Page 60 of Wild Justice

Shutting up.

He’d said that most people were uncomfortable with silence. When someone creates a silence that isn’t welcome, people will often rush in to fill the quiet. They’ll start talking, and sometimes, they’ll talk about the very thing they didn’t want to talk about. Just so they didn’t have to hear the quiet.

Lulu waited, giving Kathleen her most patient but expectant look. She didn’t mind the quiet. She could wait all day.

Kathleen, on the other hand, looked fine at first but then as the time stretched on grew visibly agitated. She shifted in her chair, her gaze darting all around the office. She looked like she wanted to jump out of a window and keep running.

“She was in the apartment after Jay dropped her off, but she later left. She didn’t say anything to me before she left, but I went out to the living room and looked out the window. Her car was gone so I assumed she drove somewhere. Maybe over to Jay’s house? I thought perhaps she just wanted her car there for something in the morning.”

There it was. Kathleen hadn’t wanted to be a tattletale. But, once again, Allie was lying about her whereabouts that night.

“Was she gone all night?”

“No, she came back about three or so in the morning. I heard her take a shower and I woke up, so I don’t know exactly how long she’d been home.”

“Did you ask her about it later?”

“No, like I said, she’s not around much. I didn’t think it was a big deal until you asked me about it today.”

“She didn’t ask you to lie about where she was?”

“We didn’t talk about it at all. I’m not in trouble, am I?”

“No, being honest is the way to go. I do have to ask a few more questions. Please be as honest with these as the last.”

“I will.”

Kathleen nodded solemnly, appearing relieved that she wasn’t going to jail for her barely-there roommate.

“You’re the receptionist here, correct? You see everyone come and go?”

“Yes,” Kathleen replied tentatively. “I mean, if I’m on the schedule. I don’t work Saturday mornings.”

“Did Dana Cartwright come into the office recently? Say, in the last two months?”

“I can’t say. Privacy rules.”

“Did you tell Allie that Dana had been here?”

The look of guilt swept over Kathleen’s face. Her lips were pressed together, and her knuckles were white as she wrung her hands together ruthlessly tight.

“I’m not allowed to talk about the patients. There are privacy laws.”

“Did you maybe accidentally let it slip that Dana had been in for an appointment? Was Allie talking about Dana?”

“She complained about Dana all the time,” Kathleen whispered. “She said that life would be so much better if Dana wasn’t around.”

“As in dead?”

“She didn’t say dead,” Kathleen denied. “Just that it would be better. I took it as she wanted Dana to move out of town.”

“Away from Jay?”

“Yes, Allie was very jealous of Dana.”

“Did she and Jay argue about Dana?”

“Sometimes,” Kathleen conceded. “Allie could be…sensitive about things. Sometimes, she would perceive slights that really weren’t there. I tried telling her that Dana wasn’t after Jay, but she didn’t believe me.”

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