Saint couldn’t help it. Laughter spilled from him.
Not surprisingly, the two detectives did not look amused.
He laughed a little longer then asked, “Got any proof to go along with that suspicion?”
Silence.
“Didn’t think so.” His smile had completely faded. “Now I’m done having my time wasted. Either charge me with something or open the door for me while I walk out.”
***
“Another murder, and another day when you’re right in the middle of things.”
Alice sat with her spine perfectly straight, her legs crossed, and one ankle swinging lazily. The chair in the interrogation room was horribly hard and uncomfortable, but she made sure to act as if she was sitting on a plush throne. Appearances had to be maintained, after all. And there was no way—not even for a second—that she would allow herself to appear rattled in front of the two cops.
Heidi Lockett and Jamal Preacher. She’d met them before. They made a habit of dropping by Abracadabra just to make her life extra stressful. It had come as no big surprise to discover that they were going to be the homicide detectives working this case. Also, no surprise? They were already biased against her. “This is actually my first murder,” Alice reminded them. Her eyes widened. “What others do you know about?”
Jamal’s lips tightened. “I think my partner was referring to the three missing men in your past.”
Alice put a hand to her chest. “They still haunt me, and I still hope they will come home soon to end this nightmare.” Part of that statement was true. Part was false. They’d never know, though. They would just think she mocked them.
“One of those missing men…his sister was just found murdered in your office.” Jamal hauled out the chair across from her. The legs screeched, sounding like nails on a chalkboard.
“Are we sure it was murder?” Alice queried.
Heidi gaped at her. “You think she tied herself up and jumped in the tank?”
“Stranger things have happened. Besides, magicians do that routine all the time.”
Heidi stopped gaping and glared. “This isn’t funny.”
“No, and I’m not laughing. I am telling you that Tracy Eldridge was unstable. I told you that for a very long time. She’d been stalking me. Harassing me. Last night, she sprayed paint on my car and me, and she—”
“She attacked you last night,” Jamal cut through her words to say. “And she’s dead today. Dead in your torture chamber. Dead in your office. So I’m thinking you got pissed, and you decided to get vengeance on her because she wouldn’t stop messing with you. She even hired that guy Saint to poke into your life. You thought he was really interested in you, but he’s just been working to send you to jail where you—”
Her hand rose to her chest. Waved in the air. “Please.” Soft. Breathless. “You’re hurting my feelings.”
“The hell I am,” Jamal snapped.
He was right. The hell he was. “I think you’re getting ahead of yourselves.” Her gaze swept between them. “You don’t even have a time of death yet. You haven’t finished searching my office for clues. And by the way, just have at it. Search to your heart’s content.”
“Thanks. We will.” A clipped response from Heidi. “That’s what we do at crime scenes.”
Should she try applying reason? Maybe. “How would I have lifted her body into the tank? She was bigger than me. And shouldn’t she have left some sort of defensive wounds on me?” Alice held out both unmarked arms. Made sure she left them up long enough for the cops to take a good, long look. “If you check my security camera—I have one at the back of Abracadabra—you’ll see me arrive with Marcel Taylor. We entered together. I wasn’t at the speakeasy until that point. Then Saint arrived. We discovered the body—a sight that will fill my nightmares—and then we immediately called the police.” A delicate pause. “You.”
And you hauled me into an interrogation room even though I was cooperating fully because, sure, I have to be guilty. Why not?
Jamal’s sharp gaze studied her. “We have our ME working on the body. We’ll have time of death soon. And we’ll have plenty of evidence.”
Wonderful for you. Alice didn’t say that. “I don’t know how it is with bodies that have been submerged in water,” Alice mused as she lowered her arms. Her brow furrowed. “Does that interfere with the body’s temperature? The decomposition rate? Wash away evidence?”
Their glares got darker.
“You’ll have to let me know.” She uncrossed her legs and pushed back her chair. The screech was a softer slide of nails on a chalkboard. Alice smoothed down her dress as she rose. “Or rather, let my lawyer know, will you? Because I won’t be talking to you again without her. I came to you today as a courtesy. This was a shocking, terrible act. One I had nothing to do with. Someone very dangerous is out there, and instead of viewing me as the aggressor, perhaps you need to take another look at the case.”
They didn’t try to stop her as she walked calmly for the door. How could they stop her? Not like she was under arrest.
“You want us to believe you’re the victim?” Heidi’s mocking question grated almost as much as those roughly sliding chair legs.
Alice opened the door. She stiffened a bit when she saw Saint lounging nearby. Close enough that he could have overheard the interrogation? Sneaky Saint. He straightened when he saw her. She dipped her head toward him, but spoke back to the cops as she replied, “Goodness, no. I’m no one’s victim. But in this particular case,” her gaze held Saint’s, “I’m not a killer, either.” She stepped toward Saint.
He offered his hand to her.
“Maybe the new boyfriend is!” Heidi called out. “You considered that? Do you know where he was when Tracy was being stuffed in that water tank? We know he was pissed at her. We know he thought she fired that shot this morning. Maybe he wanted to make sure she didn’t hurt you, so he took her out.”
She took Saint’s hand. “One moment, you’re seducing me so you can bring me down. The next, you’re supposedly killing for me.” Her fingers linked with his. “I do wish they’d pick one scenario and go with it. Flipping back and forth makes me dizzy.”
“I didn’t kill her.” All growly. That sexy, growly voice she liked.
“I didn’t, either.” She was sure the cops were watching them. Maybe she should give them a show. “But I did seduce you.”
He smiled at her. “Wrong. I seduced you.” His head lowered over hers. His lips brushed against her mouth. A tantalizing, all too brief touch. “Ready to go?”
More than ready.
Smiling when a woman had been murdered. She knew they both looked cold-blooded. Suspicious. Innocent people probably wouldn’t be smiling. They’d cooperate more. Talk and talk to the cops but…
Alice had never claimed full innocence, and she knew her Saint was a long way from innocent, too. You couldn’t live the kind of lives that they had and keep your innocence.
They walked away still holding hands. He was steering her toward the front of the station, but… “Based on personal experience, it’s going to be a feeding frenzy.” She was sure reporters would be lined up already. Some helpful tip from a cop, no doubt. “If you don’t want your image all over the news, you should let me go out first.” Low, for his ears alone. “I’ll give them a statement, and you can slip away.”