Chapter 17
As they all sat in the sheriff’s office, Berkley couldn’t believe Nick was flat-out lying to the detectives. It was clear they weren’t happy to be having this conversation here, so at least that was a plus.
Because apparently Sinead Goode was friends with the sheriff. Their families went way back—Krystal had told her, but Berkley would have figured it out considering where they were currently sitting.
“So you saw someone messing with the back of Ms. Knight’s Bronco?” Detective Dewey’s tone held more than a little disbelief.
“Like I said already, yes.” Nick’s tone was just this side of condescending.
“And you just…did nothing?”
Nick shrugged, the picture of nonchalance.
“What the hell was I supposed to do? I pulled up to the jobsite, saw someone in a hoodie at the back of her vehicle. They heard or saw me arrive, I’m not sure which, then literally ran.
I couldn’t see any damage to her Bronco and figured they were looking to steal her spare or something.
” He paused, eyeing the other man. “Are you suggesting that I should have run after them?”
“No one is suggesting that.” This from Detective Levitz, who had a much better poker face than his partner Dewey. That man just looked angry all the time now.
Maybe because he didn’t have a slam dunk with Henry’s murder?
In the last ten minutes, Berkley was starting to think Levitz was in charge of this investigation, not Santa Claus’s twin.
Levitz looked at her now, his expression a lot nicer than it had been on Monday.
Jeez, had all that only happened on Monday?
“We’re glad you came to us with this. We’re going to process the pills and see if we can figure out where they came from.
Now…” He looked at Sinead, then back at Berkley.
“You said you had some information about Mr. Moore’s murder? ”
Berkley was really glad they were in a cushy office having this conversation and not the sterile, cold interrogation room, but she was still scared they were going to cuff her after she told the truth.
Most of the truth.
“We do,” Sinead answered. “And I want it on the record that we came here of our own accord. My client is here because she wants to help find not only Mr. Moore’s killer, but also figure out who has been stalking her.”
Detective Dewey made a scoffing sound and Berkley’s gut tightened even more. Maybe this had been a mistake after all.
“Got something in your throat?” Nick practically growled.
“Why are you even in here, Mr. Storm?” the detective demanded.
“I literally just gave an official statement about the harassment Ms. Knight has been receiving. We can leave right now if you’d like.” He took a step toward Dewey that was clearly menacing, and oh, she really liked the way he said we.
Levitz cleared his throat, his focus now on Berkley. “Tell us what you know.”
“Monday morning I woke up with a raging headache in a house not my own. I had no idea what was going on, or how I’d gotten there, just that I was in my pajamas in someone else’s laundry room.”
Levitz frowned, clearly not knowing where she was going with this. Because how would he? How would anyone guess this?
“Okay,” he said slowly.
“I didn’t realize it at the time. Not right away, anyway,” she lied. “That I was at Henry’s house.”
The other detective cursed, but everyone ignored him.
So she continued. “My neck hurt and I suspected someone had drugged me. I was too out of it, and now I also realize that I was in shock. I woke up in a strange place, having gone to bed in my own house…” Swallowing hard, she shook her head, trying to play up the fear she’d felt.
And it wasn’t hard, because the whole situation was terrifying.
“I thought… Well, I thought there was a chance I’d been raped or who knows what. So I ran.”
“You…ran?” Levitz asked.
“Yes. When I realized I was in my ex’s laundry room, I knew I wouldn’t have gone there voluntarily. And without getting into the details of our relationship…I was scared.” She felt Nick’s gaze on her and had to ignore him.
“Where did you go?” Levitz’s voice was calm, reassuring.
She still didn’t trust him, but it made this easier. “I ran to my brother’s house. He lives close to Henry. And like I said, I was in shock, moving on autopilot, I guess. I didn’t know about the cops or Henry’s…murder, at the time. Just that I’d been kidnapped. Or abducted, whatever.”
“Why didn’t you call the cops?” Levitz watched her carefully.
She couldn’t hide the snort. “I didn’t have my phone.
I didn’t have anything on me and I know for a fact that Henry donates a decent amount to the Fallen Officer’s Fund.
Not to mention I got into some trouble when I was young and dumb.
Also…a friend of mine was raped and it was handled poorly by the cops.
” Also true, just something she hadn’t thought of at the time, but she needed to sell this.
“To put it simply, I don’t trust you guys.
I didn’t trust any of you to handle with care what could have been an assault on me.
My brother took me straight to the hospital where a friend of his ran a drug panel on me. ”
“Did they do a rape test?” Levitz’s voice had softened even more, so maybe he wasn’t a total piece of shit like his partner.
“No. I’d planned to but…I realized I still had my tampon in from the night before. And I felt…fine.” She hadn’t been sore anywhere and it felt weird to explain anything else with the room so full.
He nodded, encouraging her to go on.
Sinead stepped forward and handed him a file—the report from her drug test. “As you can see, she was drugged with a serious cocktail, including ketamine. Injected into her neck. And,” she added, handing over another printout,” these are the details from my client’s security system.
Someone turned off her system in the early hours of Monday morning.
About an hour before she woke up in Mr. Moore’s laundry room. ”
Levitz glanced over the printouts. “What about your camera system?”
“I don’t know. It’s a basic one I bought online.
It sends me alerts if anyone triggers them, but…
there’s nothing on them in that time frame.
” Which bothered her, but she wasn’t sure what to make of it.
It was possible she’d turned the cameras off when drugged, but…
there was just a big blank in her memory.
“Are you a heavy sleeper?” Levitz asked.
“Not usually, but I took a melatonin Sunday night because I needed the sleep.” And she was cursing herself for that now.
Because she’d been dead to the world and someone had broken into her place, disarmed her system, then injected her with enough drugs to make her either compliant enough to leave on her own or knocked her out so she could be transported. Twice.
Levitz was quiet for a long few moments as he scanned the papers. Then he looked up at her again. “And someone broke into your place Monday night. Or attempted to,” he added. It wasn’t a question. “Do you have any enemies?”
Dewey made a derisive grunt. “Oh come on, you can’t actually—”
Levitz glanced over his shoulder at Dewey, and though she couldn’t see his expression, his voice was hard. “You don’t need to be in here.”
Unless this was some weird good cop, bad cop role, something was going on between them. She didn’t think they were role-playing though.
Dewey clenched his jaw and was quiet, though he didn’t make a move to leave. Ugh. She wished he would. His presence was making her feel off-kilter.
“Enemies? No. I can’t think of anyone who hates me enough to drug me, dump me at Henry’s place after he’d been murdered—likely by them—and plant drugs in my vehicle then call in a tip about it. That’s psycho-level shit.”
Levitz gave her a ghost of a smile. “It is indeed.” Then he frowned again. “And it’s very concerning, especially since someone spoofed those emails to your ex. It’s clear that someone wants to hurt you. Where are you staying right now?”
“My brother’s place. It’s very secure and he’s vigilant about security in general.”
“You’re not staying at your sister’s?”
“No. Normally I would, but she’s got kids and…I honestly thought it might be like a conflict of interest.”
Levitz nodded slowly, his expression still unreadable. “I think it would be a good idea to put an officer on your house, at least for a few days. See if someone shows back up. But if I’m being honest, whoever is targeting you knows a lot about you. Enough to know your security code.”
She’d already figured that much out. But they talked for a few more minutes until finally the two detectives left the office.
She let out a long breath, feeling as if she’d just come off a hard workout.
“I think it’s safe to say you’re in the clear for Mr. Moore’s murder but…please be careful in general. Clearly someone wants to hurt you and I don’t trust these guys to figure out who. Maybe Levitz,” Sinead added a little grudgingly. “He’s got a solid track record.”
“Oh. That’s good to know.”
She nodded. “He moved up here from Atlanta. Has a high closure rate.”
“And I won’t be in trouble for telling them about waking up at Henry’s after the fact?”
“No DA with any brains would bring a case against you for how you reacted. If they do, it’s going to make the department look incompetent and…
you’re good. You didn’t commit a crime by running.
I can almost promise this is going to die.
They’ve got bigger fish to fry anyway. A well-known doctor has been murdered and…
” She lowered her voice even as she went to close the office door they’d left open.
“There might be a connection to another murder. Same M.O.” She looked at Nick.
“I think you talked to them about the guy. James Reed?”
Berkley had to school her expression since she hadn’t told her lawyer about waking up at Reed’s place either.
And it was waaaaay too late to tell the cops about that now.
She’d be taking that to her grave. Micah had already assured her that she wasn’t on any cameras at Reed’s place so she’d be telling no one. It would just muddy the waters.
There was no need to tell them anyway. Especially if, as it sounded, the cops knew there was a connection. She’d planned to sneakily tell Krystal there was a possible connection but now she might not need to.
Nick nodded. “Yeah, I knew him just through work.”
“He had some contact with one of my part-time workers,” Berkley said because it would be weird not to bring it up and then have them find out later.
Both turned to look at her in surprise and she hoped she kept her expression neutral enough as she shrugged.
“I already told my sister this. She’s investigating his murder.
I didn’t know there was a connection to Henry though. ”
Sinead watched her for a long moment. “They were both killed with the same type of weapon, same method. You don’t know him at all?”
“No. I mean, his name only, but I never talked to him or anything. He called my business about cleaning out a condo development he’d recently bought.” She shrugged, really striving for casual.
Sinead simply frowned, but then told her to “stay safe” again before she left, a faint cloud of Black Opium by Yves Saint Laurent remaining in her wake. She recognized the scent because Silvia also wore it.
And speaking of, she really needed to tell Silvia and Kendall what was going on. They were all close, and if someone was targeting her, there was no reason to think they’d stop at hurting her friends or family.
Even though she knew she was walking a fine line of lies and omissions, she just couldn’t tell her friends everything.