Page 51 of Dirty Looks

“You’re wrong,” she said, her fury cold. “Why don’t you talk to Emma Lidle. Tell me how wrong I am.”

Martinez’s brows rose. “Emma Lidle? Evie’s sister?”

“There’s a reason she left home,” she said. “Just like there’s a reason Evie is dead.”

“You’re saying Alan Goble sexually assaulted both of these girls?”

“I’m saying there’s more going on here than meets the eye,” she said. “It goes deeper than Emma and Evie. There are secrets in that house. Now that’s all I’m going to say without an attorney. The Lidles are powerful people, and Robert Lidle thinks Alan is a trophy in his trophy case. He can do no wrong. But I know different. Alan is a liar and he’s got a dark side that he rarely shows.”

“Yet it didn’t bother you enough to keep you from going to bed with him,” Martinez said.

She shrugged. “He could be charming and attentive when he wanted to be. And I have needs just like any woman. It’s not like my job allows me to meet a lot of eligible men.”

Her words were full of bitterness and regret and I wondered how much she’d given up for the Lidles to be her “family.”

“What kind of vehicle do you drive?” Martinez asked.

“A dark blue Highlander. Why?”

“Just curious,” he said. “You’ve still never told us exactly why you’re pointing a finger at Alan Goble. Did he give Kitty Lidle an overdose of her medicine? Because you were the last one to see her alive according to you.”

“I’ve told you everything you need to know without signing my own death warrant,” she said. “I believe I’ll ask for that attorney now.”

Twenty minutes later I made a detour to the breakroom to get a Snickers and a can of soda. I needed the extra jolt to get me through what was bound to be a long night.

I heard a dog bark before I’d made it to conference room A. And then I heard the laughter, and I peeped around the corner of the door, unsure of what I’d see.

“He’s a good boy,” Doug said, rolling around on the floor with something furry that did manage to resemble Oscar the Grouch. “And he’s smart too.”

I was relieved to see the dog wasn’t green, but his fur was a mixture of gray and black that curled over his body like a bad wave perm.

Jack whistled between his teeth and both Oscar and Doug sat up and at attention.

“Wow, nice trick,” I said, smirking at Jack. “You’ll have Doug house-trained before long.”

“Y’all are hilarious,” Doug said. “I almost always remember to put down the toilet seat now and pick up my wet towels off the floor.”

“Sounds like you’ll be a great mentor for Oscar,” Jack said. “Now we need to figure out how helpful Margot is going to be on this case. Make sure you’re set up and ready to go.”

“Margot is always ready,” he said. “Aren’t you, darling?”

“I am ready to function to the best of my programmed capabilities,” Margot purred. Her voice sounded like a late-night sex operator, sultry and smooth.

“Margot?” I asked. “Another name change?”

“What can I say?” Doug said. “She’s a woman. Always changing. Always evolving. Women are beautiful creatures.”

“Let me know when you actually meet one in the flesh,” Martinez said, grinning. “We’d all buy tickets to see that.”

“There’s no reason for Douglas to have connections with a human female,” Margot said. “I am perfectly capable of providing him all the companionship that he needs as a human male.”

My brows rose and I looked at Jack, and then I ran a finger across my throat and mouthed the words,“She’s going to kill us all.”

Jack smiled, but there was an edge of worry to it.

“That’s enough, Margot,” Doug said, dashing over to the laptop and typing in some commands. “Some things are better left unsaid.”

“I hope you sleep with one eye open,” Martinez said, while he and Derby from IT set up the digital murder board.

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