Page 17 of Pied Sniper

I flapped my hand, quieting her. With all the yelling, the dog burrowed under my sweater again and I could feel him quivering. I patted him gently, hoping he felt reassured in the warm dark of my sweater cocoon.

“Whatever. I still need to process both of them. I’m going to interview them too. We caught them red-handed at the crime scene and someone was obviously murdered there.”

“Was there a body?” hissed Garrett, towering over Detective Crump and jutting out his chin, just barely keeping a snarl from his lips.

“No,” said Detective Hertford when his partner squared up. “We thoroughly checked the apartment, the stairwell, the roof, the basement and all the exits. There was no body found.”

“Shut up, Hertford,” said Detective Crump. “This isn’t your case, Graves.”

“That’sLieutenantGraves,Detective.Did you find a weapon on my sister or my sister-in-law?” pressed Garrett, his face steely cold as he barely contained his anger.

“That one is guilty as heck,” he said, pointing at Lily. “And we took a huge knife off that one,” he added, pointing to me. “And there was another knife in her pocket.”

“I dropped it on the floor, which was where I found it,” I chipped in. “And I didn’t even reach for my pocket knife!”

“Sure,” said Detective Crump without looking at me. “And I don’t take my mom to church every Sunday.”

“That’s not as cool as you tried to make it sound, Mommy’s boy,” said Garrett.

“What did you call me?” Detective Crump stepped closer.

“You heard me!”

“Lieutenant Graves, the two women were at the scene of the crime prior to MPD’s arrival and need to be processed accordingly,” said the partner, standing between the two men but firmly not getting in the middle, which seemed a smart choice as they squared up. “I appreciate your concern, given that both ladies are your family members, but if you’ll allow us to follow due process, we can get this all sorted out and everyone can go home tonight. A crime has been committed and they might have crucial information as witnesses that will help us learn what happened.”

“So you’re going to interview them as witnesses?” said Garrett, still staring skeptically at Detective Crump.

“If there is insufficient evidence, they’ll be released without any charge,” replied the other detective as Crump’s nostrils flared in annoyance.

“And the dog?” asked Garrett.

“What dog?” asked Detective Hertford.

Garrett jabbed a finger towards me. The little dog chose that moment to stick his head out of my collar and the two arresting detectives both frowned but didn’t say a word.

“I told you I had a dog under my sweater. He belongs to the victim,” I said. “Neither of them searched me,” I added. “I could have been carrying…”

“Obviously you weren’t carrying anything beyond a simple utility tool,” cut in Garrett, flashing me a look that silenced me.

Detective Hertford glanced my way. “And how do you know who owns the dog?”

“Because the victim, Tiffany Rose is famous and the dog is well known. He’s regularly featured in her videos online.”

“He’s a cavapoo,” said Lily. “That’s a cavalier spaniel and a poodle mixed together. His name is Elf.”

“I didn’t remember that,” I said, looking down. The dog wriggled up and bumped his nose on mine. “Hi, Elf.”

“Can we begin the interview process, Lieutenant?” asked Detective Hertford.

“My sister-in-law wants to clean up before that happens.”

“We need to take her clothes as evidence first,” said Detective Crump. “In case you hadn’t noticed, that’s not ketchup smeared all over her clothing.”

“Lieutenant, you are welcome to observe from another room. Or you might want to call a representative for your relatives,” continued Detective Hertford, his voice so calm and steady, I wondered how many times he had to step in when Crump squared off.

“They haven’t asked for a lawyer,” said Detective Crump through gritted teeth.

“They want lawyers,” shot back Garrett.

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