Total pages in book: 173
Estimated words: 163802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 819(@200wpm)___ 655(@250wpm)___ 546(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 163802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 819(@200wpm)___ 655(@250wpm)___ 546(@300wpm)
“Replaced?”
“The sensor and gate opener are clearly new while that rusted-over gate is not.” She gave me a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “You requested that my partner and I cease with the lazy investigating and pay attention to the details, and I assure you, Mrs. Kim, from this point on, I will not miss a trick.
“So again, I repeat, why are you missing the two things that could’ve prevented Mr. Layton’s death, your mother’s and possibly Mrs. Prado’s as well? Why did you get rid of the guards and cameras?”
I blinked at the empty mount looming over my doorstep. I didn’t notice them before she said something, and now they were all I could see. “I... don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“I don’t,” I blurted. “I mean, the guard we... we probably let go of them because we couldn’t justify the expense to the estate lawyer.”
“Probably? You don’t know for sure?”
Of course I don’t know for fucking sure! I wasn’t here when any of these decisions were made!
“My mother handled everything to do with the running of the estate, and then when she got ill, my husbands took over. I’ve never been involved with the day-to-day stuff.”
“Even so.” The tense lines around her mouth hadn’t relaxed. “You would’ve noticed when the cameras disappeared. You didn’t have a thing to say about that? You didn’t ask why?”
“This is a safe town, Detective. We’ve never had a problem here until recently. My husbands were most likely tired of paying to film the leaves fall. None of us could’ve predicted all of these horrible things would happen.”
“Hm.”
That was it. Just a hum, and still that response filled me with dread.
“That will be all for now, Mrs. Kim. Please give us some space to do our work.”
I didn’t argue with her. Moving off toward the back entrance, I stared at those mounts until I couldn’t anymore—her words banging around in my head.
Why did you get rid of the two things that could’ve prevented these murders?
THAT NIGHT, I BURST into Alex’s room, startling him so bad he spilled his beer.
“Goodness, woman,” he cried, diving down to rescue the can. “You scared the mess out of me. You can’t go around bursting into rooms when there’s another freaking killer on the loose.”
I stared him down, making him back up a step.
This was the first time I’d been in Alex’s room. Unlike Micah who lived here for seven years but still barely moved in, Alex had made the space his home.
A massive big-screen television covered half the hideous wallpaper on the back wall while photos of Lily through the years covered all the rest. He got rid of the old four-poster bed that used to be in here and replaced it with a king-sized, black silk-covered mattress with a silver chrome frame.
Instead of a desk, he had a cozy, carpeted corner with books, arts and crafts supplies, and a small table for Lily to play and work on her assignments.
“Sue, you okay?”
“Why don’t we have security cameras anymore?”
“Security cameras?” Crossing to the en suite, Alex went in, then came out holding a washcloth. “Why are you asking about that? You know why we got rid of them.”
“Pretend I don’t know.”
“Pretend... you don’t know?”
My intensity didn’t let up. “Yes.”
“Okay.” Alex dropped down, cleaning up the spill. “The one we got was too sensitive. The floodlights went crazy over every squirrel and butterfly that went past. Then, if that wasn’t enough, it started malfunctioning. The alarm would go off for no reason and scare Lily, and one night—at three in the fucking morning—it wouldn’t turn off even though we entered the right code a dozen times.
“We got rid of it the next morning, and haven’t gotten around to getting a new one.”
Whoops. All of that did sound like something Sue would know. You don’t forget an alarm waking you at three a.m. and screaming at you nonstop for the rest of the morning.
“Okay, thank you. I did know that,” I fudged, “but I wanted to hear how it sounded from someone else. Because when I told Balogun all of this, she looked at me like I handed her the smoking gun.”
“The smoking gun? Wait. The cops can’t seriously think we had anything to do with Mr. C’s murder— Which I can’t believe I’m saying out loud.” Alex groaned, falling back on his bed. “What the hell is going on around here, Sue? Why was there a murdered man on our doorstep this afternoon! How are we going to explain this to Lily?” Alex bolted up and grabbed my wrist.
I squeaked as I came plopping down next to him.
“Was everything okay when you picked Lily up from school?” Alex flipped on his side. Throwing his arm across my lap, he drew me close—drawing little circles on my hip.
The complete casualness of the touch brought back my shivers and clammies.