“Do you think it was fair to ask your sister to give up her home?” Bree asked.
“It’s for the children! Their father could go to prison. They’ll lose their home.” Bernard thumped a fist on the table. “Camilla complained about not having grandchildren for years. All I ever heard was how much she loved children. I thought she actually did.”
“You called her a few days before she died,” Bree said.
Stephanie interrupted. “You don’t have to answer, Dad.”
“No, it’s OK.” He squeezed her hand. “Yes. She turned me down last month, but I thought maybe she might have changed her mind after she’d had time to think about it.” His mouth flattened into a grim line. “She hadn’t.” He released his daughter’s hand and shoved his through his silver hair. “Eugene came to see me the next day. He told me to stop badgering his mother and go beg somewhere else.” His gaze flittered away and the lines around his mouth tightened. He was holding something back.
“Eugene paid your son-in-law a significant sum of money last year,” Bree said.
Bernard’s nod was curt. “I warned Eugene. He wouldn’t listen, and Leonard sucked him in.”
“You knew Leonard was running a Ponzi scheme?” Bree asked.
Bernard shook his head hard. “Of course not. And Leonard wasn’t running it. He was suckered too. But Leonard was always pursuing some questionable-sounding scheme. My sister just wouldn’t understand.”
“I’ll bet you were angry,” Matt said.
“Dad, don’t say any more,” Stephanie warned.
But Bernard’s eyes flashed, bright with fury. “You bet I was angry. My sister was a selfish woman.”
Bree caught Matt’s eye and nodded. Matt left the room and returned with a printed photo. “We found these pants in your hamper.” He set the photo on the table and pointed to the dark stains on the pant leg. The lab had already performed a rapid test and confirmed the stain was human blood. “This is blood. Human blood.”
Bernard stared at the photo, then looked up at Matt. Panic widened his eyes as his gaze darted to Bree’s. “It’s mine.”
Bree scanned him. “You don’t appear to have any significant cuts or scrapes.”
“When I mowed my lawn the other day, the grass pollen set off my allergies. I had a nosebleed. If I had just committed murder, I wouldn’t have tossed my pants into the hamper. I would have burned them or buried them somewhere. But those are my yard work and painting pants. I don’t care about stains.”
The pants were beat-up.
“We’re sending the pants for DNA analysis,” Bree said. “So, we’ll know if you’re lying about that too.”
“I’m not lying, not about that.” Desperation sharpened Bernard’s tone. “I can’t believe you think I killed my sister and nephew.” He sat back, his face stricken.
“You lied about seeing Oscar. You lied about calling Camilla. You lied about the value of the farm, and you lied about needing money,” Bree pointed out. “Why did you lie about those things?”
Bernard stared back at her. His mouth opened. “I—”
“Don’t answer that, Dad,” Stephanie interrupted him.
Bernard’s mouth snapped shut.
“Because they made you look guilty?” Matt suggested.
Bernard’s jaw sawed back and forth, as if he were grinding his molars.
Stephanie put her hand on her father’s forearm, as if to physically restrain him. “Are you going to arrest him?”
Bree met her gaze. “Not yet.”
Stephanie stood. “In that case, my father won’t be answering any more questions.”
Even if Bree requested a rush, the DNA test would take a few days. Until then, Stephanie was right. Bree had no physical evidence. Making a case using circumstantial evidence wasn’t impossible, but it was damned difficult.
Frustrated, she watched Bernard and his daughter leave the station. She went to the conference room. Todd sat at the table, files and papers strewn across the laminate surface. His laptop was open in front of him.
Matt followed her in, and Bree summed up the interview for Todd before turning to Matt. “What did you think?”
“He had an answer for everything,” Matt said.
Bree nodded. “Except for why he lied.”
“Because the truth makes him look bad,” Matt suggested.
“He isn’t very tech savvy. He didn’t realize we could easily find the truth,” Todd added.