“Nope.”
“Okay,” Makarowicz said. “Explain to me how her body got in that old septic tank on your family’s property. Nobody knew that manhole cover was there until yesterday, when a dumpster crashed down into it. And that’s where we found her.”
Creedmore stared down at his hands, which were clenching and unclenching.
“Who else knew about that abandoned septic tank?” the detective asked.
“I don’t know.…” Creedmore’s voice cracked. “I was just a little kid when my granddad had it pumped out.” He wiped at his nose with the back of his hand.
“Lanier went to meet you that night,” Makarowicz said. “Snuck out of the house after her husband and daughter were asleep. Met you out here at your family’s beach house, right? What was it the other football players called it? The hookup house? Did your parents know what was going on?”
“I don’t…” Beneath his unnaturally tan complexion, Creedmore’s neck and cheeks were blooming a deep red.
“She was wearing a purple ski jacket, which her husband identified as hers. We found her wedding ring in the zipped pocket of the jacket. He identified that, too. And her sneakers. That was all that was left of your lover. Also, her skull was bashed in.”
“Christ,” Creedmore whispered. His forehead was slick with perspiration. His clenched hands left damp spots on the knees of his lightweight khaki slacks.
“I have enough right now to charge you with homicide,” Makarowicz said. “But I’d like to hear your side of things. What made you kill her? And throw her into that septic tank?”
“I didn’t,” Creedmore said, his voice little more than a whisper. “I never would have hurt her. Never.”
He stared straight at Makarowicz. “It had to have been Frank. I didn’t do this.”
“Talk to me,” Makarowicz said. “I’m listening.”
* * *
Creedmore licked his lips and looked around the room. “Okay, so yeah. We were, I mean, it wasn’t a hookup. Not to me. I really loved her. I couldn’t believe someone as beautiful and smart as Lanier would be interested in me. The first time, I thought, okay, this is just sex. And it was amazing.”
“How long did it go on?” Makarowicz asked.
“It started in August. Frank wanted her to help me get my English grades up. I was being recruited by some D-1 schools, but my SAT scores were in the toilet. At first, we’d meet in the library at school, but she said it was too distracting. Anyway, I got the idea of coming out here, to the beach house.”
“Did your folks know you were using the house?”
“Yeah. They were fine with it. Anything to help me get into a good football program. It was all they talked about.”
“Keep going,” Makarowicz said. “When did it turn sexual?”
Creedmore winced. “I’m telling you, it wasn’t like that. It was gradual. This one time, I’d gotten a B on a term paper she helped me write, and I was psyched to tell her about it. She came into the house, and just sort of, hugged me, and then we started kissing.…”
“And pretty soon there wasn’t a lot of tutoring going on?” Mak said.
“I guess. After that first time, she got pretty upset, said we could never do it again. We’d both get in trouble, she’d get fired. All that.”
“But she kept on seeing you, and you kept sleeping together?” the detective asked. “At the beach house?”
“At first. But then my folks found out about the parties me and my buddies were having out there, and they changed the locks. After that, me and Lanier met in the dock house.”
Creedmore twisted the ring on his finger. “It was crazy. But she was all I could think about. I’d text her, or leave notes in her car.” Creedmore looked up at Makarowicz. “I would never have hurt her. Never. I’m telling you, Frank did this.”
“Did she talk to you about him?”
“Hell yeah. She knew he was screwing around on her.”
“Was he ever violent with her?”
Creedmore considered the question. “Not violent, but when he had a few beers, he was pretty shitty to her. A mean drunk, you know?”
“Did Lanier know Frank was suspicious about her?”
“Yeah. Toward the end, she got totally paranoid. A couple times, she thought he was following her.”
“Was he?”
“Maybe.”
“Talk to me about the night she disappeared,” Mak prompted.