Maggie turned back to the window and wiped a stray tear from her cheek. “I just can’t imagine why anyone would want to kill my sweet Lucas.”
~*~
When Maggie went to lie down again, Camille agreed to stay with her, leaving Emily free to meet up with Colin and find out what he’d learned from Ernie. She phoned him and he swung by Maggie’s place and picked her up.
Colin filled her in on the security tape the police had, showing Josh was the last to leave the office before Lucas’s mother showed up, which he said lined up with the time of death the medical examiner determined. That evidence, together with Josh’s admission that he and Lucas had had a fist fight before he left the office was all the evidence Ernie needed to hold him.
“I want to sit down and interview Josh,” Emily told Colin, “get his side of the story.”
“I thought you talked to him last night when he came home.”
“Yeah, but I have other questions for him. Something’s just not adding up,” she said. “Why was Sully there? Who else was on the security tape? What about—”
“Whoa, slow down, Emily. You’re going to blow a fuse,” he warned. “I’m sure Ernie can get us in to see Josh, but we’ll probably have to have Alex with us. I’d like to talk to the medical examiner, too—see if we can get the cause of death dialed in a little clearer.”
CHAPTER 15
Ernie agreed to escort them to the medical examiner’s office on Monday, but he would make arrangements with the county jail to let them in to see Josh that Sunday afternoon if his attorney was with them.
Emily phoned Alex and informed him she was setting up a meeting with Josh. Maggie had already told him she wanted Emily on the case. Alex agreed to meet them down there.
Colin and Emily drove to Boise, the county seat about fifteen minutes from Paradise Valley where they found Alex already waiting for them. They were escorted into the sparse interrogation room and seated, and then an officer brought Josh in, wearing the standard orange jumpsuit and handcuffs.
“Are the handcuffs really necessary, Officer?” Emily asked, pursing her lips for emphasis.
“He’s a murder suspect, ma’am. The handcuffs are for your protection and mine,” the man said as he turned and walked to the door. “Just holler when you’re done here,” he instructed before he left.
“We haven’t met yet, Josh.” Out of habit, Colin stood to shake Josh’s hand. When Josh flashed the handcuffs in response, Colin smiled apologetically and sat back down. “I’m Colin Andrews, a friend of Emily’s.”
“And your mom’s,” Emily added, digging around in her oversized leather bag. “You know Colin was military too—he was a Marine a number of years back.”
“Nice to meet you, sir,” Josh said, taking a seat at the table next to Alex.
“I’ve filled him in on your current military status and he’s here to help me find the truth about Lucas Wakefield.” Emily placed a voice recorder on the table. “I’m only taping what you say in case I need to go back and remember something, Josh. No need to worry.”
Josh looked at Alex, who nodded his approval. “Okay,” Josh consented.
“The first thing we need to know is, did you kill Lucas Wakefield?” Colin asked.
“No. I don’t think I did.” Josh looked Colin square in the eye. “He was alive when I left—I checked his pulse to make sure—then I got out of there when I heard someone coming.”
“Who?” Emily asked.
“It was his assistant, Fiona.”
“You know her?” Emily questioned.
“Met her at the engagement party,” Josh nodded, “and, you know, I saw her and Lucas together.”
“Did she see you at the office that night?” Colin asked.
“No, I hunched under the stairs. After she passed by, I beat it out the door.”
“I don’t think the detective knows she was there.” Colin glanced at Emily, then at Alex. “She never showed up on the security tape. Ernie listed all the people coming and going, and she wasn’t one of them.”
“Maybe she went out the back door,” Emily suggested. Since her office was in the same building, she knew there was another way out. “I don’t think there is a security camera out there.”
“Terrific,” Colin said sarcastically. “That makes our job more difficult.”
“Sorry, Josh. Keep going,” Emily said.
“I went to the office to confront Lucas because I had caught him messing around with his assistant at the engagement party. Remember, I told you about that the night he died?” Josh reminded