dropped that idea. I’d heard rumors about Atlanta’s finest from Rico—taser-gun waving, bad cop/bad cop scenarios—and decided pretty quick the last thing I wanted to be was an uncooperative witness.
“I honestly don’t know. I take my brother to the airport, go to check his mail, and suddenly, there’s a dead girl across the street and everybody’s asking me what I know, which is nothing. Have you talked to Eric yet?”
“We’re still processing that information.”
Uh huh, I thought. That meant they were using me to verify whatever it was he’d told them. I wondered—again—why he hadn’t called me yet and took a sip of my coffee. It was surprisingly good, creamed and sugared with a heavy hand.
“How did you find out who she was?”
“We got an official ID on the scene.”
The sandy-haired business type, I decided. Mr. G-Man.
“Then I’m not sure what more I can tell you. If she is the woman on the answering machine, then it’s obvious my brother didn’t kill her—he was on the plane by eleven, on a cruise ship by two. I’m assuming you’ve verified that by now, along with my alibi.”
“I wouldn’t call it an alibi, Ms. Randolph. You said yourself that your friend Rico can only account for your whereabouts until about four o’clock, when you left Kennesaw. After that…” He spread his hands.
I put down my coffee. “Wait a minute, you don’t really think I had anything to do with this, do you?”
“Now why would we think that?”
Which wasn’t a no.
“Well, do you?”
“No, Ms. Randolph, we don’t. But the fact is, you found the body. And that makes you very important, whether or not you had anything to do with how that body got there.”
“What about my brother? Is he important too?”
“Of course. He was the person Eliza Compton was trying to see when somebody blew her brains out a hundred feet from his front door.”
He leaned forward, and I caught the smell of secondhand smoke on his jacket, probably from some other innocent bystander he’d been interrogating. The tips of my fingers itched. I rubbed them on my jeans.
“Do I get to go soon?”
“Yes, very soon. A few things to sign and you’re on your way.”
I sighed. “Good.”
“Just don’t leave town.”
“What?”
He smiled. “I’m kidding. We can’t make you stay in town—that only happens in the movies.” He got up and his chair scraped backwards. “But seriously…don’t leave town.”
***
Detective Vance escorted me to the lobby, where I sat in an anti-ergonomic chair and waited for a patrol car to take me back to Eric’s. She perched on the check-in counter, reading rap sheets and ignoring me. When my phone rang, however, she gave me her full attention. I got up and moved to the far corner of the waiting area.
It was Eric. “Tai! Thank God! I’ve been worried sick!”
Vance cocked her head. I turned my back on her.
“You’ve got some explaining to do!” I hissed.
“I’ve already talked to the cops.”
“So have I. Down at the station. Still here as a matter of fact, wondering what the hell—”
“Don’t worry, I’ve got this under control.”
“That’s easy for you to say. You didn’t just get interrogated.”
Vance rustled her paperwork. I ignored her.
“I’ll explain soon, I promise, but right now the important thing is getting you someplace safe.”
“Why isn’t your place safe?”
“Tai—”
“I mean it, Eric. Who was that girl? Why was she—”
“Look, I had nothing to do with what happened, but I’d still feel better if you stayed someplace else. And I don’t mean that room over the gun shop.”
“Don’t start. This has nothing to do with the shop.”
“You’d better hope not. That’s the last thing I need right now.”
My temper flared. “When did this become about what you need? I’m the one stuck at the police station with you being all bossy and mysterious and suggesting I might be in danger—”
“Which is why I’m trying to help!”
I glanced at Vance. She raised an eyebrow. I lowered my voice.
“So what do you want me to do?”
“I’m setting you up at the Buckhead Ritz-Carlton. I’ve got a corporate account there, and the security is top notch.”
“But—”
“Just for tonight. Call it a favor.”
He made it sound simple, which made me suspicious. I decided to take him up on the offer, however. Rico still hadn’t called me back, so his place was out. And I didn’t really want to stay at Eric’s, not until I could close my eyes and not see blood.
“Okay,” I said, “but—”
“There’s a car on its way to pick you up.”
“I don’t have my things.”
“Get some