McDaniel had the sandy-haired, florid look of a man who had spent too much time at a golf course. Or on the back of a tractor. Or at a bar. It was hard to tell.
“I want to be clear about this,” Faye said. “She didn’t tell me anything that would give me the answers to your questions. I don’t even know for sure that she was there. All she did was ask me to tell her what happened to her mother. I think it’s significant that she picked me, that’s all. Why would she do that unless she knew I was the one who found Frida, and how could she know that unless she was there? And also, don’t forget the ice cream sandwich.”
The sweater she’d borrowed from Sylvia was scratchy, and Frida’s pants were tight. Faye wanted nothing more than to go back to her cabin, douse herself with shower water, and put on clothes that belonged to her.
McDaniel rubbed at the pink skin on his face and made it pinker. “None of that means anything, not really, especially not the damn ice cream sandwich that could’ve been left by the killer, for all we know. A half-decent defense attorney would pick everything you just said to shreds. Maybe she picked you because she thought you were a pushover who’d be more likely to answer her questions without asking any of your own. Maybe she picked you because she doesn’t trust police, and she thinks Laneer and Sylvia are too old to be of much use. Maybe she just likes you. Did you think of that? Maybe she feels like she can trust you.”
He stared at Faye just long enough to make her uncomfortable. Finally, she said, “And?”
“And nothing. I was just thinking that you’re the kind of person that people trust at first sight. Steady eyes. Quiet voice. And you ask the right questions.”
This was a far cry from the borderline suspicion that McDaniel had directed her way just hours before. She may have made a bad first impression on him, but his second impression must have been amazing. Her first impression of him had not changed. He seemed competent and hardworking, but she didn’t trust him as far as she could throw him.
“She can’t possibly mistrust Laneer,” she said. “Nor Sylvia. They obviously love that child and she knows it.”
“Sure, but imagine yourself growing up surrounded by people whose whole lives have been hard times. Maybe they’ll be able to pay this month’s bills, easy. Or maybe the car will bust a belt, and fixing it won’t leave enough money to pay the light bill. The car takes your mom to work, so the money goes to fix it and the lights get cut off. Even while you all sat together in the dark, you’d know they loved you, but—” He spread his hands, palms up.
“But everything in your life would feel insecure.” Faye tried to imagine her childhood without the rock-solid stability of her mother and grandmother, not to mention their ability to always find a way to pay the bills. She couldn’t.
“Exactly. The whole world is an insecure place for a child who’s dependent on somebody like Frida—sweet, but maybe not real savvy about the way the world works. Now, just look at yourself. You’ve never once had your phone cut off for nonpayment, have you?”
Faye had spent some time living off the grid, but for all the years she’d had bills to pay, she’d been able to pay them, so she gave him a truthful answer. “No.”
“And it shows.”
“How can my credit rating possibly show?”
He spread his hands again. “I can’t explain how, but it does. I agree with you. It’s significant that Kali chose you to ask about her mother. Still, I don’t want to read too much into it.” He ran a hand through the stubble of his buzz cut hair. “It may just be that Kali saw a woman of color, full of the kind of confidence that she doesn’t see a whole lot, and she instinctively reached out to you for help.”
Faye felt suddenly guilty for having always been able to cover her phone bill. This guilt made no sense at all.
“Is there anything else I need to know, Dr. Longchamp-Mantooth?”
Faye knew that Laneer wanted her to keep the next bit of information to herself, but she just couldn’t do it. McDaniel needed to know. “I understand that Kali left Laneer’s house this morning about daybreak.”
“You understand this? Are you saying it that way so that you don’t have to tell me who’s keeping important evidence quiet?”
Faye shrugged. “In conjunction with the ice cream sandwich, I think it means that Kali might have seen something, so I thought you should know. I don’t think she’ll talk to you, though.”
McDaniel’s face was so flushed that it had passed pink and gone straight to red.
“Detective, I think she told me all that she’s willing to tell anybody. If you try to lean on her, it’ll only make things worse.”
“You don’t think I know how to talk to little girls? I have nieces.”
“That’s beside the point. I just think that this little girl has said all she’s going to say. And maybe she’s said all she knows. If you push her too hard, you’ll never get her to open up.”
“We’ll see,” he said, but she noticed that he changed the subject. “Did Laneer and Sylvia say anything else that I should know?”
“Make sure they give you a full list of Frida’s terrifying boyfriends. Seriously. They told me about them, and I’m still shaking in my boots. While you’re doing that, I’m going to go to my cabin and lock the door until you find the one who did this.”
“That’s sensible. Unless
