"He's here. He's in his study."
She led them through the hall, up a grand staircase, and into a library, furnished with polished dark wooden shelves, containing sets of antique books.
Mr. Craig was sitting at a large desk at the other end of the room. He looked up as they entered.
He was an imposing, dark haired man who looked as if he would dominate a boardroom table. Now, though, his hair was tousled and his face looked exhausted. From the glazed expression in his eyes, May felt absolutely sure that he was still on strong medication to calm him after the terrible guilt of knowing his call had activated the bomb blast.
"Mr. Craig, I'm so sorry about your wife," May said. "We're following up to try and gather more information. There's been another crime this morning."
His eyebrows raised. "Another crime? How long is it taking you to solve this?"
May nodded sympathetically. She couldn't say anything in her defense. Even though his voice was slightly slurred, she could tell he was seriously angry and letting her know it.
"We're doing everything we can," she replied. "We've just received the go-ahead from the FBI to ask you some questions. We've been brought in as additional help."
"And it's taken this long to get the FBI involved?" Mr. Craig demanded. "Now you're here? This is all so confusing, and why are there no results yet? Why should I even speak to you?"
"I realize it's difficult to have someone in your house that you don't know, who wants to ask you questions and bring up unpleasant memories," May said. "So feel free to tell me if you need space. We can step outside for a while or even come back later."
He nodded, and she thought her calm question had placated his anger slightly. "Okay. Carry on."
May sat down in one of the leather chairs facing him and Owen did likewise.
She already knew the timeline, knew when Sheila had disappeared, and what had played out. That was in the case summary that they had been sent. She didn't want to ask those questions again and make this grieving husband replay the days of worry after she'd disappeared on her way to work, and the moment when he'd called her and her phone had rung once and then cut off. She knew that information already. She was hoping for other details.
"Sheila was a criminal lawyer, correct?" she asked, leading into the angle she wanted to explore.
He nodded. "She was. We are both lawyers. I'm a tax lawyer. It's how we met. We always knew her job was riskier than mine, but I never, ever thought this would happen."
"Did she have any controversial cases at the time?" May asked.
"She was defending a woman accused of theft, and a man involved in a tax evasion case. We looked into both of them with the police and we couldn't find anyone with a motive for doing this," he said heavily.
"And before that?" Owen questioned.
He made a face. "Look, she took on difficult cases, but she tried to steer away from murder in the past couple of years, now that she’s more senior. She personally was not comfortable with that. She had to handle those cases eight years ago, when she had just joined the firm and was an up and coming criminal lawyer. Now she could choose, and she chose the more complex cases that were not as violent. White collar crimes."
"And anything personal in her life? Any problems, conflicts, unusual situations?" May asked.
Again, he shook his head. "Nothing like that. That's what was so weird about this. It was all so normal until it wasn't."
"How long have you been married?"
"Ten years. And we hardly fought." He sighed deeply. "We had a happy marriage. She was a happy person. She had literally no enemies, and that's in spite of her career."
“Did she receive any threats as a result of her work?” May was thinking of the anonymous threats that had led the police into this morning’s trap. Maybe the killer made a habit of sending them. But Gary shook his head.
“No, not that I know of. She never told me about any threats and I don’t think she received any. We didn’t discuss work that much. Work was work, and to be left at the office. We both agreed on that. There were many other things to talk about.”
"Thank you so much. I think we've taken enough of your time," she said, not wanting to intrude on his grief any further.
They got up and left quietly.
On the way down, May told Owen what she thought the next step should be.
“The bombing site where Sheila was killed is nearby here, in the town of Springfield itself. The coordinates for where she was held are in the case file. So we can actually go there and have a look. Perhaps something on the site will give us a lead."