28
Detective William Kowalski turned out to be a tall, taciturn man in his fifties with sharp blue eyes behind wire-rimmed glasses and salt-and-pepper hair in a neat cut.
He had on a gray suit with a patterned tie, making a trimly professional appearance.
He retrieved Julia from the waiting room, escorted her through another door that read OFFICIAL PERSONNEL ONLY, and took her aside.
He introduced her to his partner, Detective Joe Brennan, who was stocky with hazel eyes set close together, big freckles on fair skin, and shaggy brown hair.
His nose was gouged at the tip, as if he’d had something removed.
“Thank you for seeing me.” Julia acted braver than she felt. “I’m Courtney’s best friend, and she’s being represented by Bennie Rosato, who should be here later tonight.”
“Rosato?” Detective Kowalski frowned slightly. “Out of Philly?”
“Yes.” Julia could tell he recognized the name. “Can I see Courtney?”
“No. Only immediate family until she’s in prison and submits a visitors’ list.”
“Did you interview her?”
“Not yet. She’s still in Booking.”
“Do you interview her even if her lawyer said she shouldn’t talk?”
“Yes. We need to hear that from her. If she tells us she doesn’t want to talk to us, we end the interview.”
“I wish I could be there when you do.” Julia remembered Bennie’s advice. “She’s upset, and this is so hard for her. She didn’t do anything wrong, and she was arrested at her grandmother’s funeral, for God’s sake. Her husband isn’t even here.”
Detective Kowalski said nothing.
“I’ve known her all my life, and I knew her grandmother. I probably have a lot of information you could use, if you want to interview me.”
Detective Kowalski’s eyebrows lifted. “Fine.”
“But I don’t want you to interview me without her, and I don’t want you to interview her without me.”
Detective Kowalski pressed his thin lips together. “For your information, we can interview you anytime we want.”
Gulp. “Don’t you need a subpoena or a warrant?” Julia asked, trying to remember any criminal law from before.
“No. We need neither for an interview that’s noncustodial.”
“But I could say no, couldn’t I?”
“Yes.”
Julia saw an opening. “Well, I would say yes if I could be there when you interview Courtney. Together, maybe we could hash it out, even with her not talking. I know a lot about her grandmother’s murder.”
Detective Kowalski blinked.
The interview room held a metal table and a few blue bucket chairs.
Blank waiver forms sat on the table, along with a chewed-up pen.
There was nothing on the walls except an embedded mirror.
A videocamera was mounted near the ceiling.
The fluorescent lighting was harsh, and the air smelled like stale cigarettes.
Julia sat next to Courtney, trying to stay in control.
She’d tried not to cry when she first saw Courtney, but it wasn’t easy.
Courtney’s eyes were bloodshot and puffy.
Her hands were handcuffed in front of her, so she had to bend over to scratch her face.
Her black suit was wrinkled, and the bow of her blouse was undone again.
Detective William Kowalski sat erect, with a legal pad in front of him. Detective Brennan slid a stenographer’s pad and a Cross pen from the pocket of his navy sportjacket as the interview began.
“I don’t understand why I’m here,” Courtney blurted out, her lower lip trembling. “You really think I killed my grandmother? My grandmother who I love?”
Julia touched her arm. “Courtney, the lawyer told me to tell you not to say anything.” She turned to Detective Kowalski. “I told you, she’s not going to speak.”
Detective William Kowalski nodded. “Ms. Horan, are you exercising your right against self-incrimination?”
“Yes,” Courtney answered, nodding shakily.
“Fine, but I believe in laying my cards on the table.” Detective Kowalski kept his gaze on Courtney and opened his palms. “I can explain your situation, and you might understand why it would be in your best interest to cooperate with us.”
“Okay.” Julia answered for Courtney, preparing herself to remember everything he said. “But talk to me, not her.”
Detective Kowalski ignored Julia, eyeing Courtney. “This morning, we conducted a search of your motel room. We discovered what we believe to be the weapon used to kill your grandmother.”
Courtney gasped. “That’s not possible!”
Oh my God. Julia shot Courtney a warning glance. “I don’t understand. The state police found the murder weapon in the field. It was a ghost gun.”
“That wasn’t the murder weapon. The gun recovered from Ms. Horan’s room was the murder weapon.”
What? “How do you know?”
“It’s been tested.”
“Was the murder weapon a conventional gun or a ghost gun?”
Detective Kowalski hesitated. “The latter.”
Two ghost guns? Julia couldn’t process it fast enough.
“Courtney had nothing to do with the murder of her grandmother. She loved her grandmother. She’s heartbroken that she died.
” Julia bore down. “The cops must’ve put it there.
They planted it. They’re framing her. That’s the only possible explanation, and it fits everything they’re doing—”
“Why would they frame her?”
“I don’t know, but something really bad is going on here. The cops are in some kind of conspiracy.” Julia controlled herself, but her heart was pounding. “I’m telling you, she wouldn’t have anything to do with her grandmother’s murder. Why would she want her grandmother dead?”
“To inherit money and land, like you.”
Julia felt taken aback. Courtney’s wet eyes flared. They both fell silent a beat.
“Ms. Pritzker, we understand that you inherited an estate in Tuscany when your grandmother died a few years ago. The related case was international news. There was a police conspiracy against you, like you’re claiming here.
” Detective Kowalski’s eyes narrowed. “So maybe you’re running the same play.
Maybe you gave your friend here some ideas. ”
“No.” Julia recoiled, shocked to hear her past used against Courtney. “That’s just not true.”
Detective Kowalski remained impassive. “The Patterson farm is worth money. That’s motive enough.”
Julia swallowed hard, trying not to panic. “She didn’t do it. She would never do such a thing.”
“I didn’t kill my grandmother!” Courtney interjected, newly teary. “I told you I saw the guy who killed her, he ran out the back door, I chased him to a truck, and he took her basket!”
Julia worried that Courtney was talking too much.
Detective Kowalski frowned. “Ms. Horan, we have your previous statement. We have questions about whether it’s true.”
“It’s true!” Courtney raised her voice.
“Court, please, let me do the talking.” Julia prayed she would clam up.
Detective Kowalski faced Courtney. “You work for a company that sells office equipment, including 3D printers. You printed a gun, went to your grandmother’s house, and shot her.
You staged the scene. You concealed the gun on your person.
Then you called 911 and fabricated the story about seeing the killer and chasing him to the truck. ”
Courtney opened her mouth, but Julia cut her off. “If she did that, why would she call you?”
“To set up the false story. Do you know how many perpetrators call 911 after they commit a crime? We had a burglary last year, and the perpetrator did that.” Detective Kowalski eyed Courtney, linking his fingers.
“In addition, your actions since that day have been consistent with guilt. You breached the perimeter search by the state police. You demanded to know what they were doing and see what they recovered.”
Julia spoke quickly, so Courtney wouldn’t. “I don’t know what’s wrong with that. It was about her grandmother.”
“You met with Chief Glushenko and quizzed him extensively.”
“We asked him what was going on.”
“He told you he had no information, but you wouldn’t let it go.”
“We wanted to know. He was hostile to us, and at the very least, he was passing the buck. She called you several times but you didn’t answer.”
“You didn’t stop at gathering information, though. You obstructed justice.”
“What? How?” Julia asked, increasingly anxious. She was starting to worry that an innocent set of facts could be twisted to make Courtney look guilty.
“You trespassed on Samuel’s property and entered his home. You searched his home and sent his pictures to me. How do we know what evidence you took away, or added? You’ve interfered with the investigation and continued to do so, even after you were told not to by Chief Glushenko.”
“It’s because we cared about finding Kay’s killer!”
“Or because you were tracking our investigation to find out if we were closing in on you.” Detective Kowalski spoke to Courtney directly. “Or to deflect suspicion from yourself.”
“That’s not why,” Julia answered, for Courtney.
“She did those things because you didn’t call her back and the cops weren’t acting quickly enough.
She’s been trying to get your attention.
She told you the truth.” Julia had a thought.
“You have Kay’s phone, don’t you? Her friends Mona and Susan think Kay took a picture of the object from the missing basket.
We told Glushenko, I hope he told you. Have you looked on Kay’s phone? ”
“We did, and we didn’t see a picture of any strange object.”
Shit. “Maybe it wouldn’t look strange. It could look like something she found at a clean-up. It could be any photo she took that day.”
“We looked at her photo library on Sunday, the day of the last clean-up. There were none taken.”
No. “They could’ve been deleted by the Buckley cops. Isn’t that possible?”
“We’ll look into it,” Detective Kowalski said in a tone that suggested otherwise.
“Plus you should be investigating Samuel Palkovich. He was stalking Kay. You have the proof. Did you put out an alert for him?”
“He’s not the one who had the murder weapon in his room.”
Julia wanted more information. “What about the Shoemaker murder, at McKenna’s? McKenna went missing. What if the murders are related somehow?”