would have been a lot easier on him if he’d just cooperated in the first place.
“I’ll be curious to see just what was coming up for auction. There has to be something pretty valuable on that drive—something worth killing for,” Andrew said.
Thirty minutes ago, they’d received a call from Valerie. She’d found something she thought they’d find interesting. In reviewing Fred Tatters’s social media pages, Valerie had come across several photos of him and Byron Nettles together at various sporting events. That meant the two men were friends.
Yes, that was definitely interesting.
When Andrew and Toni entered the interrogation room, they found a not-so-happy Fred Tatters sitting there. He looked to be around thirty-four or thirty-five. He was dressed in a pair of slacks and polo shirt, and his hair was neatly cut, as if he’d recently visited the barber. He glanced up and frowned at them.
“Mr. Tatters, I’m Detective Andrew Logan, and this is Detective Antonia Oliver.” They both sat at the table.
“There better be a good reason why I was picked up and brought here,” Tatters said angrily.
“There is,” Toni said. “Maria Tindal. Do you know her?”
He shrugged. “Am I supposed to?”
So, Andrew thought, he wants to play games, does he? “We’re not sure. All we know is that Ms. Tindal is dead, and we have reason to believe you might be involved. So, I’m going to ask you again, Mr. Tatters. Do you know Maria Tindal?”
The man glared at Andrew. “No. I don’t know her.”
Andrew leaned back in his chair and propped an ankle on his other knee. “Then, I guess you have a reason for being at the gun range on the same night she was there?”
The man shrugged his shoulders again. “Purely coincidental.”
“And was it purely coincidental that your vehicle was seen in her neighborhood around the same time she was killed?”
The man’s gaze narrowed. “I’m calling my lawyer.”
A smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes touched Andrew’s lips. “By all means, do that. Either way, eventually you’re going to have to answer our questions.”
Now that Tatters was sufficiently on edge, thanks to Andrew’s ‘bad cop’ routine, Toni took over. “Mr. Tatters, we’ve also discovered a connection between you and Byron Nettles. Could you please tell us what your relationship with him is?”
At first the man didn’t say anything, then obviously realizing they were going to find out anyway, he admitted, “Byron and I met at college.”
“Ohio State University?” Toni asked.
At the surprised look in the man’s eyes, Andrew chuckled. “Yes, we even know what college Nettles went to.”
“Okay, yes, Ohio State University. But I refuse to tell you anything else until I talk to my attorney.”
Andrew stood, and Toni did, too. “Fine. Call your attorney. Oh, and just in case you’re thinking of warning Nettles that we’re on to you two, I should tell you something,” Toni said. “By now, our uniformed officers should already be at his place with a search warrant.”
On his way out the door, loud enough for Tatters to hear him, Andrew said to Toni, “I’m glad Nettles told us about his hidden security cameras.”
• • •
It’s been a long day, Toni thought as she walked to her car hours later. She’d be glad to get home. Although she had plenty to do over the weekend, she was looking forward to it. There were boxes to unpack, which would take most of the day on Saturday. Then Sunday, she would treat herself by taking in that concert in D.C.
At least, that’s what she’d convinced herself she’d do. So why had she made a copy of the flash drive Maria had taken? She didn’t have time to watch it, if the weekend went the way she’d planned. But then, when it came to ongoing investigations, she knew she wouldn’t be able to relax until she’d found the answers she needed.
Granted, she and Drew had other cases besides the Tindal murder, but there was something about Maria Tindal’s death that kept pulling at her, bothering her to no end. And it wasn’t just because it was her first case here. It was about Maria herself.
She had been Pamela Larkins’s best friend, and it had been obvious that the two shared a special friendship. Maria’s loss would be hard for Pamela to recover from...especially since she had been the one to find her.
Toni had discovered that the hard way. She remembered how difficult it had been when she had lost her mother, when she had tried to awaken her lifeless body that morning. That