How could anyone believe she had anything to do with Nate’s death? Couldn’t they see she was heartbroken?
She couldn’t possibly fall asleep, not sitting in this cold, stark interview room, and not with her constant need to grab for the tissue box, but she did drowse a bit, her mind wandering. Unfortunately, it didn’t wander anywhere she wanted to go. This extended stay at the security station and the veiled suspicion that she might have had something to do with Nate’s death would cast a pall on her and on her family, no matter how unfair. Her parents were going to be furious with her for wandering off with Nate last night and giving the authorities reason to detain her. Perhaps that was why they weren’t working harder to get her freed, or at least get her an attorney. When she’d asked for one herself, she’d been told an attorney wasn’t necessary because she wasn’t under arrest.
Nadia jumped when the door to the interview room squealed open. She wondered if the squeaky hinges were part of an insidious torture technique designed to drive detainees mad. If so, it was working.
Her heart gave a nasty thud when she saw who had entered the room: Dirk Mosely.
Nadia had had little contact with Paxco’s chief of security, but she’d heard the rumors, and they weren’t pretty. A middle-aged man of average height, with a bald spot and just a hint of a paunch, Mosely didn’t look particularly dangerous. If anything, he looked like a mild-mannered accountant, the kind of person who went through life barely being noticed by those around him. But if Nadia were to believe even half of the whispered stories, he was a monster, one barely controlled by the tight leash the Chairman kept on him.
Nadia’s nose started to run; she grabbed for the tissue box, using that moment of distraction to pull herself together. She was the daughter of Gerald Lake, one of Paxco’s most powerful Executives. Mosely wouldn’t dare do anything to harm her. Not unless she were guilty of a crime, which she wasn’t.
“I hear you’ve been under the weather,” Mosely said as he pulled out a chair and sat at the table across from her.
Nadia blew her nose and tossed the tissue into the trash can, which was already halfway full. She figured that was answer enough to his inane observation. She pulled another tissue out, knowing she’d need it sooner or later.
“I’m sorry for the … inconvenience,” Mosely said, sounding not the least bit sorry. “However, you were the last person to see Nathaniel alive, and you could hold the key to us capturing his killer.”
She shook her head, deathly tired of all this. “I’ve been over this at least three times,” she said. “Yes, I went off alone with Nate, and yes, we argued.”
“About what?”
Nadia was certain Mosely had already read the transcripts of her last three interviews and knew the answer she’d given. She was also certain he’d insist she answer again. “He wanted to take more liberties than I would allow.” Which was sort of true, if you thought about it, though not in the way Mosely and his officers would take it.
“Surely you knew he planned to take liberties when you left the party with him.”
“Yes, I knew.” As had everyone else who’d noticed the two of them leaving the room. “I just didn’t know exactly what liberties.”
“So what liberties did our Chairman Heir have in mind?”
Nadia felt a chill of alarm. No one else had asked her that, having made natural assumptions of what Nate was after. She had the immediate suspicion that Mosely already knew more than he should, that he might be testing her honesty. He was said to be uncanny in his ability to tell when people were lying, which meant she had to stick as close to the truth as possible.
“I don’t see that that’s any of your business,” she said. “It’s personal.”
“The Chairman Heir was murdered,” Mosely said, staring at her intently as if he thought she would burst out with a confession at any moment. “Everything about last night is my business.”
“I’m not answering any more questions without a lawyer present.”
Mosely smiled, but there was a hard—and strangely self-satisfied—glint in his eye. “Very well,” he said, pushing back his chair and standing up. “It should take about a week for legal counsel to be arranged and all the paperwork properly filed. I will have you transferred to the Riker’s Island Detention Center while the arrangements are being made.”
Nadia hugged herself, shivering. “You can’t do that,” she said, though not with any certainty. “My father is—”
“A citizen of Paxco, subject to the same laws as every other citizen of Paxco. As are you.”
In theory, perhaps, but everyone knew how unequally the laws were applied. Still, if they thought she’d had something to do with Nate’s murder, then her family connections couldn’t protect her. Nadia’s pulse was racing, and dread was a cold lump in her stomach. She didn’t want to imagine what it would be like to spend a full day—much less a full week—at Riker’s Island. And never mind the kind of taint being sent there would cast on her and her family. You didn’t have to be guilty of anything to be socially ruined.
“Fine,” she said, her stuffy head aching. She blew her nose for the millionth time. “I’ll answer your questions.”
Mosely smiled at her. “I knew you could be reasonable. Now, tell me exactly what happened between you and Nathaniel last night.”
Nadia took a deep breath, organizing her thoughts before she spoke, planning her words to avoid any outright lies. “Nate wanted to have sex,” she said, her cheeks heating with a blush as she stared at her hands. A true statement, even if it wasn’t her he’d wanted to have sex with. “I turned him down. I knew when he asked me to leave the party that he meant to, um, take liberties. I just didn’t know he was going to try to take things that far.”
“What happened after that?”
“Nate threatened to do something scandalous if I didn’t give in. I wouldn’t let him manipulate me, so I left.”
“Something scandalous? Be more specific.”
“He threatened to do it with or without me.” Her cheeks burned even more as she let Mosely draw the natural conclusion that Nate had threatened to go find another woman.
Mosely raised an eyebrow. “And you called his bluff?”
Nadia nodded. If she hadn’t called Nate’s bluff, if she hadn’t left him and Bishop to their own devices, would they both be alive and safe right now? Was whatever had happened to them her fault?
“You are a remarkable young woman,” Mosely said with an oily smile. “You would rather your presumed husband-to-be sleep with another than give up your own virtue? Such admirable strength of character.”
Nadia wanted to throw her snot-covered tissue right in Mosely’s smug face, but she was in quite enough trouble already. “I didn’t think he would actually do it.”
She realized with a start that that was true. As reckless as Nate was, Nadia hadn’t believed he’d take the risk of hooking up with Bishop during the party if he didn’t have her around to make sure they weren’t caught. He took a risk every time he and Bishop were together, but nothing like doing it under the noses of the entire Executive class of Paxco and all the visiting dignitaries.
“During your disagreement with Nathaniel, did you by any chance see his valet, Kurt Bishop?” Mosely asked.
Nadia’s palms began to sweat, and once again she wondered if Mosely had somehow known all along exactly what had happened last night. “He was there,” she answered cautiously. “Nate wanted someone to serve as a lookout.”