“Am I a suspect?” he asked.
“Until I have something definitive that says you’re not,” she told him honestly.
“And how can I prove that?”
“Would you give me your fingerprints and consent to a DNA swab?”
He shrugged. “Fine. I’ve got nothing to hide since I didn’t do this.”
“Good. Okay.”
Spenser pulled a digital fingerprint reader out of her bag. It was one of the few new modern conveniences she’d convinced the council to open up the town coffers for since it increased efficiency and accuracy. She quickly scanned Bo’s prints, and after that, gave him a quick DNA swab from the inside of his cheek.
“All right. I appreciate your cooperation. This should help either include or exclude you.”
“Good. Fine.”
As far as alibis went, his was thin. Exceedingly thin. He was in town, which gave him the opportunity to kill Hamill. He also had a motive to spare. And since eyedrops are a very common item, he had access to the means… but then, so did a lot of people. Spenser’s gut was telling her that Bo Graham was not her guy. A gut feeling, though, was a long way from definitive proof. And on that count, she was pretty light. She couldn’t even say his prints and DNA would definitively exclude him as a suspect. But it was a start.
“Is there anything else?” he grumbled. “Would you like urine? A stool sample? How about my shoe size?”
“No, this should be sufficient for now,” she replied as she put her things back into her bag then raised her gaze to the man. “For the moment, though, I’d suggest you stick around town in case I have more questions.”
“That’s a pretty weak alibi,” Amanda said.
“It is. But he swears it’s true,” Spenser replied.
Spenser paced around the table in the conference room, her arms folded over her chest after relaying her conversation with Bo to Jacob and Amanda.
“I think it’s credible,” Jacob added. “Creatives sometimes get weird like that. They go total hermit crab and lock themselves away when they get on a creative streak.”
Amanda laughed. “Do you remember Aunt Yoli?”
Jacob rolled his eyes. “I had almost forgotten about her. Thanks for dredging that bit of family history up from the depths.”
Spenser stopped pacing, planting her hands on the back of her chair, and leaned over. “Who is Aunt Yoli?”
Amanda’s face lit up with a soft, nostalgic smile.
“Yoli was our dad’s younger sister. She was… eccentric—”
“I think eccentric undersells things,” Jacob piped in. “She was batcrap crazy.”
“Eccentric,” Amanda corrected. “She was an artist.”
“Depending on your definition of the word art,” Jacob muttered.
“My brother doesn’t like Yoli because she could be… flighty.”
“Once, she forgot I was with her and left me at the zoo. By myself in the reptile house,” he argued. “Do you even understand how traumatizing that is for a six-year-old? I hate snakes and lizards to this day because of that incident.”
“You really need to let go of that,” Amanda said with a laugh. “It’s not like she left you in a cage with a snake.”
“Close enough. I was in a room, alone, surrounded by all things slithery and scaly.”
“You really need to talk to somebody about that,” Amanda said.
“I have.”
“You have some deep-seated issues, my brother.”
“Growing up in our family, it was hard to avoid them.”
“Okay, that’s probably fair,” Amanda said. “Anyway, Yoli was like that. She’d get caught up in her head with some creative vision and she’d shut the world out. That day at the zoo, she got one of those visions or whatever and that’s why she wandered away and left Jacob there. We didn’t see her for a week because she’d locked herself away to bring that vision to fruition.”
Jacob made a sour face and looked away and it was all Spenser could do to keep from laughing at his expense.
“If I remember right, what she produced was amazing,” Amanda said. “I think it turned out to be one of her biggest selling pieces. Made her a small fortune.”
“I’m so glad she was able to turn a tidy profit off my permanent emotional damage. That’s awesome,” Jacob muttered.
Spenser couldn’t stop the snort that burst from her mouth any longer. She quickly covered her mouth with her hand, but it was too late. Her guffaw filled the room. Jacob arched an eyebrow at her with a pout on his lips.
“Really, boss?”
