Page 55 of Deceiving Grier

“Fine, but could we hurry this up?”

Officer Robot’s dark expression held mine for a moment, a faint smirk pulling at his mouth. “Of course. Do you usually lock the doors even when you’re home?”

I shrugged. “Grier and Jett had a break-in at their last place and a fire that turned out to be intentionally set. We try to be careful.”

Though, I couldn’t have said how many times one of us had thought we’d locked up and forgotten the back door. Hell, sometimes even the front.

The cop’s thick straight brows lifted. “A break-in, a fire, and now your roommate’s fallen down a flight of stairs. That’s some bad luck.” I nodded, trying to guess where he was steering the conversation. “Where did you sayyouwere when your roommate fell?”

Ah, he thought I pushed Grier. Given that I had already told him where I was and what I’d been doing when I heard Grier fall, the only reason he’d want to go over it again was to try and find holes in my story, catch me in a lie.

I sighed. “I was working at my desk on an assignment for my public relations class.”

“You didn’t hear Grier come in?”

I shook my head. “I didn’t know he was home until I heard the water from the shower upstairs.”

“Then what did you do?”

“I got up to talk to him but knocked a mug off my desk and stopped to clean it up.”

Officer Robot stared at me, not bothering to write anything in his notebook. “What did you need to talk to him about that you couldn’t wait until he finished in the shower?”

It was my turn to smirk. “I wanted to offer some help with his back.”

The cop frowned, maybe unsure if I was serious.

“We’re together,” I explained.

“Grier didn’t mention that.”

“It’s still pretty new, and it, of course, has nothing to do with the fact that someone hiding in our house charged at him and sent him flying down the stairs.” Folding my arms over my chest and cocking my head to one side, I was done. I’d been cooperative and told them everything I knew. I didn’t have the time or patience to go over the same story again and again.

The paramedic behind the wheel started the ambulance’s engine. I didn’t want Grier alone and in pain, having to deal with all of this on his own.

If the cop heard my impatience, he gave no sign and pressed on with his questions. “Did your roommate lock the door after he returned home?”

This time, his question gave me pause.DidGrier lock the door? He normally did. I tried to remember if I had to unlock the door to let the paramedics in. Frowning, I don’t think I did.

“I think it was unlocked when I opened the door for the EMTs,” I said slowly, still not entirely certain.

“Could someone have followed your roommate inside?” the cop asked, his robot expression giving nothing away.

“I guess.”

“My partner and I,” he nodded to the cop by the door, “have been through your entire house, and we can’t find any signs of forced entry or that anyone was in your house. Now, someone may have slipped inside after your roommate returned home, but would they have been able to leave without you seeing them? You said you came out here when you heard Mr. Miller fall. In the time it took you to get here from where you were working, would that have been enough time for someone to slip outside without you seeing him?”

“Maybe,” I said. “I had to go back to get my phone. If someone was inside, they might have been able to leave then.” Though, I’d been fast, running from the hall to the study to the hall again in seconds.

“Is there a chance Mr. Millerthoughthe saw someone, missed his footing and fell?” The cop’s voice warmed, taking on a buddy-like tone as if we were good pals all of a sudden.

Anything was possible, and had this been Jett, this would be an entirely different conversation, but not Grier. “If Grier said he saw someone, then he saw someone. He’s one of the most down-to-earth people I’ve ever met."

The officer nodded and sighed softly. “I’m going to need statements from both of you. When Mr. Miller is out of the hospital, you’ll both need to come down to the station and fill out a formal statement.

I nodded, eager to get the hell out of there and meet Grier at the hospital. “Okay.”

“In the meantime, keep your doors locked and maybe consider an alarm. You have my card if you remember anything else.”

---