“The next night after Elsie knifed her to death.”

“You’re taking a chance, Baer,” Decker said. “You’re riding with a body in the trunk of a car, going a long, long way.”

“Didn’t know it was so far at the time. Like I said, I didn’t choose the spot.” Baer thought a moment. “How long did it take you to find her? The body?”

“Why?”

“I’m just surprised that anyone found her,” Baer said. “We were in the middle of nowhere.”

McAdams said, “If you acted in self-defense, Brock, why not call the police?”

Baer rolled his eyes and cocked a thumb in McAdams’s direction. “Is he a moron or is he just acting like one?”

“Shut up,” Decker said. “You’re in crap up to your eyeballs. If you keep acting nasty, things will get even more difficult for you. Now just answer the damn question. Why didn’t you call the police?”

Again, Baer rolled his eyes. “I don’t have much luck with officers of the law.” Then he took a breath and let it out. “Like I said, we were arguing that night. People saw us, people heard us. I knew it didn’t mean a fucking thing, but they didn’t know it. Pauline and I used to fight all the time. We got drunk, we argued. We always got back together—until I beat her up. My bad. Totally admit that. But the truth was, I loved her and she loved me, and if Elsie hadn’t killed her, we’d be together now, getting drunk and fighting and making up.”

No one spoke.

Baer said, “We put each other through shit, but we were great together when it worked. We’re just that kind of people. We party loud, we fuck loud, we fight loud.”

Silence.

Baer said, “Elsie was fucking psycho. Couldn’t get along with anyone.”

McAdams followed Decker’s lead and they both kept quiet. Keep the guy talking.

“Pauline asked me to come to Baniff so we could talk,” Baer said. “She wanted to get back together. She was crazy about me. Crazy, too, but that’s for another day.”

They still didn’t answer him.

Baer said, “Look, I didn’t have to talk to you two. I could have lawyered up. I know this system. What I told you is the truth.”

Decker waited for Baer to continue. When he didn’t, he said, “We’ll be back in a bit.” He opened the door and called for Stoltz.

When she came, she asked, “Are you finished?”

“Can you get someone to watch him?”

“No problem.” She came back a minute later with a uniformed officer. “What do you need?”

“Do you have an office?”

“Sure. Follow me.”

To Baer, Decker said, “One minute.”

“You tell her how cooperative I’ve been,” Baer said.