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“Nothing really, he almost walked right into me and then glared at me as he passed.”
“That’s all that happened?”
“Yes,” she said, and her eyes cut off to the side. What was she not saying?
The sergeant studied her for a moment. “Okay, well, we’ll need you to work with a sketch artist to get a good composite of him.”
“What about Chuck? Can’t he just tell you who the guy is?” I asked him.
“Chuck isn’t talking right now. He said he wants a lawyer.”
“Okay, but won’t he eventually talk when he decides that he wants to make a deal?”
“Not sure the DA’s office will offer a deal. The guy got away with over three hundred thousand dollars’ worth of diamonds and kidnapped nineteen people.”
“What?” Maggie exclaimed. “But where were the diamonds? He wasn’t carrying anything with him.”
“Mag, the package would have fit in his pocket. It wouldn’t be that big.”
“Oh, yeah, I guess it would. They are expensive little suckers.”
“Damn, don’t I know that,” Trevor grunted, and I knew he was thinking about the engagement ring he had bought for Davina. He bitched about it being more than four months' worth of mortgage payments.
“We will need you to come down to the station and give your statement, ma’am, and work with our sketch artist.”
“Okay, I need to call my boss first. He probably wants to fire me right now for not showing up at work.”
“Here.” Alex handed her his cellphone. “You can use mine, and I’m Alex Miller, by the way. This funny-looking guy is Trevor Vaughn.”
“Thank you. Maggie Valor.” She took the phone, shaking both of their hands before she stepped a few feet away and dialed. “Hey, Barb, it’s Maggie, can I talk to Jeff, please?”
“Not bad,” Trevor said in a hushed voice from beside me.
“No, she’s not,” I replied as I let my gaze drift down her light-pink blouse and navy-blue slacks.
“You really knew her in high school?”
“I not only knew her, but I dated her for three years until I deployed on my first tour.”
“How could you leavethatfor a war zone? Are you stupid?”
I glared at him. “Yeah, like you were ready to settle down when you were nineteen.”
“Ah, true.”
The two of us watched her as she started talking. “Oh, I’m sure he’s pissed, but I couldn’t help it. Just put him on the phone, please.”
She rocked back and forth for a moment as she waited for him to answer and stared at the sidewalk. I knew when he got on the line because she yanked the phone away from her ear, and we could all hear him screaming like a banshee. Maybe he was related to Jake. Alex, Trevor, and I all shared looks and laughed to ourselves.
“Will you just shut up, Jeff!” she hissed into the phone. “I couldn’t help it! I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but there was a jewelry heist and then a hostage situation down at Cocoa’s. I was one of the hostages, and they took our phones.”
She was quiet for a second. “Yes, I’m fine. Yes, I was in there, and I want the story.” Her face turned red as she pursed her lips. “No, I’m not telling anyone a damn thing. This is my story! I was in there, and I want to tell the details.”
“Um, Mags—” I touched her arm, but she waved me away. I shared a look with the cop and then went to stand directly in front of her. “Mags, you can’t do the story.”
“Why?” she asked, totally ignoring the barking on the phone. “I was there; I can tell this story. You might not think I’m a good reporter because I write a romance column, but I am!”
“I don’t doubt that, but you can’t. At least not right now. You are a witness to a host of felony charges. You can’t talk about it with anyone. Not until it goes to trial. If you do, you could jeopardize the case.”
