The Shadow Hunter

Paul.”
    She let her head fall back on the pillow, drowsiness washing over her. She was closing her eyes when Travis leaned down and kissed her forehead, a tender act, unusual for him.
    “A good long rest,” he repeated softly.
    She was asleep before he left the room.

42
    Their names were Giacomo and Heller, and they greeted Howard Barwood at the sheriff’s station with smiles and handshakes, saying how much they appreciated his taking the time to clear up a few minor details about the case. He scarcely listened. He’d slept little, having spent most of the night at Cedars-Sinai with Kris. He was tired and hungry; Courtney had fixed him breakfast, but he’d had no appetite. Above all, he was burdened with guilt.
    He regretted his every hour with Amanda. He regretted every thought of leaving Kris. He regretted being a bad husband. What made it worse was that he knew this was only a mood that would pass, and before long he would be sneaking out for more liaisons with Amanda or some new young thing. His good intentions never lasted.
    Preoccupied with these thoughts, he let Giacomo and Heller usher him into a small office, where they offered him a seat at a battered wooden table. They sat opposite him. Heller took out a notepad and a pen. Giacomo placed a cassette recorder on the table and said something about a need to record the interview to ensure an accurate transcript. “Fine,” Howard said indifferently.
    Giacomo did most of the talking. He began by speaking into the recorder, giving the location, date and time of the interview. Howard noticed he used military time—oh-nine-hundred thirty-five hours. “We’re here with Mr. Howard Barwood,” Giacomo said, asking for Howard’s birthdate. Howard rattled it off without thinking, his voice alien to him, coming from far away.
    “Now, Mr. Barwood, I’m going to give you your constitutional rights. It would be good if you would listen carefully—”
    For the first time Howard roused himself. “My rights?”
    Giacomo said yes, and Heller nodded, both men smiling in a way that seemed too friendly.
    Howard blinked. “Am I a suspect or something?” The idea seemed bizarre, incomprehensible.
    “Actually, Mr. Barwood, we’re mainly interested in eliminating you as a suspect.”
    “But…a suspect in what? Hickle attacked Kris. People saw him. I was in the house—”
    “Of course you were. There are witnesses who support everything you just said. And nobody doubts that Raymond Hickle ambushed that car.”
    “Then what…?” He couldn’t finish the question. Nothing was making sense.
    “There are always a lot of angles in a case like this,” Giacomo said. “We need to tie up some loose ends, that’s all.”
    Angles, loose ends…Howard was baffled. “You never said anything about viewing me as a suspect.”
    Heller spoke. “We don’t view you that way. Truth is, we hate to even waste your time with this. What we’d like is to get it over with so we can all go home.”
    “It’s been a long night for everybody,” Giacomo said.
    “I’m beat,” Heller added.
    Vaguely Howard understood that something was taking place that was not necessarily to his benefit. But the two detectives were right about one thing. It had indeed been a long night.He was reluctant to walk out of the interview now, only to return later and go through all this rigmarole again. And if he did walk out, he’d have to contact Martin Greenfeld, his attorney. Martin would never let him talk to any detectives or waive any rights. Martin believed in handling every situation as if it were an adversarial contest played for the highest stake.
    Howard imagined the consequences of refusing to talk. The story would leak to the media. People would suspect him of complicity in the attempted murder of his wife. And if his relationship with Amanda came out…
    On the other hand, if he simply kept Martin and all other lawyers out of it and did as the detectives asked, he could be done with this interview in thirty minutes. No suspicions, no rumors, no damaging publicity, no journalists digging up dirt.
    “Fine,” he said evenly. “Let’s proceed.”
    Giacomo recited Howard’s rights. Howard said he understood them. Yes, he wished to give up his right to remain silent. Yes, he gave up his right to have an attorney present. Yes, yes, yes.
    Then there were questions about his activities last night. He told his story about taking the Lexus for a long drive up the coast. The detectives