I kissed her on the cheek in passing, and she squeezed my ass. By the time I headed downstairs, still pulling my hipster tank top on, I found Detective Meltzer in my entryway, Harper welcoming him inside.
‘What’s going on?’ I asked.
‘I’m here to speak with both of you,’ the detective answered. ‘Mind if we sit down?’
‘Not at all.’ Harper led the way to the living room, then, compelled by etiquette, offered, ‘Would you like some coffee or tea?’
‘No, thanks. I hope we can make this quick.’
Detective Meltzer sat and unzipped a black duffel that he had set at his feet. Pulling out a clear plastic bag, he handed it to Harper. It looked like a piece of jewelry inside.
‘Do you recognize this necklace?’
Harper examined the necklace through the plastic, then huffed as she passed it back to him. ‘Where did you get this? It’s my mother’s necklace, an heirloom.’
‘We found it at the crime scene of Michelle Hudson’s murder. We pulled prints off of it, and we lucked out and found a match. Your mother’s prints were in the system from when we took them after we questioned her about Ben’s murder. She’s currently down at the station, but I wanted to have a chat with both of you as well.’
‘Are you saying my mother had something to do with Michelle’s murder? I thought she was already cleared when you brought her in before,’ I interjected. My face heated with an urge to protect. ‘Because I know my mother. She could never kill anyone.’
‘That was before we found this.’ He lifted the bag with her necklace. ‘Money is a pretty big motivator for murder. Especially the person who stole her entire retirement fund and left her penniless, and the one witness who could identify her,’ the detective added.
Harper shook her head, waved her hands, her entire body a denial. ‘There is no possible way my mother could have overpowered Michelle Hudson, let alone Ben. My mother is frail. As for the necklace, I don’t know how it got in Michelle’s house.’
‘Let’s say your mother didn’t do it.’ The detective folded his hands, cocking his head. ‘Follow some logic with me. Michelle said she saw two people at your house the night of Ben’s murder. You claimed you were with your mother and kids at her house, and Lane was at work until around midnight, which, based on the time of death, was after Ben died. We confirmed Lane’s alibi, but your alibi, Harper, is awfully convenient now that we found your mother’s necklace at a murder scene. You do realize how that looks?’
He was right. Even I was beginning to question things.
‘What about Medea Kent? Have you looked into her as a suspect?’ Harper blurted.
‘Yes, and she checks out. But you and your mother … I still have a lot of questions.’
‘Detective, please understand I would never kill Ben. Never. Think about it – he was far more valuable to me alive. He had a great paying job. Why would I want to ruin that?’
‘You tell me. Did you know his business was failing?’
‘No, I had no idea until you told me. I’m telling you, Detective, as far as I knew, everything was fine with his job, and with us.’
‘So you’re saying your daughter’s drowning didn’t cause any problems at home? Because usually something so traumatic can break a family up. And I know you had some … anger issues that you were taken to court over.’
‘I was grieving. I was angry about losing a child, not angry with Ben. We still had two kids to stay together for. In fact, we were finally starting to heal as a family when … it happened.’
Detective Meltzer watched my sister crumble, his posture stiff and eyes calculating. Harper looked at me, her eyes wide and pleading. I could almost read her mind: Do we confess what we did? What do we do now? I subtly shook my head. Not yet. We needed to talk this through first.
‘Harper,’ Detective Meltzer shifted his body, ‘can you tell me what you were doing the afternoon of Ms. Hudson’s death? Because Mr. Radcliffe, your neighbor, claims he saw you in the neighborhood that day.’
Oh crap. I didn’t like where this was heading; it was somewhere I couldn’t navigate because I didn’t have a clue what my sister had been doing there beside ‘talking.’ I heard the fear in her answers. Could the detective tell that he’d rattled her nerves by the way her leg twitched?
‘Detective, I have been nothing but cooperative with you,’ Harper bristled, ‘but I did not kill anyone. I stopped by to grab my mail, that’s it. Then I picked up the kids from school and took them to the Dollar Store. Then, that night, Lane and I watched a movie with the kids. Feel free to ask them. We had stayed in because of the storm that came through.’
It was a relief that Harper remembered the details of the day, almost too many details, because I sure didn’t. But from the sound of it, we were safe. We weren’t murderers after all.
‘What about your mother? Do you know where she was that day?’ he pressed.
‘Working two jobs, I assume,’ Harper answered. ‘I’m sure her bosses could vouch for her—’
‘Mom’s working two jobs?’ I interrupted. ‘Since when?’
Harper shook her head to shush me. It clearly wasn’t the time, but we had some catching up to do.
‘Look, as you know, we’ve been working Ben’s case for two months now without a solid lead.’ The detective dropped the necklace in the black bag at his feet. ‘This is the first link we’ve gotten that connects both murders – and they lead back to you and your mother. I’d be remiss if I didn’t look into it. Benjamin Paris was responsible for losing a lot of people’s money, but the only ones without a solid alibi are your mother, who was taken for her life savings, and you. And now we find her necklace at
