Page 38 of Whispers of Redemption

Wade suppressed a grin. “He’s coming.”

Moments later, Hugo walked stiff-legged into the conference room. He slowly made his way to the seat beside Wade, and then after multiple attempts to lower himself into a chair, gave up and said, “I think I’ll just stand today.”

“You’re going to have to sit in the car,” Wade pointed out.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Hugo said.

Cassie watched his performance with interest. “Is something wrong, Hugo?”

“No, no. I’m fine,” he said.

“He went running with Ani yesterday,” Wade said. “She told him she’s concerned about this,” he reached up to pat Hugo’s protruding middle, but Hugo smacked his hand away, making Cassie smile. “Told him that belly fat is bad for his heart.”

Cassie bit her lower lip to stop herself from laughing. “You know, Ani’s one of the fastest runners on her high school cross-country team. She runs multiple miles almost every day. How far did you guys go?”

“Six miles.”

“Six miles!” Wade exclaimed. “No wonder you’re sore! When’s the last time you even ran two miles?”

“Never mind,” Hugo grumbled. “Can we please focus on what Cassie has for us?”

Wade and Hugo both listened intently as Cassie told them about Brett’s shoes and about how he’d been researching famous art thefts on his cell phone.

When she finished, Wade nodded and looked at Hugo. “That’s definitely enough for probable cause.”

“Let’s bring him in,” Hugo said.

“Can I come with you?” Cassie asked.

Wade sighed. “No, Cassie. It’s—” “

“Don’t tell me,” Cassie said, suddenly angry. “It’s against the rules.”

Wade’s amber eyes softened as he looked at her. “Listen, we’ll make an exception to the rules and let you watch the interview.”

Cassie’s face lit up. “Like through a two-way mirror?”

“Uh...no,” Wade said, smiling at her enthusiasm. “This is real life. We use cameras.”

**

Wade stood, looking across a small table at Brett, who sat back in a molded plastic chair, arms crossed, a belligerent expression on his face. A public defender in a crisp, dark gray suit sat beside him.

Wade knew Cassie sat next to Hugo in a room down the hall, watching the scene unfold in front of a computer screen.

“Let’s try this again,” Wade said, and Brett shrugged without looking at him.

“Where were you on that Monday evening between four-thirty and six-thirty?”

Brett’s eyes rolled to the ceiling. “Like I already told you fifty times. At. Home.”

“And you don’t have anybody who can verify this?”

The public defender seated next to Brett leaned forward. “That question has been asked and answered, Officer Riley. You’ve searched his apartment and found nothing. No evidence of any kind that he stole anything. If you don’t have anything else, you can’t keep him here.”

Wade sat down in the chair across from Brett. He was silent for a long moment, studying Brett’s face. Then he leaned forward and said, “We’ve gone through your phone, Brett. We saw your searches on art thefts. Why were you researching art thefts?”

“Cause I felt like it,” Brett said. He slouched back in his chair and met Wade’s eyes with a sneer. “I’m not the one you should be investigating. You should be looking closer at my loser co-worker, Cassie Sherwin.”

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