Page 90 of Midnight Secrets

“Don’t play coy, Ms. Alonso. I know you know.”

Fire flashed in her eyes as she turned to me. “I don’t know anything. Are you charging me with something? If not, I’d like to leave.” Her chair scraped the floor with a rough screech as she stood. Purse in hand, she whipped it over her shoulder.

Looking past me, she glared at the two-way window behind me. “I know you’re back there, Chief. I can’t believe you’d haul me in here like this.” She stormed toward the door.

I draped an arm over the back of my chair as I turned to watch her.

“Do you have no decency or give any consideration to your officers?” With a hand wrapped around the doorknob, she gave it a twist, but the door didn’t budge.

What was she talking about? She wasn’t on the police force.

“Would you mind unlocking the door?” She shot me a glare over her shoulder.

Not playing into her tantrum or her haste, I gathered my notepad and pen, rising from my chair without any hurry. At her side, I keyed in the code.

The lock clicked, and she yanked open the door.

“Think about our conversation, Ms. Alonso. You know how to find me if you remember anything.”

Nose in the air, she huffed and flounced out.

Crossing my arms, still clutching my notepad and pen, I leaned against the door and watched her leave.

The door behind me opened, and I heard Riggs’s footfalls as he came closer.

“What was she talking about? The officer thing?” I glanced at him.

Riggs’s forehead wrinkled with a confused frown. “What? Wait, you didn’t know?”

“Know what?”

“Her brother is one of us. Turner. Alonso is her married name.”

Taken aback, I blinked, staring at him for a moment. “No one mentioned that, no.” I guess no one could ever accuse Riggs of bias. He’d treated Grace no differently than any other person in her situation.

But I planned to exploit the connection. Perhaps her brother could shed light on what she knew or convince her to tell me.

I pushed away from the doorframe. “Is he here?”

“He’s on patrol.”

Damn. I didn’t have long before Kaya Strand showed up for her interview, but I could have asked him a couple of questions. I also really didn’t want to give Grace the chance to tell her brother what happened.

Riggs’s hand landed on my shoulder, and I looked over.

“Don’t let her connection to Turner hold you back. She knows something. Make sure they both know she could be charged as an accessory if we discover she’s protecting the killer.”

“Oh, I will.” There were few things that bothered me more than favoritism. I was glad Riggs didn’t cotton to it, either.

CHAPTER 31

Ozzie

Kaya Strand was much more relaxed than her colleague.

“Hello, Detective.” She offered me a polite smile as I walked into the room.

I returned it with a genuine one of my own. “Ms. Strand. Thank you for coming in. Sorry about the accommodations. I wanted to record our interview.” I motioned to the camera in the corner of the ceiling as I sat down.

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