Page 48 of Deputies Under Fire
Rory considered that a moment and shook his head. “His lawyers will keep him on a tight leash so he doesn’t say anything incriminating. Or rather, more incriminating since he was found at the scene with a dead body.”
Livvy made a sound of agreement. “I’ll press about that phone call he got,” she replied. “He might remember something that can help her ID whoever it was that called him.”
“Good luck,” Rory told her. “As soon as we’re done interviewing Diedre, we’ll try to observe the rest of the interview with Ike.”
Livvy glanced in the direction of Grace’s office. “Will you be arresting Diedre?” she asked.
“It’s possible. The knife was found in her house, but we have no confirmation yet that it was actually the murder weapon.”
But there was the human blood that’d been found on it. That and the fact the knife was technically in her possession were enough to make an arrest. Rory wanted more, though. Hell, he wanted a confession so he could put an end to this nightmare.
Since Rory wanted to do this by the book, he stepped back into the office and motioned for Diedre to follow him. “We’ll talk in interview room three,” he insisted. “This way.”
Diedre did follow Eden and him, but she also glanced back over her shoulder. “Is Helen gone?”
Rory frowned and found it strange that Diedre seemed to be more concerned about Helen than she was an interview with the cops about a murder investigation. Still, Rory didn’t question her about that. He led Diedre into interview, and he started the recording. After he’d recited the time, date and the names of those present, he repeated the Miranda warning to Diedre.
“Did you tell Helen about me seeing Frank?” Diedre asked the moment Rory had finished.
Again, he was puzzled by both the woman’s reaction and why she would be asking that particular question. But since she’d brought up the subject, he decided to go with it for now.
“You’re in a relationship with Frank Mott?” Rory asked.
She huffed. “You know I am. Frank told you, and he called me when the officer was driving me here.”
“What exactly did Frank say?” Because Rory needed to know if Frank had coached Diedre about the info she was telling them.
Annoyance, and concern, put some steel in the muscles of her jaw, and she was also nibbling on her bottom lip. “I don’t remember his exact words, but he said he’d confessed to seeing me. We don’t want Helen to know.”
“And why is that?” Eden asked.
The annoyance went up a notch. “Because Helen can be a spiteful woman, and she’d try to get back at Frank and me. You know she would,” Diedre insisted. “And I don’t want to get on her bad side again.”
Yes, Rory did indeed know that Helen could be spiteful, but he figured Diedre would always be on his aunt’s bad side. Helen was playing nice with Diedre now for the sake of getting back at Ike, but that didn’t mean Helen was finished with hating the woman who was her dead sister’s rival.
“You have to promise you won’t tell Helen about Frank and me,” Diedre added a moment later.
Rory looked her straight in the eyes. “This is a murder investigation,” he said coldly. “And I can’t promise what info will or won’t be divulged.”
Alarm shot through Diedre’s eyes. “But Helen might kill me if she finds out.”
“Kill you for sleeping with a man she had a casual relationship with?” Rory said, lacing his question with some obvious skepticism.
Diedre looked ready to blurt something out, but then she seemed to rethink her response. Rory didn’t give her much time before he fired off another question.
“Did Helen kill Mellie, Brenda and Carter? Is that why you’re afraid she’ll murder you, too?”
Diedre didn’t jump to answer, but that alarm was still there. Rory had no idea if it was fake or real. And if it was warranted. Diedre could be reacting this way simply to make them more suspicious of Helen.
“Have you ever seen Helen be violent toward anyone or anything?” Eden said.
“Well, no,” Diedre admitted after a long pause. “But she did pull that knife on Ike, and because of my affair with Ike, she already has a reason to hate me. I just don’t want her coming after Frank and me.”
Rory took a moment to process that. “Does anyone else know about your relationship with Frank?”
Diedre did more chewing on her lip. “I told Mellie. And then a few months later, I told Brenda,” she finally admitted.
Well, hell. That was either a seriously bad coincidence or a motive for murder, since both women were now dead. But an affair between two consenting adults couldn’t spur a murdering spree.
