Don’t Look Behind You

limitations for that ran out a long time ago. You can’t be arrested for that in 2008.”
    In truth, Benson and Denny Wood didn’t expect to arrest Renee Curtiss, at least not on this day. That was why they were interviewing her in the bail bonds office rather than taking her to the police station. Hearing that the statute of limitations had passed, she relaxed a little.
    Even so, Ben Benson advised her once more of her rights so that the Miranda rule was on tape. Most Americans know the rights by heart—either from watching television or by reading a crime novel. And, of course, a certain number have actually had Miranda rights read to them.
    “You have the right to remain silent,” Benson began. “Any statement that you do make can be used as evidence against you in a court of law. You have the right at this time to talk to an attorney of your choice, and to have your attorney present before and during questioning and the making of any statement. If you cannot afford an attorney, you are entitled to have one appointed for you—without cost to you—and to have the attorney present at any time during the questioning and the making of a statement. You may stop answering questions or ask for an attorney at any time during any questioning and the making of any statement. Renee, do you understand each of these rights?”
    “Yes.”
    “And is this your signature on the bottom of the rights form?”
    “That’s correct.”
    Renee Curtiss’s position with her husband’s bail bondsfirm had taught her a great deal about the judicial process; Benson had been impressed with her knowledge the first time he met her.
    She began with a lie, saying that she had met Joe in Alaska when, in reality, she’d met him at the wholesale meat company in Seattle. Unfortunately for Renee, she had no idea how much of her background Ben Benson had uncovered.
    Renee denied that she had ever lived with Joe; she said he had lived above his business in Anchorage where he had just a bed and a small space for his clothes and belongings; he had been on the road selling meat most of the time.
    Her words came out haltingly, and she stuttered as she looked for answers. “My mother and I had a house—had a house on Jewel Lake.”
    “Okay. And that’s where you were living when you met Joe?”
    “You know, I don’t recall if it was then or prior to that. It might have been when I was renting an apartment off of C Street.”
    “Now, you told us that you were a business partner with him?”
    “He gave me part of his business, yes.”
    “Now, did you start out working for him initially, or did he bring you in as a partner?”
    “No, I think he brought me—I mean, I may have started [by] working for him. I don’t recall.”
    “Did you buy into the company, somehow?”
    “No.”
    “He just made you a partner?”
    “Yes … yeah.”
    “And was that while you were romantically involved with him?”
    “Correct.” Renee’s voice was taut and her answers very short.
    “At that point in time, had he started asking you to marry him?”
    “No.”
    “So this was early in your relationship?”
    “I—I, as I recall.”
    Renee said she had worked with Joe for over a year, and then she had broken off her relationship with him.
    “But you did become engaged to him?”
    “I did.”
    “And then what happened?”
    “He wanted to move to Seattle and we did move, and he was still working up there in Alaska, and planning on coming down. And then something happened that he did—I broke that relationship off.”
    “Okay. Can you tell me what that was?”
    Renee said that Joe had slept with one of her female relatives. When she learned that, she dumped him.
    “Did Joe have any kind of relationship with your mother?” Benson asked.
    “I don’t—no.”
    “They were just friends?”
    “Yes. She liked him.”
    “Was he paying for things up there in Alaska? I know he bought you a car. Was he paying for your rent?”
    “You know,” Renee said carefully, “I was generously compensated for working for him, so if you want to say he paid the rent—he was always buying stuff, always buying jewelry or buying my mother something or my daughter something. I mean, he was
always
buying something. I mean he was a hard worker.”
    After she broke it off with Joe Tarricone, Renee said, Kurt Winkler, the German chef whom she was dating at the same time she dated Joe, had proposed and they became engaged. She had continued to have a working