Page 101 of Past Due

Chapter Twenty-Five

Numb and cold, I shivered in the brightly lit interrogation room despite the familiar comfort of my well-worn hoodie. The last few hours had passed in a blur of tears and panic and now confusion and sadness. Was that my mom dead on the floor in my house? Was it someone else? A stranger? A squatter? Who had killed them? Why? Why my house?

Behind me, Besian paced the length of the interrogation room. He had refused to be separated from me, and I had never been gladder to have him by my side. I would never forget the queasy, pale look on his face when he returned to the car and told me what he had discovered inside my house.

Or the horrific smell that clung to him.

The door to the interrogation room opened suddenly, and two men entered. One I recognized as the homicide detective who had arrived at my house shortly after calling 9-1-1. The other was very familiar to me. Eric Santos. One of the lead detectives from the Guns and Gangs Unit.

I noticed the mistrusting glances exchanged by Besian and Eric. I could only imagine how far back their bad blood went. I caught Besian’s gaze and silently begged him not to get huffy and aggressive. The last thing we needed was trouble with the police.

“Marley,” Eric greeted kindly. “I’m sorry that you have to deal with this.” He gestured to his colleague and said, “I think you met Detective Kermally at the scene.”

“Yes.” I smiled wanly at the detective. “We met briefly before we were asked to come here.”

“Besian,” Eric said in his no-nonsense cop voice, “would you mind stepping outside so we can speak to Marley privately?”

“I absolutely would,” Besian replied tersely. “I’m not leaving my wife alone with two detectives unless she has a lawyer sitting next to her.”

Taken aback, Eric stiffened. He glanced between Besian and me. “You married him?”

Irritated by his tone, I snapped, “Yes, I did.”

“When?”

“Why? Are you planning to send us a belated wedding gift?” Besian asked sharply.

“The best wedding gift I could offer Marley is the name of the best divorce lawyer in town,” Eric retorted nastily.

Besian took a step forward, and Detective Kermally put a hand on Eric’s chest. “Gentlemen, let’s bring it down a notch, okay? Clearly, there’s some history here that I’m not aware of, and frankly, I don’t much care at the moment. I only care about figuring out who is dead in Marley’s house and who killed them.”

I reached for Besian’s hand and gently tugged him toward the empty seat next to me. He reluctantly took it and held tight to my hand. Eric remained standing, but Detective Kermally sat across from us. He dropped a legal pad onto the table and triple clicked his pen. “Let’s get the basics out of the way, Marley.”

“Is it my mom?” I blurted out, unable to wait a second longer. “Is my mom dead in my house?”

Besian placed his hand on my back and gently rubbed in soothing circles. I leaned into his touch, desperate for the strength he offered.

“The scene is still being processed. I can’t tell you for sure one way or the other,” Detective Kermally stated before proceeding to ask me simple, mostly biographical questions. “And what do you do for a living?”

“I’m a grad student at Rice, but I work part-time at a pawn shop.”

“Abby’s place,” Eric interjected.

“Oh. Okay. Yeah, I know it.” Detective Kermally made a quick note. “And what are you studying in grad school?”

“Sociocultural anthropology.”

“Interesting,” he said, making another note. “My wife and I just finished reading a couple of books by Ta-Nehisi Coates. There was some provocative stuff in them.”

“If you like comics, he had a really fantastic run with the Black Panther.” I noticed Besian’s mouth quirk at me giving a comic book recommendation in the middle of a police interrogation.

“I do actually, and so do my kids,” Detective Kermally said. “I’ll pass that along.”

“Where have you been?” Eric interrupted rudely. “We’ve been looking for since the raid on the MC.”

“Europe.” I frowned. “You could have asked my neighbors or Aston.”

“We did,” Eric explained. “None of them would talk to us.”

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