Dead Anyway Read Online Free PDF Page A

digital recorder. He clicked on the recorder and held it up in the air.
    “You mind?” he asked. “So I don’t miss anything.”
    “I don’t mind,” I said.
    “First off, I’m very sorry for your loss. I know this is difficult and I apologize in advance for any emotional stress this conversation will cause. Though I’m sure you want a positive resolution of this case as much as I do.”
    “Maybe more so,” I said.
    “Of course. So tell me what happened. Anything you can remember.”
    So I did, just as he asked. I’d been running through the main event in my head since regaining consciousness, straining to remember every detail. Not that I trusted the recollection. I knew from countless research interviews that memory was an unreliable thing. The mind had a variety of storage and retrieval mechanisms, all imperfect in different ways, even when you haven’t had a bullet pass through your brain.
    “So you don’t know what was on that piece of paper the suspect gave your wife.”
    “No. But I think it was some type of form—five questions he had her answer. He said he knew one of the answers, that she only had a one-in-five chance of guessing which one. A simple proof that she wasn’t fudging things.”
    “Anything going on with your wife leading up to this? Had she been herself, acting normally?”
    “Yes. I would have known if she was bothered by something important. I know everyone thinks they know their spouses that intimately, but this is what I believe.”
    “So no theories, no possible motives?” said Maddox.
    “No. What about you?” I asked. “What’s the official theory? Does this guy sound familiar?”
    Maddox kept the same pleasant, helpful look on his face, but he paused before answering.
    “The description of the individual does not ring any bells, at least with me, but this was an expert hit, I’m certain of that. The hat and sunglasses, the type of weapon, the totally clean crime scene—rounds and spent shells recovered—all the tell-tales are there. Don’t expect anything to come of the SUV. For sure stolen and long gone. I believe your wife knew something, or had something, or saw or did something, to bring this on. Doesn’t mean it was intentional, or that she’d done anything wrong in the eyes of the law, but obviously in the eyes of people outside the law.
    “And you don’t know what that something was?” I asked.
    He shook his head.
    “Since you’ve been unconscious, your wife’s company has been in the custody of your sister. Miss Cathcart and her attorney have been very cooperative. We’ve grilled every one of her employees and anyone outside the agency who might have an insight into the case and come up with zilch. We’ve had forensic accountants from the State Police go over audits of the last three years, and the same thing. Nothing out of the ordinary. Your wife ran a very clean and professional business.”
    “Not surprised,” I said.
    “Your business, on the other hand, we know very little about, because Miss Cathcart refused access to your files. She was holding out hope that you’d be in a position to grant us that authority yourself, and lo and behold, here you are.”
    “Be my guest,” I said, without hesitation. “I have no paper records. It’s all in my computer. Just give me a chance to copy the hard drive for safety’s sake, and you can have it. And you can search my house, my office, anything you want.”
    “I can make that copy for you,” he said.
    “You can watch Evelyn make it, following my instructions, which you can approve.”
    He nodded. “Fair enough. We already searched your house,” he said. “We found some external hard drives, but since the warrant didn’t cover the computer, we had to leave them where they were.”
    “Those are archives. You can have them, but I’ll need copies.”
    We negotiated the next steps. He was happy to sustain the coma ruse as well as he could, but noted it wouldn’t last forever.
    “For