“You said you had some new information,” Josh said.
Michelle nodded. “I do. I wanted you to hear it from me and I wanted to give Mac the chance to amend his statement.”
“We appreciate that,” Josh said. He gestured to the leather chairs set around a round glass-and-metal table in front of the brick wall. “Let’s sit down.”
We all took a seat, Josh on one side of Mac and me on the other.
Michelle directed her attention to Mac. “We have a witness—a very credible one—who saw you arguing with Erin Fellowes the night she was killed.”
“It’s not possible,” Mac said. “I told you I couldn’t find her.”
“Wait a minute, that’s it?” Josh said, interrupting him. “That’s nothing new. You told us last night that someone thinks they might have seen Mac talking to your victim.”
I noticed how he put extra emphasis on the word “might.”
So did Michelle. “Did see him,” she corrected. Her eyes flicked to me for a moment. “The witness heard Erin Fellowes call Mac by name.”
“They’re wrong,” Mac said. “I left Erin some voice mail messages and I went to the Rosemont Inn. She wasn’t there. I checked the restaurants in the area and I walked around the nearby streets looking but I didn’t find her. Your witness is lying or mistaken.”
“Maybe Erin was mugged,” I said.
Michelle shook her head. “She had her wallet and her cell phone and she was wearing a pretty expensive pair of diamond earrings.”
“Is there anything else?” Josh asked. He’d made a note on the yellow pad in front of him and now he set his pen down.
Michelle shook her head. “Not unless there’s anything else you want to tell me.” She spoke to Josh but I saw her glance at Mac and I realized her words were more for him.
“Have you released cause of death yet?” Josh said.
Michelle’s mouth moved for a moment before she spoke. “Ms. Fellowes was smothered,” she said.
Mac’s hand tightened on the armrest of his chair but he didn’t speak.
Josh stood up. “Thank you for keeping us updated. I appreciate that.” He held out his hand.
Michelle got to her feet as well. Her gaze flicked over to me for a moment. Then she shook Josh’s hand. “Thanks for your time,” she said. “I’m sure I’ll be talking to you again soon.”
Josh walked around the table and showed her out. After his office door had closed behind her, he turned to face us.
Mac rubbed the back of his neck and shook his head. “Smothered. That’s horrible.” His voice was rough with emotion.
“That kind of violence suggests a lot of anger,” Josh said. “Can you think of anyone who might have felt that way about Erin?”
Mac shook his head. “I haven’t seen Erin in a long time, but when I knew her there was no one that would have wanted her dead. No one who would have done something like that.”
“Just the same, put together a list of friends and colleagues for me, please.”
“I said too much again, didn’t I?” Mac asked.
Josh nodded. “Yes, but there’s no real harm done. You said the same thing you said last night, so it’s already on the record.”
“You don’t seem that worried about this witness,” I said.
“Given the weather and the time of night, I’m not. Eyewitness IDs are known for being unreliable, and overheard conversations even more so.” He rolled his eyes. “How many times have you heard that some reliable eyewitness spotted Bigfoot somewhere in the state?”
“It wouldn’t hurt to find out who this person is, though.”
“No, it wouldn’t,” Josh agreed. “I take it the Angels are on the case.”
“They are.”
“I’ll call Alfred, then.” He turned to Mac. “Could someone be setting you up? Does anyone have a grudge against you?”
“Other than my in-laws,” he said. “No. And Leila and Erin have been friends since they were kids. They would never do anything to hurt Erin.” He shook his head. “I can’t think of anyone.”
“Think harder,” Josh said.
Mac shook his head. “No. It’s impossible.”
There was nothing more to say. Josh said he’d keep in touch and we left.
Mac didn’t say a word until we were headed in the direction of the shop. “Why do you believe in me?” he asked. “Why do you just accept what I’ve said without question especially since Michelle clearly thinks I’m lying?”
My eyes flicked away from the road for a moment. He was looking at me with a genuine questioning expression on his face. I turned my attention back to the road in front of me. “I’m a pretty good judge of character and you haven’t given me any reason not to believe you. My dad says you trust someone until they give you a reason not to and then you stop. You haven’t given me a reason not to.”
I remembered the argument I’d had with Nick and his accusation that I had different standards when it came to his actions and behavior than I had for anyone else’s. In the end I trusted Mac because some feeling, some instinct, told me I could. I had an uncomfortable thought that maybe . . . maybe what Nick had said might be true.
“What was Erin like?” I asked.
Mac smiled. “Smart. Funny. She worked for a commercial bank. She spoke three languages—English, Spanish and Mandarin—four if you count Klingon.”
I shot a look his way. “Okay. You’re not serious,” I said.
The smile grew wider. “Yes I am. She was a serious Star Trek geek—all the incarnations. One year for a Halloween party she dressed up as Lieutenant Uhura; the original one with the go-go boots and the little thing in her ear.”
“What about you? Who did you dress up as?”
Mac gave me a sheepish grin. “Leila and I were Buffy and Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She liked that show.”
I glanced over at him again. “So you had the white-blond hair?” I couldn’t quite picture that.
He nodded. “Temporarily. At least it was supposed to be temporary.” The grin faded. “It seems like a long time ago,” he said, quietly.
When we got back to the shop Rose, Mr. P. and Elvis were still there. Rose was at the workbench sorting through a box of teacups with a little—very little—help from Elvis. “Why are you all still here?” I said. “I thought Liz was picking you up.”
“She was already here,” Rose said, “but the people who bought that dresser called and they’re coming after all in about”—she looked at the watch on her arm— “fifteen minutes. I knew you wanted to get it out of the shop so you can bring the furniture from Clayton’s place so I told them we’d wait for them.” She looked at Mac. “How did the meeting go?”
He made a face. “The police have a witness who saw me with Erin.”
“That doesn’t mean anything,” Rose said, waving away the words like she was shooing a fly. “Eyewitness testimony is appallingly inaccurate. Read Elizabeth Loftus’s work on memory recall.”
“I’ll do that,” I said. I looked at Mr. P. “Josh said he’ll call you. He wants to know who the witness is.”
“I have a couple of ideas, my dear.”
I didn’t ask what they were because I really didn’t want to know.
Mac reached out to stroke Elvis’s fur. “I didn’t kill Erin and I didn’t hurt Leila,” he said. The cat’s expression didn’t change.
“You didn’t need to do that,” I said, putting my hands on my hips and shaking my head at him.
“It’s important that you all know I didn’t do this.”
Rose reached up and patted his cheek with one hand. “We don’t need Elvis’s lie-detecting skills to know that,” she said.