Marcus remained motionless for a few more seconds, scanning Riley’s face once more. She looked away with a frown.
“Right. So, as you’ll recall, stay close, and there’s no need for me to say don’t leave town, and if something comes up, you know where to find me.” Marcus buttoned his jacket and left.
Riley was nervous for the first time in weeks. When she had killed for the first time in LinHill, she’d been unfazed. When Adrian had questioned her about it, it was easy to steer him in another direction. But now, with Marcus around, everything she planned might go to hell—both as a free woman, and as a sister on a mission for vengeance. Despite knowing him and how he did his job, Riley’s feelings about him hadn’t changed at all. She still believed if the investigation on her husband had been done correctly, the men who murdered him could be behind bars. Instead she had to take matters into her own hands.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Marcus was a determined man. If something got into his head, he would never find calm unless it was solved. Just like the case he was investigating at the moment. The murder of Noah Kirkland seemed to be a big mystery. Besides Noah being a gambler like any other, there was little information about him, but there seemed to be something else to his murder other than money, as Marcus had initially thought.
He had evidence, but the LinHill police department was too small and too precarious to have a lab where he could send it. Lucky for him he had friends that still owed him some favors back in the big city, and in a few more days he would have the analysis on the bullets found in Noah’s body. Perhaps he could find a connection with other cases or even, if his gut was right, the Midnight Vigilante himself.
He grabbed his car keys and notepad just in time to see Adrian walking toward him.
“Where are you going?”
Marcus took a final swig of coffee, emptying his Styrofoam cup. “To talk to a few witnesses for the Kirkland case. You’re more than welcome to join me, if you want.”
“This is my case too. Of course I’ll be coming along.”
“Right, of course.”
“Also, you should let me do the questioning. This is a small town, and they trust me. You’re new, so even though you carry a badge–”
“I know how to do my job,” Marcus interrupted. “I’ve questioned people before that didn’t know me, and they cooperated.”
Marcus rolled his eyes and walked toward the door. Adrian followed him. They went out, walked across the street, and got into Marcus’s SUV parked outside the office. Marcus drove while Adrian took the passenger’s seat.
The house where they stopped was relatively near the police station, as was every other house, since LinHill was a small town. It usually took no longer than ten minutes to get anywhere. The town was the kind of place where no cabs were needed, though it did have a few buses the citizens could use. So they parked their car in front of an old house with a white fence and a decaying front yard. It looked abandoned to Marcus, until he saw the curtain of the front window move and an old woman peeking outside. Marcus was the first to walk straight toward the woman’s house.
He opened the fence door, walked past the dry grass in the front yard, and knocked on the door, hard and insistent. A minute later a woman opened it slightly. They could only see half of her face, and Marcus showed his badge. “Hello, ma’am. I’m Detective Jung, and this is my partner, Detective Castelló. May we ask you a couple of questions?”
The woman eyed them suspiciously and hesitated. “Show me your badge again. What did you say your name was?”
“Detective Marcus Jung, ma’am,” Marcus repeated.
The old woman narrowed her eyes at him. “How come I’ve never seen you before? I know everyone in this town; I should recognize your face.”
Adrian pursed his lips, barely suppressing a grin. “He arrived a couple of months ago, Mrs. Kovac, but I can assure you, he’s a real detective.”
Visibly relieved by Adrian’s words, Mrs. Kovac opened the door and stepped aside. She eyed Marcus from head to toe when he passed her, giving him a nasty look as he made his way toward the living room. Her skepticism toward Marcus was emphasized when she hugged Adrian and gave him a soft kiss on his cheek, as if they indeed had known each other a long time.
“You said you wanted to ask me questions? About what?” Mrs. Kovac asked as she took a seat on a large antique sofa. Adrian sat in front of her while Marcus paced around the room, examining it with curious eyes.
“Something happened last night, right across from your house. We were wondering if you saw or heard anything,” Adrian asked in a soft tone.
“I, I’m an old woman. I get confused easily, and my memory is not what it used to be,” Mrs. Kovac replied with a trembling voice.
Marcus turned from the corner of the room, scowling and failing to hide it. “So, you’re telling us you didn’t hear three men being shot to death just a few feet across from your house?”
“No, I don’t remember,” Mrs. Kovac replied.
“Do you have a hearing impairment?” She shook her head. “Then I don’t understand how you could not hear multiple gunshots in the middle of the night. Are you protecting someone?”
“No!” Mrs. Kovac snapped.
“I think you should stop,” Adrian told Marcus.
“I just heard the gunshots,” Mrs. Kovac admitted quietly, “and people arguing. Nothing more. I swear though, I didn’t see the killer’s face.”
“Did you hear what they were arguing about?” Marcus pressed.
“No, I, it was too dark and
