“I’d even go so far as to say that any real information he has might result in charges of obstructing justice being…misplaced,” I say slowly. “So, Alistair? Do you?”
He shifts so he’s sitting upright and looks at them all. “No.”
I tilt my head to the side. “Have another look.”
His eye twitches. “Don’t know ’em.” He pushes them to me.
“Third time’s a charm, don’t you think?” I give my voice a hard edge and shove the photos back toward him. “Take. Another. Look. And, this time, try to tell me the truth.”
“I’m not lying,” he lies, looking up.
“Your eye is twitching, and the way your body is shaking tells me your leg is bobbing up and down beneath the table. Both signs of a lie. Now, let’s try this again. Do you recognize any of these girls?”
He glares at me and flicks Annabelle’s photo toward me. “Her. Saw her a couple times last week.”
“Just her? No one else?”
“Pretty sure I saw her with her.” Robyn’s photo comes to me. “They never stopped at my stall. Stopped at Dina’s a few times. And Alex’s. All that religious mojo shit.”
“Religious mojo shit? Is that a technical term?”
“Whatever. What do they have to do with Dina’s murder?”
“I’m hoping you could tell me. Can I tell you what I think?”
“Go ahead,” he snorts.
I kinda wanna punch him and then twist his dumb little man bun off. “I think Dina White enjoyed her affair with you—this was the second time, right?”
He nods.
“For the record, Alistair Carpenter is nodding his agreement. So, back to it… Yeah. I think Dina White enjoyed your company, but between last year and this year, she met someone else. I think she let the two of you have a few nights together. Then, when she was going to tell you, she had to go to California unexpectedly. She left then arranged to meet with you on her return. You crept in your usual way: through the back window in the storeroom. Then I think, Alistair, that morning, Dina told you that you could no longer see each other. I think you lost your temper and forced her to have sex with you. Then you killed her. Then you texted Jackson from her phone to tell him she was staying in California longer.”
“I didn’t kill Dina. I had no reason to kill her.”
“But you forced her to have sex with you, right?”
“No. We had sex. Then I left.”
“I think you’re lying to me.”
“I think you can think whatever the fuck you want. I didn’t kill her.”
“Then tell me who did, because as far as I know, you’re the last person to see her alive. You’re the last person to see her, touch her, talk to her. You’ve admitted you were there and that you had sex with her. I have more proof that you killed her than you do that you didn’t.”
“I didn’t kill her,” he says yet again.
“Then you saw who did. Because someone entered her apartment once you’d left, didn’t they? If you didn’t kill her, you saw who did. Who are you protecting, Alistair?”
“I’m not protecting anyone. I didn’t see anyone.” He wipes his upper lip with the back of his hand.
“So Detective Nash should arrest you for the murder of Dina White, correct? If you’re not hiding anything, then you did it, didn’t you? You killed her in a violent fit of rage and stabbed her in the chest thirteen times.”
He pales. “I didn’t do it. I swear.”
I lean forward. “Then who did?”
His jaw twitches as it tightens, and he rolls his shoulders. I can almost see his battle—does he give up what he obviously knows to save himself or not?
He doesn’t strike me as completely stupid. He should know we have enough evidence to implicate him in her murder. At least, until he comes to his senses and admits otherwise.
’Cause you know what? I don’t think he did kill her. But he doesn’t know that.
“All right. So we’re not saying a word, hmm?” I lift my eyebrows in question once more. “Or do you need a little time in a room of your own with a pretty, locked door and barred windows to be honest? Right now, I see no reason to not arrest you.”
He’s trembling.
“I’m done here.” I stand and hold my hand to Mr. Goldberg. “Always a pleasure, Samuel.” I smile and turn away from the table.
“Eddie Roy,” Alistair says. “When I got back to my trailer, I saw him and Jackson leave theirs. They were fighting about something and left pretty quickly. They came back an hour later and Eddie was wearing a different shirt.”
I stop, a chill running down my spine, and look over my shoulder at him. “Thank you. Let’s lead out with the truth next time, shall we?”
He nods and looks down.
With that, I walk out of the interview room and back into the viewing room.
Jason turns to me with a giant grin on his face. “I can’t decide if that was terrifying or not. And you are one hell of a bluffer, you know that?”
I shrug and bend over to pull my heels off. “I figured it wasn’t a huge jump to assume he’d had sex with Dina the day she died. As soon as I mentioned that, he started to squeal like a choked piglet. And, as for the scenario, well, I like stories.” I smile sweetly.
“Interesting about Eddie,” he notes, looking back into the room, where Drake is finishing up the interview. “Although he adopted Jackson, I never thought they were particularly close. In fact, they’ve always had a somewhat volatile relationship. I wasn’t surprised to find out that Dina was Jackson’s birth mom and that their relationship is kind of close. From what I’ve learned, Jackson is a loner… Like Alistair, I guess.”
“Funny. That they both gravitated to the same woman.” I lean against the table and nibble the corner of my thumb. “I was so certain that Dina’s murder was related to the others, but now, I don’t know. Eddie Roy just doesn’t seem like a killer.”
“You’d be surprised.” Jason reaches up and tugs his wig off. “Fucking thing is itchy as hell.”
“I can imagine. What’s that about Eddie Roy?”
Jason scratches the side of his neck. “I’m pretty sure he has a record. I’m not sure where or for what, but most of the younger guys are terrified of him. And I mean terrified as fuck. I’ve seen a couple of people cower before him when he’s been mad. He pretty much runs the traveler’s camp.”
“Why didn’t you find this out? You have a national damn database at the click of your fingers.”
He looks sheepish. “I didn’t have a real reason. I needed some evidence.”
“Why didn’t you say this before?”
“Because, until today, he was just an asshole in charge,” Jason replies. “I’m in this to find the killer as much as you are, Noelle. You all have found more out in nine days than I have in months of living with them and going through this twice already.”
“Doesn’t it stand to reason that, if Eddie is in charge, then he knows who’s doing what at all times?”
“Not necessarily. This bunch… They’re not all family. And, now, it makes sense. A lot of the kids are adopted in and then the family joins the group. They function very strangely. It’s partially why it’s been hard for me—I’m the only single guy in his thirties. They all marry young.”
“Do you think that’s why they adopt? To keep the kids…well, not incestuous?”
“I’m not sure. But, whatever it is, I think you’re right. I think it all boils down to the way the group functions.”
“So we just get under their skin and ask a bunch of questions.”
We’re so close—I can feel it. We have real suspects based on more than just a whimsical idea now. The answers are right there, one or two questions away.
“They might not all be family, but they won’t snitch,” Jason sighs, rubbing his hand over his chin. “That’s why Alistair was so reluctant to tell you that until you threatened him with jail. They’re still a unit and will protect each other. I was surprised he even told you that.”
“I guess he’s more scared of jail than he is of Eddie Roy.” I shrug a shoulder.