Phil laughed. “I’ll do that. You know, we should get together for a beer sometime, instead of meeting like this.”
“That would make a change, wouldn’t it?” Tony nodded and followed the concrete walk to the driveway, where Beth was parked.
By the time he reached her, she’d climbed out of her car and stood waiting, expression wary. His frustration with her had mostly left him. He couldn’t even figure out why he’d thought she should trust him. They hardly knew each other. Any loyalty she felt was for her father.
Even so, Tony had tangled emotions at seeing her. He couldn’t quite dismiss his awareness of her lush body, and he was equally drawn to a face that always seemed open, as if she didn’t know how to hide what she was thinking. He felt sure she was a lousy liar. Those big eyes did it for him, too. They were unusually expressive, made up of colors that brightened with amusement or warmth, shadowed when her mood darkened. He didn’t like seeing her so worried.
“Your father is safe,” he said drily, pausing at an arm’s reach from her.
She tipped up her chin in defiance as undisguised as all her other emotions. “Have you eliminated him as a suspect?”
Damn it. “You know I haven’t,” he said quietly. “Statistics are on my side. We always look at spouses or partners first.”
“You’re wasting your time.”
“Your opinion, Ms. Marshall. And it’s my time to waste.”
“No, your time is paid for by residents of Frenchman Lake. I’m one of them.”
He smiled a little. “Granted. Nonetheless, I have to do my job to the best of my ability. I do have training and experience to back up my decisions.”
Her chin lowered a fraction. “I know that. But this time, you’re wrong.”
He had no doubt that Phil Ochoa was starting to wonder what they were talking about. Lingering like this wasn’t a good idea. Tony made himself nod and say, “I’ll be in touch,” then start walking.
Once he’d reached his car at the curb, he looked back to see Beth and Ochoa huddled on the porch, having what appeared to be an intense discussion. Shaking his head, Tony got in behind the wheel, and immediately his phone rang. The caller was his lieutenant.
“You’ve got your warrant,” he said. “Where are you?”
“Right outside the house. I just interviewed the husband.”
“If you’re ready, I’ll have a patrol officer drop it off. Jess and Larry are tied up the rest of the day and probably tomorrow, too, but I can assign a uniform to you. Or we can put padlocks on the garage until someone else is available.”
“Half the stuff from the garage is sitting in the middle of the backyard. No way to padlock it.” He hesitated. “I’ll get started myself, see how it goes. It’s not as if we’re looking for blood or trace evidence after all these years.”
With luminol, they might still be able to see blood, but the head wound, even if that’s what had killed her, wouldn’t have gushed, and the ME had found no V-mark of a knife wound on the bones. If luminol lit up old blood on the carpet pad beside the bed, say, it could as well be from a woman bleeding when her menstrual cycle began, or cut accidentally at any point in the past three decades. And, while Tony would like to know where Christine had been killed, that wouldn’t be proof he could take to a jury that her husband had been the killer. She could have had a lover, or a fight with a tall, angry son. Tony made a mental note to look into other family, too, assuming there was any—brothers, father, an uncle who’d been part of Christine’s life.
Tucking his phone away, he was glad things were moving but wished Beth and Phil Ochoa weren’t here right now. Either, and especially both, would make executing the warrant more difficult. He didn’t like to think how she’d look at him when he rang the doorbell and handed over the warrant.
With some impatience, he told himself to get over this idiocy. Chances were good he’d end up arresting her father for murder. This wouldn’t be the first time he’d been attracted to a woman with no possibility of acting on it.
* * *
PHIL SAT BACK in his chair and studied Beth’s father. “Mr. Marshall, I’m going to ask that you not speak to the police from here on out without me, as your attorney, being present. Do you understand?”