Page 46 of Deputies Under Fire
“Not at the moment, but it’s a possibility,” Rory admitted. He didn’t add more because he saw Helen come in. “Your client is in interview room one,” he said, and he stepped around the team to head toward Helen.
Helen’s eyes weren’t narrowed, not yet, anyway, but her hard expression made it clear she wasn’t happy to be here.
“This way,” Rory said, leading her toward Grace’s office. Thankfully, the lawyers were already on their way to interview so Rory didn’t have to deal with them.
Once he had Helen inside the office, he closed the door and motioned for her to take a seat next to the desk. Eden took the one next to her, causing Helen to flick her a glance that seemed to be tinged with annoyance. He wasn’t positive what Helen’s beef was with Eden, but he suspected it was because Eden was the mother of his child. Any association with him would spur Helen’s disapproval, since his aunt blamed him for not doing more to save his mother’s life.
“Do you need me to go over your Miranda rights again?” Rory asked, leaning his hip against the edge of the desk.
“No. I haven’t suddenly developed amnesia,” she said. “Just ask your questions, and if I decide I want my lawyer here, I’ll call him. But please be quick. Your mother’s flowers are still in my car, and I don’t want them to wilt.”
He didn’t bother to point out that they’d soon wilt in this heat. Or remind her that his mom hadn’t actually been a flower lover because of her allergies. No need to dive into the petty stuff since he had bigger fish to fry.
“What’s this about?” Helen demanded.
“The knife. Your knife,” he amended. “The one you pulled on Ike during the middle of an argument.”
She huffed. “I already explained that I didn’tpullit on him. That makes it sound as if I planned on attacking him. I didn’t. I simply wanted to scare him. It didn’t work. He ripped the knife from my hand and took it.” Helen leaned forward in the chair, pinning her gaze on Rory. “And once again, I have to know if Ike is using that knife to set me up. Did he use it to kill Brenda and that dead man you found earlier?”
Rory went with a similar response to the one he’d given her at Diedre’s. “No proof of that. But I do have proof that Ike had the knife returned to you.”
That was close to the truth, anyway. The photo Ike’s assistant had taken showed something in an envelope being left on Helen’s doorstep.
Helen stared at him and shook her head. “He didn’t, and if Ike said he did, he’s lying.”
“Proof,” Rory repeated. “The knife was left at your house.”
Helen shook her head again. “No, it wasn’t. Or if it was, I never received it.” Her denial seemed genuine.
Seemed.
“If the knife was left at my house, then it was stolen,” Helen went on. “Or else Ike faked sending it. I’ll say it again—Ike willuse that knife to try to set me up. Or murder me with it. Why haven’t you arrested him?”
“Because I need proof for that,” Rory said, honestly. “And so far, it looks more as if someone is setting up Ike, not you.”
If looks could kill, Helen would have ended him right then, right there. “Are you accusing me of murder?”
“Not accusing. Asking,” he clarified. “Did you kill Mellie and Brenda?” He didn’t add Carter’s name since the man’s family hadn’t been notified yet.
“No, I did not,” she snapped, and she stood. “And if that’s all you want—”
“It’s not,” Rory said, stepping in front of her to block her from leaving. “Have you had any recent conversations with anyone about explosives?”
For just a second, Helen got that deer-caught-in-the-headlights look, but she quickly reined in her shock. “Why do you ask?”
“Just answer the question,” he insisted.
She took her time doing that. “Frank Mott. He told you I was asking about that.” Helen waved a dismissive hand. “I certainly didn’t want to know so I could blow something up.” She paused again. “I was trying to make a connection with him, all right?”
Rory was sure he looked confused, because he was. “Excuse me?”
Not shock this time from Helen, but what he thought was embarrassment. “A connection. I wanted to talk about something that I thought would interest him since he has all these guns and military magazines around his house. Frank and I have been seeing each other, but he seemed to be losing interest so I wanted to…connect,” she explained.
Rory wasn’t sure he bought that, but he would now need to ask Frank about those magazines. They might turn out to be nothing, but since the killer had used IEDs twice now, that was definitely an angle that needed to be investigated.
“Would you agree to having your home searched?” Rory asked her.
Muscles stirred and tightened in Helen’s jaw. “And what exactly would you hope to find in such a search?” But she didn’t wait for an answer. She began to snap out the possibilities. “A knife that I’ve already told you I don’t have? Clothes with Brenda’s and Mellie’s blood on them? A printed-out confession of crimes I didn’t do? Or maybe you’ll actually find something that Ike planted to try to get back at me. How about all of the above?”
