Chapter 48
Lisa Scott sat in the interrogation room with tousled hair and bloodshot eyes.
A slight grin pulled my lips, but I played devil’s advocate. "Doesn't mean anything. She could have been aboard at any point in time or touched the bag anywhere at any time. Maybe she found it and wanted to know what Eden was doing with it.”
The sheriff gave me a doubtful look. "It puts her on the boat."
“No, it doesn’t.” He knew that. He was being optimistic. “A competent defense attorney is going to cast a lot of doubt.”
"Yes, but right now, she's drunk, and we practically caught her with a hand in the cookie jar. Get in there and get a confession out of her. The woman was suing her stepdaughter for $20 million for defamation of character. She’s got a motive.”
"You think she gave Eden the fentanyl, hoping she would OD?”
"And when that didn't work, she shot her.”
"So, she was dumb enough to touch the bag of fentanyl, but smart enough to keep her prints off the gun?”
Daniels frowned at me. “You ever consider the fact that maybe Mrs. Scott wasn't alone?”
"Her husband was out of town.”
"I'm not talking about her husband. I'm talking about someone else.”
I had a prime suspect in mind.
I left the observation room, stepped into the hall, and pushed into the interrogation room. It took a moment for Lisa's eyes to focus on me, and another moment for her to recognize who I was. I took a seat across the table from her.
"Ah, a familiar face,” she slurred. “Can you tell these people that I'm perfectly sober and fine to drive home. If they don't trust me, they can give me a ride. But this is absolutely ridiculous."
I smiled and tried to disarm her. "I'll see what I can do. I just have a few questions before we let you go."
"Oh, thank God." She leaned in and muttered. "I'm not cut out for this kind of thing.”
That was obvious.
"Where were you tonight?"
"I met a friend out for a few drinks. I swear, I didn't have nearly as much as they're saying.”
"How many did you have?"
"Two. Maybe three, tops. But that was over the course of the evening."
"What time did you start drinking?”
She shrugged. "I'm not sure. Maybe 11 o'clock."
"Were you with your husband?”
She hesitated a moment. "No. He's out of town again.”
"Where's he at this time?”
She sighed and rolled her eyes. The smell of vodka on her breath hit me in the face. It was almost enough to make me tipsy. "He's got another speaking engagement. He travels the country and gives sermons at various churches.”
"You don't seem thrilled.”
She looked around and spotted the camera on the ceiling in the corner. "Is this off the record?”
"Sure," I said. Nothing in this room was off the record.
"I can do the goody two-shoes thing for a little while, but not 24-seven. I need to blow off steam like everybody else."
"Who were you blowing… off steam with tonight?”
A mischievous smirk curled her plump lips. "Does that really matter, deputy?"
"When was the last time you spoke with your stepdaughter?”
"Catherine?”
"No, your other stepdaughter.”
"Oh. I'm not sure. A few days before she died. Didn't we already talk about this? Why are we talking about it now?"
"I don't know. It's still lingering in my mind. I’m hoping we can catch a break on this. You want us to find the people responsible, don't you?"
"Of course. But I think the person responsible is Eden. She was clearly unstable.”
I frowned and shook my head. "Not everything matches up.”
"This isn’t a movie, deputy. You don’t always get to tie everything up in a nice, neat bow. This is life. It's messy and raw and unpredictable."
Right now, Lisa was messy, raw, and unpredictable.
"Did you ever talk to Eden about her drug use?"
"On occasion, but as I mentioned, she wouldn't listen to me. I was the enemy.”
"Did you ever catch her with drugs?”
"Well, she came over the house one time, and I know she smoked a joint on the patio. I heard her sniffling and snorting, and I think she was doing lines of cocaine in the bathroom.”
"Did you ever confiscate any drugs from her?”
Lisa laughed. "No.”
"So there's no reason why your fingerprints would be on any drugs or drug paraphernalia that she may have possessed.”
Lisa's brow wrinkled. "No. Of course not."
"See, that's interesting, because we found a bag of fentanyl aboard her boat that’s got your fingerprints on it.”
That hung there for a moment, and her face went pale. Her jaw slacked, and her eyes rounded. It was a natural reaction, one she couldn't stifle in her drunken state.