“Sure.”
Already the façade of gentleness was cracking.His shoulders were tight, his lips pressed together, his voice clipped.He had acted the way he needed to keep his mom safe, but now that she wasn’t in danger, his temper was leaking through.
“How are you feeling?”
His brow furrowed, and the smirk widened.“How am Ifeeling?”
“Yes.”
“Why is that important?”
“I’m just asking.”
“No, you’re not.You’re interrogating me about a murder.You’re not trying to be my friend, and you don’t care about my feelings.”
This was working faster than Kate thought it would.Or maybe Michael was just getting tired of trying to project calm.
“Fair enough.I’m still asking.”
He laughed and looked up at the ceiling for a moment.From this angle, the grief in his eyes was visible, and behind it, the anger, the deep, abiding rage against the injustice of it all.
“Fine,” he lied.
She let it pass for now.“Would you like a glass of water?”
“I’d like to get this over with.I didn’t kill Derek Hammond.”
“Okay.How do you feel now that he’s dead?”
“What kind of question is that?”he exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air.“How do you expect me to answer?How would you feel if the person who killedyourfather died?”
Kate let her heart beat once.Twice.He didn’t know about her father.There was no way he did.
Unless hewasthe killer.Unless Cox had told him about Kate and about the role he intended her to play.
She took a breath to steady her voice, then asked, “How do you know about that?”
“I looked you up,” he said.“When I heard that the FBI was investigating Hammond’s murder, I figured it would be you because he was killed for breaking the sixth commandment.I found out that your own father was murdered, shot outside a church.So, tell me: how would you feel?”
The door opened, and Marcus stepped in.Before he could say anything, Kate said, “Thank you, Marcus.I’ll take a glass of water.Michael?”
Marcus frowned at her.She met his eyes and pleaded silently for him not to take over.He hesitated for a moment, then sighed and left the room.
“You didn’t answer my question about the water.”
“Fuck the water.”
His eyes were alive now.The corners of her lips trembled as he didn’t quite succeed in stifling his smile.
“You like having power over people, don’t you, Michael?”
“That’s another bullshit question.I like when other people don’t have power over me.I’m sure you feel the same.”
“Bit of a temper too.Get that from your mother?”
Rather than explode at the jab, he chuckled.“Wow, you were really thrown off by that question about your father, weren’t you?”
Kate felt the urge to explode, but she was already on the verge of losing control of this interview, so she took another breath.“Mr.Parker, let me be very clear.You are suspected of murdering Derek Hammond.This conversation has nothing to do with me.If it helps you to believe that you ‘got me,’ then go ahead.But youdoneed to answer my questions if you have any hope of clearing yourself, because right now, you are the prime suspect in a murder investigation.”
