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“Just imagine, Jenna’s saying no to him, and he believes she’s sleeping with everyone but won’t sleep with him. That must’ve set him off big time.” She grabbed the door handle, ready to get out of the car. “We need those phone records like we need air.”
“The carriers said it’s going to happen today,” Elliot said in a lower voice, catching up with her on the Keaney driveway. “With text messaging and all that.”
“I sure hope so,” Kay whispered, ringing the doorbell. “It’s five already. Keep your eyes on that inbox please, maybe we get lucky. I need an ace or two up my sleeve to prove she set Jenna up to be raped.”
Alana opened the door widely and froze when she recognized them. She wore a black leather miniskirt with a zipper in the front, and a white lacy see-through T-shirt over a sleeveless top barely larger than a sports bra. Countless thin silver chains hung from her neck, and bangles adorned both her wrists. She seemed ready to go out, wearing strappy sandals on three-inch heels and clutching a small matching purse.
“May we come inside?” Kay asked, showing her badge with a quick move.
“I’ve got to go, don’t have time for this,” Alana said.
“And I’m afraid this can’t wait, and it would be better for everyone involved to have this conversation inside.” Kay took a step forward, but she didn’t budge.
“It’s either here, on your own couch, or back at the station, in cuffs,” Elliot said coldly.
She rolled her eyes, chewing gum loudly. “Jeez… you need to chill some. Okay, come in.”
“Who is it?” Alexandria called in a weak voice.
As they entered, the woman came into Kay’s sight, lounged on the sofa in a white terry bathrobe by a coffee table where an empty glass and an almost empty bottle of Cabernet told her story. The curtains were almost completely closed, keeping the living room immersed in a filtered light, probably the only kind her hangover could handle.
Merciless, Kay reached for the light switch and turned it on. Alexandria stood, blinking and shielding her squinting eyes with her hand. There was a slight tremble in her fingers.
Alana stood by the sofa with her hands propped on her hips. “Can we be through with it, already?”
Elliot moved closer to the door, probably in case she wanted to bolt, although on those heels she probably wouldn’t get too far.
“Your daughter is underage, correct?” Kay asked.
“Yes.” Alexandria licked her dry, cracked lips, looking around the room for something. She tightened the robe sash around her waist, then walked over to the fridge barefoot and got herself a can of Coke. She popped the top and drank a good portion of it thirstily, then returned to the sofa and sat, leaning her forehead into the palm of her hand. “What’s this about?”
“We have made two arrests in Jenna Jerrell’s rape and murder case.”
“Yes, we heard it on the news,” Alexandria said, deciding to stand after all. She walked into the bathroom quickly. “Excuse me for a moment, I’ll be right back.”
Behind the closed door, Kay heard the water running.
“Okay, ask me what you wanna ask me so I can go,” Alana said, pacing the living room like a caged animal.
“Let’s wait for your mom.” Last thing Kay needed was some smartass attorney to claim she’d interrogated a minor suspect without a parent present.
When Alexandria came out of the bathroom, her face was red as if it had been wiped energetically with a towel. Strands of her disheveled hair were still moist where they’d touched her face.
“You were saying you made some arrests, that’s great,” Alexandria said, smiling politely. “What’s that have to do with my daughter?”
“Both Renaldo Cristobal and Richard Gaskell are attempting to plead their charges down. In that process, they’re making sworn statements, and some pertain to your daughter’s involvement in this case.”
Alana clacked her heels against the hardwood, walking over to Kay. She stopped a couple of feet in front of her with her hands propped on her hips. “What involvement? I didn’t do anything.”
Kay ignored her and stepped to the side, so she’d have a direct line of sight with her mother. “Seems that Alana has been instigating them, dropping words in Richard Gaskell’s ear about how approachable Jenna was and how much she liked sex.”
The woman’s jaw dropped as she turned to glare at her daughter. “Alana?”
“I didn’t do this, Mom,” the girl said, her voice a few notes higher than her usual pitch. “I was an idiot, okay, and just repeated what I heard, you know, other people were saying about her. But Inevertold those guys to rape her. You have to believe me,” she said, her pitch climbing even higher as she looked at Elliot, then at Kay.
Elliot was scrolling through something on his phone and seemed completely absorbed by what he was doing.
“I find that very hard to believe, but that doesn’t matter.” Kay shrugged and feigned indifference. “It’s the evidence that really matters, not any given cop’s opinion. And we traced the IP of the computer where those messages originated from. They came from here,” she bluffed, holding her gaze steady and hoping it would stick.
