CHAPTER 60

Henry knew he had the rock quarry killer. The entire trip back to the station Wally Hobbs kept complaining about his stomach hurting. In that tinny voice he begged Henry to stop the car so he could throw up. Well, at least the bastard waited until they got to the County Sheriff’s Office. He thought about making Hobbs clean up the mess, but he knew he shouldn’t push his good fortune.

Now he had Hobbs handcuffed to a metal folding chair in their interrogation room. Actually, it wasn’t really an interrogation room but a break room with a coffeemaker and an empty plate of crumbs.

He had already read him his rights, or his version of them. Sometimes he knew he left out a word or two.

“What do you think you were doing, Walter?” He wondered if he could bully the little man into confessing. Then he remembered that Hobbs’s partner was the biggest bully in town. He had probably built up some kind of immunity. “You want me to call your sister?”

“No. Don’t call Lillian.”

“What’s wrong? You don’t want your sister knowing you dig up bodies and slice them up?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’ve seen your handiwork, Hobbs. What is it with you? You kill some and when you get bored you dig some up?”

“I haven’t killed anyone.”

“How could you dig up someone like Steve Earlman? Don’t you have any respect for the dead?”

“I didn’t dig him up.”

Wally Hobbs’s eyes were the size of quarters and sweat poured down his forehead. Henry could smell him.

“How many have you killed and how many have you dug up?”

“Wait. You’ve got to listen to me. I didn’t kill anyone.”

“Right.”

“Marley and Calvin and me, we just wanted to make some extra money.”

“Marley? Jake Marley?” Henry sat down on the edge of the table. “Marley’s in this with you?”

“We didn’t think it would hurt anybody. Life insurance policies usually pay for everything, so it’s not like we were taking it out of the families’ pockets.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“I was just trying to fix it so that if anyone checked they wouldn’t know.”

“Check what?” Suddenly it was hot in the room and Henry needed to open a window.

“If anyone checked…you know, Steve Earlman’s grave. Marley sells them the vault, but we don’t actually use a vault. We divide the money three ways.” Hobbs looked scared. “It was Marley’s idea.”

Henry rubbed a hand over his face and he couldn’t help but feel disappointed. Wally Hobbs was a weasel and a thief, but he was no killer.