Page 14 of Half-Blood

“Brains and talent as well as beauty. Can we start over? Please? My name’s Dylan Malone. And yours is…?”

“Jace?” The detective’s voice brought me back to the present. I blinked at him, and he leaned in a little. Our knees were almost touching, and he smelled so good, like soap and water and some kind of subtle aftershave. “I still have a few things I’d like to clear up with you. You said you hadn’t seen Mr. Malone in over a week? Is that right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Uh-huh, But here’s the thing. Toby—the friend I mentioned—he said that Dylan told him he saw you on the evening of the thirtieth. He said Malone told him the two of you argued and things got heated. So why are you lying to us?”

I could feel my heart racing—beating so loudly he could probably hear it. There’s nothing worse than being caught in a lie. I literally was speechless for a few seconds as Logan watched me. I knew how a baby chicken must feel when a hawk is circling it overhead.

“I don’t know. I got nervous. Dylan and I have a lot of history like you said, and I thought if you knew that I’d seen him then, you might…”

“Yes? Might what?”

“I don’t know.” The room was stifling hot all of a sudden, and I couldn’t breathe very well. “I guess I didn’t think it through.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I’m not lying.”

“Now?”Conway asked.

“What?”

“You said you weren’t lying. Did you mean you aren’t lyingnow? Because you were before,”he said, giving him a stern look.

“I had nothing to do with any of this!”

“Any of what, Jace?” I asked, double teaming him now. “What happened during that argument? Why did Malone tell his friend that things got heated?”

“It was nothing—just a misunderstanding.”

“Tell me what you think happened to Mr. Malone?”

“How should I know?” I sounded hysterical even to my own ears. “I-I mean, I have no idea what happened to him.”

“Why don’t you tell us more about that last visit of Dylan’s on the thirtieth, Jace?” Conway asked. “What exactly did you argue about?”

My heart was still pounding, but I took a breath and tried to calm down. “Dylan asked me if he could borrow some money, but I didn’t have—I had to turn him down. I told him money was tight, and I didn’t have any extra to loan him. He said he didn’t believe me and …it escalated from there.”

“How far did it escalate?”

I looked up at Detective Conway in surprise. “Not that far. We shouted at each other a little. He pushed me around some. My mother came in to see what all the yelling was about, and she asked him to leave. That’s about it.”

“Just like that?”

“Yes.”

“You say he pushed you around?”

“Yes, that’s what I said.”

“But you didn’t push him back?”

“No!” I yelled at him.

“Calm down,” Logan reminded me sternly. I blinked at him a few times and took a couple of deep breaths.

“Did he strike you?”

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