Page 6 of Bait and Switch (Subtle Deceptions #2)

FIVE

Gabriel

The Monday that just won’t stop Mondaying

The Twana County Sheriff’s Office made its home in a low-slung brick building located just across the slender isthmus that connected Heartstone to the peninsula.

Years ago, the structure had probably been painted some shade of white, but the color hadn’t aged well.

Nowadays, it was an off-putting mossy-greenish hue that made Gabriel think of milk that had gone bad.

Or a decomposing body. The deputy he’d talked to earlier met them in the lobby.

“Thank you for coming in on such short notice, Mr. Karne,” Deputy Eagan greeted him, her expression carefully blank. “We’ve got an interview room set up down the hall. Do you need water or anything to drink?”

“Uh, no. But thanks for offering.”

“I’ll wait out here.”

Elton had insisted on coming with him. His reasoning had been along the lines of: “If nothing else, they won’t try anything fancy if I’m there.”

Gabe appreciated the support even if it made him feel like a na?ve kid. And he was all for nothing fancy happening. Regardless that his bed was currently on an almost derelict sailboat, it was his bed, and he liked sleeping in it.

“Are they known for trying underhanded stuff?” he’d asked. “And, more importantly, are you sure? You had that dental work done today, don’t you want to take it easy?” Gabe had had to admit that the old man looked reenergized, and his jaw didn’t seem to be any puffier than it had been earlier.

“It wasn’t brain surgery,” Elton had said dismissively, his bushy eyebrows drawn together. “I’m perfectly fine.”

And he was stubborn, but there was no reason to point out what everyone already knew.

Ranger Man had declined to join them, saying something about taking Bowie for a walk.

Gabe was envious, he didn’t want to go to the station either.

After Elton promised he’d call and fill him in, Lundin had driven off, presumably heading someplace that Bowie approved of.

“Fine, stay, have it your way.”

With an impatient wave of his hand, Elton settled into an uncomfortable plastic chair across from the currently empty front desk and pulled a paperback-size book of sudoku puzzles out of his pocket.

Gabe noted that a placard with the name Althea Mortine engraved on it sat near a blotter and keyboard on the desk.

The interview room was what Gabe had expected, cramped and dingy. Four chairs and a small square table sat smack in the middle of the space. The room smelled of disinfectant and despair, if despair was the vague scent of dirty socks. Gabe did his best not to breathe too deeply.

“Please take a seat,” Deputy Eagan said. “Chief Deputy Spurring will be joining us in a few minutes.”

“What? Not the sheriff?”

Gabe hadn’t been part of a murder investigation until he’d arrived on Heartstone, but he damn well knew Sheriff Rizzi had homed in on him since his arrival.

He was the one who’d interviewed him at the marina, after all.

Why wouldn’t he have more questions? Gabe was the one who knew Peter personally.

Didn’t crime statistics prove that most people were murdered by someone they knew, a boyfriend, husband, or other family?

Reluctantly, he pulled one of the chairs out and sat down on it, trying to mentally prepare himself for whatever questions they had.

Without replying, Deputy Eagan took the seat next to Gabe, scooting the chair out a bit and sitting so she faced him. Gabe had been expecting her to sit across the table from him like he’d seen on TV shows. This felt much more personal and that was likely the point.

“This interview will be recorded,” she informed him.

Gabe nodded that he understood, and Eagan leaned forward to press a button set into the table.

“First, please state your name and acknowledge verbally that you understand this conversation is being recorded.”

“My name is Gabriel Karne, and I understand this is being recorded.” Maybe he should have brought a lawyer. Except he didn’t know any, and he had nothing to do with Peter’s death. Murder, he corrected himself.

“Thank you. Please start at the beginning of your day today and take me through it.”

Nodding, Gabe went over the day again, starting with Casey Lundin stopping by to tell him he was taking Elton to the dentist and asking if Gabe would watch Bowie.

“Almost right after he left, I got a call from the marine supply place about an order, so I drove into Westfort to pick it up. I’m sure you’ve checked to see when I arrived. The old guy at the counter and I chatted for a bit, he’ll remember me.”

“You didn’t see anyone suspicious hanging around the marina before you left? No one you didn’t recognize?”

“I mean, I’m new to the island, I don’t know many folks, but I didn’t see anyone before I left or when I returned.”

Eagan was taking notes in a small notebook with a spiral binding at the top.

She flipped to a new page and started to speak, but before she could ask her next question, the door was flung open and Chief Deputy Spurring filled the doorway.

Gabe wondered if he’d been listening in and timed his entrance.

Grimacing, Spurring glanced at Eagan and then Gabe.

What was Gabe thinking? Of course he had been listening in.

On the way to the station, Elton had filled Gabe in on Spurring. At least what he could in the time they’d had.

“I’ve known Emmett since he was a boy, and he wasn’t much more likable back then. He’s a Heartstone lifer like me, but, unlike me, he threw his lot in with Eli Rizzi. Now that Deter Nolan is gone, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more pro-Rizzi deputy.”

“That’s just wonderful, not,” Gabe had muttered.

“Be careful around him. He’s second-in-command and holds a lot of power in the county.”

“Even better.”

“We figure they want you take the fall for this, so maybe don’t antagonize him. It will be much easier for us to try and find out who really did this if you’re not behind bars. I’m serious, Gabriel.”

There’d been no time to argue with Elton that there was no “us” in the finding-out equation.

Now Spurring hitched his uniform slacks up before taking the remaining chair across from Gabriel. He didn’t bother to introduce himself, but Deputy Eagan took a second to verbally note that Chief Deputy Spurring had joined the conversation.

“How did you know the victim?” Spurring demanded bluntly, sitting forward so his face was inches from Gabe as he spoke. He had bad breath.

“Peter and I had been partners, but that was over.”

“Partners exactly how?”

A muscle in Gabe’s jaw flexed and he forced himself not to flinch at Spurring’s proximity. “We were business partners, and in the beginning, we were bed partners.” He could not bring himself to utter the word lovers. They’d never been lovers, and the word annoyed him anyway.

“Bed partners,” Spurring repeated with a sneer.

“Do you have an issue with that?” Gabe was curious if the man would rise to his bait.

From the tic at the corner of Spurring’s eye, he did in fact have a problem with same-sex relationships. Gabe wondered what the cop would think if Gabe told him that he was bi. He briefly imagined the top of Spurring’s head popping off and smoke billowing out of it. It was very satisfying.

“We’ve done a background search on you,” Spurring said, changing the subject and dragging Gabe back to real life.

“I figured you would. Isn’t that one of the things cops do when they’re investigating a murder?”

Beside him, Deputy Eagan shifted in her seat.

“There are gaps in your employment history and home addresses. Can you explain them?”

“Do my past jobs or addresses have anything to do with Peter’s murder? If they do, please enlighten me.”

Chance …

Right. Do not antagonize the zoo animals.

“Please, just answer the question, Mr. Karne,” Deputy Eagan said.

“I’m largely self-employed and, as far as changes of address…” Gabe shrugged. “Maybe I didn’t always notify the state, but that’s not a crime.” He had no idea if it was or wasn’t. Maybe it was when it came to paying taxes.

“How did you and the victim first meet?” Spurring sneered the question.

Oh boy. Gabe’s resolve not to antagonize him was crumbling. It would be so easy. He could tell the man suffered from a bad case of fragile masculinity; it wouldn’t take much for him to shed his thin veneer of pleasantness.

“We met at an LGBTQIA+ business networking event. As one does.”

Gabe had attended to see if he could make some “business connections,” but instead he and Peter had met and hooked up that night. It was only later that they’d realized they had similar “business” interests.

And one thing had led to another, as these things sometimes do.

The questions continued in the same vein and same condescending tone. Spurring seemed determined to trip Gabe up in a lie about his and Peter’s relationship, but there was nothing for Gabe to lie about.

The small room was growing warmer by the minute, and the stench of body odor also increased the longer the three of them sat there. Was it a special scent they piped in from somewhere? He was trying to take shallow breaths, but he was starting to feel nauseous.

Eventually, he had enough of the questions. He realized that Eagan had stopped taking notes half an hour earlier and Spurring was repeating himself, his face gradually turning deeper shades of red until Gabe worried the man was going to have a stroke then and there.

“We know that you had a relationship with the victim.”

“Are we back to that again? We already established that Peter and I had—operative word is in the past tense—a relationship. I don’t know why he was on Heartstone, and I don’t know what he wanted to talk to me about because he never came back.”

“Why did you end your relationship?”

“Um.” Gabe pretended to think. “That’s not your business. But if you want to know the truth, Peter didn’t do it for me anymore, if you get my drift. No zing. The magic was gone. Our time in the sack was performative at best. Does that answer your question?”

Gabe saw Eagan’s cheek dimple quickly before she schooled her expression. The shade of red that Spurring’s face had turned was not listed even on the big box of crayons.

“I’m not under arrest?” He directed the question at Eagan, who shook her head.

“Then, as far as I understand these things, I’m free to go.

I came down here voluntarily and now I’m leaving on my own.

” He rose to his feet. “If you need to ask me new, different questions about my sex life, you know where to find me.”

“We’re watching you, Karne. When you make a mistake, know that we’ll catch it. You had something to do with Vale’s death and I’m—we’re going to prove it.”

Gabe rolled his eyes. There was always that one guy who had to have the last word.

“Ready to head back to your place?” Gabe asked Elton when he emerged from the back of the station.

Elton slowly stood up. “Yep, let’s blow this popsicle joint. It was nice speaking with you, Althea.” The older woman who had taken the seat behind the front desk smiled and nodded.

Gabe waited until they were back in the Ford and he had his seat belt clipped.

“Althea, huh?”

Elton didn’t bother responding; instead, he put the truck into reverse and backed out of the parking spot.

“I’m hungry and all I can have is soup.”

Gabe smirked. Elton could deflect all he wanted but Gabe was pretty damn sure romance was afoot between Elton and Althea.

“Soup sounds delicious.”

Nodding as if it hadn’t been him who’d made the suggestion in the first place, Elton pressed on the gas and they rumbled down the road.