Page 71 of Deception

He did the same. “Call me anytime, day or night, if you need me.”

“I will, and if I hear from Bri, I’ll let you know.”

Clayton stopped outside the room and gave his phone number to Dani’s nurse and asked her to contact him if there was a problem. A minute later he jogged to his SUV to chase the chill off the cool night air.

When he pulled to the edge of the hospital parking lot, he hesitated. Hampton Inn wasn’t far, and now might be a good time to interview Terri Davis. Clayton turned toward the bridge and drove to the hotel.

The front desk clerk wouldn’t give him Terri’s room number, but he did call her room. Terri agreed to see him, and he quickly walked up the stairs. “I hope it’s not too late,” he said when she opened her door and invited him in.

“No. I’ve been expecting you.”

He sat in the club chair she gestured toward. “So, you admit to being at Coffee and More yesterday?”

She sat on the edge of her bed. “I never said I wasn’t.”

“You kind of danced around it.”

She lifted a shoulder in a slight shrug. “I didn’t think it was any of your business.”

“Maybe not, but evading the question makes you a good suspect in the judge’s shooting.”

“I did not shoot the judge. I was with Steven most of the evening.”

“Until what time?”

She thought a minute. “Maybe nine-ish. What time was he shot?”

“Around ten.”

“I was here, alone. Pretty sure the security cameras will show what time I came to my room and that I didn’t leave.”

He nodded. “What did you see Judge Anderson about at the coffee shop?”

She fingered the cross around her neck. “It was a private matter.”

Clayton crossed his arms. “We can do this here or downtown at the jail with Chief Nelson present.”

Terri tried to stare him down, but she was the first to look away. “Oh, all right. I’ve only recently learned his daughter had passed away, and I wanted to give my condolences.”

“How did you know the judge’s daughter?” Terri was too young for them to have been friends growing up.

“Before she married and left Natchez, Miss Anderson was my fifth-grade teacher.” She slid the cross back and forth on its chain. “I came from a single-parent home where I went to bed hungry a lot of times. I had three outfits for school, and kids made fun of me, but Miss Anderson changed all that. She made me her helper, made me feel important, and I’m pretty sure she’s the one who left a mysterious package right before Christmas break that year. It had two new outfits in it.”

She closed her eyes, and a tiny smile played around her lips. “There was no name on the package—if there had been, my mother would have made me return it.” Terri opened her eyes. “And that’s why I wanted to express my condolences to the judge.”

Clayton studied her for a minute. He believed her ... partly, but he sensed there was more to the meeting than she was telling.

38

Clayton left Terri Davis with the certainty she hadn’t shot the judge, but he wasn’t quite so sure she and the judge only talked about his daughter. He was climbing in his SUV when his cell phone rang. Jen.

“Nothing’s wrong, is it?” he asked.

“I’m checking on you since you haven’t made your nightly call,” his sister replied.

Clayton scraped his hand over his jaw, the stubble prickling his fingers. He couldn’t believe he’d forgotten to call. Yes, he could. It’d been a crazy day. “Working a case. How’s Ava?”

“She’s fine. Missing you.”

---