still could, but it seemed like adding to a conversation going nowhere. “What do you need to know?” I rubbed my forehead to ward off what I was certain would flower into a raging headache.
“Has your grandfather said anything about Roy since you’ve been back?”
The question caught me off guard. “You can’t think he had anything to do with this. My grandfather is many things, but he’s no murderer.”
“I don’t have a choice but to follow the clues.” Hunter was firm. “Your grandfather had a relationship with the victim. Now, granted, Roy had a particular personality. People everywhere hated him because he was a cranky old pervert who said inappropriate things to any female he crossed paths with. I have to start somewhere.”
“I don’t know what his relationship was with my grandfather,” I said. “I wasn’t around for any of that. I’ve been ... busy.”
“You mean you tried to separate yourself from this world,” Hunter countered. “I get it. I understand. You separated yourself from me, so I get it better than most. You were still in touch with your family, though. Did they mention your grandfather arguing with Roy?”
I shook my head, my heart pinging at the naked emotion that briefly took over his features. He shuttered it quickly, which was to be expected, but it wasn’t fast enough that I could stop the guilt from bubbling up and grabbing me by the throat.
“I didn’t want to leave you.” The words were out of my mouth before I thought better of them. “I wanted you to come with me. You wouldn’t.”
“I couldn’t,” he said, looking away from me. “I didn’t have the money to leave.”
“And I couldn’t stay.”
Briefly, his eyes filled with sadness. Then he collected himself. “Try to think if you remember your family telling you any stories about Roy while you were gone. It’s important. Someone obviously cared enough to kill him — and in a hard way.”
“You still haven’t told me how he died.”
“Someone stabbed him at least three times.”
“Okay. I’ll let you know if I remember anything.”
“Thank you.” Hunter pushed himself to a standing position. “I need to talk to the other workers. We’re done here.”
And just like that, I’d been dismissed. If I was hoping things between us would thaw, at least be friendly, our brief interaction was enough to dissuade me of that notion. We weren’t going to be friends, or even friendly. Whatever we had years ago was long gone, and it was time to accept that.
MY FAMILY IS BIG BUT CLOSE. I was an only child, but I had a bevy of cousins, all of whom might as well have been siblings given the way we were raised. My Aunt Lottie always joked that it didn’t matter which kids you took with you after a family event, you simply had to leave with the same number. Most of the adults in the family took that to heart. Of all my cousins, I was closest with Alice. In addition to being David’s sister, she was close to me in age. We spent a lot of time hanging out while growing up. It didn’t surprise me that she was the first to darken my doorstep once the restaurant had closed for the night.
“I brought whiskey,” she announced, brandishing a bottle as I opened the door.
She was small, not even five feet, and had one of those ski-slope noses that made her face look young and pixie-ish.
“Whiskey, huh?” I took the bottle and studied the label as she pushed inside the apartment. “I could use a shot — or three.”
“I figured you could.” Alice was all smiles as she glanced around. “Where’s all your stuff?”
I followed her gaze, frowning at the three boxes in the corner. “That’s all the stuff I have.”
“But ... that’s nothing.”
“Yeah, well, I spent years moving around,” I reminded her. “It’s better to pack light when you’re doing all that moving. Over the years, I learned that things were a bad idea.”
“I love things.” Alice threw herself on the couch, a throwback from my grandparents’ house. Years ago, they’d bought new furniture and the old stuff had migrated to the apartment. It was orange velour — and ugly. Luckily it was also comfortable. “I can’t get enough of things.”
“I never would’ve guessed that about you,” I teased, moving into the kitchen. The floor plan of the apartment was simple. The living room was long and rectangular, opening into the kitchen, which was one step up. On the far side of