“Like I said, the investigation is ongoing, so it’s too soon to draw any conclusions.”
“This is all such a mess.”
“Don’t beat yourself up too much,” said Odelia. “There will be other job opportunities for Mr. Crowley. And for you, as well.”
“One other thing,” said Chase. “Your father-in-law seems to think that his political opponent may be behind Jeff’s murder. One Bill Cymbal?”
“I’ve heard about him from Jeff. He’s a pretty shrewd politician. Though in spite of his maneuvering David was still leading in the polls, with Cymbal trailing far behind, so David would probably have won. But now he’s saying he wants to retire from politics. Pauline says it’s because of the shock of Jeff’s death, and that he might reconsider. But I’m not so sure. David is the kind of person who doesn’t make decisions lightly. And once he’s decided something he doesn’t backtrack.”
“What do you think about his theory that Cymbal killed your husband?”
“Honestly, I don’t know,” said Steph, shaking her head. “I’m sorry.”
“That’s all right,” said Odelia. “We just wanted to check with you. By the way, we’ve been trying to talk to your brother, but we seem to keep missing each other. You wouldn’t by any chance know where we can find him, do you?”
“He’s around,” said Steph vaguely. “Though he keeps going for drives.”
“We saw his car parked at the Kosinski place yesterday,” said Chase. “Any idea what he was doing out there?”
Steph frowned.“Kevin at the Kosinski Winery? No, I don’t know what he was doing there. My family and the Kosinski family aren’t exactly on speaking terms.”
“Clearly Kevin is.”
“I’m sorry, but you’ll have to ask Kevin about that.”
And from the look of determination on Chase’s face, he would.
“Okay, we’re almost through,” said Odelia kindly, when she noticed that Steph seemed tired and had started to become irritable. “We talked to Robbie Scunner yesterday. Now he claims he was at the winery at the time of Jeff’s murder, but—”
“Robbie wouldn’t harm Jeff,” said Steph immediately. “You’re barking up the wrong tree there.”
“The thing is that Beniamino Kosinski told us that Robbie took the end of your relationship badly, and that he told people at your wedding that he was in mourning. So clearly he wasn’t a big fan of your husband, Steph.”
“It’s all such a long time ago. I’m sure he got over it by now.” But her words lacked the true ring of conviction. Clearly she knew something she wasn’t telling us. And Chase, being the good copper that he was, pounced on it.
“We talked to Larry Scunner, and after a lot of hemming and hawing he came out and admitted that he couldn’t positively swear one hundred percent that he’d seen his son at the winery yesterday afternoon around the time Jeff and Cipriana Cilke were killed. First he claimed that Robbie was here, but the man is such a terrible liar that it didn’t take long before he broke down and admitted that he hadn’t seen him when he first said he did. When I asked him why he lied, he mumbled something about being confused and getting his times mixed up. Though it wouldn’t surprise me if Robbie had asked his dad to lie for him.”
“There’s also that dust-up between Robbie and Jeff on the morning of his murder,” Odelia said. “Robbie seemed very angry with Jeff.”
“I honestly can’t believe Robbie would hurt Jeff,” said Steph. “But it’s true that sometimes I get the impression he’s still hung up on me. That he never really got over me leaving. To me it never meant much. We dated, but it was all very sweet and innocent. We never made big plans for the future or anything. So when I left I didn’t give Robbie a second thought. I know it sounds bad but that’s how it was.”
“But he felt different, didn’t he?”
“I guess he did. He’s been following me around, you know. He thinks I don’t know, but I can see him spying on me. It creeps me out, to be honest. Not that I think he would do anything,” she was quick to add. “But it’s not very nice. I’ll go for a walk, and suddenly I will bump into him—by accident, but not by accident. And then he’ll get mad about something and stalk off. He’s still very much like a boy. Immature, I mean. Throwing his weight around when he can’t get what he wants.” When Odelia and Chase shared a look, she hastened to say, “Don’t get me wrong—he would never hurt me. Robbie is the sweetest, gentlest soul. And I feel terrible that he would think that he meant so little to me that I never even called or wrote after I left. But it’s true. To me he was just a good friend, nothing more.”
“But in his mind he was so much more,” said Odelia, nodding.
“I guess so. Oh, it’s all so very confusing, isn’t it? Just one big mess.”
“It’s not your fault that Robbie is acting this way, Steph,” said Odelia. “So please don’t blame yourself.”
“But what if he did… kill Jeff?” Her hands, which had been resting in her lap, had traveled to her face, which displayed her keen distress. “Then it’s all my fault, isn’t it? Somehow… I provoked him!”