violent and bloody death on anyone, she found she couldn’t summon up much grief for the man who’d beaten and terrorized her friend.
“Let’s get back to what happened tonight.” Mike’s voice was soft, inviting Danielle’s trust. “You said you fell asleep on the couch?”
“That’s right.”
“What time did you wake up?”
“I’m not sure. The movie was over, so it must have been after nine-thirty. I turned off the television and called out for Boyd, but he didn’t answer. I thought maybe he’d come home and gone up to bed. That’s why I went out to the garage to see if his car was there.”
Mike frowned slightly. “You didn’t go upstairs to see if he was there?”
“No, I was just too tired. I didn’t want to climb the stairs and then have to come down again. It was easier to check the garage.”
“Tell me exactly what you saw when you opened the garage door.”
“Well… it was dark, so I turned on the light over Boyd’s workbench. His car was there, so I figured he’d come home and gone up to bed. Then I noticed that the garage door was still open, so I closed it.”
“The garage door was open, but the light wasn’t on?”
Danielle shook her head. “It burned out yesterday. Boyd was going to replace it, but he hadn’t gotten around to it yet. And then I saw the hammer, and I knew that something was wrong.”
“Why?” Mike asked.
“Boyd’s very particular about his tools. They all have a place on the pegboard, and he’s really careful about putting them back after he uses them. That’s just the way he was brought up.”
“Do you ever use his tools?”
“Never.” Danielle looked surprised at the question. “He bought me a kit with my own tools for the house. I keep it in the kitchen drawer.”
Hannah nodded, imagining what Danielle’s punishment would have been if she’d used one of Boyd’s tools and hadn’t returned it.
“How about Boyd’s hammer? Did you touch it?”
“Yes. I knew I hadn’t used it, but I didn’t want Boyd to get upset when he saw that it wasn’t hanging up in the right place. He… he might have blamed me. So I picked it up and it was… sticky.” Danielle shivered slightly. “I looked down at my fingers and then I… I dropped it.”
“Did you realize that the hammer had blood on it?”
“I don’t remember. I guess I must have or I wouldn’t have dropped it. I walked over to his car and then… I saw him. Down there on the floor.”
“What did you do next?”
“I knelt and felt for a pulse. But there wasn’t any. And then I tried to give him CPR. He was still warm, and I thought maybe…” Danielle stifled a sob and drew a deep shaky breath. “But it didn’t work. I just sat there staring at him for a minute. I… I just couldn’t believe it! And then I got up and went to the kitchen to call Hannah.”
Hannah provided the answer before Mike could ask. “I looked at the clock when the phone rang. Danielle called me at ten. When she asked me to come over, I drove straight here, and it was ten-fifteen when I rang the bell.”
“Got it.” Mike wrote the time in his notebook and turned back to Danielle. “Is there anything else you can remember? A sound that woke you? A car that you heard in the alley?”
Danielle thought about it for a minute, then shook her head. “I don’t think so. Maybe something woke me up, but I don’t remember what it was.”
“There’s one other thing, Danielle.” Mike looked very sympathetic. “I know what your husband did to you, and I’m sure there were times when you were afraid of him. Isn’t that right?”
“Yes,” Danielle admitted, and a tear rolled down her cheek.
“Did you ever strike back at Boyd after he’d hit you?”
“Oh, no!” Danielle looked alarmed at the suggestion. “It would have made things even worse. I knew that Boyd didn’t mean to hit me. He loved me, but he just couldn’t help himself.”
Mike slipped his arm around Danielle’s shoulder. “Maybe he did love you, but he also hurt you very badly. A lot of abused wives reach a point where they just can’t take it anymore. Some of them leave, but others find the courage to fight back. If your husband threatened you, and you picked up that hammer to defend yourself, you’d be perfectly justified.”
“I know,” Danielle swallowed hard, “but that’s not what happened. When I found Boyd in the garage, he was already dead. I know someone killed him, but it wasn’t… it wasn’t me!”
Danielle stifled a sob, and Mike handed her a tissue from the box on the coffee table. “Okay. I just wanted to make absolutely sure you understood that no one would blame you if you struck out at him to defend yourself. That’s all.”
Hannah felt sick as she added it all up in her head. Danielle’s prints were on the murder weapon, Boyd’s blood was all over her clothing, she’d admitted that Boyd had battered her at noon on Tuesday, and she had a black eye to prove it. Hannah knew that it wasn’t unusual for an abused wife to strike back hours, weeks, and even months after being injured. There were no witnesses to Boyd’s murder, at least not yet, and every shred of circumstantial evidence pointed to the fact that Danielle had snapped and bashed Boyd’s head in with his ball peen hammer.
“You… you believe me, don’t you?” Danielle asked, looking up at Mike.
Mike gave her a little hug before he stood up. “Yes, I do.”
Hannah gave a deep sigh of relief. Mike was one of the most honorable men she knew. He didn’t lie, and she was sure that he believed what Danielle had told him. But what about Sheriff Grant? This was an election year, and Coach Watson’s murder was what the Lake Eden Journal would call a high-profile case. If Sheriff Grant believed that Danielle was guilty, he might discourage his detectives from investigating further. She looked up at Mike and found him watching her. Had he guessed what was running through her mind? She had to talk to him, and the sooner, the better.
“This has been a terrible shock for you, Danielle.” Hannah moved over to take Mike’s place on the couch. “I think that you should try to rest.”
Danielle dabbed at her eyes with the sodden tissue. “I… I can’t. I have to… to call Boyd’s relatives and…”
“It’s too late to do anything tonight,” Hannah interrupted her. “I’ll help you with all that in the morning.”
Danielle seemed relieved as she sagged back against the cushions. “Thank you, Hannah, but I don’t think I can rest. Every time I shut my eyes, I see Boyd’s face with all that… that blood!”
“Don’t think about it.” Hannah knew her advice was useless, but she had to say something. Once someone said not to think about something, you couldn’t think about anything else. “I’ll go make you a cup of hot chocolate. That’ll make you feel better.”
“That’s nice of you, Hannah, but I don’t have any hot chocolate mix.”
“Do you have cocoa?”
“I… I think so. There should be some in one of the cupboards.”
“How about sugar? And milk?”
“The sugar’s in a canister, and there’s milk in the refrigerator.”
“Then I’ll make it from scratch. It’s better that way.”
“I… I’m not a very good cook. How do you make hot chocolate from scratch?”
Hannah smiled. At least she’d gotten Danielle’s mind off finding Boyd’s body. “I’ll show you sometime. Right now I want you to stretch out on the couch and try to relax. You have to keep up your strength.”
“All right.” Danielle’s voice was shaky, and her face was a sickly shade of gray. “Thank you, Hannah.”
Hannah unfolded the afghan that was draped over the back of the couch and tucked Danielle in. “Rest, Danielle. We’ll be back in a couple of minutes.”
Mike took Hannah’s cue and followed her out to the kitchen. He sat down in a chair and watched while she opened cupboard drawers and located the ingredients. Danielle hadn’t been overly modest when she’d admitted that she wasn’t a very good cook. Almost everything in her cupboards was a mix. There were instant potatoes, Hamburger and Tuna Helper, instant pudding, Minute Rice, scalloped potatoes in a box, and even instant coffee and
