7
Maddie didn’t know Abby all that well. Their relationship had been civil but hardly friendly, so she wasn’t sure if the woman habitually blacked out entire blocks of time from her life. She tried to remember back to the night before and if Abby had been drinking a lot. It hadn’t seemed like it but then she hadn’t spent much, if any, time with her.
“How can she not remember any of last night?” Tanner said. “That’s impossible.”
“When I say last night, I don’t mean all of it. She remembers being at the fundraiser, and she remembers going back to the inn. From there it’s blank. She said she took a sleeping pill and doesn’t remember anything from about ten-thirty on until this morning. She didn’t hear Marty come in or leave. She has no idea if he ever came into their room. She didn’t hear anything and slept soundly. She only knows that she was woken this morning by a scream when one of the cooks found Marty’s dead body on the back patio.”
“No one heard the shot?” Sherry asked, her tone incredulous. “That’s hard to believe.”
“Hazel is eighty if she’s a day and her hearing isn’t what it used to be,” Tanner replied. “And she refuses to wear her hearing aids most of the time. I doubt she was wearing them at night when she slept.”
“Did no one else hear anything?” Maddie asked. “The inn was full because of the fundraiser. Someone should have seen or heard something.”
Sam’s gaze swung to Jason, who so far hadn’t said anything.
“I saw something,” Jason said. “Some nights I don’t sleep all that well, and last night was one of them. I was up reading when I heard a noise from the hall. It sounded like someone had banged on the wall. I didn’t think anything about it but then I heard it again. I stuck my head out of the door and saw Abby walking down the hallway in her nightgown.”
“Was she sleepwalking?” Amanda asked.
“Her eyes were open,” Jason replied. “But that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. She seemed sort of out of it. I called to her, but she didn’t even turn around. She walked down the stairs and I followed her. She went outside, got into her car, and drove off. That was around one in the morning.”
“Which is the approximate time of death,” Sam stated. “The medical examiner will, of course, have more information after the postmortem but he puts time of death between twelve-thirty and three-thirty.”
“I’ve heard of people on sleeping pills driving, eating, and other things but having no memory of it the next day,” Josh said. “I don’t think it’s super common but it does happen.”
“Abby has no memory of leaving the inn,” Sam said. “No one saw her once she left. She says that Jason is lying to make her look bad. That it wasn’t her.”
“There have to be cameras,” Sherry exclaimed. “I know Tanner pushed for all the businesses in town to install security cameras when he was mayor.”
“And there are cameras,” Sam said with a nod. “And they do show Abby walking out of the front door of the inn, but the camera’s angle didn’t catch her driving away. We don’t see what she’s doing once she was down the front porch steps. We do see her return about three in the morning.”
“And she’s still denying it?” Tanner asked.
“She’s not denying that she left her room but she’s denying that she drove anywhere,” Sam replied. “Right now she’s pointing the finger at some business associates of Marty’s. She says that they had reason to kill him, not her. She said that she loved her husband very much and she’s devastated that he’s dead. She says that someone else did this. I have to say that she didn’t waver at all with her story. I’ll be talking to Marty’s kids and his attorney as soon as possible. I’ll try and find out more about these business associates.”
“The bottom line is that Tanner was miles away when Marty was shot,” Jason said. “That asshole Arnold Hudson needs to shut the hell up.”
“He won’t,” Tanner laughed. “Knowing him, he’s just getting started. I’ve never seen a man that loves the sound of his own voice as much as he does.”
“He’s a narcissist, that’s for sure,” Sherry said. “Melinda at yoga told me that she thinks she’s going to vote for him. I told her she must have a screw loose. He’s possibly the worst human being alive.”
“There are serial killers out there,” Maddie replied. “They’re probably worse than he is.”
“Not by much,” Sherry sniffed. “He’s human garbage.”
“Whether I like it or not I’m running against him,” Tanner said. “I better sit down and write out a statement.”
“I have a few ideas,” Brian said, stepping forward. “You have to categorically deny having anything to do with Martin Parnham’s murder. But you need to do it without calling Hudson a liar.”
“But he is a liar,” Amanda pointed out. “A big one.”
“Calling him a liar is exactly what he wants me to do,” Tanner said. “I don’t intend to make Arnold Hudson happy today.”
“Then let’s get to work.” Brian pulled out his iPad. “The sooner you make your statement, the sooner we can put a rest to all of these wild rumors. We can call a press conference outside of the campaign office. It will make for an excellent backdrop with all the Tanner Marks for Governor posters in the windows.”
“Whatever,” Tanner said. “Let’s get this done.”
Maddie would be standing next to her husband when the time came.