“That’s right. There’s a phone they have to use. Goes to the security desk. Then they go let the person in, if they’re authorized.”
“Or if they have a security card, they can get in that way.”
“Sure, but contractors don’t have security cards. That’d be a problem. Can’t just let folks waltz in the back door like that.”
“Right. Thanks.”
Later, around two in the afternoon, Devine was working away in his cubicle when the door opened.
“Mr. Devine?”
He looked up and saw the same woman who had previously come to retrieve him motioning to him. He rose, looked around at the Burners watching him suspiciously, and made his way out.
Detectives Ekman and Shoemaker were waiting for him.
“Now what?” he said.
“This way,” barked Shoemaker.
They led him to the same room as before.
Sitting across from him, Shoemaker said, “We talked to the guard on duty at night. He said that you and Stamos came into the building late on the day Ewes’s body was found, and then left at the same time.”
“That’s not true.”
“You saying the guard’s lying?” Ekman said sharply.
“No, he just misinterpreted what he saw. I didn’t know Stamos was in the building that night. I came back for my phone and did some work. Then I left. Alone. Did the guard say Stamos and I were together?”
The detectives exchanged glances. “Did you meet up with her in the building?” asked Shoemaker.
“No, and I’ll take a polygraph on that if you want.”
“Did you meet up with her later?”
Now they were getting into dangerous territory. But since he had asked the question, Devine suspected the man already knew the answer.
“It wasn’t a meeting. I went to a bar in Greenwich Village. She was there. We talked.”
“And you never mentioned this before because...?”
“I saw her in a bar, so did a lot of other people.”
“You seem to use that excuse a lot,” said Ekman.
“Because it’s true.”
“We understand that you two argued in that bar. And then you kicked the shit out of three guys in the alley next to the bar. And that she saw the whole thing.”
“I did have a fight with three guys, yes.”
“Over Stamos?”
“It could be construed that way.”
“And again you never mentioned that to us because...”
“What relevance would it have?”
“You’ve gotta be kidding, right?” said Ekman.
“That all happened before she was killed, in case you forgot. And by the way, I found out that Sara’s pregnancy was from artificial insemination. Thanks for telling me that. You knew I wasn’t the father all along.”
“Just to get this straight, we don’t have to tell you jack shit,” barked Ekman.
“And how did you find out about that?” asked Shoemaker, leaning forward and drilling Devine with a hard stare.
“I got the name of the doctor from Mrs. Ewes. I called him. He told me.”
“And why would he do that?”
“Because he thought you guys were trying to pin the murder on me.”
Shoemaker sat back and said, “And we understand Stamos came to visit you at your place in Mount Kisco. You two had another argument.”
Shit, how could they have found that out? Helen Speers?
“She did come out to my place, but we didn’t have an argument. We just talked.”
“What did you talk about?”
“Sara.”
“What about Ewes?”
“Just chitchat.”
“Devine, you are one inch from being arrested for obstruction,” exclaimed Shoemaker. “So you better consider your next answer really carefully. What did you discuss about Ewes?”
“Stamos said that she also knew I wasn’t the father of Ewes’s baby. She didn’t come out and say it, but reading between the lines she knew that Ewes had gone the artificial insemination route.”
Ekman shot his partner a look. “Wait a minute, from all we learned those ladies were rivals at the firm. Why would they be talking about babies and such?”
Devine decided to just tell the truth. He could tell he was close to being put in jail, and he couldn’t very well do much from there.
“Stamos told me that she and Ewes... that they were in love.”
Devine expected both detectives to blow up at him.
Instead, Shoemaker cracked a smile. “Finally, we get some truth out of you.”
“What do you mean by that?” said Devine curiously. “Did you find something to back up what I just told you?”
“Stamos’s place has been searched. Electronics all gone. Phone and computer are probably at the bottom of the Hudson by now.”
“Did you find something online then? Instagram, Facebook?”
“No, we checked all that. There was nothing.”
“Not surprising,” said Devine. “There’re rules against employees seeing each other.”
He thought for a moment about Stamos and Cowl, but he really wasn’t an employee.
Shoemaker said, “But we talked to one of Stamos’s sisters. Apparently she’d confided in her.”
“So you know I’m telling the truth, then?”
“Just about that, Devine. But there’s a lot about you that neither one of us likes.”
“Well, when that becomes a crime, be sure to let me know.”
Chapter 62
Devine left work around eight and headed to check in with the Eweses. They might go back to New Zealand anytime now. Ellen Ewes had made it clear that she loathed the city. And he wanted to find out if they knew about Stamos and their daughter. Or about Sara’s being artificially inseminated. Ellen Ewes hadn’t mentioned that fact. She hadn’t really said whether she knew her daughter was pregnant before the police had told her. She was just furious about the termination of that pregnancy. Devine wanted to ask her directly. She struck him as the sort that kept a lot back.
He got to the house and knocked, but there was no answer. He looked through the sidelight next to the door, but could see nothing.
“Mr. and Mrs. Ewes?” He knocked again, then tried the knob. It was unlocked.
Just like in the movies.
He pushed it open and poked his head in. “Hello, Ellen, Fred? It’s Travis Devine. I just wanted to talk to you for a minute.”
He went inside and closed the door behind him. “Hello? Anybody here?”
The place was dark, with the dim outside light being the only illumination.
He walked through the front room and peeked into the kitchen.
Nothing, although there were some dirty dishes in the sink and an empty coffee cup was on the table.
He walked toward the bedroom and looked in there. The bed was made and the bathroom was empty. His gaze lingered on the bed for a moment. It was there that he and Ewes had had sex. Once. And then she had broken it off. He thought she had found another guy.
But then to find out she and Stamos were in love? He shook his head. He’d had no inkling that Ewes had been gay or maybe bisexual. Yet she had obviously wanted a child. But then why go through all the steps necessary for artificial insemination and then terminate the pregnancy?
But now that he thought about it, the timing was off. The pregnancy had occurred before Devine had even met Ewes. If she and Stamos were going to have a baby together, why would Ewes sleep with him? They must have gotten together afterward.
Then maybe Sara had a relationship with someone else along with the pregnancy. Then was that relationship broken off and the pregnancy terminated? Was that how she fell into bed with me? A rebound off another guy? Or another woman?