Constable Molly Smith 01 - In the Shadow of the Glacier

spinning. “She’s mistaken.”
    “She seems sure. Do you agree, Constable Smith?”
    “Ten it was, sir. She was positive.”
    “Some evenings, when I’m not home, my wife enjoys more wine than perhaps she should.”
    “What did you do after leaving Mrs. Montgomery, Doctor?”
    The dentist stood up. He patted his comb-over and wiped his hand down the side of his trousers. He looked at Smith.
    “Dr. Tyler, can you answer the question?”.
    “Nothing. I did nothing. I went for a drive. I was emotionally unsettled.”
    “What caused you to become emotionally unsettled?”
    “Can’t you just accept that I went for a drive and got home around ten-ish?”
    “I can’t just accept anything. If you don’t tell me where you were between eight forty-five and ten o’clock last night, I will consider you a suspect in the murder of Reginald Montgomery.”
    Tyler blanched. “I drove up the mountain. It was a clear night. I like to look at the lights from Eagle Point Bluffs when I have things to think over. I sat in my car at the side of the road for a while.”
    “What were you thinking over?”
    Tyler shook his head. “Personal problems.”
    “Nothing’s personal, I’m afraid, in a homicide.”
    Tyler blew out a breath of air. “You won’t tell anyone, will you?”
    “Not if it’s not relevant to the investigation.”
    “Molly?”
    “Get on with it, man.” Winters’ patience snapped like a rubber band loaded with a spitball. “Constable Smith is not here to collect gossip.”
    “I was considering asking Ellie to leave Reg and come with me. We have children, Ruth and I. It’s a big decision.”
    “If you have to leave town, Doctor, call the station and let us know. We wouldn’t want to have to try to locate you. We can find our way out.”
    “You’re not arresting him?” Smith asked as they walked to the van. A shiny grey Mercedes SUV was the only other car in the lot.
    “I don’t think he did it. The man was having an affair with the wife of a prominent businessman. An affair that you yourself told me was common knowledge. Probably to everyone but the husband and wife of the participants. I’ll bet he did have a lot to think about.”
    Smith flicked the door opener of the van and the inside lights came on. She glanced at Winters. His face was tight and drawn. “I’ve made mistakes,” he said, “more than a few. But unless Doctor Tyler won an Academy Award that he’s keeping secret, he isn’t that good an actor. When we spoke to him earlier, he didn’t seem to have a clue what we were there for. Said he hadn’t heard of the Montgomery killing.” He fastened his seatbelt. “I’m not dismissing him as a suspect, but I see no reason to drag him, and what’ll probably be an excellent criminal lawyer, down to the station. Not yet anyway. Call in and find out what Tyler drives, Molly. That fancy new Merc, I’m guessing. I’ll send someone up to Eagle Point later to ask if any of the dog walkers saw him there last night.”
    A group of barefooted, dreadlocked, tie-dyed-T-shirt-wearing young men and women had gathered in front of Big Eddie’s Coffee and Bagel Emporium at the corner of Elm and George streets. A man squatted on the pavement, pounding on a home-made drum clenched between his splayed knees; a tall, lithe woman shook a tambourine, her hair moving with the rhythm. Two people of indeterminate gender swayed to the music, and a white dog looked very bored.
    Winters rubbed his eyes.
    “You okay?” Smith asked, not sure whether she should appear to have noticed. She didn’t know what her relationship with Winters was, and was afraid of making a misstep. Winters, she suspected, liked to work alone.
    “Just tired. It’s been a long day, and it’s nowhere near over yet. I need to talk to the gentlemen Clemmins and Montgomery had dinner with last night. Highly unlikely that Clemmins would use business acquaintances as a fake alibi, but no stone unturned, eh?”
    He gave her a weak smile, but the cloud behind his eyes didn’t go away. He turned his face toward the window.
    ***
    For the nineteenth time in the past twenty minutes, Lucky Smith looked out her kitchen window.
    “I’ve never seen you like this,” Michael said with a chuckle. “Calm down, Lucky. You told them seven thirty. It’s not even quarter past.”
    “Don’t know why I’m so nervous. It’s not as if we haven’t spoken to the press before.” She turned from the window. They were sitting around her