of the brothers. Brad or Tad. Have you talked to them?”
“They’re being questioned even as we speak. Why don’t you go and grab another cup of coffee. I need to speak with Ms. Williamson alone.”
“Maybe she should have a lawyer.” Sarah’s hand was shaking this time when she placed it over Kori’s.
Obviously whatever Rush had to say, he wanted it to be for her ears only. It was time to start protecting her friends. She’d done a fucking poor ass job of it up until now. She’d never seen the web they’d stepped into until the spider had come out all ready for dinner. Kori gave Sarah what she hoped was a confident smile. “I’ll be fine. I don’t need a lawyer. Special Agent Rush knows I didn’t horribly murder anyone.”
“Ms. Williamson is not a suspect,” Rush affirmed. “She is, however, a very important witness. There’s an officer outside who will take your statement and record anything you can remember. Thank you so much. I’ll be done with your friend very soon and you’ll be free to go home.”
“Okay.” Sarah picked up her shoes and gave Kori a pat on the back. “I’ll be waiting for you.”
The door closed and she looked at Rush. “Say what you need to say.”
Rush’s sensual lips quirked up. “Tough girl, huh? It’s funny because I happen to know you aren’t a McKay-Taggart agent, but you sure behaved like one tonight. That statement you gave was very careful. Normally witnesses to a murder are all over the place. Their statements are difficult to follow because they haven’t processed yet. Not yours. You were careful, as though you knew someone you cared about would be accused of the crime and you wanted to mitigate any damage you might do.”
Jared. Kai’s brother would be looked at. If Mia had managed to gather that much information, it stood to reason someone else would, too. Hell, the very presence of the FBI led her to believe they’d likely been watching Jared. “Why are the feds here so soon?”
If this wasn’t a serial case that crossed state lines, there would be no feds. This should be handled by the DPD. The body wasn’t even cold yet but here was a guy in a suit. She’d done enough research to know when and where the feds would be called in. Likely the Rangers would be called in if the murder case was big enough or crossed county lines, or the locals weren’t equipped to handle them. The Texas Rangers acted like a state bureau of investigations for Texas. The FBI would only be called in for special reasons.
Like the search for an international serial killer.
Was all of this about hiding something Jared had done? How well did she truly know him? He was sweet and funny and charming, but then she suspected Ted Bundy had probably been, too.
“What do you know about Jared Johns?” Rush asked, obviously getting down to interrogation mode.
She shrugged. “He showed up last week. I’ve spent some time with him. He’s living at my office right now. That sounds weird. Uhm, you see my boss owns the building and his office is downstairs and he lives upstairs.”
“Your boss or your boyfriend? Or is he better described as both?”
She felt herself flush. Some exhibitionist she was. It was funny how she could be naked in front of a crowd at Sanctum and it didn’t bother her at all, but having someone know her emotions made her feel so damn vulnerable. Still, it was apparent that he knew what was going on. “Kai and I have a relationship outside of work.”
Had, she amended silently.
“Did you know he had a brother? How often did he talk about him?”
She shook her head. “Never. I didn’t know about Jared until he showed up.”
“Do you think he would cover for his brother?”
“I don’t know.” She would have said no. Absolutely not. She would have said Kai was incapable of protecting a killer. But then they came to the problem of Mia and her phone. What other reason could he have? Mia was investigating Jared. Case and Kai had worked very hard to figure out a way to bug Mia’s phone. The only reason Kori could think of was they wanted to know how much Mia had figured out. “They aren’t close. I can’t tell that Kai has anything but negative feelings for him.”
Which would be a good front to put on if he wanted to help his brother get away with murder.
Had she