Page 6 of Witness To Murder
His last statement hit her the wrong way. “Are you suggesting I haven’t been cooperating? For God’s sake, I’ve done everything you asked me to do. I’ve answered all your questions.”Suffered being made to feel like a fool, she kept to herself.
He studied her for another long moment. “Tell me about your relationship with Chris Painter,” he said, rather than answer her question.
The unexpected change in direction of the discussion was like a dash of cold water in her face. Where the hell had that come from? “What does a personal relationship I had over nine years ago have to do with what happened to Raymond?”
“Maybe nothing,” he returned with a half shrug. “But indulging my curiosity is part of cooperating, to my way of thinking.”
Her pulse revved up. He was serious. Clearly, he’d been digging around in her past. She shouldn’t be surprised, but somehow she was. “What is it that you want to know?”
“The two of you had a bad breakup, and then Painter disappeared,” Lambert said. “No one heard from him again. Still haven’t, according to the detective I spoke with from your hometown.”
A twisted combination of fear and anger swelled inside her. “If you spoke with Detective Hawkins,” she began, choosing her words carefully, “then you know that Chris was a drug dealer.A thug. He was in and out of jail, and he made a lot of enemies. When he disappeared, most people believed he crossed the wrong guy and was taken out of play. I was eighteen, naive and wild about a very bad man. My parents tried to tell me that he was serious trouble, but I wouldn’t listen. I was convinced I was in love, but I was wrong. That is all I know about the disappearance of Chris Painter.”
Humiliation joined the other emotions swarming inside her. As a teenager, she had made a terrible mistake. She’d hurt and disappointed her parents, and she’d been dragged into a long and painful criminal investigation because she had been an immature and foolish girl who acted on impulse and emotion rather than logic and intelligence. Her senior year of high school was not her best by any stretch of the imagination. For the entire rest of her academic days, from kindergarten on, she had been a model student—one who made the very best grades and good choices. But it was that one lone, final year of high school—actually, the last few weeks—for which everyone in her small hometown would remember her. How sad was that?
Lambert nodded. “That’s basically what Detective Hawkins said,” he admitted. “But you can see how learning this information would give me pause under the circumstances.”
She nodded, uncertain of her voice at the moment.
“The circumstances are oddly similar. Don’t you agree?”
“Actually, I don’t.” She managed a tight swallow to dampen her dry throat. “I did not see whatever happened to Chris occur, and it was fairly clear to all who knew him why he vanished. At least, as clear as an unsolved disappearance can be. But this is not the same at all.”
When he made no comment, she kept going. “Obviously, you don’t believe me when I say I saw Raymond on that floor. His eyes were open and unblinking. Blood was leaking down the sideof his head.” She gestured to her left temple. “From where I was standing, he looked dead or…maybe unconscious.”
Lambert took a long, deep breath, then released it. “I’m supposed to believe that in the twenty-odd minutes between the time you witnessed his body on the floor and being moved until the first on the scene arrived, someone removed the body from the building and cleaned up any evidence a crime had taken place in that kitchen?”
His doubts were undeniably justified…but she was telling the truth. “It’s theonlyexplanation because I know what I saw.”
Lambert uncrossed his legs and leaned forward, braced his forearms on his knees. “Did you know that Mr. Douglas carried a ten-million-dollar life insurance policy?”
Leah made a face. “Why would I know that? We’d only ever met once.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe this.”
The detective turned up his hands. “It was necessary to ask. Just another worrisome detail to clear up.”
“Then the beneficiary on the policy should give you a starting place on who might have reason to want him dead,” she suggested. This man was a seasoned detective. She had done a little research on him too. He was good. His name or face was, it seemed, always in the news for solving some case or another. Unquestionably, he was well-versed in how to conduct a criminal investigation. She suspected he only wanted her reaction to the question. Evidently, unsettling the witness was part of his strategy.
“His ex-wife is one of the beneficiaries,” Lambert said. “But she has an airtight alibi—she and her two teenage children spent the weekend with her mother.”
Leah lifted her chin in defiance of the statement. “Maybe she hired someone to do it. Based on how quickly everything happened that night, it certainly gave the appearance of a professional job. A well-planned one, obviously.” As soon as thewords were out of her mouth, she wished she could take them back. Knowledge of that sort of thing was not a good look on a suspect. But she was only guilty of watching too much crime TV. And, admittedly, mystery novels were her favorite.
He nodded. “It does.”
To her surprise, it practically sounded like he believed her. Leah had told herself not to forget to ask this next question, but she almost had. “What about cameras? Were there no cameras in the alley, or anywhere around the building, that showed the comings and goings at the rear exit of the restaurant?” She found it difficult to believe there weren’t, but there had been no mention so far.
“Only one, and it wasn’t working at the time.”
She should have seen that one coming. “So, what now? Do you have other suspects, or are you determined to try and pin this on me, because I can tell you—” her voice rose with each word “—I did not have anything to do with this. I didn’t even know the man.”
“Well.” He stood. “I’m sure I will have more questions.”
Leah stood, too, her knees a little weak. Why couldn’t he just give her an answer? Was she still a suspect, given what he’d learned about the insurance policy?
“Did you speak to Isla?”
“Unfortunately, I have not been able to reach her.”
Frustration wove its way through Leah, but she wasn’t surprised. When Isla was at work at the ER, she oftentimes left her cell phone in her locker. If she was in class, she had no doubt turned it off. Still, she usually returned calls. A new thread of uneasiness trickled through Leah.
