Find Her Alive (Detective Josie Quinn #8) - Lisa Regan Page 0,114
need to talk to Zandra.”
His attorney raised a brow. “I’m sorry, but who is Zandra?”
“Alex knows who she is, don’t you Alex?”
He stared at her.
His attorney said, “Alex? Is there something we need to discuss in private?”
Ignoring her, he continued to stare at Josie. “I told her not to come back. She only ever caused trouble.”
“I don’t think that’s true,” Josie said.
He leaned forward, eyes wide. “It is true. She was the one who hurt Mother.”
“Because she was angry with your mother, Alex. Your mother let Frances hurt you. Zandra knew that none of you—not you or her or your mother—could hurt Frances back, so she took things out on your mother.”
“No, I—that’s not—she did hurt Mother but Father, he didn’t—he never—”
“He did hurt you, Alex. You must know that. Where do you think Zandra came from? She arrived after Nicolette left, didn’t she? Nicolette was bigger than you, older than you. She tried to protect you from Frances, but it was a losing battle, wasn’t it?”
He gave her a pinched expression.
Josie went on. “Nicolette couldn’t handle what was happening in your house. She was just a kid herself. She had no resources. Her own mother failed to protect you from Frances. She had nowhere to turn, no way to keep you from getting hurt. So she left. One day she was there and the next, she was gone, and you were left with a monster. You were vulnerable, helpless, defenseless, and—”
Alex’s eyes dropped to the table, and something rippled over his face. The skin of his forehead loosened, and his lower lip jutted out in a pout. Josie dipped her head so she could see his eyes, which glistened with tears. “We’re not supposed to say her name ever,” he said in the childlike tone he’d used at the caretaker’s home when Josie first talked to him.
“Alex,” Josie snapped.
The attorney jumped. “Detective Quinn.”
He looked up at her again, his features sharper, his expression confident. “This is not part of the game,” he said.
“Zandra’s not part of the game?” Josie asked. “That hardly seems fair. She’s been playing all along.”
The attorney said, “Maybe we should stop. I’m afraid I don’t understand what’s going on. Alex—”
“Shut up,” he told her. To Josie he said, “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t I? Who killed Nicci, Alex? Was it you?”
“Of course not.”
“Who killed Codie Lash and her husband?”
“I didn’t do that,” he said. “It was a mistake.”
“Your mistake or Zandra’s?” Josie asked.
A low growl vibrated in his throat. “That bitch. I spent my whole life keeping her out of trouble. She ruins everything.”
“No,” Josie said. She thought about the exchange between Alex and the Lash couple. Even before Mr. Lash had gone after him, Codie had been berating him. She had pushed him. Pushed and pushed until he was at a breaking point.
“She does!” Alex insisted.
“No, she doesn’t,” Josie argued. “Her job has always been to protect you because you’re a psychopath.”
“That’s enough, Detective Quinn,” the attorney huffed.
Alex put his hands over his ears. “I said shut up,” he hollered.
Josie pointed a finger at him just the way Codie Lash had and said, “It’s true. You’re a psychopath and a liar. Everyone knew it, didn’t they? Your mother knew it, Frances knew it. That’s why you weren’t allowed to go to school, because you’re mentally—”
The attorney stood. “Really, Detective Quinn. That’s enough. This interview is over. You’re out of line. I didn’t come here so you could berate my client and call him names.”
Alex lunged across the table and wrapped his hands around Josie’s throat. The attorney screamed. Josie fell backwards as Alex’s full weight descended on her. She used their momentum to roll him over so that she straddled him. His hands loosened, and she whipped them out of the way, turning him swiftly onto his stomach and pinning them behind his back. She used the cuffs on her belt to restrain him. Her breath came fast, but she was relieved to see that her team had followed her instructions and not come racing to her rescue immediately.
“We’re going to stand up now,” she told him.
Alex’s attorney helped Josie stand him up and sit him in the nearest chair. He shook his head as if he were flipping long hair out of his face. His eyes narrowed and he glared at Josie. His voice sounded different when he spoke. Petulant and higher-pitched. “He doesn’t remember any of that shit, you dumb bitch.”
Josie’s heart skipped two beats. She tried to keep the