Although Marla and Rex continued to question Liz a few more minutes, they learned nothing new.
“Your thoughts?” Rex asked after they’d returned to his condo to regroup.
“I still haven’t figured out if that question just after we finish interviewing someone is because you’re really interested in what I think or if you’re debating what you should think.”
He turned a sardonic smile on her. “I’m disappointed. Thought you’d be onto that trick before now. Humor me. What are you thinking?”
“Two things. First, about Liz herself. I think everything she told us was the truth, at least in her mind. But I don’t think she told us everything. There was more to her relationship with Eloise than she let on, otherwise I can’t believe she would’ve stayed with the team just on some nebulous hope that the woman would help her develop her fashion business.”
“I’m with you there. We keep digging into her background. What about the second thing?”
“According to Liz’s description of her teammates, there’s a big undercurrent of discontent amongst them. The same might be said of any group of six people, except four of them have worked together until recently and the fifth was the victim’s husband. We need to strategize how and when to approach each of them, or they could likely circle the wagons to keep us from learning anything definitive about them.”
“Do you think they might all be in this together?” he asked in response to her insights.
“I wasn’t saying that, although it’s possible. But I can’t help thinking each of them had his or her own reason for remaining on the team. Those reasons could lead us to the real killer. We just have to pick away at them until we find the right one.”
“Pick. Good word for our challenge. These interconnections on the team are like a human version of the game of pickup sticks.”
That was a new one from him. “Pickup sticks?”
“Haven’t you ever played that game?” he responded.
“When I was a kid. But I do remember how. You’re suggesting we find the weakest link?”
“That’s another game. We’re not looking for strength here but the least connectedness. From Liz’s description of the team, that sounds like the ex to me.”
She envisioned the prone bodies of all five team members, Liz included, laid out across each other like sticks. For the moment, Liz’s body was positioned off to the side. Brecken Wallace was a little closer to the cluster of the other three although set slightly apart. “Thanks for putting that image in my brain. Now I can’t get it out.”
“Let’s see how it works. You may not have to.”
Twenty minutes later, they caught up with Brecken Wallace, the ex-husband, at his home, an apartment in the old part of St. Paul. “I thought when we signed the divorce papers six years ago I would no longer have anything to do with that woman,” he told them.
Though he’d been playing pickleball weekly for some time and apparently worked outdoors in his landscaping business, Brecken was at least fifteen pounds overweight. Not fat, but rounded with no sharp angles. His nondescript sandy brown hair suggested he hadn’t seen a barber or a stylist in some time.
“But since she had no next of kin, the job of arranging her funeral and all came to me. What a joke on both of us, huh? She hasn’t wanted anything to do with me since we split.”
“How long were you married?” Marla asked.
“Seven years. I was working in facilities management at a local manufacturing plant at the time, which is where we met. She was an accounting tech in the main office. We were both laid off when the company downsized nine years ago. One of my coworkers, who’d also been laid off, and I started our own landscaping business, mainly mowing residential lawns in summer and snow removal in winter. I’m actually the one who suggested Eloise to Grace, who owned Essy. I knew Grace in high school.
“Bad move on my part, although at the time it seemed like the answer to our prayers. I was pleased for her those first few years as she dug in and learned the business. During that time, we’d been trying to start our family, but nature wasn’t on our side. She gave up after two miscarriages. That’s when she turned all that hurt and disappointment toward advancing at Essy. Long before Grace sold it to her, Eloise was thinking of it as her company.
“She changed during that time and became a person I didn’t know. Not just ambitious but demanding and difficult to live with. It took another year for me to realize the marriage was dead.”
“But you played on the same pickleball team with her,” Rex pointed out now that Brecken had given them an overview of their marriage.
“One of the highlights of my life,” Brecken replied sardonically.
“Explain,” Marla said.
“I’m not a kept man, though it may look that way. Eighteen months ago, I needed some extra cash to expand my landscaping business. Until then, it had been a two-man operation focusing on small residences in the city. But a friend, who’s the facilities manager at a small plumbing parts business in Apple Valley, asked if I’d like to help maintain their exterior, and I got excited at the possibility of growing the business. Excited enough that I was willing to humble myself with Eloise and ask for a loan. Just my luck, after putting up with her all those years, she had the nerve to win the lottery after we were divorced, so I had no claim to that money.”
“And she turned you down?” Marla asked.
“I knew going in that she wouldn’t make it easy for me. She’d wanted the divorce as much as I had, but it still bugged her ego that any man could walk away from her. Out of desperation, I kept approaching her, and about six months ago I got my money. But I had to join the team first. I can’t explain why she was so into the game. She’d never been much for sports in the past, but having her own team seemed to be an ego-booster for her. Unfortunately for her, no one wanted to join her team. Her reputation preceded her.
“She built her team by cajoling and threatening, mainly co-workers, former co-workers and former husbands. No one really wanted to be there. I couldn’t leave unless she approved. If I did, repayment of the outstanding balance of the loan plus a twenty-five percent fee was due immediately. That wasn’t in the cards in the immediate future. I’ve been overextended ever since I bought more equipment and took on additional staff.”
“Must be a bit of an inconvenience having to give up half of each Saturday to pickleball when it’s a key day for landscaping,” Rex said.
Brecken snorted. “You think?”
“Did you ask your former wife to let you off without the penalty?” Marla asked.
Brecken glanced away. “Yeah. A couple times.”
“How recently?” Rex asked.
“A month ago.”
“Since you were still there this past Saturday, apparently she continued to refuse you,” Rex said.
“I’ve been hoping she’d tire of this whole idea of pickleball ever since she first got interested, especially since our team only wins on occasion. I don’t think she much cared whether she and I won our games or not. She got a certain devilish satisfaction in bossing me around on the court. And the more she put down my performance, the more I messed up, even though I knew that part was taking a toll on her ego.”
What a sick situation.
“What happened this past Saturday?” Marla asked. “Did you and your ex-wife have words before the game even started?”
He blinked. “No.”
“Really?” Rex asked. “We’ve heard otherwise.”
Brecken jerked his head. “You heard wrong.” He switched his attention back to Marla. “Wait a sec. You were there Saturday. Giving out water, right?”
No way to duck that one, but she didn’t need to expound on it. “Yes.”
“Are you the one who said my ex and I were fighting?” His tone had become accusatory.
Rex answered for her. “Ms. Dane was there, and she’s filled me in on what she observed. But there was another witness to you having words with Mrs. Wallace. I’m not at liberty to disclose who.”
“Don’t I have a right to face my accuser?”
“If your role in your ex-wife’s murder ever goes to court, yes, you do. But not now while we’re gathering preliminary information.”
“Does this woman have an official role in your investigation?” Brecken asked. “Isn’t that a conflict of interest? She’s every bit a suspect as I am.”
“Neither of you is deemed a suspect at this point,” Rex replied evenly. “How about taking another shot at that question. What were you and your ex-wife arguing about last Saturday?”
Brecken studied his hands for several beats. “I wanted her to consider bringing Grace back on board.”
“Why were you getting involved?” Marla asked. She hadn’t noticed the two having anything to do with each other at the match, but then, they played at different times.
“Grace and I are old friends. She’s had a tough time since Eloise bought out her share of the business. Not financially. Just getting her bearings careerwise. I asked Eloise to consider hiring her back as a consultant. She laughed in my face. She could be very cruel at times, especially since Grace was the original owner of the business.”
Giving up her business to a woman like Eloise might be a powerful motive for murder. Might. They still had some questions for Brecken, but Grace should probably be the next person they interviewed.
“Tell us a little more about your friendship with Grace Adamson,” she said.
“Like I said, we were old friends.” He said it matter-of-factly. “You’ll probably be talking to her, if you haven’t already. Ask her about our friendship. Purely platonic.”
Up until those last two words, she believed him. Why had he felt it necessary to couch his relationship with Grace in those terms?
“Did you notice anything unusual about your ex-wife on Saturday?” Rex asked.
“Other than her agitation level was slightly higher than usual, no.”
“How about her water consumption?” Rex continued. “Did you observe her drinking from her water bottle at any time that morning?”
Brecken’s forehead crinkled in thought. “I suppose so. All of us drink whenever we get a chance. That game takes a lot out of you. But I don’t remember specifically seeing her take a swig.”
“Do you recall what her water bottle looks like?” Rex asked.
“Is that important?” Brecken asked. “Was there something in her water?”
“Sorry, can’t answer that,” Rex replied. “Just reply to my question, if you will.”
“Her bottle’s ugly, olive green like the team colors she personally selected.”
Marla and Rex exchanged looks. Was the fact that the ex knew the color of the victim’s water bottle significant? Maybe. Time to move on.
Marla took the lead. “You said your ex-wife didn’t have any siblings. What about other relatives?”
Brecken shook his head. “Her parents passed years ago. There may be a cousin or two somewhere, but she never mentioned them. If you’re getting at her beneficiaries, I couldn’t tell you. Her personal lawyer is Boris Doppler in Eagan. Check with him about her will. At one time I was the main beneficiary, but that changed with the divorce.”
“Speaking of the divorce,” Marla said, “how did that come about? Was it her idea or yours?”
The stare Brecken returned suggested he couldn’t believe she had the gall to ask such a personal question. “It was a mutual decision. She’d gotten so engrossed in the business, there was little time for me.”
“Was that before or after she purchased the business from Grace Adamson?” Rex asked. “We can check the court records, but you can make that easier for us.”
“She bought out Grace about four years ago. Our divorce came two years earlier. Why is that important?”
“It’s hard to say at this point,” Rex responded. “For now, we’re just gathering information about everyone who was close to her.”
Brecken came to his feet. “No one was close to her! As far as friendship or other feelings were concerned. Her incessant self-centeredness has driven away anyone who might’ve been close to her at one time.”
“In other words, her death doesn’t bother you,” Marla said. Rex would probably lecture her later about her lack of sympathy for the man, but she wanted to see how Brecken would react to her putting what appeared to be his real feelings out there.
“Not bothered by her death? Right now I’m more numb than anything else. If I wasn’t the one handling the final details of her body once the medical examiner releases it, I might be able to relax, relieved this long nightmare is over.”
Marla and Rex let that remark hang in the air before saying anything further.
Brecken appeared to realize the significance of his last statement. “That doesn’t mean I killed her.”
Rex paused another beat before speaking. “If you didn’t murder your ex-wife, who do you think did?”
He didn’t ask “if” Brecken knew who might have killed her but came right out and asked “who.”
Brecken didn’t hesitate to reply. “I have no idea. And if I did, I doubt I’d share that information with you. Whoever did the deed must have reached the end of their rope with her and ended their misery.”
“Sorry you feel that way,” Rex told him. “Your wife may have made life miserable for a lot of people, but killing her was still against the law.”
“What will happen now with the outstanding portion of her loan to you?” Marla asked.
He blinked. “I have no idea. Depends on whatever she worked out with her attorney.”
Marla didn’t leave it there. “Is there a clause in the loan contract that forgives the outstanding balance if one of you dies?”
“You’re kidding? That would’ve been an open invitation to kill her. Eloise was smarter than that. So you can eliminate that as my motive,” Brecken replied.
“Nonetheless,” Rex said, “please provide us with a copy of that document.”
Brecken opened his mouth but closed it. “Are we done here?” Brecken asked instead, moving to his door instead of responding to Rex’s last comment. “I’ve told you as much as I can remember about last Saturday and my relationship with Eloise.”
Rex handed him his card. “We’re just getting started with our investigation. We may be back. In the meantime, please contact me if anything else occurs to you.”
Rex started his SUV immediately once they were back in it. “I need to put some distance between Brecken Wallace and us. It’s too early for dinner, but how about some coffee? There are some nice cafes in this part of town.”
“Good idea. This time, it’s your turn to summarize our interview first.”