Page 19 of Off the Hook

COULTER

Sitting in the stark, cold, interrogation room, I could feel suspicious eyes on me from the other side of the one-way mirror. The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, casting harsh shadows. I jumped as the door clicked open. Detective Pierce and a tall, broad-shouldered man with a Tom Selleck mustache walked in, grim expressions on their faces.

“Mr. Rodman, I’m Detective Ramirez, Detective Pierce’s partner.” He sat down across from me and leaned in, eyes hard and unyielding, like a rabid dog ready to pounce. Faith stood slightly behind him, her gaze looking somewhat softer, but no less focused.

“Let’s go over this again,” Ramirez barked, his voice in sharp contrast to the hum of the air conditioning. “What were you doing when Detective Pierce found you breaking into the victim’s house?”

I took a deep breath before speaking. “As I told Detective Pierce, I wasn’tbreaking in, I was looking for answers.Nothing about Kylie’s death makes sense. She was important to me, and I needed to understand what happened.”

He glared at me harder, “And you just happened to know where the key was?”

I met his gaze, unflinching. “That key has been under that conch shell for as long as I can remember. I showed Detective Pierce where I got it from, didn’t I?”

Faith’s eyes flickered with a hint of empathy. “He did.” But her bulldog partner just wouldn’t let up.

“We’ve got your prints on the boat.”

“Where? Maybe on the rail from when I stepped on and off before Detective Pierce got there yesterday.”

“Convenient that you came back to check the scene.” His jaw tightened. “There was DNA recovered. We’ll need a sample. But before that, why don’t you save us all some time and tell us what really happened.”

Man, this guy was relentless. But I was not going to let him bully me into confessing to something I didn’t do.

“I told you what I know.” I shook my head. “Take my DNA. Please. When you get the results, it will prove I had nothing to do with this.”

The detective’s face hardened even more, his glare as searing as his words. “You were there, Coulter, I know you were. The texts—you kept contacting her the day she died, and she didn’t respond. It made you angry didn’t it? So angry you killed her.”

I swallowed hard, the memory of those texts burning in my mind. “I did text her, yes, but she never responded. I wanted to speak to her about her engagement, to make sure it’swhat she really wanted to do.” I realized how hard to believe my story sounded as I told it, and sweat seeped from my palms that were pressed into the table. “Besides, I was with my family at Christmas Eve dinner. I couldn’t have killed her.”

“What time did you arrive at your family dinner?” Faith asked calmly, her kind eyes bringing the emotion down a notch.

“I already told you. Around five, five thirty? Before dark.”

Oscar scoffed. “I’m sure you’ve got a handful of brothers that’ll corroborate any tale you weave.” He shook his head, trying to belittle me. “Who was there?”

“Everyone. My whole family was there,” I replied, voice steady. “My father, my sister and brothers, and Corrine—she’s engaged to my younger brother, Trevor. We were all there from around 5:30 until late. You can ask them.”

Faith stepped forward, her tone even gentler. “Tell us about Kylie, Coulter. What was your relationship like? Why did you feel like you had to speak to her about her engagement to someone else?”

“I told you all this before, but okay,” I huffed. Churning up the painful memories that had haunted me for days, made my stomach knot. “Kylie and I grew up together. We dated through high school and while she was away at college. Then we were engaged, but it didn’t work out. She broke it off, and I respected her decision. Yes, I was hurt, but I always wanted the best for her.” I blew a hot breath out of my nostrils. “I would never hurt her.”

Oscar leaned back and crossed his arms. “That’s what they all say.I loved her, I could never hurt her.And before you know it,the woman’s dead, and the guy is sitting where you are, covered in her blood.”

“Detective,” Faith pulled out the chair next to Ramirez, shooting him a quick look that stopped him from saying any more as she sat down. “Coulter, we need to know everything if we are going to help you.”

I stared back at her, shocked that she didn’t seem to believe me. “I told you everything I know, at least twice already.”

“You know what’s interesting about murderers?” Ramirez glowered, waiting until I answered.

“What?”

“For some reason, they like to return to the scene of the crime. Some say it’s to relive it, to feel again what it felt like to take another life.”

My throat tightened, and I swallowed it down. “I am not a murderer. Kylie is the last person I would ever harm. She was like family.” I choked up as I explained. “I come from a big, close-knit family. Kylie didn’t have that. It was just her and her mom most of her life. Her step dad came along while Kylie was in college. Our mothers were best friends. When my mom died, Doreen checked on my dad every day for a month. After I heard about Kylie’s death, I couldn’t just sit back and do nothing, I had to find out what happened.”

Oscar leaned in, his face just inches from mine. I could smell his putrid breath when he said, “She was like family until she broke your heart. Then she went and got engaged and broke it all over again, didn’t she?”

My eyes welled up with tears and my voice quivered. “What broke my heart was hearing that she was dead.”

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