Page 92 of Midnight Secrets

“Average?” She shrugged.

“Did he remind you of anyone you’d seen before?”

Her brow furrowed. “Maybe? But this is a small town, Detective. Even with our close proximity to Juneau, everyone knows everyone here. So, it could be someone I know, but I just can’t tell you who because I didn’t see his face.”

My head bobbed even as my heart sank. That made sense. “Okay. Do you happen to remember the date you were at Parker Supply?” They had cameras, so perhaps I would get lucky and they’d let me see the footage. If they kept it that long. December was a while ago.

“Actually, yes. December eighteenth. I went right after school, and that was our last day. Marie must have had the same idea.”

I jotted the date in my notes. “One more question.” I glanced up at her. “Did Grace Alonso ever say anything about Marie?”

Kaya frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Was she ever derogatory toward her? Or on the flip side, overprotective?”

“Like, defensive?”

“Yes.”

The woman cocked her head. “Maybe? They were closer friends than Marie and I were, so they stuck up for each other when administration tried to heap extra work on us.” Her expression darkened. “A lot of times, they managed to shove it off on someone else. I did more than my fair share ofextras.”

Her tone opened a new thread in my line of theories. “Did anyone in particular take offense to the two of them teaming up to avoid extra duties?”

Kaya lifted a hand and let it flutter back to her lap. “Probably. It bothered me, and I was their friend, so it probably bothered others as well. But I don’t know who. I try to stay out of all the gossip.” She wrinkled her nose. “It’s distasteful. I was one of those kids on the receiving end of rumors in school, so I don’t participate in any of it now.”

I agreed, even though I’d never been the butt of school rumors. “Not a bad idea. All right, is there anything else you can think of that might be useful to the investigation? Anyone who might have felt wronged by Marie or had a reason to be angry?”

Kaya looked away briefly, chewing on her bottom lip, her eyes searching. “Nothing’s coming to mind. But I’ll keep thinking.”

I pushed back from the table with a smile. “That would be great.” Standing, I took a business card from my pocket and held it out to her. “If you think of anything, please call.”

She rose with a nod and accepted the card. “I will, thank you.”

Once more, I unhurriedly gathered my notepad and pen, meeting Ms. Strand at the door. “I appreciate you coming in.” Keying in the code, I let us out.

“It’s no problem.” She adjusted her bag strap on her shoulder. The smile on her face faded and a more somber look drew the corners of her mouth down. “I hope you find who didthis. No matter what she did or to whom she did it, she didn’t deserve to die.” With a final serious look, she walked away.

Like Grace, I watched her leave, waiting on Riggs to exit the observation room.

“Much different to the last interview, don’t you think?” I asked, eyes still on Kaya’s retreating form.

“Yeah. Let’s go get that footage from Parker’s, and see if we can ID the guy. It might be nothing, but I don’t like that he walked away without even saying hello to Ms. Strand. Not when Marie was showing him lingerie beforehand.”

“You read my mind.” Tucking my notepad under my arm, I stepped out of the doorway and shut the interrogation room door. “Do you think you could get Krieger or Garnett to conduct some surveillance on Grace? Without letting Turner know?”

Riggs’s mouth pulled. “Maybe, but I don’t want to put them in that position.” A crooked smile lifted one side of his face. “I know how to keep my mouth shut, though.” He clapped me on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about Grace. I’ll handle it.”

I smiled, liking the chief even more. He wasn’t afraid to pitch in when needed. “Sounds good.”

“Meet me outside in two?” Riggs arched an eyebrow with a questioning look.

With a nod, I headed for my office to get my gun.

“Oscar!”

I paused, glancing over at Nina, Riggs’s administrative assistant as I passed her desk.

“I put some mail on your desk.”

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