Page 45 of Feared

“The car is outside.” Mary took her purse from Bennie. “Ooh, that hurt! You never know, and I don’t want to have a baby right here. Maybe we could do this another time, Detectives?”

“Anytime, yes.” Detective Krakoff nodded, vaguely flustered.

“Bennie, let’s go.” Mary headed out of the interview room, rubbing her belly.

“Good-bye, Detectives!” Bennie called behind her. “We’ll be in touch.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Mary let herself into her house, setting down her purse in the entrance hall and following the soft light emanating from the living room, where she wasn’t surprised to see Anthony asleep on the couch with Judy’s golden retriever curled up on his stocking feet. In contrast, Judy was awake in the chair-and-a-half by the window, looking exhausted and numb.

“Mare, how did it go?” Judy started to get up, but Mary waved her back down.

“Stay put, I’m coming over.” Mary crossed to the chair and kicked off her flats, so her feet could swell to Fred-Flintstone proportions.

“You must be starving. You want a slice? I can heat it up for you.” Judy gestured to the coffee table, which held a cardboard box of pizza, a few bottles of water and soda, and a Greek salad that released the aroma of feta cheese and onions despite its plastic clamshell.

“No thanks, I’m fine.” Mary picked up a bottle of water, twisting off the cap and taking a slug. She wanted to stay hydrated, but she didn’t feel like eating.

“Are you okay? You must be so tired. I’m sorry to put you through this.”

“You’re not putting me through it, honey.” Mary drank more water. “Can we both fit in that chair?”

“You mean, all three of us? Totally.” Judy managed a smile, removing one of the pillows and shifting over to make room for Mary, who squeezed in beside her.

“Cuddly.”

“Right?”

“We need it.”

“We sure do.” Judy dabbed at her eyes, which were bloodshot and swollen. “So what did you find out? They’re not saying anything on the news, just that he was a lawyer and he was murdered.”

“We got the basic facts, but do you want to hear them?”

“Yes.” Judy nodded, sniffling. “I cried all the tears I can cry, at least for now.”

“They don’t have any suspects yet and they won’t tell us if they have any witnesses.” Mary met her best friend’s gaze directly and softened her voice to ease the blow. “They think he interrupted a burglar. His electronics were gone, and he was killed by a blow to the head.”

“Oh no.” Judy moaned, her eyes glistening. “That’s terrible. That’sterrible.”

“That’s all we know. We don’t know anything else, not even who found him or anything like that. We talked to the detectives on the case and we got as much information as we could, for now.”

“No suspects?”

“No, it’s too soon.”

“No witnesses?”

“They won’t say.”

“They don’t even know what time he died?”

“If they do, they’re not telling us.” Mary knew that John’s body would already be at the Medical Examiner’s Office and his autopsy would be scheduled for tomorrow. It usually tooka few days to process and release a body, but this wasn’t the time to review those details with Judy. Mary wanted to shift the topic from the gruesome details. “The only bright spot is that I ran into Detective Azzic, who I used to know. He told us what we know and he might be a way to find out more in the future. But that’s it for tonight.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it. We tried.” Mary patted her leg. “You know how Bennie is. She cross-examined them.”

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