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Dela stepped out of the SUV and wished she’d stayed awake and asked Quinn to stop once. Her stiff knee wouldn’t straighten and her whole leg, the real and the imagined was throbbing.
Quinn stood beside the vehicle watching her. “Are you going to be okay?” He came around the front.
“I’m good. Just give me a few minutes.” She swung her leg, lubricating the knee that felt like a soccer ball. “You can go on. I’ll be right behind you.”
He shook his head. “We need to confront her at the same time.” Quinn slipped an arm around her right arm and led her away from the car, shoving the door shut. “We’ll walk around the block.”
She’d never walked arm and arm with a boy or a man. At least not outside of rehab. There had been a couple of male therapy assistants who had helped her just like Quinn was doing, in the first months of her learning how to balance on the prosthesis.
As her leg moved more freely, she slowly pulled away from him.
Back at the vehicle, she said, “Thanks. The knee gets stiff if I don’t move it enough.”
“No problem. All you have to do is tell me what you need and I’ll do my best to help.”
She glanced up into his eyes and there was that intense gaze she’d witnessed before. What was he trying to convey?
“Where do we find Robin.” She scanned the block of houses.
“Shaffer said she was at home. Guess who she lives with?” Quinn raised an eyebrow.
“Jeff?”
“That’s right. Let’s see if he’s been home since Wednesday.” Quinn led the way up to a small house with a green roof and shutters. He knocked and they waited.
“Are you sure she’s here?” Dela asked.
“Shaffer said, he saw her go in and not come out.”
Dela glanced up and down the street. “He can see both the front and back doors?” She tried to cover the skepticism but it slipped out.
Quinn grinned. “He isn’t doing it alone.” He knocked again.
“I don’t think she’s here. She gave him the slip.”
Quinn pulled out his phone. “Shaffer, have whoever is watching the back move in and try the door. We’re not getting a result from knocking.” He stayed on the phone, listening. “Copy.”
He shoved the phone in his pocket and watched the street.
Shaffer approached. He handed a paper to Quinn and opened the door with a key.
Dela stared at Quinn.
“This is a rental. Shaffer got the key from the landlord with this warrant to search the premises. It is the home of a suspect that we believe is using the victim’s identity.”
Shaffer turned the knob and shoved the door open. “FBI. We have a warrant to search the premises.”
Dela waited until Shaffer and Quinn gave the all clear before she stepped into the building.
“You’re sure you saw her come in and not go out?” Quinn was questioning the other agent.
“She didn’t come out.” Shaffer said, staring at the empty living room.
Dela wandered to the bedroom. It had been inhabited by both a male and a female. Their occupying the house had been as a couple. How did that make Robin feel knowing Jeff and Paula were in the Cayman Islands together?
She wandered into the kitchen and stopped. “Quinn!”
The special agent ran into the kitchen. “Yeah?”
“Look on the drain board.”
Three children’s size spoons and a bowl with cartoon characters were in the dish drainer.
“Did you see any other kid things?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Do you think Paula went to the Caymans and left her son here?” She hadn’t thought the woman was that heartless but she did watch her husband being killed or killed him herself. They still didn’t know which.
Shaffer nodded to the back door. “There’s a cellar door out back.”
Dela let Quinn and Shaffer lead the way. The door was unlocked. Again, they entered first and she followed behind.
Paula was tied up with a gag in her mouth. Little Alfie played in a large cardboard box beside her. There wasn’t any sign of Robin.
♠ ♣ ♥ ♦
The house became full of police and EMTs. Besides Quinn and Shaffer there were city police and state police. The state police were collecting evidence, the city police talking to neighbors, and the EMTs were checking out Paula and Alfie.
As soon as the EMTs gave the all clear, Quinn motioned for Dela to take a seat in the living room chair in front of the one where Paula sat holding her son on her lap. Quinn carried in a chair from the kitchen and sat down beside Dela.
“What can you tell us about being tied up?” he asked.
Paula shook her head. “I had put Alfie in the car seat and was placing my bags in the trunk of my car when I was hit and shoved in the trunk. When I came to, this woman was calling me names and saying I’d ruined her life. I have no idea who she was.”
Paula was lying. She stared at the top of her son’s head not making eye contact.
“That’s interesting. Because this is Jeff Twigg and Robin Everly’s house.” Quinn studied her.
“We happen to know that they both visited you at your home on several occasions,” Dela said. She glanced at Quinn to see if she should say anything about the videos. He was studying his phone.
Paula sputtered, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Several of your neighbors picked out both Jeff and Robin as people they saw visiting with you. You can’t deny it. As well as you can’t deny you are an accessory to your husband’s murder.”
Paula’s head snapped up and she glared at Dela. “I am not an accessory.”
“Then you killed your husband.” Quinn held up his phone, showing a naked Paula and Ronald in sweats coming out of the supply room. “We have the video of you and Ronald Edmond returning from that room after your husband chased you in there.”
“That bitch! She was supposed to black it out. No wonder she just kept smiling at me and not saying anything when I asked why she had me tied up. When I get my hands on her.”
The woman must have been squeezing her child. He began to cry and that seemed to calm her down. Between clenched teeth she said, “I’m not going down for this alone. Ronald was the one waiting for him and stabbed him in the neck.”
“We’re looking for him. Do you know why there was a photo of him in your home office that looked like it would go on a passport or photo ID?” Quinn asked.
“I’m not saying anything more.” Paula clapped her lips together.
Quinn motioned for Dela to follow him to the door as a State Trooper put handcuffs on Paula. A state worker had arrived and took Alfie.
Dela didn’t condone what the woman had done, but she sympathized for her watching as a stranger carried her son away. Paula should have thought about her son when she made the plan to kill his father.
“Where do you think Robin is?” Dela asked.
“I imagine she and Jeff had some place other than the Cayman Islands they planned to retire on the money Tristan blackmailed from them and others.”
“Will you be able to find them and get them back here?” Dela didn’t like anyone getting away with a crime.
“They’ll be looked for but not as hard as if they killed someone. They just used information to bilk a killer out of her ill-gotten gains.” Quinn continued to his vehicle. “I’ll take you back to the casino and then come back and finish tying things up.”
Dela climbed into the SUV. “What about Mattie?”
“I’ll have to try and get Paula to say something with her lawyer present. We need to find out if she sent Edmond to kill Mattie or if Paula did it herself.”
“You know, Paula never mentioned the book or blackmail. Do you think someone else quieted Mattie?” Dela twisted in her seat. “We need to ask Paula if Mattie came to her with the black book. I’ve been thinking about this. According to Mattie’s cousin, Mattie had the book with her when she left the house. Why didn’t she give it to Paula that night? I would think a woman who had just killed her husband would have had some cash stashed to help her get away. She could have paid Mattie off, had the book in hand, and then sent someone to kill Mattie and take the cash back.”
Quinn nodded. “She’ll be taken to the Umatilla County Jail here in Pendleton until she goes to custody of the US Marshal in Portland for Federal Indictment.”
“Do you think the county will let us talk to her?” Dela asked.
“I’ll be on record as one of the arresting agents. They should let me talk to her.” Quinn made a U-turn. “I’ll figure out a way to get you in to talk to her as well.”