Page 33 of A Hidden Past

She smiled at him. “Mr. Harlow. Thanks for coming to talk to me.”

“Just call me Nate.”

“And you can just call me Lena.”

He looked at her suspiciously and didn’t answer.

She gestured to the chair in front of her desk. “Have a seat.”

He sat and fidgeted nervously, knees bouncing a little.

She sat behind her desk and said, “So, what did you have to tell me?”

He took a deep breath and released it slowly. She waited patiently while he worked up the courage to tell her what was on his mind.

“I don’t think Lila’s death was accidental,” he finally said. “I think she was murdered.”

Jackpot.

“What makes you think that?”

“Um…” his eyes shifted to the left. “I don’t know. I just have a feeling.”

“You get that one chance to lie to me,” Lena replied calmly. “I hope you enjoyed it. Because the next time you lie to me, I’ll send officers to raid your apartment and find a reason to drug test you and pass that information along to your employers.”

Nate paled. “All right. God. It’s not that easy, okay?”

“I don’t care.” He stared at her in disbelief, and she said. “You came here to help me solve a young woman’s murder. That matters a lot more to me than your habits.”

“I don’t do that anymore.”

“I still don’t care. Why do you think that Lila Kensington was murdered?”

“Because…” he hesitated a moment longer, then said, “I get a bad feeling about her parents. Especially her mother.”

“What kind of feeling?”

“I don’t know, like… like she’s not in control of herself.”

“Can you give me an example?”

“Um…”

His eyes shifted again, and Lena guessed at his worry. “I can make sure that no one knows you talked to me. A lot of people know that I was unhappy with closing the case. Anyone who asks is going to think I started snooping again. All you need to do is tell me where to look.”

He thought a moment, then said, “I caught her doing drugs.”

Double jackpot.

“What kind of drugs?”

“Cocaine.”

“Powder or rock?”

“Powder. She was snorting it.”

“Did she talk about Lila at all?”

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