Hardy 11 - Suspect, The by John Lescroart

or something, but I got home from work and there was a police car parked in front of the house."
    "Stuart and Caryn's house? Next door?"
    "Yes. I stopped and stood by it for a minute, wondering if I should knock and see what had happened and if there was anything I could do to help. But in the end I just came home. When I looked out later—not too much later—it was gone."
    "You're sure it had come to their house?"
    "Well, no, I wasn't at first, although it was parked right in front of their place. But after it was gone, I called over there and asked Stuart if everything was all right, that I'd seen the police car and all. And he said everything was fine. That it had just been a misunderstanding."
    "A misunderstanding?"
    "That's what he said."
    "About what? Did you ask him?"
    "No. He didn't seem anxious to talk very much about it."
    "Did you ever notice any kind of marks on Caryn? A black eye? Anything like that?"
    She shook her head. "But I didn't see as much of her anyway."
    "So you never found out why the police car was there?"
    "Well, not from them." The answer seemed to embarrass her. She went on. "Have you talked to the Sutcliffs yet? The neighbors on the other side?"
    "Not yet."
    "Well, Harriet—Mrs. Sutcliff—she was the one who had called the police. She thought somebody was going to get killed over there."
     
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    Q: Three, two, one. Case number 07-232918. This is Inspector Devin Juhle, badge 1667. The time is quarter after fifteen hundred hours on Monday, September 12th. I am at a residence at 1322 Greenwich Street and speaking with a sixty-four-year-old Caucasian woman who identifies herself as Harriet Sutcliff, the owner of the residence. Mrs. Sutcliff, I appreciate your agreeing to talk with me. How long have you been neighbors with Stuart and Caryn Gorman?
    A: Since they moved in here. That was, I guess, fifteen or so years ago.
    Q:    Did you find them to be good neighbors?
    A: Yes. At first. We liked them very much. Especially Art—my husband?—when he found out that Stuart wrote those fly-fishing books. Art's a fisherman himself. So it was really exciting for him getting to know a celebrity like that. But the last couple of years, we haven't seen too much of them.
    Q:    And why is that?
    A: It just seemed that they changed. First they seemed to stop doing social things together. And certainly with us. Stuart would still come by sometimes and talk to Art, but we almost never saw them together anymore. And then, by the summer, they seemed to just be fighting all the time.
    Q:    You heard them fighting?
    A:    Yes.
    Q:    Just words, or more than that?
    A:    More, I'd say.
    Q:    Like what?
    A: Well, I definitely heard some things breaking over there. As though they were thrown. It was hard not to hear when that happened. And then one day last summer, I didn't want to but I felt I had to call the police. I thought somebody was going to get hurt.
    Q:    And so you did, in fact, call the police?
    A: Yes. And a car came. It stayed a short while, but I don't think anything ever came of that. And since then I haven't talked to either Stuart or Caryn very much. I think they must have figured out that I'd been the one that called and they were mad at me.
    Q:    Did there continue to be fights after that one?
    A:    A couple, I think. But none so bad.
    Q:    Did you hear anything like a fight last night over there?
    A: No. We—Art and I—we went to a movie and got back about ten thirty, and it was all quiet over there. Dark. And we were asleep by the time Stuart got home.
    Q:    By the time Stuart got home?
    A:     Right.
    Q:    And what time was that?
    A:     I don't know exactly. I gather pretty late.
    Q:    You mean this morning?
    A:     No, I don't think so. I believe he got home last night.
    Q:    Why do you believe that? If you were asleep and didn't hear him?
    A: Well, I didn't see it myself, but because that's what