She shook her head.
“No. It’s just part of the family holdings. We used to host parties there when my father was still alive. Uncle Jack doesn’t like it. I haven’t been there in years.”
“I think that will be all for now. You may leave.”
“When can I have my phone back?” Nita asked.
“When we’re gone and not before.”
She left in haste, anxious to be gone before she dissolved into tears. She hadn’t expected the intensity of the questioning, and it scared her.
Riordan glanced at Griffin.
“Call the office and tell Joyce to get a search warrant for that lake house. She can research the address and the other particulars the judge will need.”
“Yes, sir,” Griffin said.
“Go get Charles before you call. Thank God he’s the last member of this damn family.”
“There’s actually one more, but she’s the victim’s wife,” Griffin reminded him, and left the room.
Riordan knew that, and he wasn’t looking forward to the visit. Moments later, Charles Wayne came in unescorted.
“We’ll be waiting for Officer Griffin to fingerprint you,” Riordan said.
Charles sat and then folded his hands in his lap. When he noticed they were videoing the interviews, he wondered how his family had fared. Aunt Fee was close to drunk. Uncle Justin had become, ever since this all began, a raging bull, and Aunt Nita was an airhead. The only two people in the family with common sense were his father and Uncle Jack. And him, of course, but he wasn’t afraid to answer any questions, because he had nothing to hide regarding the murder of a man he’d never heard of, who’d been married to a woman he’d never met.
Riordan pretended to be checking his texts while surreptitiously eyeing the youngest Wayne. He looked nothing like the others, and Riordan wondered what his status was within the family. Did he actually participate in the family business, or was he just coasting through life on the family name and money?
At that moment Griffin entered and gave Riordan a slight nod to let him know the search warrant for the lake house was in the works.
“This way, please,” Griffin said to Charles, then fingerprinted him.
As soon as Charles sat down again, Griffin adjusted the camera, then nodded.
“Ready when you are, sir,” Griffin said.
“Then let’s do it,” Riordan said. “Mr. Wayne, please, state your name, your place in the family and how long you’ve lived in Eden.”
Charles was calm, and stayed calm as the questioning went on. The tone of his voice was polite and properly respectful of an officer of the law. He answered with, a “no, sir” or a “yes, sir” and was more forthcoming than he had to be.
“Does your family own any weapons?” Riordan asked.
Charles nodded. “Yes, sir, but I’m not sure how many or exactly what kinds.”
“Do you know where they’re kept?”
“I know some of them are at the lake house, but I don’t know if that’s all of them.”
Riordan paused. If the family never gathered there anymore, and if this kid had been away at college all those years, what did the lake house represent to him?
“I’ve been told your family doesn’t use the lake house anymore,” he said.
Charles shrugged.
“I don’t think that’s entirely true. I think Dad let some of the resort people stay there once or twice, and I believe someone in the family had a New Year’s Eve party there my senior year of college. I remember wishing I was here to attend, because I was finally of legal age to drink.”
Riordan began tapping his pen against his notebook.
“Do you know how to shoot a gun?”
“Oh, yes, sir. I’m actually quite a good shot, although I confess the only thing I’ve shot at are clay pigeons.”
“Do you know how to ride a motorcycle?”
“Sure do. I had one when I was away at boarding school in DC. It was a lot easier to get around all the traffic and find a place to park, although I did use my car during inclement weather.”
“Do you ride here?”
Charles shook his head.
“No, I sold the bike after I graduated college, before I came home.”
“What about the motorcycle here?”
Charles frowned. “I didn’t know there was one until you mentioned it this morning.”
“There’s one registered to the family corporation,” Riordan said.
Charles shrugged.
“I’ll have to ask Dad. I might like to ride here, too. The mountains around Eden are beautiful this time of year, don’t you think?”
Riordan thought of the families who’d been displaced by the resort. He doubted there was much of anything beautiful about their lives right now. He glanced up. “How often do you go out to the lake house?”
Charles’s gaze shifted momentarily, as if he hadn’t seen that question coming, and Riordan knew immediately there was something he wasn’t telling.
And then Charles grinned.