Page 20 of Deathmarch
He glanced at the blast from the past on the back seat, then pulled into traffic. Since he’d come on official police business, he’d switched out his pickup for one of the cruisers at the PD, but he didn’t turn on the roof lights. No rush at this stage.
“I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you.”
“I can’t believe I’ve barely set foot in town and I’m being blamed for something I didn’t do. It’s always just the same old bullshit, isn’t it? Turns out it’s possible to step twice into the same shit creek.”
He glanced into the rearview mirror again. He’d been working on figuring her out since he’d walked into her room and caught her unprepared, wearing nothing but a giant robe. She clearly had some weird love for oversized fuzzy clothing. That was new. He tried not to think of the tight jeans and barely there tank tops she used to wear before, clothes that had kept teenage Harper in a constant state of agitation.
Her hair was considerably longer and several shades lighter. A disguise for the job? If so, it wasn’t nearly enough. Her soul-deep brown eyes were the same, and so was her full mouth, the soft curve of her jaw…
Shit.
Freaking Allie Bianchi.
He had a boatload of questions for her, number one beingHow in hell have you gotten involved in murder?But he turned his attention to the frozen road. He’d question her once her attorney arrived. Everything by the book.
Yet he couldn’t stay completely silent.
“I guess half a million dollars in gold can make a lot of people do a lot of stupid things. I just wouldn’t have thought you’d be one of them.”
“What half a million dollars?”
The shock she faked was pure perfection. He might have believed her wide eyes and bewildered expression if he didn’t know her for a consummate actress. Smart thing to do was to view all their interactions as a performance on her part.
“I don’t know anything about any money.” She switched to frustration with ease. “And I didn’t kill anyone. Dammit, Harper. Why would you say that? You know me. Why are you doing this?”
Her panicked tone was pitch-perfect and touched something inside him. Better if they stopped talking.
He made himself focus on the half-empty road, only a handful of other vehicles out in this weather, although less than an inch of white slush covered the asphalt. Eddie must have been through again with the big plow in the last half hour.
“Did you have dinner?” An official police question, something Harper needed to know if he ended up putting her into lockdown for the night.
“Yes. Thank you.” She managed polite, but was visibly struggling. “I saw your mom and your brother Kennan at the pub. I did put my dinner on your tab. I left my purse in your pickup. I’ll pay you back.”
Harper didn’t care about the money, but he silently cursed at the thought of Allie telling his mother he was paying for her. It’d be a while before he heard the end ofthat.
Not Allie’s fault, to be fair. Hehadtold her to do it, when he’d thought she was “Abby.” He wasn’t going to blame her for that one, but hewouldblame her for the rest, and hold her accountable. She’d come into his town and shot a man, or at the very least, participated in his murder.
“Could you tell me at least a little about what’s going on?” Her voice trembled, affecting him more than it should have, especially since he knew it was nothing but an act.
“Let’s wait for the lawyer,” he said again, the safest thing he could tell her, the only thing that should be coming out of his mouth at this stage.
He had to stay sharp with her—no special treatment, no allowances. Their past would have to remain in the past, or the captain would have his ass. Harper drove the rest of the way to the station in silence.
Because the temperature had dropped even lower, he pulled off his hat and tugged it over her damp hair, then he shrugged out of his coat and dropped it over Allie’s shoulders before he led her up the walk, keeping on her right to block the wind.
Leila looked up from behind the reception desk, raising an eyebrow as they passed through the station on their way to the interview room. Harper just shook his head.Later.
Then he was in the room with Allie, the door closed behind them.
“I’m going to need your clothes and boots for lab testing. I’ll bring you something else to wear.” He pulled out a chair for her. “I’ll be picking up what you left at the B and B. Coat, hat, scarf, gloves. Those will be tested too. Is everything there? You wouldn’t have thrown anything away, right? I noticed you weren’t wearing gloves when I found you in the snow.”
“I left them at Suntown Elementary. I’m sure somebody found them. You can call and check.”
He would. “I’ll see if I can get that lawyer in here for you tonight. All right?” He watched her for a second, too damn disappointed and angry that she would end up like this. Too damnsad. He’d expected better from her. Then again, if he got a dollar every time he brought in someone who’d failed their potential, he could retire. “I’m going to step out for a minute. The door is on autolock. Don’t do anything stupid.”
He swung by the front desk.
Broslin PD was too small to have a dispatcher on duty twenty-four seven. Two women, Leila and Robin, shared shifts—acting both as dispatchers and general admin support for the station. The front desk was manned—womaned?—for the full first shift and half of a second.
