Bree had changed into a dry uniform. She smiled at him as she hopped onto the gurney to sit sideways. “I wish I had dry shoes.”
“Same.” His shoes squished as he walked in. He closed the curtain behind him. He leaned down and kissed her softly, then he wrapped both arms around her, careful of her injured arm. She leaned into his chest for a minute. When the squeak of rubber soles signaled a nurse’s approach, they broke apart.
Matt stepped back.
“Knock knock.” The curtain opened and a nurse entered. She cut away the bandages.
“I’ll be questioning Holly Thorpe after this.” Bree held out her arm as the nurse inspected the wound. “You want in?”
Matt straightened. “Damned straight I do.”
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Bree watched the screen in the monitoring room. On the display, Holly Thorpe sat in the interview room, handcuffed to a ring mounted in the center of the table. Her eyes were red-rimmed and swollen.
“It’ll be interesting to see how she reacts to you.” Matt stood next to Bree, still wearing the scrubs he’d been given at the hospital.
“It will be.”
“You want me to watch from here?” he asked.
“Yes. I want her to talk, and I think she might be more comfortable one-on-one.”
“I’m surprised she hasn’t asked for a lawyer.”
“Me too.” Bree left the monitoring room and went into the interview room.
Holly looked up, her sad eyes flaring with rage. “You killed Owen.”
Bree didn’t answer. She sat across from Holly and went through the Miranda routine. Holly signed without commenting. She seemed flat, emotionless.
Bree folded her hands on the table. “When did you decide to kill Shannon?”
Holly sniffed.
Bree shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. We don’t need a confession. We have you cold on kidnapping, assault, and attempted murder, among other things. You’re not going anywhere. You’re going to spend the rest of your life in prison. We have plenty of time to investigate Shannon’s murder.”
Holly glared.
“I have to admit,” Bree said. “I’m impressed. You almost had us. If it hadn’t been for Cady . . .”
“Stupid do-gooder.” Holly rolled her eyes. “I tried to ignore her, but she kept calling. Finally, I answered and told her I was busy. But she wouldn’t let up. She wanted to be friends.” She said this as if it were the most ridiculous idea in the world.
“And she’d seen Shannon recently, so she would have known immediately that you weren’t her.” Bree sighed. “If Cady hadn’t gotten in the way, your plan would have worked. No one would have known. It was brilliant, really.”
“Stupid bitch.” Holly preened at the compliment. She didn’t look stable. But then, normal, stable people didn’t usually kill their own sisters.
“Was Paul cheating on his taxes?” Bree asked.
“Paul cheated on everything. He bribed inspectors. He funneled money out of his joint accounts and buried it. He hid money from Angela and the government. When he was ready, he pushed Angela’s buttons to make her leave him. He believed possession was nine-tenths of the law like it was the eleventh commandment.”
“And you helped him.”
“I did it all.” Her voice rang with pride. “Paul didn’t know anything about bookkeeping.”
“And he paid you in extra cash?”
Holly snorted. “He gave me cash, and I took more. He never even suspected. It was his own fault. He got greedy. He had so many fake transactions flowing through those books, I could barely keep track. It seemed simple to skim off some extra money for my rainy-day fund.”
“Paul wasn’t that smart. How did he figure out who you really were?” Bree bluffed. It was the only explanation that made sense.
“He didn’t figure out anything. You’re right. Paul wasn’t that smart. His tax attorney found the business I set up in my sister’s name.”
“I’ll bet he was impressed. It was an elaborate plan.” Bree continued to stroke Holly’s ego.
“Paul showed up at Shannon’s house and saw me through the window.”
“What did he want?” Bree asked.
“He said I had to fuck him, or he’d call you.” More anger snapped in Holly’s eyes, then a tear rolled down her cheek. “I would never have cheated on Owen. He was the only man for me. I loved him.” She leveled a bone-chilling gaze at Bree.
“So, instead of fucking Paul . . .”
“Owen killed him. He was mad that Paul would try to blackmail me into having sex with him. Paul needed to go. He threatened our plan. It would have worked out fine, except Owen panicked when you showed up.” Holly let out a deep sigh. “I loved him, but he couldn’t react