Page 45 of So Wicked

“So you don’t know anything about the murders of Dr. Rachel Summers, Dr. Lisa Patel and Dr. Mark Chen?”

"No! You can call my Boss. I was at the liquor store until eleven, then I went straight home."

“Was there anyone at your house who can confirm that you went straight home?” Faith asked.

Alex swallowed. “No. But you have me on camera, right? You can see what time I walked through the cemetery, right?”

“We can see what time you showed up,” Slade agreed, “but not how long you stayed or when you left. You would have had more than enough time to kill Dr. Patel and stage her body.”

“Okay, so I happened to be there at that cemetery. What about the other two? Were they killed in the same place?”

Slade’s lips thinned slightly. “No.”

“And do you have evidence of me being at the other place? Or places?”

His lips thinned even further. No, but that doesn’t mean you weren’t there.”

“Man, when do I have time to murder people? Monday and Saturday are my only days off, and I have a diversion program I have to go to on Monday and community service on Saturday. The other days, I work twelve hours. I wake up, eat breakfast, go to the pet store, eat dinner at the taco place, go to the liquor store, go home, shower, and then sleep and wake up to do it allover again. If someone beat me up and stole my car, I wouldn’t have time to flip them off.”

“You poor boy,” Faith said sarcastically.

She was beginning to worry, though. She was excited to hear about Slade’s lead at first, but if they verified Alex’s employment history, then it would be a serious challenge for him to have committed the murders. And he didn’t seem to know any of the victims at all. She had a bad feeling that the two of them had grabbed at a straw that turned out to be a coincidence.

“How did you know Dr. Rachel Summer?” Faith asked, watching his face closely.

He showed no sign of recognition. Only annoyance tinged with fear and desperation. “I didn’t know the bitch! Or the other two!”

“Yeah, she’s not a bitch, Alex,” Slade interjected. “She’s a person with loved ones who was murdered and left like a damned sculpture so some whack job could get his ego stroked. So how about a little more respect?”

“Also,” Faith said. “Youdidknow her. She sold you drugs.”

Alex blinked, but he kept his bravado when he replied. “Man, you dragged me out of my job, threatened to have me eaten by a dog and accused me of killing three people just because I walk home from work. Y’all are trippin’. But seriously, I didn’t know them, okay? My drug dealer called herself Candy. Maybe that was one of them. I don’t know. I make it a point not to be—madeit a point not to be nosy about my dealers. Call my Boss. Talk to my manager here. I'm trying to get clean, bruh. Like seriously. I just work and go home and go to my community service and my diversion program. That’s it. Ain’t nothing worth catching a murder charge.”

“You’re trying to stay clean, but you were caught making a drug purchase from Dr. Foster the week before?”

Alex stiffened and looked back at the liquor store. “I ain’t never murdered anybody. That’s what you’re here for, right? You don’t care about the drugs. I didn’t kill anyone. I do drugs—diddrugs sometimes—but that doesn’t make me a murderer.”

Faith and Slade shared a look. Slade sighed. "Okay, stay here. Give Special Agent Bold your Boss's number at the liquor store. I'll go talk to your manager inside."

He turned around, but his phone began to ring before he could take a step. He pulled it from his pocket, and Faith watched his face fall. “All right,” he said after a moment. “Thank you for calling me. I’ll be right there.”

He hung up and sighed. “That was the chief,” he told Faith. “It’s going to be a day or two before Rory can take over, so he needs me to handle the scene.”

“The scene?” Faith asked. “What scene?”

Then Slade lifted his eyes to hers, and she knew. She lifted her hands to her head and looked up at the afternoon sky. “Shit.”

“Yeah, exactly.”

Faith turned to Alex. “You’re still not off the hook,” she said. “Where were you last night?”

"Home, man. I told you, that's all…" His eyes popped open. "Wait. No! I was at my Boss's house last night!"

“From here or the liquor store?”

“The liquor store. Yeah, she invited me over.”

“To do what?”

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