Page 34 of Andy

At the station, he found Mel in the lobby and pulled her in for a hug. Almost immediately, a detective came out and introduced himself. Andy hid his unease and tried to act like he wasn’t suspicious of him.

“So we were wondering if you two would come to the back and talk to us?” the detective asked.

“Not without my lawyer,” Andy said. “Sorry, it’s just Navy procedure. And since I was injured a few weeks ago, I’m in a vulnerable condition. I know you understand.”

“Oh, you were injured?” the detective asked.

Andy turned and pointed to the spot on the back of his head. “Explosion, and I took some shrapnel. The doctors have me on restricted activity. It sucks, but what are you going to do?”

The detective closed his eyes. “So you’ve been on restricted activity for how long?”

“I got back to the USA almost two weeks ago.”

The detective blew out a breath. “Okay, so let me get this straight. You, Miss Fielding, have been staying with Andy for the last two weeks because he was injured. And you, Mr. Hawkins, have been on restricted activity.”

“Yes, sir,” Mel said. “Is there a problem?”

The detective shook his head. “No. No problem with you two. You can go. If we need more information, we’ll call. I think it would be safe to say you’re lucky you weren’t there. I’m sorry for your loss. And Mr. Hawkins, I hope you feel better. I never saw close combat, but friends I lost did. I hope you heal fully.”

“Thank you,” Andy said.

“Wait, we can just go? What about you talking to us?” Mel asked.

“Hey, Mel,” Andy said. “Let’s just go. If they have any more questions, I’m sure they’ll get in contact.”

“We will. Hopefully, we can catch the person responsible for their deaths. Stay safe.”

Andy drove behind Mel, worry filling him. Something felt off. He didn’t know what it was, but there was something he wasn’t seeing or feeling correctly. Maybe more time thinking would help. Tonight, he would hold Mel and help her feel safe. She hadn’t been close to her roommates, but still, it was people she’d known. That had to hurt.

Chapter 19

Mel couldn’t believe Chris and Alice were dead. She felt like she was living in the soap opera she’d been named after. The police had wanted to question her. She wasn’t the type of person who liked drama. Some of her friends from college wanted all the tea, but she didn’t care to get involved. She just wanted to live her life and let other people live theirs.

Now, she was sitting on Andy’s couch, worry pumping through her. Her mind kept turning over her last conversation with Alice and Chris. She hadn’t told them that she was moving out, but she thought they knew. They had said something about her spending a lot of time with her boyfriend. She’d admitted that she was in a relationship but not how deep she was in it.

It wasn’t that she was trying to hide Andy. Instead, it was the fact she wasn’t close to Alice or Chris. They weren’t great friends and didn’t hang out together. She had no reason to tell either of them about her relationship. Now they were gone. Who could have murdered them?

Her phone rang, and she jumped, dropping it to the floor. She bent and then rose slowly, not wanting to slam her head into the table.

“Hello.”

“Miss Fielding, it’s Detective Houck. I was looking at some information and realized the bank you work at was robbed a few weeks ago.”

“Oh, yeah. That was weird.”

“Weird, how?”

“It’s where I met Andy. He was closing on his house and was there to make sure the money for the closing went through.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that.”

“Yeah. And it’s also weird that the bank was robbed when I first started working there. But that guy was successful. Well, he got some money and got away, so it was mostly successful. But then he was arrested.”

“Yeah, let me pull that one up.” Detective Houck grunted a few times. It was obvious he was looking at information.

“Is there anything else?” Mel asked.

“Um, I’m going to have to call you back.”

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