Page 13 of 4th Silence
Charlie sits forward, resting her hand on the edge of the desk. “I’m sorry to have to ask you these questions.”
“It’s fine. A new set of eyes might do us some good. Even the smallest details sometimes make a difference.”
A buzzing sound interrupts us. Charlie reaches into her coat pocket, sliding her phone free. She holds it up so I can view the screen, and I once again see JJ’s handsome face.
I jerk my head to the door, and she rises from her seat. “Excuse me. It’s JJ.”
She hustles out.
“So,” Matt says. “Tiffany. What can you tell us about her?”
Alex smiles. “She was just a normal kid. She had these crazy blonde curls we used to tease her about. She wanted to be a hairstylist when she grew up.” He lets out a soft chuckle. “When she’d sleep over, my mother would let her brush her hair at night. I can still picture her standing behind the sofa with that boar bristle brush in her hand.”
“My apologies for having to ask this, but…could the attack have been sexual in nature? Was that ever looked into?”
Alex nods. “Every man at that party was investigated. Unfortunately, security cameras hadn’t been installed inside yet. Only the exterior. It was on the list of things to do while the panic room was under construction.”
“So, there’s no footage of her going into the basement?”
He shakes his head. “No. And why would she? The party and presents were upstairs. There’s nothing of her leaving the house, either. There are hours of tape, but they can’t find anything on her.”
“That’s odd,” I say.
“As I said, there were two hundred there, and she was a child. She could have gotten lost in the crowd.”
“Maybe,” Matt muses. “Could we get copies of the footage? I’d like to take a look. With the advancements in facial recognition, I have a friend who might be able to help us.”
His friend, I’m sure, would be Teeg from the Justice Team. We often joke that computers are no match for Teeg.
“I’ll talk to JJ. If he signs off on it, I’ll get it to you. Any assistance you could provide would be greatly appreciated. From a business and personal standpoint. Obviously, I’d like to get this case solved. I don’t know if you’ll find anything. We’ve been over the files hundreds of times.”
I push to my feet. “Well, like you said. A fresh set of eyes never hurt.”
5
Charlie
* * *
My heart races as I step out of Alex’s office, my phone buzzing insistently in my hand. I try to infuse calm into my simple greeting, “Hey, JJ. Thanks for getting back to me.”
“Charlize, we need to talk. Now.”
Power exudes from those six words. When I want to talk, he ghosts me. When he wants to? It’s an order.
My hackles go up.
Mom, you owe me.
I lower my voice and run through my options: flirt, tease, logic. I pick the latter. “I know you’re upset, and yes, Mom overstepped, but we’re all in it now, so can we make the best of it?”
“The brass is breathing down my neck.” Yep, that’s a ‘no.’ “They want this ridiculous publicity to go away.” His words land like a hammer, pounding his frustration into me. “My bosses, the Hartmans, the chief of police. The mayor, Charlie. Mary Hartman is a friend of his. And, worse, he has to see her at some charity gig tonight. Great timing, there. No one is happy about Helen and her goofball group making this a public spectacle again.”
Yes, I’ve called them goofballs myself—but they mean well, and someone has to defend them. Accusing him of name-calling won’t help my mission.
If JJ’s flailing this hard, the pressure must be nuclear. And if they’re this desperate to shut us down... what exactly are they hiding? “JJ, we can’t just?—”
The hammer is replaced with a steel-edged knife. “I’m walking a tightrope here. One wrong move—even speaking to you in private like this about the case—and it could cost me my job.”
