I once read a novel called, “It’s Always the Husband.” In my experience listening to true crime podcasts, it often was the husband. While I’d googled Tony Barron, I hadn’t yet had a chance to really look into him. Perhaps I should have put Tony closer to the top of my list, especially after Peter Barlow insinuated there was a husband somehow involved in all of this.
Why is he asking for me?
I wasn’t sure, but I needed to look that man in the eyes.
I arrived at the station, buzzed in without pause by Sonia, who gave me a wide smile as I entered. Dayna stopped me before I got too far.
“This way,” she said.
I followed her to her office, where she closed the door and invited me to sit.
“We responded to a Domestic Violence call at Cynthia’s residence to find Cynthia crying, the husband, Tony, clearly very upset, and a fist-sized hole in the wall.”
“Who called it in?”
“Cynthia. She dialed 911 and said her husband was threatening her.”
“Did he put hands on her?”
“No, we think we got there before it got too heated. He was extremely angry, though. My impression? He was close to imparting physical harm to his wife.”
“Has he said anything?”
“Javier and I both interviewed him here, in the interrogation room. He wouldn’t say a thing. Just kept asking for his lawyer. When we told him he was free to go, he asked for you to drive him home.”
“What did Cynthia say?”
“She said he went off and she didn’t know why. Just started making all sorts of accusations about her cheating on him, and when he put his fist through the drywall, she dialed 911. What do you know about him?”
“He owns a whole string of coin-op laundromats around Southern California. They’re surprisingly profitable. He and Cynthia are quite well-to-do. From what I understand, his laundromats are clean and well-run, so they draw a large clientele.”
“A clientele of people who use quarters to wash their laundry.”
“Apparently. From what I heard, he contracts out the cleaning and maintenance, so he doesn’t work long hours, and he pulls in good money. Good enough to live in Sunhaven, anyway. Any idea why he asked for me?”
Dayna smiled. “It seems you’ve become the neighborhood liaison to the police. Oddly, people seem to trust you.”
“That’s okay by me. I’ll see if I can get more information out of him.”
“What’s your take on whether or not he might have killed Angie?”
“I assume you’ve already given that some thought?”
“Javi and I discussed it. Without hard evidence, it’s a tough sell, but we now know he has a violent streak, and there seems to be some secret he’s hiding.”
“Agreed. Have you thought about getting a search warrant for his house, see if you can match those fibers?”
“Not enough probable cause. We were thinking we might bring in Cynthia again to see if we can get her to say something to give us probable cause. We’ll do that for sure if he says anything to you on the drive home that you find suspicious.”
I nodded. “I’ll be sure to take the long way back.”
She slapped her hands on the table. “This way then!”
She led the way to the processing area. Tony Barron, his shirt untucked and hair rumpled, was being given back his watch and wallet. He wore a frown, and his right hand was wrapped in medical tape. When he looked up at me, he looked like he might start crying.
“Hey, Tony,” I said gently. “Are you ready to go?
He nodded without answering.
We got in the car and just sat for a minute. Tony looked out the window.
“Have you had anything to eat? I thought we could stop by a McDonald’s.” It would give me more time driving with him. I found people tend to open up when they are sitting side by side, and he looked like somebody who could use a double cheeseburger and chocolate shake.
“That would be nice, thank you. And thank you for taking me home.” He had a hitch to his voice. This was a man who knew he screwed up. The question was: Had he screwed up his marriage or did it go deeper than that? Perhaps he knew he had just put a large target on his back for Angie’s murder.
Tony put his left hand over the bandaged right one, rubbing it absentmindedly. “I’m not a violent man, you know.”
“I’m sure you’re not, Tony.”
“I just lost my temper this one time.”
“What about?”
He hung his head. “She’s cheating on me.”
“I see.”
“With some pool guy.”
“Was it Max Howard, the guy who maintains the HOA pool?” I knew that Cynthia had told me she was cheating with a different pool contractor, but I wanted to see if Tony told the same story.
“Nah, I’ve met Max. Talked to him several times. No. This guy is somebody else. I saw them together. He’s all blonde and tan from working outside, and he has to be at least ten years younger than Cyn.”
He looked at me with large, puppy dog eyes that were desperate to be understood.
“They were kissing. My Cynthia, who barely gives me the time of day anymore except to ask that money be transferred into her accounts, my gorgeous wife, was kissing some tall asshole with his hands all over her. I’ve worked hard, built an empire, made us rich, and look at me. I’m flabby, I’m almost bald, but I always thought at least I had the best-looking woman on the block as my wife. She made it all worth it.”
Best looking woman on the block? This really is a man who was in love and is now heartbroken.
“I’m sorry, Tony.”
“I just wanted to talk to her, you know? See if she was serious about this guy. See if she wanted a divorce. But you know what she did? She laughed at me. She told me to my face that she would never have divorced me because of the prenup, but now that it was all out? She said she’d rather kill me than divorce me.”
Whoa!
“Can you blame me for losing my temper?”
“No, honestly, I can’t. I’ll put in a good word for you.”
At least, I’ll put in a word. About you. And about Cynthia.
We pulled into the McDonald’s drive-thru, which was good, because it gave me a moment to think while I ordered for Tony.
“You know Angela Beech was murdered in her own home, don’t you?” I handed him the bag with a burger, French fries, and a large soda.
“Yeah, I’ve heard all about it. Cyn won’t shut up about it.” He took a huge bite of his burger.
“What does she say?”
“I don’t know. She seemed to think people might think it was her or something, because she was at Angie’s house the day before. I told her not to be so stupid.”
Way to make your wife feel appreciated there, Tony.
“The police think it was a crime of passion. That she was hit over the head in anger.”
“Makes sense.” He seemed clueless as to where I was going with this.
“The most likely suspect is an angry homeowner. Somebody who went to talk to her about something and lost his temper. They’ll be looking for somebody who loses his temper easily. Somebody violent. Like…” I indicated his wrapped hand.
“What? I didn’t kill her! I wouldn’t have any reason to kill Angela! I barely knew her!”
I leaned over and spoke in a very low voice. “Tony, I’m going to tell you something I shouldn’t.” This wasn’t true at all. As a private citizen, I could tell him anything, the truth, a lie, whatever. “Cynthia came to my house the day after Angie was found. She was beside herself. She said, without my asking, that she hadn’t killed Angie. She also said you were in no way involved.”
“She what?”
“I, of course, reported that to the police. Do you know how suspicious that is, to just offer something like that up? Nobody was even looking at you two. But now? I mean, I don’t know, but it’s possible that the police are looking into you for Angie’s murder.”
I let the silence between us swell.
“I didn’t kill Angie!” he said finally.
“I don’t think you did either, Tony. But what about Cynthia? She just threatened to kill you. Maybe she killed Angie to hide her affair. What do you think?”
I turned right at the next street when I should have turned left, taking an even longer route home. Tony was too perturbed to notice.
“No way. There’s no way Cynthia would do something like that.”
“Maybe she showed up at Angie’s to ask her to keep the affair quiet, and Angie said she’d have to tell the HOA Board, at least, and in a fit of temper, Cynthia whacked her over the head. Maybe she didn’t mean to kill Angie.”
Even as I said it, I knew it couldn’t be true. Angie would have no reason to tell anybody Cynthia’s secret, even if she knew about the affair. But I was curious as to how Tony would react to the accusation. If he had done it, he might confess to save her.
“She didn’t! She couldn’t! Not my Cynthia!” He slurped his soda. “I made a mistake by getting angry, but nobody could blame me. Most men would be mad if they found out their wife was cheating. I mean, come on!”
I reached over and touched his shoulder in the dark, keeping my eyes on the road. “It’s okay. I believe you.”
“You do?”
“Yeah. I’ve known Cynthia for a long time. You get a feel for people.” I let the silence settle between us for a bit as Tony munched on his cheeseburger, and I remembered what Cynthia had told me about their bank accounts. “How are you two doing financially?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him startle. “What do you mean?” I clearly hit a nerve with that one.
“Sorry, I’m just thinking out loud. When I was the head of my company, I knew a lot of men who got divorced because of money. Occasionally, there’d be a bit of domestic violence, that’s all.”
“We’re fine. House is almost paid off. Why, did Cynthia say anything?”
“Not at all. Here we are.”
We pulled up into the driveway, and Tony started to get out.
“Hang on,” I said. I wanted to check the house and make sure there would be no more altercations. “I’ll walk you up.”
Tony walked behind me with his head down. The house looked silent; all the lights were off and there wasn’t even a whisper of a curtain moving. As we entered and turned on the lights, we saw his bags packed and placed by the front door. Cynthia had left a note on top of them. “I’ve gone to my Mum’s for the night. Be gone before I get back tomorrow.”
Dayna was incredulous when I called her on the way back to my house. “She actually told him she’d kill him before she’d divorce him?”
“According to him.”
“It gives Cynthia motive, and we know she was there the day of the murder.”
“It’s a weak motive at best, though. Angie wasn’t a gossip, and I don’t see her threatening to tell Tony anything. She would have said it wasn’t her business. But, I’ve been thinking.”
“About?”
“Cynthia’s affair partner is a man who is clearly trying to get the HOA’s pool maintenance contract. Cynthia might have known, deep down, that that’s why he’s dating her. He’s apparently quite a bit younger than she is. Anyway, what if it was important to Cynthia that they change the contract to her new boyfriend, and Angie refused?”
“She could have come back later to try to talk Angie into it, and Angie wouldn’t hear of it. They might have had an argument.”
“And then she became angry and whacked Angie over the head.”
“Something like that.”
“I’ll bring Cynthia back in. That may be enough probable cause to get a warrant to search her house.”
“There’s one more thing. Cynthia mentioned that she discovered Tony has been taking money out of their joint account on the sly for several years now. It’s the reason she gave for her having an affair.”
“Those two seem to have a whole slew of secrets, don’t they?”
“Yep. It might be a good idea to inquire about that as well.”
“I’m on it.”