the two men. “It sounds like you are. What would you do, sit on me?”
That was all Hemsley could take. He shoved his finger in Ryan’s chest, poking him angrily as he opened his mouth to retort. But before he could get a word out, Ryan had grabbed the guy by the finger, twisted his arm back behind him, and kicked out the back of his left leg so that he collapsed to his knees. Within seconds, Hemsley was in cuffs and Ryan was reading him his rights.
“By the way, Barney,” he said when he finished. “You don’t pay my salary. But you did help pay for the station where we’re taking you. So it should be a real nice cell.”
Hemsley tried to spit on him but he was short of breath and the saliva didn’t go far enough, instead merely dribbling down his chin before getting hopelessly entangled in his abundant chest hair.
“Can you go collect the lady of the house?” Ryan asked Jessie. “I have a feeling she might be more receptive to us than Grumpy here.”
Jessie nodded and headed down the hall, pretending not to hear the names Barney called her as she walked away, nor the loud grunt of discomfort from him that followed. When she rounded the corner into the living room, she found Brandee passed out on the couch. She shook her gently to wake her up, then helped her to her feet and put a pair of cuffs on her.
“Hey,” Brandee protested hazily. “I thought we weren’t using those until later tonight, Barney.”
Jessie wasn’t sure how to respond.
At least I still have the capacity to be surprised.
“We’re starting the party early,” she finally said.
“Party!” Brandee shouted in response, her voice managing to drown out even Metallica.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
Barney lawyered up right away.
Ryan and Jessie had expected it. But since there was no way he was going to talk back at his place, bringing him into the station was a risk worth taking. While they waited for his attorney to show up, they hung out in the MBPD lounge, which was infinitely nicer than their own.
The one downside was that the holding room where they were keeping Brandee was just across the hall and her constant shrieking was giving Jessie a headache.
“I was going to wait until Brandee sobered up,” she said to Ryan. “But maybe if we question her now, we can at least get her to stop screaming. What do you think?”
“I’m willing to try anything,” he said.
Jessie bought a frosted cupcake and they walked across the hall, where Brandee seemed to be trying to destroy her vocal cords in just one night. Jessie held up the dessert in front of the woman and the screeching stopped immediately.
“This is yours if you answer a few questions for us,” Jessie told her.
Brandee stared unblinkingly at the cupcake and swallowed hard.
“Barney told me I should never answer any cop questions until he gave me permission.”
Jessie pulled out a chair and sat down, putting the cupcake between them on the table.
“A couple of things on that,” she said. “First, I’m not a cop. I’m a profiler, so you’re good on that front. Second, Barney may be in a lot of trouble and I’m not sure it’s in your best interest to be following his instructions right about now. And maybe most important of all, I can’t give you the cupcake if you don’t talk.”
Brandee licked her lips. Her internal struggle lasted about two more seconds.
“What do you want to know?” she asked.
Jessie saw Ryan, who was standing behind Brandee, smile and stifle a laugh with a cough.
“Where was Barney this afternoon?”
“Work, I assume,” Brandee replied.
“Where’s work?” Jessie asked.
“Down on Highland, just off Thirteenth Street. His office is right across from Cousin Willy’s Waffle Hut.”
“When did he get home?”
“I don’t know. I was out at the nail salon until six. He was there when I got back.”
“What about yesterday evening? Do you remember where he was between eight thirty and ten p.m.?”
“Last night?” she said, straining to recall the details. “Oh yeah, I went out with some girlfriends for dinner and drinks. I left around seven. He was still at work. I got home after midnight and he was asleep on the couch with the TV on. I woke him up and we went to bed.”
“What about Monday, late afternoon to early evening?”
“Oh, come on. That was so long ago. How am I supposed to remember?”