“Don’t say a word!”

“I didn’t touch the bitch,” Holmes said.

“Then tell your lawyer that you want to tell me who did the murder. Tell your lawyer that you want to talk to me to clear things up.”

“Don’t say another word, Ray. He’s lying to you!”

“He doesn’t have a warrant for my arrest?”

Dudley stammered, “Well, yes, but if you talk to him, it’ll only get you into trouble. That’s the game they use, Ray. They pretend to be sympathetic, but they’re not. Just let them go through the motions of booking you and I’ll have you out of here by tonight.”

“Or maybe tomorrow morning, depending how the docket goes,” Decker added.

“So that’s your advice? To let the bastard arrest me?”

“He’s going to arrest you, Ray, whether you talk to him or not!”

“But maybe not for murder,” Decker said.

“He’s lying through his teeth,” Dudley said.

Decker was lying through his teeth. The lawyer was absolutely right. But Holmes’s aversion to prison was stronger than logic. He crossed his arms. “I’m not going to talk to you, Lieutenant. But if you tell me what you know, I’ll correct your mistakes.”

Holmes thought he was being very clever, but Dudley wasn’t going to give up without a fight. “If you correct him in front of me, he can take those words and twist them against you, Ray.”

“I’ll take that chance.” Holmes sat back in his chair. “Go on. Tell me what you’ve heard.”

“Okay, let’s give it a shot,” Decker said. “Thirty years ago, Beth and Manny Hernandez disappeared off the face of the earth. And I know that you, my friend, were christened Belize Hernandez. You are Manny’s brother and Beth’s brother-in-law. And just like you admitted, you’ve had a long history of trouble with the law.”

“And the point is…?”

“You were paroled thirty-two years ago for good behavior, about six months before your brother and sister-in-law disappeared. You moved to Madrid, New Mexico, and lived there for about three months, and eventually, you moved to Arizona, using the name Tomas Martinez. You hopped around the state for a while. You lived in Mesa, Yuma, Tucson, Phoenix.”

“I don’t deny that, either. I worked construction. I was building up my skills. I was still that Latino from New Mexico and Arizona felt familiar to me.”

“You were in Arizona for around five years-”

“I was learning my trade. So what?”

“Then we lost track of you,” Decker continued on. “Three years later you take the contractor’s licensing examination in San Jose using the name Raymond Holmes.”

“I told you, I changed my name to Raymond Holmes to make me sound less Latino. And I did that legally. So far, all you have on me is stealing the name Tomas Martinez. And I told you I stole his name because I wanted to make a fresh start. Adios to Belize and hello to Tomas. So what?”

“No problem, Belize, but here is where we have conflicting information. Before you made that move to Arizona, we have some unaccounted time for your whereabouts and that period happens to coincide with the disappearance of your brother and sister-in-law.”

“You expect me to remember every minute for the last thirty-two years?” Holmes sneered. “I bet you can’t even remember what you had for dinner last Thursday.”

“You’re right. I don’t remember what I had for dinner last Thursday. But I definitely would remember killing my sister-in-law.”

“I already told you, I did not kill her!”

“Well, other people and this warrant say you did.”

Holmes bolted up and started to pace. “Who says I killed her?”

“Sit down, Ray,” Dudley told his client.

“Who says I killed Beth? I want to know a name!”

“I can’t continue with the interview unless you’re seated,” Decker told him.

Angrily, Holmes plopped himself back down. “Give me a name.”

“The D.A. will give you all the exculpatory evidence that we have, but I can’t do that until you’re booked for murder-”

“I didn’t kill her! What do you want from me!”

“I want to know where you were from the time you moved from Madrid until you moved to Arizona.”

“I don’t remember!”

“We’re going around in circles,” Dudley said.

“Would you like me to execute the warrant as is?” Decker said.

Dudley said, “You’re going to do it anyway.”

“Taz, let me handle this my way!” Holmes said. “I don’t remember where I was because I was too busy trying to survive. I drifted here and there.”

“Did you drift here and there and visit your brother in L.A.?”

Holmes clamped his mouth shut, his eyes moving from side to side. Dudley piped in, “Don’t answer anything you’re uncomfortable answering, Ray.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Decker lied. “We already know the answer to that one because we have witnesses.”

“Who?” Holmes asked.

“C’mon, Mr. Holmes. Did you really think that you could live with Beth and Manny and belong to their church and have them disappear and not have people remember you?”

“I never belonged to their church!” Holmes replied.

“Everyone knew you were staying with Beth and Manny.” Decker leaned in close. “Look, sir, I understand the fix you were in. You were an ex-con. No one would hire you because of your background. You couldn’t go back to Santa Fe to get some help from your old lady because there were scores of people mad at you for boosting their cars or stealing their TVs. Plus your old man had dropped a couple of innocent lives. So you went to visit your brother and sister-in-law in L.A. You figured they’d be good for something. You’re not going to deny, right?”

Holmes said, “I got to go to the bathroom.”

“No problem,” Decker said. “

Again, they took a break just as Decker was on a roll. Still, it was good to get up and stretch one’s legs. When they returned to the interrogation room, Dudley was still trying to convince Holmes not to talk. But the big man was insisting that he could take good care of himself. He sat down, poured himself another glass of water, and said, “So I visited my brother. So what?”

“So what?” Decker repeated. “The first ‘so what’ is that your brother and sister-in-law have been missing for over thirty years. The second ‘so what’ is that we’ve recovered Beth Hernandez’s murdered body, and the final ‘so what’ is that you’re our prime suspect in her murder.”

“I didn’t do it!” Holmes blurted out. “Manny did it!”

Dudley slapped his face. “Can I please talk to you alone for a minute, Ray?”

“Absolutely, you can talk to him right after I book him for murder-”

“I swear on my mother’s grave, I didn’t kill her!” Holmes shouted. “Manny killed her in a fit of rage. I was there! I saw it! That’s the fuck why I moved to Arizona. I needed to get far, far away.”

Decker imagined the high fives Scott and Marge were exchanging after hearing Holmes’s admission to being at the scene of Beth’s death. But Decker was still far away from the full confession. He said, “Tell me what happened, Ray. It may bring the charges down from murder to accessory after the fact.”

“Or it may not,” Dudley said. “I know I’m sounding like a broken record, but he’s lying, Ray. You fell into his leg trap. Don’t keep pulling on it or you’ll wind up an amputee.”

“Taz, I swear I didn’t kill her. Why should I take the fall for my stupid brother’s mistake?”

“You’re right, Mr. Holmes,” Decker soothed. “If Manny killed his wife, you shouldn’t take the fall. So tell me what happened.”

Holmes held up his hand to silence his lawyer. “They got into an argument. He pushed her hard. She fell backward and hit her head. I wasn’t even in the room when it happened. I was chilling in the living room and they were going at it in the bedroom. She was a freak, man. She was screaming at my poor brother and I think he just cracked.”

“What were they arguing about?”

“I told you already. I don’t know!”

“Take a guess.”

Holmes looked away. “Probably money.”