Laci’s eyes widened. “What do you mean?”
Should she say it? Yes, she should. “I mean, what if Ted killed his father?”
Laci’s took a sharp intake of breath. “He couldn’t, could he?”
Chase shrugged one shoulder. “Who knows? What are you doing here? Did you come to see me?”
Laci nodded, still not meeting Chase’s eyes.
“What about?”
“About working. I need to get back to work. My rent won’t pay itself.”
Chase knew she and Anna couldn’t fire both Vi and Laci, at least not until they hired one or two other clerks to replace them. She hoped they wouldn’t fire either one. “I can’t talk right now. I’m on my way to . . . an important . . . meeting. Come over later and Anna and I will look at the schedule.”
Laci sank a bit toward the pavement she still stared at.
“We’ll get you going right away, okay?”
She murmured an assent and turned away to walk to her nearby apartment.
Why did Chase feel so rotten watching her small, thin form slowly trudge across the parking lot? How could Anna think about firing her?
• • •
Sunday crawled by so slowly, Chase wished they’d decided to close that day. The people of Dinkytown and the U students must have had much better things to do that day than shop for dessert bars.
After she’d eaten lunch, she got a phone call from Detective Olson.
“I want you to come to the station, Ms. Oliver, as soon as possible.”
He sounded stiff and official, and he called her Ms. Oliver. That wasn’t good.
“What’s the matter?” she asked.
“How soon can you get here?”
His voice was not only stiff, it was cold. A shiver clawed at her, slithered around her torso, and tore at her stomach.
“Am I in trouble?”
He didn’t answer, so she said she’d be right down. She called out to Anna that she had to go out for a few moments, not wanting to tell her what she feared—that she might be arrested for Gabe’s murder.
She went upstairs first, to get her purse with her car keys. The chill she’d gotten when Detective Olson called was still with her. She slid her favorite soft gray cashmere sweater over her blouse, then donned her jacket and went downstairs.
• • •
Chase didn’t break down in the parking lot outside the police station. She waited until she was in Julie’s pickup truck.
Julie’s own periwinkle blues filled with tears. Chase swiped at her own tears, feeling guilty she was making Julie cry, her shoulders heaving with the attempt to stifle her blubbering.
“Was it horrible?” Julie asked.
“Worse than horrible,” Chase wailed through her sobs. “I was in that ghastly room for hours and hours after they let me call you. There was a table and a couple of very uncomfortable chairs. They locked the door. I had no idea what was going on. I didn’t know if I’d have to spend days and days there.”
“I wasn’t sure what to do when you said you were being detained.”
“Who was that good-looking guy that got me out?”
Julie waved a hand toward the car leaving the police station parking lot. “Oh, that’s Jay.”
“Jay? Jay who?”
“Jay Wright. I went to law school with him. When you said they were questioning you and had told you to make a phone call, I thought for sure you’d been arrested.”
“I didn’t know what to think. They didn’t tell me much.”
“Jay is working as a criminal lawyer, so I figured he’d be able to do something.”
“He’s awfully good looking.”
“We . . . dated for a while, before we both got so busy in our new jobs. Anyway, he was glad to do me a favor. I’m just thankful you’re not still in there.”
“Me, too,” wailed Chase. She sobbed with Julie’s arms around her, awkwardly, in the bucket seats of the small pickup. Eventually, her sobs turned to snuffles. Julie handed Chase some tissues from the box on the floor and drove Chase to her apartment as quickly as she could without getting a speeding ticket.
After a cup of hot chocolate, topped liberally with miniature marshmallows, Chase slumped in her cinnamon and mocha overstuffed chair while Julie sat on the hassock, warming Chase’s hands, still cold, between hers.
“It was awful,” Chase said. “That was worse than I could ever imagine.”
“You poor thing. What exactly happened?”
“Detective Olson hammered at me for a long time. He was trying to make me say I murdered Gabe Naughtly! I think he was trying to railroad me.”
“Did he say why he thinks you did?”
“He kept asking me if I was sure about the time when I was at the condo. How did I know it was that time? Wasn’t I there earlier? He made me say everything I’ve already said. Over and over and over. The longer I sat there, the more my back hurt.”
“How is your back?”
“I’ll take some pain pills as soon as I can move.”
Julie jumped up and brought her two tablets. Chase swallowed them with the last of her cocoa.
“Thanks, Jules. You’re the best.”
“So, here’s what Jay told me. He says a witness placed you at the scene much earlier than you’d said.”
“Did he say who the witness was? Some delusional, blind person? Or someone who hates me enough to want me in the pokey?”
Julie smiled.
“Why suspect me now? Hasn’t everyone given their statements already?”
“Jay says Hilda Bjorn came into the station in the afternoon and said . . . Here, I’ll read it. Jay printed out part of her interview. ‘I remembered another person I saw at Mr. Naughtly’s condo the day he died. I just saw her again. It was that nice girl at the Bar None.’”
“That’s what I get for giving her free merchandise! She already told them she saw me, didn’t she?”
“No, now she says she saw you at a different time, much earlier, soon after both Doris Naughtly and Iversen were there. Here’s what she said. ‘It was right after that tall thin man, Einnar, or Ivanhoe. Iversen? Yes, that’s it. After he left. Probably about four thirty.’ She also says you had blood on your clothes.”
“Why would she say that? That’s simply, absolutely not true! I was there at eight.”
“She sounds a bit confused at times. I’m surprised you were called in on her statement. She was questioned over and over.”
“Not like I was, I’ll bet.”
“She stuck to her story every time. ‘It was that nice girl who gave me the free dessert bars at the Bar None shop. The one with the cat.’”
“Well, I can tell you that I feel like killing someone right now.” Chase set her empty cup down to give her full attention to her purring pet. He arched his back to encourage more petting and upped his volume a notch. Her ire subsided somewhat. “Maybe I could talk to her, to Hilda. Do you think I could help her remember a bit more?”
Julie hesitated a moment. “I think you’d better be careful or someone might think you’re interfering with a witness.”
“Well, anyway, please thank your friend Jay for me.”
“Sure will. You’ve been through a lot tonight. It would be good if you didn’t go to the shop tomorrow. You could stand to sleep in.”
“Don’t I know it. We’re closed Monday, so I will. I think I’ll get a massage, too.”
“Oh, that’s right. That should help your pain. Just remember, I never told you any of this about Hilda Bjorn. Jay was doing me a favor. He shouldn’t be giving me this information.”
“I need to do something extra nice for him. Or maybe you should do that.”
Julie looked like she might like that idea. “Just so you know, I’d probably get fired if anyone knew I told you any of this. I want to keep my job a little longer. If I weren’t so doggone worried about you . . .”
“I appreciate you sticking your neck out for me like this. No one will ever know.”
Julie took both cups and put them in Chase’s sink before hugging her good-night and leaving.