Page 53 of In the Bones
“Were you drinking that night?” asked Tim.
“Yeah. Mikko wanted to celebrate. That wasn’t just about the house. I accepted his offer, earlier that day. We’re partners,” he said, and to Tim, the words seemed to lack heft. “I’m an investor in the old Rivermouth Arena.”
“So we’ve heard. How much money did you invest, Woody?”
The man swallowed. “Forty thousand dollars.”
“And Nicole knew that you’d done that?”
He winced. “Not yet. I told her the next day.”
In spite of himself, Tim flinched. If he had the timeline right, Nicole had learned the investment was a done deal the same day she found out Woody slept with a stranger.
Woody had tried to convey to Nicole how amazing it was all going to be. Mikko planned to model the arena after some nightclub he loved in Helsinki, modern and minimalist but with mass appeal. It was going to have an ice rink, but also a classic arcade, virtual reality room, laser tag, a restaurant, and even indoor mini putt. Anyone coming north would want to visit. It would become a main attraction. Woody would run it, and Mikko would bring in the customers. It was a way to finally level up after years of scraping by with Island Adventure. But the money Mikko wanted amounted to Woody and Nicole’s savings, and Nicole had pushed back.
“She kept saying, ‘I just don’t know,’ even thoughIknew it was the opportunity of a lifetime. She couldn’t see it. She justkept worrying about the money. That Saturday, before the party, Mikko came to the course. He was all fired up about the house and his idea for a business, and how the timing felt just right. The auction, where the town was going to sell the Rivermouth, was a week away, and he said he couldn’t wait any longer. He told me I had to make a decision.” Woody lowered his gaze to the table. “So I did.”
Tim was scribbling in his notebook so fast his hand was cramping up. Habit, even though the interview was being recorded. “So you told him you were in, you went to the party, and you started drinking.”
“Yes.”
“At what point did you meet Angelica and Molly?”
“Not that long after I got there. Mikko introduced us. They both looked so young that I thought they might be underage, which scared the shit out of me, but then we got to talking. We did some shots.” He paused to grimace. “A lot of shots.”
“Was Mikko with you through all of this?”
“No. Only at the beginning. I remember Molly seemed into him. She kept asking about his tattoos. Have you seen them? It’s all this hockey stuff. Angelica wanted to talk to him about his career, but his attention was all over the place. He was only with us for maybe twenty minutes before he went to make the rounds.”
“And you?” Tim asked. “How long were you with Angelica and Molly?”
“A lot longer than that. I know I talked to both of them about the Rivermouth. I was excited about it—especially when Angelica told me she’d been there before. Her parents had brought her when she was little, and she remembered it. The spinning lights they used to have above the rink. Going skating with her dad. She was giddy about our plan. I told her she should come for the grand reopening.
“We talked about college, too,” Woody went on. “I told them about Blair and how proud I was of her.” He paused to drag a hand across his shiny nose. “Angelica said she was about to interview for a big job. I wished her luck. They were nice girls, good kids. After a while, though, Molly wanted to meetsome other people. Angelica stayed with me. She said”— Woody paused again and coughed wetly into his hand—“she said that I reminded her of her dad.”
As he spoke, the previous night’s conversation with Shana replayed itself in Tim’s head. Maybe Woody really was innocent. Angelica had just lost her father and, according to Claudia Patten, that had been weighing on her. Angelica might have seen Woody as a stand-in, and found some comfort there.
The problem with that theory, the part that left Tim nonplussed, was that Woody had confessed to Nicole that he’d cheated.I’m married. I would never cheat. I didn’t do it.So far, not one of those expressions of innocence had crossed Woody Durham’s lips.
“What happened next?” Tim asked.
The room felt charged, Woody’s nervous energy electrifying the metal table between them. Tim traded a look with Valerie. This was the moment when suspects often shut down to avoid self-incrimination, suddenly aware they were presenting their hands to be shackled. Woody did the opposite, and unfurled like a fern. He seemed to have no sense of self-preservation at all. No filter, either.
“I’ve asked myself that so many times,” said Woody. “What happened? We were both pretty drunk by then, and it was late, after midnight. Angelica wanted to find Molly and go back to their motel. I said I’d help her look. I remember her stumbling,” he said, squinting, “and me holding her up, even though I couldn’t walk a straight line either. We couldn’t find Molly anywhere. I think maybe Angelica said she didn’t feel well, because I remember taking her upstairs.”
Under the table, Tim felt Valerie’s leg tense.
“Angelica could barely stand. Some of the doors up there were closed, but I found an empty bedroom. I think … I think I was planning to put her to bed.”
Tim could see it: Woody, whose daughters weren’t much younger than Angelica, taking care of her. But that wasn’t the story Stacy had told at all.
Tears flowed down Woody’s face, but he made no move to mop them. Valerie got up and disappeared through the door.A moment later she was back from the supply closet with a box of tissues.
She set them down in front of Woody.
“That’s really all I remember,” he told them, snatching a tissue and blowing his nose. “The next thing I knew it was morning, and I was still there. In the bed. But I was alone. I never saw Angelica again. I know this sounds bad,” he went on, “but I wouldn’t have hurt that girl. I’m telling you guys, I couldn’t hurt anyone.”
“Did you go down to the basement that night, Woody?” Valerie asked pointedly.
