“I watched the video of your arrest with your lawyer,” Sepanen said. “I don’t think she wanted a jury to see you chasing Deputy Ryan with a baseball bat.”
“Bitch didn’t believe I’d been provoked. I’ll get a new lawyer and we’ll nail your butts. All of you will be looking for jobs and filing bankruptcy to cover the judgments.”
Floyd took a seat next to the sheriff, across the table from Roberts. The jailer stood with his back against the door. “For the record,” Floyd said, “it’s July 10th, 2013 at 4:50 in the afternoon. I’m Floyd Swenson, and we’re interviewing Mark Roberts. Mark, your lawyer is not here. Do you want to make a statement without the advice of your lawyer?”
“Stupid bitch is worthless.”
“I’ll take that as a yes. You requested a meeting. What do you want to say?”
“I want to tell you, and your camera, that the Pine County goon crew broke into my house and beat me up while I was defending my home.” Roberts sat back smugly after his statement.
“We had a search warrant which we tried to serve. We have a video of the entire incident and the sheriff says that video shows you attempting to assault one of our deputies with a baseball bat. I don’t think you have much to stand on, and if that’s all you have to say I think the interview is over.” Floyd stood and moved to shut off the camera.
“Hang on a second,” Roberts said. “The lawyer said you found evidence at Kathy Tucker’s house. You have to tell the lawyer the truth, right?”
“We tell the truth all the time,” the sheriff said.
“Don’t feed me that bull. I know better because you’ve lied to me before.” Roberts paused. “But the lawyer says you have to tell her the truth. So if you told her you found evidence I was there, it would be the truth?”
“We found your bloody hand print on the doorframe,” Floyd said, “and we found Kathy Tucker’s blood on shoes at your house. That’s pretty incriminating.”
“I might have made a mistake about something.” Roberts stared at the corner of the table. “The lawyer said that if I was apologetic about a mistake, the court might take it into consideration.”
“Go ahead,” Floyd said without committing the court to anything.
“I thought the Tucker bitch told you Aaron was a queer and that made me really mad. I stewed about it here in jail, and when I got out I kinda lost it. I didn’t mean to hurt her bad, I just wanted to teach her a lesson. I’m sorry. I guess she’s hurt pretty bad.”
“She had surgery in Sandstone then they flew her to the Cities,” Floyd said. “The doctor said she has a bunch of broken bones and some other injuries. The sheriff just told me that she’s taken a turn for the worse.”
Roberts shook his head. “It was the beer. I had a few too many and I made a stupid decision. That’s all. I’ve got homeowner’s insurance and maybe that’ll help with the doctor bills.”
“Mark,” the sheriff said, “she might die.”
Roberts’ eyes raced between Floyd and the sheriff, trying to find some hint that they were being less than serious. “Die?”
Floyd nodded. “She lost a lot of blood. You did a number on her. You know that Aaron had HIV?”
Mark shook his head in disgust, “I heard that.”
“He and Kathy had been intimate,” Floyd paused, not able to reveal Kathy Tucker’s medical history. “I see you have some cuts on your hands. If you got them when you beat Kathy, you need to get an AIDS test.”
Roberts looked at the cuts on his scarred knuckles and his eyes grew wide as the meaning in Floyd’s words struck him. “I might’ve gotten AIDS from Kathy’s blood?”
Floyd nodded. “We asked the hospital to take a blood sample when you were stitched up. You’ll need to check back to see if you’re building antibodies to the AIDS virus in your bloodstream.”
“What a fuck-up this has been,” Roberts said to himself.
“We checked your log books,” Floyd said. “You were still here the night Aaron disappeared and the following day. Why did you lie to us about that? Did you have something to do with Aaron’s disappearance?”
“You are one nosy son of a bitch. I told you I wasn’t home, and I wasn’t.”
“You weren’t in Pine City?” Floyd asked.
“No. I wasn’t.”
“You weren’t on the road, either.”
“I don’t remember.”
“Let me tell you something interesting I discovered today,” Floyd said. “Aaron stole an ATV from a Passenger Lake cabin and drove it to Round Lake the day Sue reported him missing. He went to a house where he and some of his buddies had partied and probably let himself in with a key that was hidden outside the house. Something happened to him there, and I think you might know what. Did he call you from the house?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I think he called you to come and get him, but you were all pissed off because he’d told you he didn’t like girls anymore, so you went into a rage, like you did with me and with Kathy Tucker. Maybe you went too far. Is that why you don’t want to admit where you were that Sunday?”
“I think you’ve lost it,” Roberts said.
“If that’s not where you were, then where were you?”
Roberts lifted his hands, but the shackles wouldn’t let him reach his face. “I had a honey down in Harris for a couple years. I’d tell Sue I had to leave a day earlier than I was driving and I’d spend a day in Harris.”
“What’s her name?” the sheriff asked.
“You’re not going to call,” Roberts protested. “She’s married now and we didn’t have what you would call a clean split.”
“We need to call,” Floyd said. “How else can we verify your story?”
“Joyce Opp.” Roberts stared at his hands. “How much trouble am I in?”
“Lots,” Floyd said. “If Kathy Tucker dies, or if she doesn’t recover her mental capabilities, you’re in even more trouble.”
“I should quit drinking.”
“They have AA groups in prison,” the sheriff suggested. “You’ll probably have lots of time to dry out.”
CHAPTER 41
Floyd smiled when he pulled off the road and saw Mary’s car parked next to his garage. Spot met him as he stepped out of the car, racing circles around his legs and whimpering around the tennis ball she carried. He took the ball from her and threw it into the backyard, wincing with pain from his his rib injury. She was back before he made it to the steps.
“I don’t think I can throw it again, pup,” he said, petting her head and ignoring her attempts to get him to take the ball from her.
Mary met him at the screen door with car keys in her hand. “We’re going over to Barb and Sandy’s for supper, if you’re not in too much pain.” She locked the door without waiting for his response and added, “If you’d been five minutes later I would’ve been gone and you’d either be eating leftovers or driving by yourself.”
“What inspired this soirée?” Floyd asked, following Mary to his pickup.
“Barb said she bought a bunch of steaks and she’d talked Sandy into cooking them on the grill behind the apartment building.” They got in the truck and as Floyd drove down the gravel road she added. “I think they’re worried about Pam Ryan. Barb said they were going to try and cheer her up.”
“Steak might be a poor choice for Pam and me,” Floyd said as they drove. “I’m not sure I can cut up my own steak one-handed and Pam may have a problem breathing with her nose plugged.”
“I’ll cut up your steak,” Mary said, patting his knee.
They rode a few miles in silence until they came into the town of Sturgeon Lake. “How were things at the flower shop today?” Floyd asked.