The 6:20 Man

Sitting across from him, Shoemaker said, “We talked to the guard on duty at night. He said that you and Stamos came into the building late on the day Ewes’s body was found, and then left at the same time.”

“That’s not true.”

“You saying the guard’s lying?” Ekman said sharply.

“No, he just misinterpreted what he saw. I didn’t know Stamos was in the building that night. I came back for my phone and did some work. Then I left. Alone. Did the guard say Stamos and I were together?”

The detectives exchanged glances. “Did you meet up with her in the building?” asked Shoemaker.

“No, and I’ll take a polygraph on that if you want.”

“Did you meet up with her later?”

Now they were getting into dangerous territory. But since he had asked the question, Devine suspected the man already knew the answer.

“It wasn’t a meeting. I went to a bar in Greenwich Village. She was there. We talked.”

“And you never mentioned this before because . . . ?”

“I saw her in a bar, so did a lot of other people.”

“You seem to use that excuse a lot,” said Ekman.

“Because it’s true.”

“We understand that you two argued in that bar. And then you kicked the shit out of three guys in the alley next to the bar. And that she saw the whole thing.”

“I did have a fight with three guys, yes.”

“Over Stamos?”

“It could be construed that way.”

“And again you never mentioned that to us because . . .”

“What relevance would it have?”

“You’ve gotta be kidding, right?” said Ekman.

“That all happened before she was killed, in case you forgot. And by the way, I found out that Sara’s pregnancy was from artificial insemination. Thanks for telling me that. You knew I wasn’t the father all along.”

“Just to get this straight, we don’t have to tell you jack shit,” barked Ekman.

“And how did you find out about that?” asked Shoemaker, leaning forward and drilling Devine with a hard stare.

“I got the name of the doctor from Mrs. Ewes. I called him. He told me.”

“And why would he do that?”

“Because he thought you guys were trying to pin the murder on me.”

Shoemaker sat back and said, “And we understand Stamos came to visit you at your place in Mount Kisco. You two had another argument.”

Shit, how could they have found that out? Helen Speers?

“She did come out to my place, but we didn’t have an argument. We just talked.”

“What did you talk about?”