Page 2 of Playing With Love

“Watch me.”

“And get my ass in a sling right alongside yours? No, thank you. I’m going to grab a cup of coffee. We never had this conversation, and I didn’t see you go in there.”

Wuss.

It didn’t surprise me my partner didn’t have my back. I could safely add douchebag to lazy asshole. I followed Frank out the door. He went left to save his ass from having to justify why we hadn’t waited for approval to speak to Allyson. I went right to do my job even though I hadn’t officially been invited to interview the witness.

All eyes came to me when I opened the door to the interrogation room. Jessica looked relieved. Allyson looked freaked. Detective-I-don’t-know-how-to-handle-a-scared-young-woman looked like someone had pissed in his Wheaties.

“Hi, Allyson. Hi, Jessica. My name’s Liza Monroe,” I introduced myself.

“Hi,” Allyson hesitantly returned, while Jessica gave me a nod and a small smile, relief written all over her face.

“I was listening from behind there.” I pointed to the glass. “Mind if I sit and ask you a few questions?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Ally,” Jessica mumbled and bumped her sister’s shoulder.

I took the vacant chair next to the detective and smiled.

“What aren’t you sure about?”

“All of it.”

Freaking hell.

Now she was going to leave without reporting her concerns.

“You came a long way to talk to us,” I reminded her.

And she had, over four hundred miles from East Tennessee to report concerns, using her sister to pave her way and make her feel safe.

“Not to mention all the work your sister did to set this up.” I glanced at Jessica who had activated the sibling staredown. Unfortunately, Allyson had her shields up.

“Ally, just tell them what you saw,” Jessica urged.

“Actually,” I cut in. “Tell me about Nu Dawn.”

Allyson’s eyes flared, her agitation grew, and I knew I’d messed up.

Where the hell is this so-called expert?

I softened my tone and tried again.

“I looked into them,” I admitted. However, I omitted I’d done that six months ago before Allyson had come forward. “Personal development and clean living, right? The property is amazing. I bet it’s peaceful on the compound.”

“It is.” Allyson finally engaged, albeit meekly.

“Is that what drew you to the organization?”

“No. Not at first. My friend, Colleen, and I went to a seminar on personal growth and learning how to manifest the future you want.” Thankfully, Allyson settled back in her chair. “It was really great. Inspiring, you know?”

“Yeah, totally,” I agreed even though I didn’t have the first clue how one was taught to manifest the future. But I didn’t buy into thinking something into reality, so unless manifestation was code for working your ass off to get where you wanted to go, I had no idea how a seminar like that would be inspiring.

It sounded like a bullshit money grab to me.

“Colleen was really into it and signed us up for a retreat.” She paused to glance at her sister. My gaze followed. Jessica looked beside herself with glee as her sister was opening up. “We were going into business together. I mean, me and Colleen were starting a business. She’s an amazing clothing designer. I have a background in business and marketing. That’s what I, um, went to college for. So she wanted me to go with her on this retreat. Colleen’s on the hippy side, though she calls herself a bohemian, and this retreat was five days out in nature to clear the mind and body so it was right up her alley. I’m more of a bed-and-shower kind of girl, but I went. And by the end, I was glad I did. Five days, with a group of ten uplifting, inspiring women. I felt like I… belonged. Like I’d found this great group of women who shared ideas and stories and made me want to push myself to greatness.”