Kacie laughed despite herself and clicked her seat belt in place. Diane drove to a Waffle House close to Kacie’s apartment. Inside, Diane selected a booth in the rear of the diner. Kacie ordered a hamburger. Diane ordered a slice of pie and coffee.
When the waitress left the table, Kacie said, ‘‘I gotta go to the bathroom and wash my hands and face. I’ve never been in a jail before. What a nasty, stinking place.’’
After several minutes, Diane wasn’t sure she was coming back. But eventually, Kacie slid back into her seat, looking marginally better. Little strands of moist hair bordered her face. As they waited for their order, Kacie nervously turned the engagement ring on her finger.
‘‘That’s a nice ring,’’ said Diane.
Kacie stopped turning it and looked at the ring—a diamond solitaire set in either platinum or white gold.
‘‘Chris gave it to me the morning before he died.’’
It looked like a rather large diamond to Diane, but she didn’t know jewelry and it had been quite a while since she had an engagement ring. The waitress brought their food and drinks. Kacie nibbled at her hamburger, put it down and picked up a fry.
‘‘I’m sorry about Chris,’’ said Diane.
‘‘I hate this. The police don’t know what they are doing. Sometimes they acted like Chris was involved in something and caused this himself.’’
‘‘They’re just trying to find out what happened to him.’’
‘‘It looked like one of those home invasions to me.’’
‘‘Did Chris have a lot of valuables? Do you know what they might have been looking for?’’
Kacie shrugged her shoulders and nibbled on her fry. Diane tried another tack.
‘‘He must have paid a lot for that diamond. Does Chris have a lot of money that the thieves may have been after?’’
Kacie looked at her ring. ‘‘He said he was going to show my parents. They don’t really like Chris.’’
‘‘Why not? He was a nice guy with an advanced degree. He had a job.’’
‘‘My parents consider forestry blue-collar.’’
‘‘Ah, they must know my parents.’’
Kacie looked up at Diane, her blue eyes puzzled.
‘‘My parents consider anyone not a doctor or a law yer to be blue-collar—unless he owns a Fortune 500 company.’’
‘‘That’s sort of my parents.’’ She smirked. ‘‘It’s not going to look good in the hometown paper that I was arrested for his murder.’’
Diane guessed that Kacie really was looking for ward to it coming out in the hometown paper.
‘‘You don’t have any clue who might have done this? Could Steven Mayberry have killed him?’’
‘‘Steven? The police asked that. No. No more than I could. We’re students—we don’t kill people.’’
‘‘I thought Steven and Chris had graduated.’’
‘‘They’ve finished their course work. They both have to finish their thesis, but they’re almost done— were almost done.’’
Diane wasn’t getting anywhere talking to Kacie. She now believed Kacie had no idea why her fiance was killed.
‘‘Do you have any idea where Steven Mayberry might be?’’
‘‘He has family. Haven’t the police contacted them?’’
‘‘I’m sure. But I thought you might know some place he would go.’’
‘‘If he’s not with family, then . . .’’ She let it trail off.
‘‘Why did you go over there so late?’’
‘‘Chris’? I had to work late. I didn’t get off till eleven.’’
‘‘A witness said you were there earlier than eleven.’’
‘‘That’s what the police kept asking me. I was there, but I didn’t go in—not all the way in. I had a twentyminute break, and I ran over to check on him. He’d been coming down with something. I knocked, opened the door a little and called out. The house was dark. When he didn’t answer, I thought he was asleep and I didn’t want to wake him up.’’ Tears sprang up in her eyes. ‘‘I thought he needed rest. Maybe if I’d gone in, maybe— I always lock the door when I’m there. Chris never did. If I’d been there and had the door locked, whoever it was wouldn’t have gotten in and he’d still be alive.’’
‘‘There was nothing you could have done. Don’t blame yourself.’’
‘‘You don’t think I did it?’’
Kacie wasn’t very hungry. Diane had Kacie’s meal put in a carryout. She dropped her off at her apart ment and walked her to her door.
‘‘Try to get some sleep. Do you have a friend you can call?’’
