“Yes.” Jesse nods
“What do you mean by that?”
“She was friendly. She always refilled my cup, and I left Seth’s Coffee satisfied every time.”
Sheriff Stevens gives him a dirty look, and it’s then that I wonder if Jesse is playing some sort of game with him. “What do you mean by ‘satisfied?’”
“Well served,” he answers quickly. I can hear Sheriff Steven visibly groan. Jesse appears to have taken hold of the confidence he didn’t have earlier, and I’m not sure what changed.
“Since you were at Seth’s Coffee a lot, surely you would have noticed Kelly Summers and anyone she had been frequenting there with or speaking with.” Sheriff Stevens glares at Jesse.
“I’m sure I would have.” Jesse folds his arms into his chest.
“Brenda mentioned that you may have been a bit obsessed with Kelly. That the attention was unwanted.”
Jesse once again grows uncomfortable. His confidence drains from his body like a sand hourglass timer. “That’s not true,” he says with the last bit of assurance he has.
“What’s not true?” Sheriff Stevens matches his demeanor folding his arms in front of his wide chest.
“I wasn’t obsessed with Kelly. We were friends.”
“Well, what kind of friend tells the other to leave them alone or begs their co-worker to intervene?”
“What are you trying to say?” Jesse’s eyebrows pinch together.
“From the sounds of it, Kelly wasn’t comfortable with your presence. She would ask her co-workers, specifically Brenda, to take your table whenever you came in, because quote, ‘you made her uncomfortable,’ unquote. Why do you think that is?”
Jesse’s face turns a deep red. I can see him let out a large breath of air that blows his hair out of his eyes. “She’s lying. Kelly and I were friends. She gave me her phone number and everything.” He slams his fist on the table.
“Yes, we saw you had texted her on the night of her murder ‘I’m sorry.’ What were you apologizing for?”
“I don’t know. She hadn’t been answering my phone calls. I figured she was mad at me for something.” He regains his composure and just shrugs.
“It doesn’t seem like you two were actually friends.”
“But we were.”
“Can you prove this? Your friendship?”
“Yeah, I can. I knew who her friends were or at least the people she was with a lot. One of them was a cop.” Jesse juts up his chin and raises his eyebrows.
“You mean Officer Scott Summers, her husband?” Sheriff Stevens shifts in his seat and places his elbows on the table. The room is silent, while the two stare at one another. Jesse doesn’t really move. He simply stares. My phone buzzes over and over and over and over. I stop paying attention to Jesse and Sheriff Stevens and pull out my phone. I have four texts from Anne. I open them up.
Adam had a redhead over today. Not sure who she is, but I’ll find out.
Adam spent $10,000 at a mattress and bedding store.
Apparently, she’s a reporter.
Adam has made twenty-two phone calls to twenty-two different phone numbers in the past twenty-four hours.
I finish reading through Anne’s text messages and try to refocus my attention back on Sheriff Stevens and Jesse Hook. The mood seems to have shifted during my inattentiveness—shifted to what, I’m not exactly sure. But it has.
I know I told Anne to keep an eye on Adam. However, she’s gotten so close it’s making me uncomfortable. The number of calls. I said I wanted to know everything—but how much is too much? And this redhead he’s hired to help him… ugh, Adam, once again, is hiding things from me. Would I expect anything less? No. Not even in the slightest. This is exactly why I have Anne making sure he’s being watched at all times. I don’t need any other surprises like Jesse here. I shift my focus to the interrogation room.
“And did you ever see Officer Scott Summers harm Kelly Summers?”
“Like verbally or physically?”
“Both. Kelly has mentioned to several people that he had harmed her both physically and verbally. Can you deny or confirm that?” he asks.
Jesse pauses, looking around and then back at Sheriff Stevens. “He was abusive, both physically and verbally. I witnessed both.”
“Did you ever see Kelly with Adam Morgan?”
“Yes, I did,” Jesse says.
My phone buzzes again. I look down at it and see another text message from Anne.
Bob is asking for you. He seems pissed… as per usual.
I text her back quickly:
I’ll be there this afternoon.
The door opens, stealing my attention. I look up for a moment and return my concentration back to the interrogation room when I realize Deputy Hudson has entered. I really can’t deal with him right now. “To what do I owe the pleasure, deputy?” I don’t turn to look at him.
“Oh, we are starting with pleasantries?”
“Fine. What the fuck are you doing here?”
He smiles. “That’s better. Oh, I’m just here for a little entertainment is all.”
“Entertainment?”
“Yup. You see, for all of his shortcomings, Sheriff Stevens is actually quite excellent at this part of the job. I really do enjoy watching them squirm right before they break. It’s almost an art.”
“I might buy that. I mean, I enjoy the same thing too from time to time. But not this time. No, I think you are here for another reason.” I turn to look at Deputy Hudson, trying to get a read on him.
“Yeah? Please enlighten me then, Miss Fancy Lawyer, with the thing that I apparently don’t know myself.”
“You are here to cover your ass. Make sure that if something you don’t want being said is said in there that it isn’t a surprise to you. So you have time to plan a way out. Because I don’t know what you’re up to, but your boss is in there handling this; and the whole conversation is being recorded and could be viewed by you later at any time. So, I’ll ask again, what the fuck are you doing here?”
Marcus stares at me, tonguing the wad of tobacco in his gums. His eyes dart back and forth across my face. Now, he’s trying to read me. Trying to find any indication of what his next move should be. “Maybe you’re right. I can catch this anytime I please. And seeing as you have made it abundantly clear that you don’t appreciate my company, I guess I’ll be on my way.” He walks to the door and opens it. “You have a lovely day, Mrs. Morgan,” he quips with a smile plastered on his face.
I flip him the middle finger as a parting gift. I don’t have any idea what he is up to, but it reeks of suspicion. I’ll add him to my list of things to check out with this case.
When I return my attention to the interrogation room, Sheriff Stevens is getting up to leave. Jesse appears relieved. A moment later, Sheriff Stevens enters the viewing room.
“That went better than I expected,” he says leaning against the wall.
“Are you just going to let him go? Is that it?”