“I’m sorry,” I said, swallowing the last of my pride, “that I yelled at you and called you terrible names. I was angry at my husband, and I took it out on you. And I shouldn’t have.”
Mrs. Haggerty wrinkled her nose, adjusting her glasses to peer at me through them, as if she were gauging my sincerity. With a satisfied grunt, she let them fall to her bosom.
“So, about my garage,” I said cautiously. “What did you see, exactly?”
She reached for the bound diary on the hall table behind her. Thumbing it open, she licked a gnarled finger and fanned through the pages. She settled on one with a sigh. “On the night of Tuesday, October eighth, I saw you leave with the kids a little before six in the evening. And then I saw you come back without them at approximately six forty. I figured you’d probably be in for the night since you don’t get out much.” She looked down her nose at me, and I smiled tightly back. It was all I could do to keep from throttling the woman. “But then I saw you leave again, all dressed up like you were going on a date, I assume with that dark-haired policeman you’ve been entertaining lately.” She raised a poorly drawn eyebrow, inviting me to elaborate on my relationship with Nick, but why bother? She seemed to have it all figured out. “I actually mistook you for Ms. Hall at first, to be honest. But then you tripped in your heels coming off your garage step and I knew right away it was you. You’re clumsier than Theresa. And you have horrific posture,” she added, scrutinizing my shoulders. “That’s probably because of all the time you spend in front of that computer. It’s unhealthy, you know.”
I gestured impatiently for her to go on.
“Anyway, I guess that must have been just after seven,” she said, returning her attention to her book. “After that, everything was quiet for a few hours. I watched my TV programs and had a slice of pie, which is how I knew it was about nine forty-five when I noticed the lights in your garage. You left your van running when you ran inside. I figured you were grabbing something you’d forgotten before going to pick up the children from wherever you’d taken them earlier.”
“My sister’s,” I said, gesturing again.
“Your sister, the police officer? There sure have been a lot of them over there these last few days—”
“Yes, she was babysitting for me,” I said a little too brusquely. “Did you see anything else?”
“Of course,” she snapped, as if the very question of her vigilance was offensive. “I watched the house, to make sure nobody bothered your van while you were inside. I was irritable at first because you were taking a long while, and I was missing my late-night TV program on account of it. But then something strange happened.” She adjusted her glasses, the thick gold chain catching on the shoulder pads in her sweater.
“What did you see?”
She leveled an arthritic finger at me. “I saw someone snooping inside your garage.”
My breath rushed out of me. This was it. Mrs. Haggerty had seen the people who killed Harris. “Do you remember what they looked like?”
“It was hard to see clearly from here, especially so late at night. The headlights from the van were behind him, but I could tell he was tall. He had to bend down a bit to see inside the windows of your van. I thought he might be one of the hoodlums in the neighborhood planning to steal it, so I went downstairs to call the police. But by the time I got to the phone in the kitchen, you must have come out to the garage and scared him off. When I looked out my kitchen window, your garage door was already shut. As far as I could see he was gone.” I glanced behind her, at an electric chairlift perched on a track at the base of the stairs. My grandmother had one in her house. They moved like molasses. Who knew how much time Mrs. Haggerty had lost? Or if she could even be considered a reliable eyewitness. She hadn’t actually seen anyone close the garage door. And even if she had, the woman couldn’t see her face in the mirror to apply her own lipstick. A judge might just throw her testimony out.
“You said it was a he?” I asked, making sure I’d heard her right.
She gave a confident nod. I raked back my hair, struggling to puzzle it out. Feliks was tall. I supposed he could have come here with Theresa. Or even with Andrei. But something about that scenario felt off. I’d had enough run-ins with Feliks to see how he operated. Feliks didn’t do his own dirty work. That’s what he had Andrei for. And Andrei wasn’t subtle.
“Did you see who was with him?”