Sam watched Liam and his niece walk out of the room and disappear down the hall.
The room he’d left them in had a conference table and eight chairs. There were posts about the Marshals Service on the walls. A television was mounted in the far corner.
She wasn’t sure how long they had before Liam came back, but she needed to get the truth out of Bella.
“I need you to tell me everything that happened today.” Sam looked her sister in the eyes. “Don’t worry about if I’m going to be angry or if you’re going to get into trouble. That doesn’t matter right now. What matters is figuring out why someone set our house on fire.”
Bella’s eyes widened. “Like they did it on purpose?”
Sam nodded. She was going to leave out the part about the dead body for now. “Start from when I left this morning.”
Bella sat in one of the rolling chairs and put her hands in her lap. “I got up at six thirty like I normally do. I started working on some of the chores you’d left for me to do. I got the refrigerator cleaned out and the dishes done. Then Sophia called.” She bit her lip. “I know I wasn’t supposed to answer, but I did.”
Sam kept her face neutral, not wanting to show anger or disappointment. If she kept her emotions off her face and out of her body language, maybe Bella would be more forthcoming.
“She said her uncle was making her write apology letters to the school and fire department.”
Interesting. Sam hadn’t thought about that as a punishment. She tucked it away for future use.
“Don’t get any ideas.” Bella rolled her eyes. “We hung up, and I did some more of the chores. The kitchen was done.” She reached up and grabbed a strand of hair and started twisting it around her finger. A nervous habit she’d had since she was a little girl.
“Go on.” Sam nodded.
“There was a group text from our friends. They had ditched school and wanted us to go hang out with them at the skate park. We thought since we weren’t in school anyway, we might as well go for a little bit. I told them I had to be back in time to finish my chores.”
So she’d deliberately disobeyed the rules and gone to hang out with friends. And those friends were skipping school.
“You met these friends at the skate park?” Sam kept from bouncing her leg, a nervous habit she had picked up years ago after losing control of her life.
“Yeah, Sophia and I met them at the park, and we hung out for a bit.”
“How did you end up in the back seat of the marshal’s SUV?”
Isabella rolled her lips between her teeth just like Sam did sometimes.
Sam sat still and silent, willing Bella to continue with the truth.
“They wanted us to go somewhere else, so we rode with them. Then they wanted to do something we didn’t want to do, so Sophia called her uncle because we didn’t have a way to get back across town.”
“And he picked you up?”
She nodded.
“What did these friends want to do that you didn’t?”
Bella pursed her lips.
“Come on, Bella. You didn’t do it, so you can’t get into trouble for it.” Sam leaned forward.
Bella shook her head.
“Knock, knock.” Aubrey Richardson stepped into the office with a couple bottles of water and wrapped muffins. “I know it’s been a rough day. I thought you might need a drink and snack.” She set the goodies on the table.
“Thank you,” Sam said.
Bella reached out and grabbed one of the muffins, then picked at the plastic wrapping.
“Deputy Marshal Roberts will be with you in a moment. Do you need anything else?” Aubrey asked.
