A Deadly Game by Catherine Crier Read Free Book Online Page A

transcript, so was I. If my family member was missing, the first words out of my mouth on any new phone call would have been, "Did you find her?" or "Have you heard anything?" Yet Scott didn't ask Amy a thing. He must have known the answers.
    "Okay, so you fish ninety minutes, then what? You go back to the marina?" the detective continued.
    "Uh-huh."
    "You see anybody, you talk to anybody out there?"
    "Talked to a couple guys fishing. They asked me, 'Did you catch anything?' They didn't either. Ah, the guys working, fixing ah, maintenance guys, got a good laugh from me trying to back down the trailer," he explained, grinning. These individuals, if real, never emerged to testify at trial.
    "Okay, then what? You drive, how did you get there?"
    Scott described his route to the Berkeley Marina along Highway 580 to 50 North.
    "You come home the same way?"
    "Yeah," Scott replied.
    "You have to stop for gas?"
    "Stop for gas in Livermore or Pleasanton ... I think it was a Chevron station. There are buses around."
    "How'd you pay?"
    Scott told the officer he used a credit card, but he had no receipt.
    "Debit or credit card?"
    "I don't know which way they count it, debit or credit, when you stick it in there," Scott answered.
    "Okay. When you got in the car, who did you call?"
    "I called Laci, ah, just as I was leaving the marina."
    "Home phone?" Brocchini asked.
    Scott said he had called the home number and Laci's mobile phone, leaving messages on both. He gave Brocchini her cell number and password, but said he didn't know if the calls were time stamped. "Try it out," Scott said.
    Brocchini listened to the messages, noting that the times were exactly as Scott said. He made no mention of his contemporaneous conversations with his father or his friend, Greg Reed. Both men enjoyed fishing, but Scott said nothing to them about his new boat or his trip to the bay.
    After gassing up, Scott drove straight to the warehouse to drop off the boat and then went home.
    Brocchini cleared his throat before asking the next question. "When you left, ah, what where you wearing?"
    "Blue jeans and a blue T-shirt."
    "And what shoes?"
    "Ah, Timberland."
    "Which jacket?"
    Scott paused.
    "Did you leave your jacket in the truck?" the detective interrupted.
    "When I left the house, I didn't have a jacket on. But I had a, when I was in the warehouse, I had that green pullover on that was in my truck. When it started raining, I had a camo jacket on in the boat and, ah, tan hat."
    "Okay, so then you went back to the shop, you unhooked the boat?"
    "Uh-huh."
    "Did you do anything else?"
    "No. I... I guess I saw that fax. And I was late getting home so I went straight home," Scott responded.
    "Did you try to call anymore?" Brocchini pressed.
    "Just, ah, once from the marina, both phones, and then later on, I left a second message on her mobile."
    "There was only one from you."
    "Well, I left two at home, and I thought I left two on the mobile. Maybe I didn't leave the second one on the mobile," Scott conceded. "One was when I left Berkeley and the other one was, ah, when I was driving in Livermore. The traffic was pretty bad and I knew I wouldn't be home by four, so I gave her a call."
    When he got home, Scott backed his car into the driveway next to Laci's SUV, then entered the house through the backyard. When he found McKenzie, dragging his leash, Scott removed the leash and placed it on the patio table. Entering the house through the French doors, he noticed that they were unlocked. He related his movements for Brocchini-dumping the mop water, then washing his clothes.
    "Were you calling for Laci?" Brocchini wanted to know.
    "Oh, yeah, of course," Scott assured him.
    "But she wasn't home?"
    "No, I assumed she was at her mom's."
    "Okay, then what?"
    "I grabbed some pizza, from the fridge." He then went to take a shower.
    "Did you call her mom?"
    "After I got out of the shower, and put clothes on, that's when I checked the messages."
    "Were there