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“It’s been fourteen years, Sir,” Cameron interrupts him, his face a little pale. “I can testify to that. Lily Cooper disappeared along with her car. She took a bag of clothes and made a large withdrawal from her bank the day before she disappeared.”
I remember the police telling me the same thing but I can’t recall anything aside from my mother putting me to bed the night they told me she took me and ran.
It’s as if someone erased a portion of my memory.
All I remember is the way she tucked me in that night, pressing her warm lips to my forehead. She had stroked my hair, lovingly, before leaving the room, the nightlight on.
My free hand goes to my forehead as if to capture the ghost of the lingering warmth of her lips and my chest tightens at the memory.
“I read about your case a while back, when I was in the academy,” Felix tells me, softly. “Miss Cooper, we cannot rule out your mother being alive but according to the evidence gathered, your mother never left Chesapeake city. There was a door-to-door manhunt for her. The last person to see her alive was you and you never recovered your memory of those few days.” He leans forward toward me.
I can feel the way Jace’s arm slides around my waist, hauling me into him, and I draw comfort from his presence for some reason.
Felix meets my gaze, his own serious. “You were examined by a few doctors who said that the trauma of your experience had made you suppress your memories. The detective in charge of your case assumed that maybe something happened to your mother and you witnessed it.”
I shake my head and point shakily at the picture. “Then how do you explain the red hair?”
He doesn’t answer.
“It could have been you—?”
“Did I do something to offend you, Sir?!” I turn to the older detective, suddenly furious. “You’ve been accusing me of killing a man when I don’t even know how to drive nor was I in the area! It’s like you just want me to be guilty!”
Detective David’s face grows red.
Jace’s arm tightens around me as he scowls. “I think you’ve stirred up enough waters for today. If you have no more questions for Halley, you should leave!”
“Who are you?” Cameron finally seems to register Jace’s presence as a suspicious one.
I see the surge of protectiveness flare up in his eyes and note the way Jace is holding me. “This is my boss, Jace. Mia must have—?”
“Oh.” Cameron stares hard at Jace, who looks back, indifferently. “Do you always sleep with your interns?”
“Cameron!” The shout comes from two different directions.
I glance at Felix, who has echoed my own cry of outrage.
Chastised by his superior, Cameron shuts up but glares at my boss, making me feel the need to defend him. “Jace lives in my building and he got locked out last night. He wanted to go get his keys but I offered to let him sleep on the couch.”
“Awfully convenient.” Detective David sneers. “I know about your history with Hashem, too. You’re just as much of a suspect—”
“Take a walk, David!” Felix growls, and for the first time, I see the young detective lose his cool.
Grumbling, David shoots both me and Jace a hateful look before marching out.
Sighing, Felix stands up. “I apologize for that. David and Hashem were old friends. He’s lashing out.”
My head is throbbing with all that has happened and I sink into Jace.
He responds by tightening his arms around my waist. His voice is firm as he asks, “Is Halley a suspect?”
Felix gives both of us a rueful smile.
“For now, we’re just questioning people. We need to investigate who the driver of the car is. I find it hard to believe that it’s your mother, Miss Cooper but…”
I try to quell the fluttering in my chest and my lips curve in a brave smile that is wobbly. “But you don’t want to give me false hope.”
Because that would mean my mother is a murderer.
