Delicious - Page 40

Like finding a way to either move on, or send a bat-signal to Jed to let him know I fucked up.

“Thank you.” She nods at me and removes her black sunglasses, tucking them in her pocket as she steps inside. “You remember us from a few days ago, yes? At your boyfriend’s cabin?” She looks around the small, beige apartment as she speaks, her eyes squinting at the photos hung up on the walls in frames. “These yours?”

“I remember you,” I agree, smiling at Officer Brown, who I’d definitely rather have on my trivia team if it came down to it. If only because he looks like he’d be less likely to yell at me when I fucked something up during a competition.

Officer Rayez looks like someone who cracks the whip in all aspects of life. Not just her work. I follow her with my gaze, but I don’t stare her down as she moves from one photo to the next. Instead, I head to my kitchen table, grab a bottle of water from my poorly stocked fridge, and sit down hard in one of my chairs. I don’t offer them water. I don’t want them thinking they’rewelcome here, or that I want them staying for any longer than what is strictly necessary, after all. “And, yeah. Those are mine. I’m a photographer.”

She glances at me when I say it, and my brows raise. If she has an issue with my job, she can walk herself right back out the door.

“You’re good,” is all she says, however, before seating herself at the table across from me. Officer Brown doesn’t say anything, but he goes to examine the photos on my walls with squinted eyes. “Makes me wonder how in the world you ever met that boy, since it seems to me you travel in two very different circles.”

Obviously, saying he kidnapped me a few days ago and somehow I’ve fallen in love with him is not an appropriate explanation. But I shrug my shoulders, still looking bored out of my mind as I consider my answer. “We met a few months ago,” I lie finally, hoping that Jed hasn’t already told her some lie that I’m not fucking up. “And started dating last month.”

“Do you stay at his place often?” If she has an opinion about my lie, she doesn’t say anything about it. But I shake my head, deciding to be truthful this time around.

“Nah. This was the first time. Definitely wasn’t expecting the cops to pay us a visit.” There’s no lie in that, and I figure that’s the safest option now. It’s always easier to remember the truth, if she decides to ask me the same questions again.

“We wouldn’t have, except we’d heard some rumors about him. And based on where he was seen a few days prior…I know you say you hadn’t heard anything, but you still have no knowledge of the murder at the Morgan Swamp Preserve last week?”

I just shake my head as she speaks, trying to look bored and oblivious. “I was there with Jed last week,” I have to say, because I know she’ll either find out or already has. “The Preserve needed me to take new photos for their marketing department.”

Officer Rayez nods, pulling out that stupid little pad of paper and flicking through it. “Yes, I’d confirmed that with the preserve this morning. But you say you went with Jed?”

“I met him there,” I tell her smoothly. “Then we went back to his cabin together. For a while he’s wanted to see me at work. He’s…” I smile at her, the first genuine reaction since she’d come in. “He’s really supportive of my work. It means a lot.” That, too, is as accurate as I can make it.

“I’m sure. He seems like a caring guy.” She flicks through a few pages, blinking down at her tiny handwriting. “Do you know the name ‘Tyson Miller?’”

My heart leaps, aiming for my ribs and an easy escape that it won’t find. But I shake my head at her, sitting back in my chair. “Should I?”

“That’s the man who was killed at the preserve. The same day you and Mr. Shaw were there,” Officer Rayez explains. “I just wonder if you saw anything at all. Maybe you ran into him, or his killer, and didn’t realize it? Was there anyone else at the preserve when you were working, Miss King?”

“Umm…” God, it’s hard to lie when the answer is banging against my skull. “There was a guy walking around. He ran into me at one point. He seemed to be in a hurry, I think? But I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention.” I give her a rueful, apologetic grin and press my hands against the table. “It’s unreal how much I get tunnel vision while I work, and I end up losing so much time. I’d meant to leave by the afternoon, but it was late when Jed finally dragged me back to the parking lot.”

If only she knew how much truth was in those words, and how close she was to solving her murder. She’d probably have an apoplexy if she got even awhiffof it, if I were to guess. My fingers tap as she stares down at her pad, and I want more than anything for her to justleave.

“Well, just in case you know more than you think you do, I’d like to give you a little warning.” Officer Rayez smiles sweetly at me, though it definitely doesn’t reach her eyes. Still, it makes me feel a little nauseous, and somehow I know that the next words out of her mouth aren’t going to be ‘God bless you.’

“Tyson Miller was a bad guy. He did a lot of things I would’ve loved to arrest him for. And he also has a brother, who, from what I’ve heard, is a real piece of work. Not only that, he was really attached to Tyson.”

“Okay?” I try to sound bewildered, instead of nervous, and I flip my hands over on the table, flexing my fingers absently. Officer Rayez glances down at my hands, then her dark gaze catches mine.

“Even if he just suspects you had something to do with his brother’s death, he might be not so friendly about asking his questions. I know it’s not much to go on, but if you see a man in his forties with brown hair and green eyes who seems out of place or aggressive, you’d do well to call me. At the very least, stay away from him. You don’t need a man with a penchant for taking revenge to be out for you, Saylor.”

“Why would he?” My lips move with the words, but I feel my palms beginning to itch; the clamminess sinking into my skin. “We didn’t do anything.”

Officer Rayez justlooksat me. She stares at me for long enough that I’m half-sure she doesn’t believe me, before a smile finally hitches along her lips again and she stands up from my table.

“Maybe pass my message along to Jed, next time you see him,” she advises, nodding as she puts her sunglasses back on. Officer Brown is already back at the door, and I wonder why he comes along if it’s not to help her out with her interviews. Isn’t this the time where they should be playing good cop, bad cop, or something?

“I’ll tell him,” I agree, bewildered enough for it to be real. “Though I don’t think he’ll know what to do with that information either.”

She searches my eyes from behind the sunglasses, head cocked to the side as she stands half in, half out of my apartment. “Maybe not,” she agrees finally. “Maybe I’m just overthinking this. Stay safe, Miss King. And good luck with your photography.” They leave after that, not giving me a chance for the last word or anything else.

But that’s just as well. Because my thoughts are racing, and I know, finally, that I’m not about to spend the rest of the day moping for Jed again. My steps take me back to my room, and I pull my laptop off of its charger to take it to the bed, where I curl up with it in my lap.

I may not know how to get a hold of Jed, but I do know one thing, at least. Wren, his best friend, works forGreenco.And thanks to working for them a couple times last year as a party photographer, I know for a fact they have a full employee directory online with pictures. I may not be the world’s best investigator, but even I can scan pictures for the black-haired, smiling murderer who’d shown up at the cabin and nearly busted down Jed’s gate.

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