Page 34 of The Girl and the Lies

“That would be great, thanks. Just let me get my things out of the car.”

I get everything I need from the car and call for a tow truck. They tell me what shop they’ll bring it to, and I make a note of the address before climbing into the officer’s car. On the way to the station, I call Bellamy.

“Can you come out here and pick me up at the police station?” I ask her.

“What did you get yourself into now?” she asks.

“Thank you for your support. I’m glad to know my best friend is so concerned about my well-being,” I counter.

“I’m sorry. Are you okay?”

“I have a cut lip, and I’m pissed off, but I’ll be fine,” I say.

“All right. Then what did you get yourself into now?” she asks.

“Remember I told you about that Marcus Kelsey guy, the one whom the quitting employee told me I should look into because of the strange way he left the company? The way that no one seems to know about?” I ask.

“Yeah,” she says.

“Well, he decided that instead of just giving me a callback, he’d somehow track me down and ram into the back of my car at a stoplight,” I tell her. “He got out of his car and started ranting about how Tracy Ellis and everyone around her deserved to be punished. So he’s on his way to the station, and I’m on my way to talk to him. But my car is not going to be able to accompany me.”

“Got it,” she says. “I’ll head out there in a bit to give you some time.”

“Thanks.”

We arrive at the station, and the officer leads me to a small interrogation room where Marcus Kelsey is sitting in handcuffs with a detective. The detective stands up and shakes my hand as I walk into the room.

“Detective Reese,” he says.

“Good to meet you. Agent Griffin.”

He nods. “I know who you are. What’s going on here? All I heard was, there was a minor car collision at a stoplight. Hardly seems reason to haul someone in and get them questioned by the FBI.”

“That’s not exactly the whole story,” I tell him. I look at Kelsey. “Is it?”

“You shouldn’t be helping her,” he says through gritted teeth. “Do you even know who she is? Do you know the types of things she’s capable of?”

“I’m not helping Tracy Ellis,” I say. “I’m investigating the murder of Gideon Bell and the series of threats that have been received by the people who work for her. One of whom, I might add, brought your name up specifically as someone I should talk to about what’s happening.”

“I didn’t kill anybody,” he hisses at me. “But if they work for Tracy, then they had it coming, and you shouldn’t be trying to stop the person giving them the punishment they deserve.”

“Why do you say that?” I ask.

“She hurts people,” Marcus says. “She knows what she’s doing. She pretends that she’s all about love and making the world a better place, but she’s not. She doesn’t care whom she steps on along the way or how much damage she causes, as long as she gets all the attention and can feel like she’s better than everyone around her.”

“I know that you were fired from the ministry. What led up to that?” I ask.

“Tracy used me up and tossed me aside. Just like she does with anyone else who crosses her path,” he huffs.

“I need to know what you were doing the night Gideon Bell was murdered,” I say.

A smile crosses Marcus’s face, and he sits back. “I was spending some quality time with these fine gentlemen.”

“You were in custody?” I ask.

He nods. “I got in a fight at a bar, and the little bitch decided he needed to press charges. So I had a lovely sleepover behind bars. And at no point did they let me out long enough to go kill someone.”

I get confirmation that Marcus Kelsey was in custody at the time of Gideon’s death and leave the station frustrated after making sure he’ll get slapped with extra charges for running into me. Bellamy calls me as I’m walking out of the station, and I turn the corner to see her car with another right behind it. Eric climbs out of the second car and waves.

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