“Jason told his mother you two were seeing each other,” Brian argued. “He mentioned your name specifically. Why would he say that if it wasn’t true?”
Maisie scowled. “I don’t know. You’ll have to ask Jason.”
“We would be thrilled to talk to Jason,” Jack noted. “In fact, we’re looking for him. Do you know where we might be able to find him?”
Maisie glanced between faces and held out her hands. “I’m not his keeper. Now, is that all? I need to get going.”
“That’s not even close to all,” Brian countered, steepling his fingers as he regarded her. “Maisie, I don’t know if you’re aware, but Jason Fortin is a suspect in the death of Sasha Carmichael. Since you’re involved with Jason, that means you can be treated as a material witness. As a material witness, we have the right to lock you up until we feel our questions have been answered truthfully.”
Maisie took a moment to digest the information and then started shaking her head. “Oh, this is such crap. I barely knew Sasha Carmichael.”
“We both know that’s not true.” Brian was calm, his face immovable. “I believe at last summer’s strawberry festival, you and Sasha got into a hair-pulling contest over Jeff Rondo. You both claimed to be dating him at the same time.”
Jack’s eyebrows drew together. “Jeff Rondo? Isn’t he a paramedic?”
Brian nodded. “He moved to town last year. One of the first people to introduce herself, per usual, was Maisie. They briefly dated ... until Jeff came to his senses and gave her the boot. He moved on to Sasha, although that relationship only lasted a week or two.”
“That’s because Sasha was a wet rag,” Maisie shot back. “She didn’t know how to satisfy a man.”
“I believe Jeff said the relationship couldn’t work because she was too young and he wanted someone more serious about life, but that’s still better than what he said about you.” Brian was brutally pleasant, something he knew would drive Maisie bonkers.
The words had the desired effect, because Maisie narrowed her eyes to dangerous slits. “What did he say about me? You know what? I don’t care. He was bad in bed. He was impotent and could only get it up for boys. You spread that rumor. I just ... what did she say about me?”
Jack didn’t know Maisie well, but it was obvious she had problems when she couldn’t control the perception of others. He was impressed that Brian knew the exact buttons to push with her. “We’re not here to talk about Jeff,” he argued. “We’re here to talk about Jason. When did you guys start seeing one another?”
“We weren’t seeing each other,” Maisie snapped, her eyes flashing. “How many times do I have to tell you that?”
“Just until we believe it,” Brian replied calmly. “If you weren’t seeing him, why would Jason indicate otherwise to his mother?”
“Because everyone wants to brag about being involved with me.” Maisie’s smile was smug. “Everyone wants a piece of Maisie, and when they can’t get it, they make up stories to impress people and say things that aren’t true.”
“Uh-huh.” Brian let out a lengthy sigh. “You know it’s against the law to lie to a police officer, right?”
Maisie smacked her hands on the table. “I’m not lying. Stop saying I’m lying.”
“All we have to do is ask around, maybe out at the bar on the highway, and see if anyone remembers seeing you and Jason together,” Jack argued. “If we can get anyone to say they saw you together, we can lock you up. Ask yourself, is anybody at that bar going to say they saw you with Jason?”
“That doesn’t mean we were dating,” Maisie snapped. “That just means we were ... having fun.”
“Fine.” Jack held his hands palms up. “How long were you and Jason having fun?”
“I don’t know.” Maisie squirmed in her chair, discomfort practically rolling off her in waves. “I don’t know what you want me to say. We ... hung out occasionally. It wasn’t a big deal. Basically we drank together ... and occasionally left together. It’s not as if we were married.”
Jack rubbed his hand over his chin as he leaned back in his seat. “Did he mention he was seeing Sasha Carmichael?”
“We didn’t really talk.”
“But you knew he was dating Sasha,” Brian noted. He could read by Maisie’s body language that she was hiding something, and he knew exactly what that something was. “That’s the entire reason you started fooling around with Jason in the first place.”
“That’s not true,” Maisie fired back, her eyes flashing. “You’re suggesting I went after Jason just to see if I could take him from Sasha, which isn’t what happened. I didn’t care about that.”
“You said you didn’t know they were together,” Brian pointed out.
“I—” Maisie broke off, working her jaw. Brian recognized the exact moment she decided to cooperate. “Okay, here’s the situation ... .” She licked her lips and heaved out a sigh, gearing herself up. “There aren’t exactly a lot of good choices in this town. When new guys land, there’s a group of us who like to check them out.”
“Are you talking about you and Ava?” Jack queried.
“I’m talking about a group of random women,” Maisie shot back. “It doesn’t matter who is in this group. I didn’t know that Sasha and Jason were an item. Honestly, that’s true. Someone mentioned — and I can’t remember who now so don’t bother asking — but someone mentioned they might’ve seen them flirting at one of the barn dances a few weeks ago. That doesn’t mean they were going steady or anything.”
“Good grief.” Jack rolled his eyes to the ceiling. “Why can’t you just find someone who is actually interested in you and leave the men who are dating others alone?”
Maisie scalded him with a heated look. “I don’t need you judging me. We both know you’re just cranky because your girlfriend
