"You take matters into your own hands?"Moore pressed.
Linda shook her head, then rubbed the bridge of her nose."If they just stayed the course," she said."If they just hung on a little longer, they would see that it’s all worth it.We’re building something big here, but it’s going to crumble, and it’s because of people like you."She rubbed the corner of one eye with her thumb, then pointed a finger with the other at Alison.
"Can you account for your whereabouts at night over the last week?"Moore asked.
"I told you, I haven’t done anything."Linda sat up straighter and tightened her lips before saying, "I can't sleep anymore.I’ve been with her.With Lucy."
"At night?"Moore asked.
"I sleep in the next room.It helps me to feel that I’m not alone, and I can be there for her when I can't be there for her with this any longer.I tried.I want to try.It all feels like it’s falling apart."
Alison wanted give the woman the benefit of the doubt, but they still hadn't ruled her out of the murder investigation, and she wasn’t the person best placed to console her.It might make things worse.
Moore looked at Alison, then Linda, and then took her phone from her pocket and left the room to take a call.
"I know we might not see eye to eye, but I really do think your actions are admirable in helping your friend," Alison said."Do you believe them admirable, Linda?Have you done anything recently that Lucy wouldn’t approve of?"
"I don't know what she would think of me right now," Linda admitted."I try to do the right thing, but my conviction has been lacking with everyone else leaving.I feel so alone, but I can't think that when she’s been through the car accident and everything that came after.I need to be strong for her."
"You’re trying, and that’s all we can ever do," Alison told her.
Linda ran her teeth over her top lip, pinching it between them for a second, and she looked over at Alison.She was wary at the compassion from Alison.Linda looked away.
Detective Moore reentered the room in a rush."Where were you this morning, Linda?"
"What?"
"This morning and afternoon," Moore demanded."Where have you been?"
"What?I’ve been here all morning."
"Can you prove that?"Moore asked hastily.
"I…" Linda looked from Moore to Alison and back again."There are the cameras outside and inside.I can show you them."
"Do it," Moore said."If you can show us that you were here all morning and afternoon, then you’re not a suspect anymore."
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Alison and Detective Moore left the brick building and got into the car as soon as they had checked Linda's alibi.Alison had barely buckled herself in when Moore took off with a screech.
"She’s hurting," Alison said."She needs help.I don't know if that means people helping her with her work or someone to be there for her as she’s there for her friend, but it must be hard for to live alone with no immediate support around."
"We can at least rule her out of the investigation for now," Moore said."If she were in the office all morning until now, then she couldn’t have murdered him."
"And it’s definitely murder this time?"Alison asked."There’s no chance tha—"
"No," Moore interrupted as she drove at speed to the next crime scene."He’s a hundred percent dead."
"Do we know who the victim was?"Alison asked.
"Michael Rodriguez," Moore confirmed."He was released from prison a year ago, and he’s not been picked up by the cops since."
"I know him," Alison said."He was in for dealing.I remember his case vaguely.I think he had served six years of an eight-year term, and all of the people he associated with previously were either locked up, dead, or had moved away.His family wanted nothing to do with him, and I saw how much that hurt him.He wanted to make it up to them.I remember he told me he never thought he would be able to, but he was going to try."
"Now, he’s dead," Moore said.
Alison hadn’t had time to think about how a third death affected her, but she could hear how it affected the detective.There was no way to help other than to further the case.
