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“Did it make you angry when she asked you to stop?”
“No,” Karim had said. “It made me sad. I was sad because I wanted to stop taking it too. But I couldn’t. I need it. I can’t get through a shift at the bakery without it.”
“So you use coke as a pick me up?” Nico asked. He knew a lot of users experienced reduced fatigue, increased confidence, and diminished inhibitions when they took the drug.
“Yes, exactly.” Karim had seemed relieved that Nico understood.
But it also had less favorable effects, such as erratic and reckless behavior, anxiety, and aggressive or violent actions.
“And you never experienced cocaine paranoia? You never got angry or lost control when you were using?”
Karim hesitated, then shook his head vehemently. But they both knew he was lying.
“What about when you attacked Floyd Hamilton? Did you lose your temper then?”
“It is yet to be proven he did actually attack Mr. Hamilton,” the lawyer interjected. “You don’t need to answer that question, Karim.”
Karim scowled for a second and dropped his gaze to his lap, and Nico thought he would stay silent. But suddenly, he said, “That fucker deserved it. He was peeping on my woman. She was afraid of him. I did what any real man would do. I showed him who was boss. Not to mess with me. Or Rania.” Karim lifted his gaze and glared at Nico. “You would’ve done the same thing if someone was stalking your woman.”
Nico didn’t answer Karim’s accusation. And if he had, he would’ve denied it to the boy’s face, telling him that taking the law into his own hands to solve a problem was illegal. But inside, he quailed at the thought of someone hurting Lacey. Would he do the same thing? He’d been ready to smash the face of whoever it was who’d attacked Lacey to a bloody pulp the other night. So perhaps he was being a hypocrite.
Nico spent the rest of the interview concentrating on Karim’s anger-management issues, trying to goad him into letting it slip that he had grabbed the knife and taken to Rania to stop her incessant yelling. At first, Karim denied he and Rania had fought on the morning she died. But Nico kept pressuring him, asking him to recount that morning in exact detail, until it became apparent Karim’s memory of the event was a little hazy. That he had long moments of blackout right after he’d injected himself. Nico knew that regular cocaine users could suffer from short-term memory loss and blackouts.
Could Karim have really stabbed his girlfriend and then left her to die without remembering doing it? It was an interesting concept. But it’d be incredibly hard to prove.
Nico took another sip of his coffee, then checked his phone and saw he had a missed text from Lacey. It’d been sent at midday, asking was he free for lunch today, and if so, would he like to meet her, as she was popping into town for another appointment with Imran. Maybe her last before she left town. It was now midafternoon. Wow. Had he really been in that interview room for over three hours?
He texted her back, apologizing for not replying earlier and telling her he was sorry he missed lunch, and he might also be late home tonight.
He waited for a reply but got none.
He wondered how the interview with Jayden was progressing. Or had it perhaps finished already? He’d asked Sally-Ann to take that over while he interviewed Karim. While Sally-Ann’s directive had been to find out exactly what Jayden had been doing at Rania’s that night, Nico had also instructed her to question him about the fight Nico had witnessed between Gabe and Jayden a few weeks ago. He wasn’t sure if there was any connection between the two events, but his gut instinct was telling him to ask anyway. Had Jayden revealed the link between himself and Gabe? And if he had, Nico wondered what Gabe would do once the news got around. Standing up, he ran an agitated hand through his hair. He should check on Sally-Ann’s progress. But just as he went to step out of his office, one of the junior constables poked her head around the doorframe. “Hey, Detective Sergeant Favreau?”
“Hmm?” He lifted his head, but was only half concentrating. It was Lucy Drimble, one of the juniors on his team. “We just got a call on the hotline from an elderly neighbor who lives near your house, Dorothy Melman.”
“Yes?” He narrowed his focus on the pretty young woman. Blonde and athletic, she’d only come off probation three months ago, but she was already a favorite with many of the male officers.
“She said your dog was running wild up and down the street.”
“Damn,” Nico replied with a sigh. “Did you tell her the hotline was only for crime-related incidents? Specifically, for information on Rania’s murder?” Annoyingly, there were constant calls on the police hotline that had nothing to do with the murder, people using the line to make petty complaints or air their neighborly grievances.
“Yes, sir. But she wasn’t listening. She was most annoyed that your dog was barking and causing a ruckus.”
“Shit. Sorry,” he apologized quickly for swearing. But his attention had swapped from Dorothy’s misuse of the hotline to worry about Smudge. Why was his dog running wild in the street? Lacey should be home by now. And if she wasn’t, she would’ve made sure he was tied up securely to his kennel. Damn. Now what was he going to do? He couldn’t very well leave work to sort out his unruly dog.
“No probs, boss,” Lucy said. “Just thought you’d want to know.”
“Thank you,” he replied as the young constable went back to answer the phones. A thankless job, but someone had to do it. Nico remembered a time when he’d been the most junior officer in the station and all the boring jobs had landed in his lap. It was a rite of passage.
He returned to the problem of his runaway dog. He tried calling Lacey, but her phone merely rang out, eventually going to voicemail. He left a short message to call him back as soon as she got it.
Where was she? Her appointment was supposed to have been at twelve. It was now after three. She should be home by now. But then, maybe she was enjoying a leisurely drive along the coast in Dotti. There was no real reason for her to rush home.
Who else could he call to go and corral his dog? He couldn’t leave Smudge running around the small township. He could get hurt, or hit by a car, or if he got spooked, he might even run away. The thought of his loyal dog missing and perhaps hurt had his heart racing.
The fleeting thought that perhaps he could see who was patrolling the area and ask them to go get Smudge entered his head. But he quickly disregarded that idea. It was a blatant misappropriation of resources. Besides, Smudge would only go to someone he recognized. He was wary of strangers.
A brilliant idea flashed across his mind, and he dialed a number quickly. Smudge would recognize Herb and Margie. But they didn’t answer their home phone, and he left a message. Then he tried Herb’s cell phone, but again, no answer. Where was everyone? Had everyone in Boat Harbour gone on strike? They could be out on one of their eternal bicycle rides, but it was getting a little late in the afternoon for that. Were they purposefully avoiding him? Perhaps they thought he was ringing about the case. Damn it.
