Blindsighted (Grant County #1) - Karin Slaughter Page 0,40

me some more coffee?”

“No, sir,” Jeffrey answered, walking past Lena toward the couch. He fixed her with the same hard look, but Lena sat beside him anyway.

Will shuffled back to his chair, groaning as he sat. His knees popped and he smiled apologetically, explaining, “Spend most of my days on my knees in the yard.”

Jeffrey took out his notebook. Lena could almost feel the anger coming off of him. “Will, I’ve got to ask you some questions.”

“Yes, sir?”

“You know what happened at the diner yesterday?”

Will placed his coffee cup down on a small side table. “That girl never hurt nobody,” he said. “What was done to her—” He stopped, looking at Lena. “My heart goes out to you and your family, sweetheart. It really does.”

Lena cleared her throat. “Thank you.”

Jeffrey had obviously been expecting a different response from her. His look changed, but she couldn’t make out what he was thinking. He turned back to Will. “You were at the diner until what time yesterday?”

“Oh, around one-thirty or a little before two, I think. I saw your sister,” he told Lena, “just as I was leaving.”

Jeffrey waited a few beats, then said, “You’re sure about that?”

“Oh, yes, sir,” Will returned. “I had to go pick up my auntie at the church. They get out of choir practice at two-fifteen sharp. She don’t like to wait.”

Lena asked, “Where does she sing?”

“The AME over in Madison,” he answered. “You ever been there?”

She shook her head, doing the math in her head. Even if Will Harris had been a viable suspect, there was no way he could have killed Sibyl, then made it to Madison in time to pick up his aunt. A quick phone call would give Will Harris an airtight alibi.

“Will,” Jeffrey began, “I hate to ask you about this, but my man Frank says there was some problem a while back.”

Will’s face dropped. He had been looking at Lena up until this point, but now he stared at the carpet. “Yes, sir, that’s right.” He looked over Jeffrey’s shoulder as he spoke. “My wife, Eileen. I used to go at her something bad. I guess it was before your time we got into a scuffle. Maybe eighteen, nineteen years ago.” He shrugged. “She left me after that. I guess I let the drink lead me down the wrong path, but I’m a good Christian man now. I don’t go in for all that. I don’t see my son much, but I see my daughter often as I can. She lives in Savannah now.” His smile came back. “I got two grandbabies.”

Jeffrey tapped his pen on the notebook. Lena could see over his shoulder that he had not written anything. He asked, “Did you ever take Sibyl her meals? In the diner, I mean.”

If he was surprised by the question, Will didn’t let it register. “I guess I did. Most days I help Pete out with things like that. His daddy kept a woman around to wait tables when he was running the place, but Pete,” he said, chuckling, “old Pete, he can hold on to a dollar.” Will waved his hand, dismissing the trouble. “It don’t hurt me none to fetch some ketchup or make sure somebody gets their coffee.”

Jeffrey asked, “Did you serve Sibyl tea?”

“Sometimes. Is there a problem?”

Jeffrey closed his notebook. “Not at all,” he said. “Did you see anyone suspicious hanging around the diner yesterday?”

“Lord God,” Will breathed. “I surely would’ve told you by now. It was just me and Pete there, and all the regulars for lunch.”

“Thank you for your time.” Jeffrey stood and Lena followed suit. Will shook first Jeffrey’s, then Lena’s hand.

He held on to hers a little longer, saying, “God bless you, girl. You take care now.”

“Goddamnit, Lena,” Jeffrey cursed, slamming his notebook into the dashboard of the car. The pages fluttered out, and Lena held her hands up in front of her to keep from getting whacked in the head. “What the hell were you thinking?”

Lena picked up the notebook off the floor. “I wasn’t thinking,” she answered.

“No fucking joke,” he snapped, grabbing the notebook.

His jaw was a tight line as he backed the car out of Will Harris’s driveway. Frank had gone back to the station with Brad while Lena had been practically thrown into Jeffrey’s car. He bumped the gear on the steering wheel column and the car jerked into drive.

“Why can’t I trust you?” he demanded. “Why can’t I trust you to do one thing I tell you to