Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 100604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
“What are you talking about?”
“They’re going to ask you questions, but I can get my guys in there. They can separate you from your friend when you’re being interviewed.”
“I—are you sure?”
He nodded. “Let me do that for you, at least. You can tell your friend on your own terms then. You can control that, at least.”
“Thank you.” His hand slipped down my arm to my hand. I squeezed.
I was very aware that if this happened a few months from now, Cole would be at my side. He would walk through my home with me. I wouldn’t have to do it alone, but now it was too soon. Too early. I had to do this without him.
A little while later, I met Sia in the lobby, and we rode together in a car Ken “called” for us.
I didn’t look at the driver. I knew it wasn’t Carl.
Nothing was missing.
I walked through the house with two detectives. One was tall and the other was medium height, maybe an inch taller than me. Each was in his mid-forties, or so I guessed based on how haggard they looked. They had beady eyes and hawk-like focus centered right on me. It was uncomfortable, but I was relieved to find nothing gone.
I had taken everything that had sentimental value with me when I moved, I explained. Nothing left was particularly important to me, but it was still a relief to know I hadn’t been robbed.
And true to Cole’s word, when the detectives began to question me, a police officer came and directed Sia away. I couldn’t hear the reason he gave her, but she threw me a confused look and followed him from the room.
I was ready. The hard questions were coming now.
“You’re sure, Mrs. Sailer, that nothing is missing?”
“You can call me Addison.”
“You don’t go by your married name anymore?” The taller one cocked his head to the side. He had introduced himself as Reyes. I tried to remember the other one…maybe Smythe?
“I go by Addison.”
Smythe, or whatever his name was, asked, “Is there a reason for that? Usually when people change their names, there’s a reason. They’re seeing someone new, or they don’t want to be associated with the old name. Anything like that?”
I knew what he was asking, but I didn’t react, despite the irritation starting to boil inside me. “My husband died over a year ago. I guess I’m slowly getting used to being just Addison right now. What does that have to do with someone breaking into my house?”
“We’re just trying to understand your circumstances, find a connection or motive that might explain this,” Reyes said smoothly.
“So, you think this is my fault?” I countered. Unbelievable.
They ignored me.
Reyes gestured over his shoulder, where Sia had gone. “Your friend said you moved into The Mauricio downtown. That’s a pretty expensive place.”
His partner grunted. “And exclusive. I’d have no idea how to get in there even if I wanted to.”
They grinned at each other, perhaps thinking I didn’t know where they were going with these questions.
I raised my chin and rolled my shoulders back. “Just ask what you want to ask.”
The feigned amusement was gone. Their hawk eyes returned. The taller one narrowed his. “Do you know Cole Mauricio, ma’am?”
Ma’am. They even dropped the first name. A cold feeling crept in. “Yes, I do.”
“Your friend said you met at some hoity-toity event. One of those fundraisers. Is that true?”
“He was there, yes.”
They studied me, and I felt them reassessing.
Smythe asked quietly, “Is that where you met Cole Mauricio?”
“He wasn’t introduced to the group. Alfred Mahler conversed with him and his companion. Then Cole said a few words to the other people standing with us.”
“Other people? Who were they?”
Deep breath, and here we go. “My dead husband’s parents.”
“In-laws?” Both looked at me, long and hard. They hadn’t expected that.
I nodded. “I prefer ex-in-laws. There’s no relationship.”
Reyes wrote something down on a pad of paper. “Is that how you know Cole Mauricio?”
“I know him because I live in his building.”
“Your friend is dating one of the other residents, and she didn’t know him.”
I lifted a shoulder. “There’s a running track inside. We were both running one day. That’s where I met him.” I was willing to tell the truth, but I’d be damned if I just handed it over.
The medium-height one shifted on his feet, peering at me. “Your friend said you and your husband were estranged from his family.”
“That’s true. Yes.”
“Did you ever meet your husband’s grandmother?”
They were going the Bertal route. They weren’t going to ask whether I knew Cole on a personal level. The relief almost overwhelmed me. My knees grew weak, and I moved my head from side to side. “No. I never did. Liam was—he didn’t want me to meet her. That was obvious.”
“And you never questioned him?”
“I loved him. If he didn’t want me to meet her, there was a reason for it. I trusted him.”