Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 107766 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107766 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
A good-looking brown-haired man was talking to an employee, and when Zach and Josie approached, the kid walked away, and the man turned to them with a smile. Josie felt herself wheeling back in time, snatches of music filling her head as a guy had looked at her and Cooper across a crowded bar, his eyes filling with pleasure as Cooper approached. He gave Josie a slightly perplexed look as though he recognized her too but couldn’t place her.
“We’re here to see the owner? Ron?”
“That’s me. What can I do for you?”
Zach flashed his badge and introduced them. “I’m trying to find some information on a man I believe you dated about nine years ago? Cooper Hart?”
Ron’s face morphed into surprise. He signaled them to a table, and they all sat down. “Yeah, I knew Cooper.”
“And you knew him as Cooper Hart?”
“Yes. What is this about if I may ask?”
“He might have some information about a crime we’re investigating.”
Ron’s brow furrowed.
“You did date him, right?”
“Nah, hardly. Truthfully? He was a tease.” He let out a small, uncomfortable laugh. “He’d flirt in public, but then when I tried to get him alone, he turned all cold.” He glanced at Josie and then back at Zach. “You wanna know the truth? I suspected he didn’t like guys at all. Like it was all a great big act. Why he’d pretend, though? It’s beyond me.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Josie closed the car door behind her, staring out of the front windshield as Zach got in. She felt electric, as though a hundred vibrating needles were piercing the underside of her skin. She tried desperately to clear her mind, to put the information they’d received in order. Make sense of it.
Zach took her hand in his, his soulful eyes gazing across at her. “You all right?”
“Yes,” she said and forced a calming breath through her. She could go over the emotional ramifications of what they’d discovered later. For now, she owed it to her friend to stay calm. To compartmentalize as best she could. A tidal wave was coming. She felt it. A surge that very well might drown her. But not now. Not yet. Later.
Zach’s phone rang, and he connected the call, greeted the person, and listened for a moment. “Great. Thanks. We’ll be there in ten.” He fired up the engine and glanced over at Josie. “Ms. Merrick is willing to answer questions. She’s waiting at District Two.”
Zach drove to the district quickly, weaving in and out of traffic. Josie embraced the edge of nervousness that skated up her spine with each maneuver. It was distracting her, giving her time to get her emotions under control. She refused to ask what-if questions at that moment. Cooper had lied—by omission at the very least—about knowing Vaughn Merrick. Beyond that, she wouldn’t consider the reasons for his lies or what the larger picture might reveal. She would not picture him as the man who attacked and raped her. I can’t… I can’t.
They hurried into the station, stopping inside the front door, and Zach moved Josie aside, turning to face her. “Listen, you can’t sit in on this interview.”
“Why, Zach, I—”
“Because you had an affair with the woman’s husband, Josie.”
She felt as if he’d emotionally slapped her. God, she was so damn delicate at the moment. He’d obviously read the look on her face because his eyes gentled, and he lowered his voice. “I didn’t say that as a form of judgment. It’s just a fact, and Ms. Merrick may hold a grudge. I need her to be as forthcoming as possible.” He looked behind him, seeming to consider something. “You can sit behind the glass, though. There are one-way mirrors in the interview rooms. You let me know afterward if she says anything that rings false from what you know of her husband, okay?”
“Okay.”
Zach looked deeply into her eyes as he took her hands in his. “We’ve got this.”
We. Her breath came easier. “Yes.”
Josie took a seat behind the one-way glass and watched as Ms. Merrick was escorted in, Zach sitting across from her. The door to the small room Josie was in opened, and Jimmy came in, nodding solemnly and sitting beside her. Josie gave Jimmy a small smile and looked back to the interview room. She took Ms. Merrick in, memory sliding over her. That day in the museum crystalizing before her eyes. That had been the moment, right there, that she’d begun to change, to really see, even if she’d still been steeped in the familiarity of bad choices and emotional mayhem of her own causing.
“Thank you for talking to me, Ms. Merrick. Something was mentioned to us in the course of an interview, and we need to ask you about it.”
Ms. Merrick laced her hands on the table in front of her.
“You and your ex-husband planned to adopt a child at one point?”