from it. I wake up every day, remembering how I left my precious daughter feeling abandoned, and I fall asleep with that guilt. But I don’t ever have to face her, now do I?” He turned, his face tight with emotion.
“That picture you had of me,” Chloe started. “What do you know of me and my career?”
“Not much, other than you’re a Fed,” Cole said. “I cut that picture out because I thought maybe you might listen, if I ever had anything to go on.”
“What do you know about the two recent deaths in Calusa Cove?” Dawson asked, pausing at the edge of the desk.
“Nothing, really.” Cole lifted his gaze. “Except that news reporter wanted to ask me questions the last time I went to the marina. She all but accused me of setting the fire to the old Crab Shack. That’s why I didn’t bring the owl to the marina. I don’t like her. She started by telling me she wanted to buy some of my pieces, then it went dark. Lucky for me, the girl who owns the marina took pity on me and shooed that reporter away.”
Chloe flattened her hands on the table. This Stacey woman had become the bane of her existence. “What exactly did Stacey say to you?”
“She made a comment about knowing all about my past. Who I was. My military record.” He ran his dirty fingers through his beard. “She told me she knew my wife was dead, and that she’d been murdered by the same person who killed that person found in the Crab Shack. That’s when she asked me if I had set the fire and what I’d done with my wife. I was stunned. I didn’t know what that even meant. But I felt my brain splinter, and I knew I was going to snap and say something I shouldn’t. That’s when that girl from the marina came out. When you all showed up the other day, I thought you were there to arrest me.” He shifted his gaze toward Dawson. “Am I under arrest?”
“No.” Dawson shook his head. “But I am detaining you as a person of interest. I need this to be official. It’s to rule you out because, based on all that you’ve told us, and what we’ve learned on our own, you couldn’t have done what we’re thinking.”
Chloe leaned back, fingering her ponytail. “I’m sorry, but can I ask you a really hard question?”
“None of these have been easy or fun, so go ahead.” Cole shifted.
“Do you think your ex-wife is still alive?” she asked.
His jaw worked, then he shook his head. “She loved our daughter, and she loved her husband. Heck, she loved me, we just couldn’t be together anymore. She wouldn’t disappear. Something happened. I don’t know what. I always felt bad for her because of the cheating rumors. The military can be harsh, and since I was deployed and people saw her out, that’s what they assumed, but she had my blessing. I was just…too broken by then.”
“I’m sorry that you’ve had to live with all this, but I wish you’d brought it to me sooner,” Dawson said, his tone softer now. “Once I verify everything—your reports, the jurisdictional calls, your ex’s timeline—I’ll be able to let you go, and for the record, no one knows we brought you in, and I’ll keep it that way. You can go back out into the Everglades and live your life.”
“Thank you,” Cole said simply, shifting his gaze to Hayes. “Does that job offer still stand? I’m a hard worker. My only real problem is how to get there. I no longer have a car. Just that little boat.”
“You’ll be able to get to the two job sites by water.” Hayes nodded. “Let’s deal with this, and then we’ll talk about employment. We still have to buy the property, so it’s a work in progress.”
“I understand.” Cole seemed to accept life on life’s terms. Everything about him was even. Other than the fight he’d been involved in a few months back at Massey’s Pub, he was a reserved man who went through life not fighting for anything, including himself.
That broke Chloe’s heart.
“I might have some work at Harvey’s Cabins. You can come up the canal system.” Dawson nodded. “It’ll be on an on-call basis. It will be fixing things or cleaning out things that no one else wants to do.”
“I don’t want charity.” Cole stared at Dawson with a pointed look. “You got work, I’ll do it for either a fair trade or a decent wage, but I don’t want you making up work?—”
Dawson raised his hand. “Like I said, it won’t be steady, but if something comes up, you’ll be the first person I go find. Now, unfortunately, we need to get you set up in holding,” Dawson added, motioning for one of the deputies waiting outside. “My secretary is bringing in a hot meal. Is there anything else you need?”
“I don’t need special treatment.” Cole lowered his gaze.
“It’s not special,” Hayes said quietly. “It’s decent.”
As the door opened and Cole was led out by Dawson, Chloe stood beside Hayes. His expression was unreadable, but she saw something shift behind his eyes. Something subtle. Reflective. He rubbed his chest, fingering the scars through the fabric of his shirt.
“What’s going on in that brain of yours?” she asked.
“Thinking about Ken. About the last mission we all went on. How fucked up it was. I still have nightmares about it sometimes,” Hayes replied, eyes still on the door. “I’ve seen enough men unravel to know when one’s trying to hold the pieces together.” He caught her gaze. “You believe him, don’t you?”
