Page 48 of Don't Say a Word
King showed her badge and introduced herself and her partner. “We need to speak with whoever is in charge.”
She made it sound far more confrontational than it needed to be. His mother’s door was closed, so Jack rose and as soon as he stepped from his office, Jerry grinned. “Hey, Jack, it’s been awhile.”
“How’s it going?”
“Good, good. Melanie is expecting again.”
“Number four?” Jack said.
Jerry grinned, shook his head. “Fourandfive.”
Jack laughed. “Holy shit, that’s fantastic. Congrats. You good, Rachel? How’re your boys? Isn’t the oldest in college by now?”
She seemed irritated with the small talk. “Yeah, he’s up at NAU. Starting his second year, engineering.”
“Smart kid.”
“Tell me about it,” she muttered, then said, “Look we’re here investigating a homicide at Sun Valley High School. The victim called your sister Margaret’s cell phone ten minutes before she was killed. I tried calling her, but she hasn’t answered.”
“Margo,” Jack said. “You call her Margaret and you’ll have twostrikes against you.” He was trying to keep the conversation light and friendly; Rachel scowled.
“Jack,” Rachel said, “we know thatMargomet with the victim, Lena Clark, yesterday afternoon, and then Clark called your sister a couple hours later. Is she a client? Did she hire Angelhart Investigations? Was she worried about something? Did she have a stalker or other trouble? It’s important to our investigation.”
“She’s not a client,” Jack said.
Rachel waited for more.
“And?” Rachel finally said.
“And what?”
“Why was Margo there?”
“You’ll have to ask her.”
“For shit’s sake, Jack.”
Jerry put up his hands in a sign of peace. “Hey, Jack, how can we reach her? We just need to get some info, nothing major here.”
“Her cell phone,” Jack said.
“She’s not answering,” Rachel snapped.
“She’s working in the field. I’ll let her know you stopped by.”
His mom stepped out of her office and approached them. Iris must have called or texted her about the conversation.
“May I help you?” Ava said in her most professional lawyer tone.
“Mrs. Angelhart, I’m Detective King.” She nodded to Jerry. “My partner, Detective Chavez. We’re trying to find your daughter Margo. We have questions about her conversation with a murder victim, Lena Clark.”
“I heard. It’s awful. Do you have any suspects?”
Jack had to force himself not to smile. His mom could be very passive-aggressive when she wanted to be.
“We have had this case for less than twenty-four hours and Margo may have been the last person to speak to the victim. I need to talk to her as soon as possible.”
Rachel was definitely irritated.
