“How did you—”
Sean impatiently cut him off. “I’m an investigator, Tuck, that’s what I do. We’re wasting time and your kid is out there somewhere with some seriously violent folks. So where were you? And if you even think about lying to me I’m coming over there and, Secret Service protection or not, I’m gonna kick the shit out of you.”
“I was outside my house,” he said hastily.
“Outside your house?”
“Yeah. I was watching it. I thought if Pam believed I was still in Jacksonville, she and her ‘friend’ might get together. I wanted to catch them in the act. But nobody showed up, so I drove into the garage and went in the house.”
“And if the guy did show, what exactly were you going to do?”
“Do? Um, I’m not sure. Kick his butt probably.”
“And then what, confess to Pam your own infidelity and let her kick your ass?”
“Look, you asked and I told you. I don’t need a sermon, okay?”
Something about this explanation was not adding up to Sean. “Your house is down a long driveway with woods on either side. Where were you watching from?”
“The driveway curves and there’s a break in the treeline on the east side of the property. You have a clear line of vision to the front door as well as the garage side.”
“It was night and it was dark.”
“I had a pair of binoculars in my car.”
“You just happened to?”
“Okay, so I bought them with that thought in mind.”
“When you were watching your own house, did you notice anyone around who shouldn’t have been there?”
“No. There was nobody.”
“There was obviously somebody, Tuck. They weren’t in the house while you were watching it or else you probably would have heard screaming. They had a surveillance zone set up before they made the hit, spotted you right away, and waited for you to go in before they slammed your house.”
“But I would’ve seen them, Sean.”
“No, you wouldn’t. They obviously knew what they were doing. And you obviously didn’t,” he added.
“Shit,” grumbled Tuck.
“What did you overhear on the phone calls? As detailed as you can.”
“There were two calls. I just happened to pick up the same time as Pam did on one of them. I heard a guy’s voice. He said something like, ‘I want to meet. And soon.’ And Pam wanted to do it later. That’s all I heard before I got nervous and hung up.”
“And the other time?”
I was walking past the bedroom. She must’ve thought I had already left, but I forgot my briefcase and had come back from the garage. She was talking in a low voice but I heard her say that I was leaving town in two days and they could meet then.”
“And what happened?”
“I only pretended to leave town. I changed my flight and followed her. She went to a coffee shop about a half hour away.”
“And you saw the guy?”
“Yeah.”
“Hair color, build, race, age?”