He brushes the muffin crumbs from his hands. “What can I do for you, Lucy?”
“Anita Tremble came into my café this morning.”
“How is she?”
“Pretty good, considering. She says her lawyer tells her she’ll probably get off with just probation. Thanks to you. She says you told the police she was only minimally involved in the scam.”
“It’s the truth.”
“If you say so.”
A muscle over his right eye twitches.
I look up at the clock above the door. I have four minutes left. “Anita says that you’re a stand-up guy. I’m hoping that’s true.”
“What do you want?” he asks.
“I don’t know if you’re aware, but I’m the one who found Jefferson Pike’s body. I’d like to ask you a few questions.”
He considers this. “It’s unusual, but as long as the answers don’t incriminate me, I don’t see why not.”
“Anita told me that Jefferson Pike told you he had a run-in with J.W. Quicksilver.”
“That’s true.”
“But before he let Quicksilver go to the police, he hit him over the head, tied him up and locked him in a closet.”
“Yes.”
“Did you see this for yourself? Did you see J.W. Quicksilver?”
“I wish I had. Then I could have identified him for the police. Unfortunately, I was too frazzled to think clearly at that point. All I could think of was getting Anita … was getting away before we were found out.”
He can’t identify Will! I blow out a slow, deep breath.
“You wanted to leave town right away?”
“Of course, I did. But then, I was always the more prudent one of us. But Jefferson? He liked to live on the edge. He said we had plenty of time to still do the book club sting, collect all the money, and get out of town before Quicksilver was discovered in the closet.”
“That must have made you mad.”
His eyes flash with anger. “If it wasn’t for Jefferson’s big ego, he’d still be alive, and I wouldn’t be sitting in jail.”
It’s exactly what Anita said. So far everything Archie has told me has been the truth, but I have to word this next question simply and clearly so that I get a correct readout.
“Did you kill Jefferson Pike?”
“Me? I don’t have a violent bone in my body. Besides, what would be my motive?”
“You said yourself you were the prudent one. That made him, what? The reckless one? You could have killed him over any number of things.”
“Except I just told you I wanted to leave town quietly to avoid trouble. Killing one’s partner has a way of making the police notice you.”
“So you didn’t kill Jefferson?”
“I already said I didn’t.”
Archie is telling the truth.