“We need to talk to Miss Harmony. At HQ.”
This was serious. They really thought they had something on her. A chill started in his heart. “What’s going on?”
“I’ll go, Zach. It’s okay.”
Defeat lowered her shoulders while it etched lines in her brow. He longed to hug her and take away from all of this. But he couldn’t and his impotent rage threatened to choke him. “I’ll get you a lawyer.”
She handed him a card as she crossed the room. “Call Mark. His uncle’s a lawyer.”
Mark again. That guy ended up everywhere. Why did she trust him so much? He looked at the number. Why was that so familiar? He shook it off knowing he’d think of it when something else was on his mind.
His sister appeared in his personal space. “See. Even the cops here think she did it. Strange, huh?”
Zach’s temper spiked. “She’s innocent until proven guilty.”
“Yeah, you cops always believe that.”
“And normal people never try someone in the public domain?”
She shrugged, obviously undaunted by his accusation. “Talk to Jeff Becker.”
“Who is he?”
“The last person Grace convinced she could help. His mother’s dead and Grace was brought in for questioning on that one, too. She predicted it.” Celia looked smug. “I can do investigating, too.”
“If they had a case, why isn’t she in jail?”
“She made bail then ran.”
He shook his head. She wouldn’t have been stupid enough to get involved with him if that were true. “I don’t believe it.”
Celia pulled out a notebook and tore off a piece. “Here’s Jeff’s number. Call him. I think you’ll be enlightened.”
“The newspaper reports said nothing about her being on the run.”
A smirk lifted a corner of her mouth. “So you have checked up on her.”
He had and now he wished he hadn’t. He needed to believe her, but the cop part of him knew he would talk to this Jeff guy. He took the number, then stuffed it into his shirt. “None of your business.”
“My cell number is on there, too. Call me if you want to know the real story.”
Chapter Twenty Eight
“How come all interrogations rooms look the same?” Grace said to the two-way mirror at one end of the drab room.
No pictures hung on the gray-green walls. The table was functional and the chair she sat in uncomfortable. Her stomach rumbled from hunger and her bladder screamed to be emptied. Three cups of coffee had settled there the moment she entered this room.
No one had come to talk to her, letting her stew. She knew the tactic. The cops in the last town had done the same.
The door opposite the mirror opened and two detectives entered the room. She braced herself even though she was innocent. Would they ferret out her secret?
She wasn’t a murderer, but a freak. And time was getting short. Tomorrow was her birthday. She had to touch Dolores soon.
The taller man sat across from her, his dark brown eyes boring a hole through her. Detective Malek he said his name was. His large head sported more hair than she’d ever seen on one human being. Kept short, she still couldn’t see his scalp or his forehead.
“We’re recording this.”
“Fine.”
She hoped Zach had called Mark. A lawyer should be on the way.
“Do you want a lawyer present?”
“Not yet.”
“What brought you to Dolores Holten’s house last night?”
“I was out for run and happened to go by her house when I heard a scream.”
“You happened by her house.” He looked over his shoulder at the other detective. “Is that your usual route?”
“I don’t have a usual route.”
“How many miles do you run?” He leaned towards her as if they were just two people talking in a coffee shop.
“Between three and six.”
“And how far is Miss Holten’s house from your apartment?”
“I don’t know. Besides I wasn’t at my apartment. It burned down.”
“Ah, yes, you’ve had a string of bad luck this week. So where did you run from?”
“The Hilton Garden Hotel.”
“Nice place. I would think that would be tough to afford on a paramedics salary.”
Grace shrugged. “No comment.”
“No comment? I’m not a reporter, Miss Harmony and this isn’t a game.”
His voice rose an octave, but she refused to get riled. They had no evidence. “Can I go now?”
“You in a hurry?”
“You haven’t booked me. Do it or let me go.”
“Have you been here before? Oh, that’s right. I talked to the Johnsonville PD this morning. You have been brought in for questioning there. They’d like to talk to you, too.”
A chill snaked up her spine. She’d hoped she had put that incident behind her. She’d moved because they couldn’t keep her in town. She’d run away, but not illegally.
She rose. “Unless you’re booking me, I’m leaving.”
“Sit down Miss Harmony.”
“No, I’m going.”
The detective by the door didn’t move, just stared at her as if there was no way she could get past him. She couldn’t, but her pride wouldn’t let her back down in this situation.
She whirled towards the detective at the table saying the one thing that would end the interrogation. “I want a lawyer.”
Zach called the number and had a lawyer on the way for Grace. Jeff Becker’s number stared at him accusingly from his desk blotter. His natural curiosity got the better of him and he punched the numbers into the telephone.
A young man answered on the second ring.
“This is Detective Zach Holten of the Centre County Prosecutor’s Office. I’d like to talk to you about Grace Harmony.”
“That bitch?”
“I’m sensing some hostility.”
“She killed my mother and got away with it. The stupid cops wouldn’t keep her in jail and now she’s free.”
“Why do you think she killed your mother?”
“Because she kept telling me that someone was going to kill her and then someone did. How else could she know if she didn’t kill her?”
“Your mother was bludgeoned?”
“Yes,” he said, his voice cracking.
“You think Grace, er Miss Harmony, is capable of that?”
“I can’t find any other explanation.”
