Page 50 of Breaking Rules

Amelia shook her head. “No, I didn’t.”

Jo narrowed her eyes. “But you must have known him pretty well, though.”

Amelia shook her head again. “Not really.”

“Are you lying again?” Jo asked, her voice rising. “You mentioned something earlier about Alex smoking cigars with his grandfather. I don’t think you would have known that unless you’d been with the two of them. And if you were with his grandfather, you must have known Alex pretty well.”

Amelia’s eyes widened. “What? I never said I saw him with his grandfather.”

Jo frowned. “That’s what you told us.”

Amelia shook her head vehemently. “No. I might have said he smoked cigars with old men, and you assumed it was his grandfather. That’s what he was doing that night in the Drunken Moose, but his grandfather was already dead, so I have no idea who the old guy was.”

“One of the guys was an old guy?” Sam asked, thinking of Victor Sorrentino. Victor was only in his late thirties or early forties, but Amelia was young, so she might think he was old.

“Yep,” Amelia confirmed, her voice shaking slightly. “Gray hair and the whole bit.”

That left Victor out; he had dark hair.

“Could you recognize him if you saw him?” Sam asked urgently.

Amelia hesitated, her eyes darting between Sam and Jo.

Sam leaned in, his voice low. “I know you don’t want to get involved, but this could be important.”

Amelia sighed, her shoulders slumping. “Maybe. It was dark in there.”

Jo stepped forward, her eyes narrowed. “Was Alex still there when you left?”

Amelia shook her head. “No, he left around nine. The others practically carried him out.”

Sam frowned. Sternly, he said, “Amelia, we’ve seen the surveillance of the front door. He didn’t leave at nine.”

Amelia shook her head. “Not the front. They took him out the back.”

Jo placed a hand on Amelia’s shoulder, her voice gentle. “It’s okay. You did the right thing by telling us now. Just don’t run from us next time we have questions.”

Amelia nodded, her face pale. “I won’t. I promise.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Sam and Jo went straight back to the station.

“Amelia admitted to lying. She saw Alex at the bar that night, drunk with some guys, including an old man smoking a cigar,” Sam said.

Kevin frowned, leaning forward. “Did she say who the old man was?”

Jo shook her head. “No, but she said they took Alex out the back door around nine.”

Wyatt’s eyes widened. “The back? We only have footage of the front entrance.”

Sam nodded, his jaw tight. “Exactly. We need to review the tapes again, see if we can catch anything from the side or back.”

They gathered around Wyatt’s computer, their eyes glued to the screen as he fast-forwarded through the footage. Suddenly, Jo pointed at the screen. “There! Pause it.”

Wyatt hit the space bar, freezing the image. It was grainy and dark, but they could just make out the back of a black car pulling away from the bar.

Kevin squinted at the screen. “Can you enhance that? Get the license plate?”

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