The Pit Stop: This Stop Could be Life or Death by Carmen Desousa

Author:Carmen Desousa [DeSousa, Carmen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-08-05T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

Gino stood behind a one-way glass, watching as Detective Mark Waters interviewed Alan Jones, aka Smitty.

They didn’t have anything on Smitty other than the fact that the pictures of the same football team that had Smitty’s image in them that Gino had found among his pap’s pictures had apparently been missing from the album at the Thurbers’ house. Smitty had gone to school with the Thurbers and the Canales. Unfortunately, other than the fact that both couples went to high school together and were found in the same way, there was no proof of homicide in either case. But when Gino called Waters this morning, sharing the information he found, the detective had asked Smitty to come in and talk. He wasn’t under arrest; this was just a gathering of information, hoping they could break him into divulging evidence.

Sheila was still searching through the attic for his grandmother’s diary. It’d been so long since she read it that she couldn’t remember why his grandmother had mentioned Smitty. But it wasn’t because Martha was having an affair, she remembered. Sheila had told Gino that reading her godmother’s diary was like reading a romance novel full of scandalous friends and true love that was meant to be.

Detective Waters leaned back in his chair, chewing on his pen as a nervous-looking Smitty picked at a nick on the table.

“Please state your full name for the record,” Waters asked as he pressed Start on an antiquated recording device. Gino snickered, wondering if the officers who had interrogated Lee Harvey Oswald had used the same type of device. Gino’s department wasn’t high-tech, but at least they had an updated video and audio recording system.

Smitty squirmed in his seat before answering, “Alan Smith Jones, but everyone’s always called me Smitty.”

“And you’re the owner of The Pit Stop?”

“Y’sir. Inherited it from my granddad a few years back.”

“What did you do before then?” Waters continued with questions meant to set a baseline for Smitty’s responses. By asking simple questions first, the accused would let down his guard just enough that when the detective asked a pertinent question, either he’d answer honestly or stumble all over himself trying to come up with a quick lie, which would allow the detective to spot the difference.

“I’ve worked at The Pit Stop my entire life,” Smitty answered.

“So, how long have you known Sue and Nelson Thurber, Mr. Jones?”

“Darn near my entire life also. We’d all gone to high school together.”

“And when’s the last time you saw them?”

Smitty scratched his head. “Hmm … ’bout a week or so, I guess. They liked to come in for Sunday brunch at my diner every once and a while.”

“Do you know why anyone would want to kill them?”

Smitty sighed. “They were good people; it’s a darn shame.”

Gino watched the interview in frustration, realizing Smitty hadn’t answered the question and was nervous about something. But every word he spoke dripped with truth. Matter of fact, Gino didn’t think Smitty’d be able to tell a lie. If

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