little they’d gained, from Marcy Myers, Jocelyn’s other friend who had gone out with her the night of the murder. Marcy had agreed with everything Brianna had said, though Marcy had had to get very drunk to let a stripper do a lap dance for her, so her details were fuzzy at best.
“Jocelyn could have left the club and come back multiple times, and Marcy probably wouldn’t have noticed,” Newman said.
“So she doesn’t help either way,” Edward said.
“Brianna Gibson was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for her night out. She remembers more details than I wanted her to share,” I said.
“So she vouches for Jocelyn?” Newman said.
“For a night out at the strip club, yes.”
“Did she mention Jocelyn confiding in her about Bobby wanting to be her boyfriend instead of her brother?” Newman asked.
In my head I thought, Technically he would have been both, but I didn’t say it out loud. The situation was creepy enough without belaboring it. “No, Jocelyn never told her anything like that because if she had, Brianna would have mentioned it. She’s not shy about sharing details. I think she would have mentioned it.”
“Jocelyn told Marcy about a week before the club,” Newman said.
“Why not tell both of them?” I asked.
“Marcy said that the twins were keeping Brianna too busy for much socializing. Her two kids are older, boy in kindergarten and the girl in preschool,” Newman said.
“Twins under one would keep anyone busy, I guess.”
Three of us nodded. Olaf just watched the surroundings the way a cat looks for movement at a window, as if he were seeing everything all at once. If he wasn’t making an occasional comment, I’d have thought he wasn’t listening at all.
“If Jocelyn had confided in her other friend that night, it might have put a damper on going to the strip club,” Newman said.
We all agreed, even Olaf.
“We have to talk to the dancer that was with Brianna and Jocelyn that night. Friends will lie for you, but strippers that see you as just money in their G-strings, not so much, especially not about murder.”
“But even if we can break Jocelyn’s alibi for the night of the murder, we still haven’t figured out how she made it look like a wereleopard killed Ray. Without that, the judge won’t take Bobby’s name off the warrant or vacate it,” Newman said.
Edward said, “Then we need to break or prove Jocelyn’s alibi, because until we do that, we’re wasting precious time chasing her story.”
“She lied about the affair,” I said.
“Anita, she’s sleeping with her own brother. Anyone is going to be conflicted about that.”
“I think it’s more than that,” Newman said.
We all looked at him.
“I think she’s afraid that Bobby did kill Ray. Remember that it was Jocelyn who insisted he change on the one night when almost every Therianthrope is safe.”
“The dark of the moon,” I said.
“Yes, so if she thinks Bobby killed Ray, she could blame herself.”
“If she saw him change form and go out the window as a leopard, she has to know that when he shifted back to human, he’d be passed out solid for hours. He still passes out like a newbie shapeshifter. It’s how the sheriff and the deputies got him to the cell without a fuss,” I said.
“Maybe he just comes back into his bedroom and passes out without Jocelyn knowing,” Newman said.
“She’s lived with Bobby shapeshifting for ten years. Trust me, when you live with a shapeshifter, you learn their patterns.”
“Lying about the affair could be embarrassing, but lying about Bobby being in human form when she left the house has only one explanation,” Edward said.
“To set him up for the murder,” I said.
“Many people would believe he came back into the house and simply killed the victim because he was a wild animal,” Olaf said.
“Everyone says that Bobby had really good control over his beast,” I said.
“Humans always believe that shapeshifters are but an impulse away from murder.”
“Besides, Anita, you saw Bobby react to the details about Ray’s death,” Newman said. “He almost shifted form in his cell with us there.”
“I can debate the whole humans-think-all-shapeshifters-are-dangerous thing, but I can’t argue that. So, do we believe that Jocelyn is hiding the affair because if Bobby killed their father, she’s not in love with him anymore?” I asked.
“It could be simpler than that, Anita,” Edward said.
I looked at him. “I’m listening. Simple would be nice on this case.”
“She believes he’s a murderer. She knows that means he’s a dead man walking. She thinks he’ll be