Part 25 (2/2)
He seesaws his head back and forth on his shoulders as if he'd rather not say, then does. ”She liked him. They were friends.”
”But nothing more.”
Crone shakes his head.
”And Epperson was looking for more?”
”He wanted to marry her.”
”Did he ever ask her?” says Harry. Something we might confront Epperson with on the stand.
Crone now gets out of the chair on the other side of the gla.s.s. He is in a small, enclosed cubicle, the guard on the other side of a closed door. I can see the uniform through the acrylic part.i.tion that separates us and the gla.s.s in the door over Crone's shoulder.
”Don't talk with your back to us,” says Harry. ”They can read lips.”
Crone turns around. ”He'd tried to give her an engagement ring.”
”Epperson?” I say.
He nods.
”She turned him down.”
”When?” asks Harry.
”About three weeks before she disappeared.”
”Why the h.e.l.l didn't you tell us?” I say.
”Because it had nothing to do with her murder.”
”How do you know that?” asks Harry. ”It seems to me only two people could be as certain about that as you seem to be: Epperson if he didn't kill her, and if he didn't whoever did.”
Crone ignores him. ”Kalista took her troubles to a friend, an older woman at the center; the friend came to me. She told me Kalista didn't want to ruin a good friends.h.i.+p with Epperson.”
”When?” I ask.
”A few days after he tried to give her the ring.”
”Who was the intermediary?” asks Harry. ”The older woman?”
”Carol Hodges.”
Hodges has already taken the stand in the state's case. She was one of the witnesses to the argument between Crone and Jordan in the faculty dining room the night Jordan disappeared.
”She was close to Kalista. She thought maybe I could help.”
”How could you have helped?” I ask. ”You and Jordan were at war. She'd taken the working papers from your office. She'd filed a s.e.xual hara.s.sment complaint against you.”
”At the time, Hodges didn't know that.”
”Hodges thought I could talk to Bill, try to make him understand that she simply didn't love him, but that she wanted him as a friend. I did what I could.”
”You talked to Epperson?” I ask.
He nods.
”Where did he buy the ring?” asks Harry.
”What?”
”The engagement ring.” Harry has a notepad open on the counter in front of him, pen at the ready.
”I don't know. Why is it important?”
”Did he show it to you?”
”No.”
Nothing we can check out. No evidence with which to confront Epperson on the stand. With Kalista Jordan dead, anything Hodges has to say on this point is hearsay.
”Did Epperson ever talk to anybody else at the center, maybe somebody he might have confided in?”
”Some of the younger staff,” says Crone, ”a few of the younger guys ran together, partied.”
”Why the h.e.l.l didn't you tell us sooner?” I ask.
”Because I was sure he didn't kill her. He was in love with her.”
”Yes, and she'd rejected him,” says Harry.
”He didn't do it.”
”How do you know?”
All we get is a shrug and a stare from the other side of the acrylic.
Harry wants to talk outside, where Crone can't hear. He tugs me by one arm. I tell Crone to sit tight. Harry and I step outside and close the door on our side of the cubicle, and stand there to make sure that the guard doesn't take Crone away.
”Question is,” says Harry, ”do we talk to Epperson now or hit him on the stand?”
”We have nothing to hit him with. You think you can run down the ring?” I ask.
”If it exists.”
”You don't believe him.”
<script>