“I haven’t done a damn thing,” Halka insisted.
“Then answer some questions.”
Halka rocked back in his chair and spread his arms. “Shoot.”
“Ned Baer said he had a witness to back up his story,” Maggie told him. “He had somebody who saw Devin Card going upstairs at a party with the woman who says she was raped. Were you the witness?”
“No. I didn’t tell Baer a thing.”
“Did you see Card going upstairs with a woman at one of the parties?”
“Who knows? It was thirty years ago. Card hung out with lots of girls.”
“The night Ned Baer went to the Deeps, did you follow him?” Maggie asked.
“Follow him? Why the hell would I do that?”
“You tell me.”
“No, I didn’t. Ned drove off, and I never saw him again.”
“Did you tell anyone else where he was going?”
“Other than your cop friend? No.”
“Do you own a gun?”
Adam took another bite of his burger and chewed slowly as he considered his answer. “Several.”
“Is one of them a 9 mm handgun?” Maggie asked.
“Yeah, I’ve got one of those. Me and a few million other people. Why?”
“Would you agree to let us run your pistol through ballistics? That way, we can rule it out as being the gun that killed Ned Baer.”
“Well, I already know it’s not, because the only place I fire that gun is at the range. As far as letting the police handle it, no, that wouldn’t be tops on my list. I’m not really a trusting guy when it comes to the government. Tell you what, you come over to my place with a warrant, and you can test any of my guns that you like.”
Maggie wasn’t surprised that he didn’t volunteer his guns. She gestured at the television screen over the bar. “The media are saying that the woman who made the accusation against Devin Card is coming forward tonight. She’s going public.”
“If you say so. I haven’t paid any attention to that.”
“Do you know who the woman is?”
“Don’t know,” Halka replied. “Don’t care.”
“Maybe I can refresh your memory,” Maggie said.
“How do you plan on doing that?”
Maggie leaned closer. “Let’s start with Denise Forseth. I’m sure you remember her.”
Halka’s mouth puckered like a dried grape. “Yeah. So?”
“Tell me about the two of you.”
“There’s not much to tell. Denise and I went together through most of high school. Kept going out while she was in college. We were going to get married, but Denise broke it off. End of story.”
“Do you know she’s back in Duluth?” Maggie asked.
Halka shrugged. “Yeah, I heard that.”
“Have you seen her?”
“Nope. Why would I want to see her? Denise and me were ancient history.”
“Tell me about the break-up,” Maggie said.
Halka stared at her long and hard, as if he was trying to understand the rules of the game. “Why do you care about that?”
“Humor me. Do you remember when Denise ended your relationship?”
“Yeah, matter of fact, when your fiancée dumps you in front of all your friends, it kind of sticks in your head.”
“So tell me about it.”
Halka took a drink from his beer. “Denise was heading off to the Air Force. I didn’t think that meant we had to break up. Looking back, I guess that was pretty stupid of me, but I was a kid. And I loved her. I thought we should do long-distance, or hell, I was ready to get married before she left. Instead, she said we were done. Gave me back the ring. Told me where to shove it.”
“Where was this?”
“We were at a concert at the DECC. Big group of us.”
“Was Devin Card there?”
“I don’t remember.”
“What happened next?” Maggie asked.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, what did you do after Denise dumped you?”
“I have no idea,” Halka replied. “I remember getting dumped, but that’s all.”
“I understand there was a party crawl after the concert. Did you go?”
Halka began to act squirrelly. “Who knows? Probably. I already told you, I spent a lot of time drunk or high in those days. I sure as hell wouldn’t have stayed sober after what Denise did to me. But I don’t remember any of it.”
“None of it?”
He hesitated, and she knew he was about to lie. “Not a thing.”
“Denise says there was an incident later that night at one of the parties. She says you saw the whole thing.”
“What kind of incident?”
But Maggie could see it in his face. He knew.
“It involved Peter Stanhope,” she said. “And Denise.”
Halka froze. A kind of bloodlust filled his eyes. “Okay. She told you about that, huh? Yeah. I remember.”
“Tell me what happened.”
The man’s voice came out in a strangled hiss. “I’m sure you already know what happened. Denise let Stanhope bang her in front of everyone.”
“You saw it?”
“Oh, yeah. I saw it.”
“This was the same night? The night she dumped you?”
“Same night.”
“You must have been angry. Your fiancée dumps you and then has sex in front of you and your friends with another man? You must have wanted to get back at both of them.”
“I wanted to rip their fucking heads off,” Halka replied. “So what?”
“What did you do?”
“What the hell do you expect? I kept drinking.”
“That’s it?”
“Yeah, that’s it. Did I think about going back home and getting a gun? You bet I did. But they weren’t worth it.”
Maggie let the silence stretch out between them. The only noise was the music of the bar and the mumble from the television. Then she said, “Did you know Denise’s sister?”
Halka looked surprised by the change in direction. “Her sister? Andrea? Yeah, sure. I mean, she was around a lot when I was over at Denise’s place. We talked every now and then, but not much. She was younger, brainy, kind of stuck up.”
“Was Andrea at the party that night?” Maggie asked.
Halka shook his head. “Hell if I know.”
“You don’t remember seeing her?”
“No, I don’t. Could she have been there? Sure, I guess. But I don’t remember.”
“Would you have recognized her if you saw her back then?”
“Denise’s sister? Of course, I would’ve.”
“Was Devin Card at the party?”
Halka nodded. “Oh, yeah. Devin was there. He was up in my face when Pete and Denise were doing it. Taunting me about it. That asshole.”
“So you must have been pretty upset with him, too.”
“Yeah. Him, too. All three of them.”
“Did you see Devin become involved with anyone at the party? Did you see him go upstairs with anyone?”
“Jesus, how many times do I have to say it? I don’t remember. For all I know, yeah, I saw Devin with his tongue in some girl’s mouth, but I could have said that about fifty different parties.”
“But this party was special,” Maggie said. “This is the one where Denise humiliated you.”
“Spell it out!” Halka growled. “Stop playing games. Exactly what the hell do you think I did?”
If he was going to crack, if he was going to admit anything, now was the time.
“Andrea was at that party, Mr. Halka,” Maggie told him.
“Okay. If you tell me that, fine, maybe it’s true, but I don’t remember. So what?”
“Andrea says she was making out with Devin, and then she went upstairs to the bedroom with him.”
Halka eyed the television over Maggie’s shoulder. “Her? Shit, that was Denise’s little sister? She’s the one?”