Jaxon rubbed his chin, which was covered with a few days of stubble, then gave me a guilty smile. “Graham hated them.”
“That sounds like him.” I swallowed past the tightness in my throat. “I know this is hard to talk about, but do you remember anything that stands out from yesterday? Anything unusual or anyone who came over?”
Jaxon’s brow furrowed. “Are you sure you should get involved in this, Kitty? If what the police are saying is true and someone killed Graham, this could be dangerous. You should leave it to them.”
“I’m worried about how it looks,” I admitted.
Jaxon scoffed. “If they think you’re involved, then they’re as idiotic as Graham was for”—he glanced at Riley, then frowned—“for not appreciating you.” I was prettysure he’d been about to say something about Graham cheating. Jaxon was one of the few people I’d shared my theories with.
Not that it mattered. Riley, as observant as ever, stiffened next to me like a bloodhound scenting its prey, or in his case a story. I hadn’t mentioned the possibility of cheating to Riley the first time I told him the story, but now there might not be any way around it. Funny how yesterday I’d cared so much about finding out the truth and now it didn’t even matter.
Well… maybe it did matter. If therewasanother woman, could she have had something to do with Graham’s death? No, that was silly. Considering I didn’t even know if she existed, I couldn’t go blaming a murder on her.
“The police don’t know me like you do,” I said, “and I don’t want to give the town any more of a reason to gossip about my family than they already have.”
“Looking into Graham’s murder might make them gossip more.” He leaned against the wall with one shoulder.
“I know, but at least this way I’m working toward finding the truth.” I met his earnest gaze. “So, will you help me?”
“I’m not sure what I can do.” Jaxon crossed his arms. “But just tell me what you need.”
“If you can answer a few more questions, then we’ll take it from there,” Riley said, all business now. “Do you know if Graham came straight home from work yesterday?”
“I saw him briefly in the morning, and then we were both gone all day,” Jaxon said. “I think his shift ended at 5:00, but he didn’t come straight home.”
Riley and I exchanged a look. Graham didn’t come straight home, and that meant there was another place we needed to investigate.
“Do you know where he might’ve gone?” I asked.
“No, but I think he came home sometime between 6:00 and 6:30. At least that’s when I got the notification about the garage door opening on my phone. I was at a basketball game, so I didn’t see it until later.”
“Would you be okay if we looked around a bit?” Riley asked.
“The police taped off most of the area outside, and they warned me not to go back there,” Jaxon said. “I guess you could get some pretty hefty fines for trespassing.”
“How about his room?” I asked. “There might be something helpful there.”
“Sure. The police already went through that too, but you can still go in.” He waved us down the hall even though I already knew the way.
If the police had already been in, we wouldn’t have to worry about messing anything up.
“Thanks, Jaxon.” I gave him a small smile and headed down the hall, treading the worn carpet’s familiar path to Graham’s room.
Riley closed Graham’s bedroom door, trapping us in the space that suddenly felt tiny.
“If Jaxon didn’t even see Graham that day, there wouldn’t have been much opportunity for poison,” I pointed out before Riley could say anything, toeing aside a crumpled hoodie on the ground to check underneath.
“Since they were roommates, it wouldn’t have been hard to slip poison into something at their house,though.” Riley stepped closer to me. “Graham had to come home eventually.”
“I just don’t think it’s Jaxon.” I crossed my arms across my chest. “I’ve known him a long time, and I don't even know what motive he would have for hurting Graham.”
“Are you just saying that because he likes you?”
I laughed. “Trust me, Jaxon doesn’t like me like that. We’re just good friends.”
Riley stepped closer. “You’re pretty hard not to like.”
I rolled my eyes. “Jaxon has told me I’m like a little sister more times than I can count.”
