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Miranski returned and took her seat again. Nix gave her a look, and she took over.
“We’ve been investigating the murder of Erin Mills,” she said.
Sam nodded. “I’ve read about it in the paper. I… I operated on Dennis Seaborn, so gossip spread through the hospital about his involvement.”
Holy shit. I wondered if she’d talked with Cy.
“Wow, okay,” Miranski said. Sam’s words had surprised the detective. “We’re a little concerned here because you look a lot like Erin. Blonde, pretty, similar age.”
I abruptly stood up, ran my hand over my beard. “Holy shit. You think she’s being stalked by a murderer? Because she operated on Cy’s dad?”
Nix and Cy Seaborn were the same age. I’d had a few beers with them over the years. Cy ran the Flying Z Ranch, and his dad had admitted to killing Erin Mills. Turned out, he’d lied about it and had recently died of complications from pancreatic cancer. I had no idea why he’d turned himself in for something he didn’t do, and I wasn’t sure if Cy knew the reason. If Nix and Miranski were aware, they weren’t saying.
I knew Lucas Mills, but not his sister, Erin. She’d been closer to Sam’s age than mine. Her picture had been all over the media, and I knew Miranski was right, there was a strong resemblance between Erin and Sam.
Mac turned toward Sam. “You said you were having problems with a coworker.”
She frowned, shrugged. “Yeah, but they’re HR problems.”
“Like what?” Nix asked.
Sam sighed. “He’s forward. Tries to get me alone. Says he wants to talk about my performance over dinner. I’ve politely declined, but he’s insistent. Yesterday he threatened my job. Put his hand on me. Pressed into me when I was at my locker in the doctors’ lounge. He was, well, aroused.”
What. The. Fuck?
“That’s what you were upset about when you met us in the lot?”
She nodded.
"Seriously? That’s sexual harassment,” I told her. Why did guys have to be such assholes? “Did you report him to HR?”
“Yes, several times, but they say he hasn’t done anything wrong.”
“Pressing his hard dick into you?” I repeated. “That’s so fucking wrong.”
She stared up at me, wide-eyed, then looked toward the detectives.
“He couldn’t have done this, though,” she said.
“Why’s that?” Miranski asked.
“Because, like I told you guys yesterday, he was with me in surgery for most of the day. He could have slipped out and slit my tire, but he would have been seen. People know him there.”
“And today? The break-in?” Miranski asked, waving her finger in the air, indicating Sam’s apartment.
“Everything was fine when I left my apartment this morning. He was at the hospital then… I know this because he came up to me right after I walked in.”
“Was he the one who told you about my past?” Mac asked, leaning forward and resting his forearms on his thighs.
She blushed as she gave a quick glance at the detectives. “He saw us… um, kissing goodbye when you dropped me off. I think he did it because he was mad about that.”
They didn’t even blink at her words. I was damned sure they’d heard racier things than kissing.
“What an asshole,” Mac muttered.
“I was with him most of the day, in back-to-back surgeries,” she continued. “I left before he did because a patient in the ICU had to go back in for emergency surgery and he was the lead. There’s no way he could have gotten over here, broken in and messed with things, then returned to work.”
“Have you seen him outside of the hospital?” Nix asked.
