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“All right. He’ll be turned away, obviously, and we will ask him to corroborate your story,” he added. “What did you do after that?”
“I went inside with my parents to call the electricity company to put the account in my name and get it turned back on. I went back about two-thirty, after lunch, to see if it had worked.”
He raised his eyebrows. “And had it?”
“Yep. Stanley had asked me to turn off the electricity at the breaker switch in the fuse box just in case, so I did that.”
“Talk me through your steps.”
I looked at Melissa, and she nodded, so I said, “I walked in, looked around at some lights in the foyer and the living room, checked a plug or two in the foyer, then went directly from the front door to the laundry room where the box is, then realised I couldn’t reach it. I used the back patio doors to go outside in search of a ladder, found one against the back of the house, then took it back in to turn off the switch. It’s still there.”
Noah and Jamie both nodded slowly.
“After that, I walked into the living room and looked around, then I noticed the shoe by the sunroom window.”
“You said you’d been there the day before. Didn’t you notice it then?”
I shook my head. “I did a full walkthrough in every room with my dad, and neither of us did. It wasn’t there because we walked right through the room. I’d remember something so out of place, and that’s what made me look.”
“Did you go inside when you went last night? To put up the cameras?”
“No. I had no need to. Plus, there was no electricity, so I just wanted to get the camera there and go.”
There was silence that lasted for a good minute.
“Is there anything else?” Melissa asked, leaning forwards on the table. “My client has had a stressful two days, and she shouldn’t be here any longer than absolutely necessary. If you have no further questions…”
Noah looked at her, then at me. “How much did he offer you for the bed and breakfast?”
“Is that really relevant?” Melissa questioned.
“Yes, it is.”
“Nine hundred thousand,” I answered.
Jamie’s eyebrows shot up. “That’s a lot of money. And he made a second offer? What was it?”
Huh. I’d almost forgotten he was here.
What was this, good cop, bad cop? If so, they had the roles down pat.
“No idea. Like I said before, I dumped it in a glass of Coke and told him to leave me alone because I wasn’t selling.”
“That’s a lot of money to turn down,” he noted. “Were you not tempted at all to sell?”
“I don’t see how this line of questioning is relevant,” Melissa interjected firmly. “It’s already been made clear that my client did not and does not intend to sell The Ivy Bed and Breakfast to Declan Tierney. Miss O’Neil buried her grandfather yesterday and today discovered the deceased. If you have nothing of substance to ask and are not holding her, I’m requesting that we end this interview for today so she can rest.”
Both Jamie and Noah looked at me. Jamie’s stare was slightly more sympathetic than Noah’s, but that didn’t mean much because Noah’s wasn’t sympathetic at all.
“Very well,” Noah finally agreed. “I’m afraid you won’t be able to enter the property for at least a few days, and that includes getting your car. We will be obtaining a warrant to search it prior to its return to you.”
I pressed my lips together. Great. That was the last thing I needed. How was I supposed to get around without my car? Not that Fox Point was huge, but still. The last thing I wanted was to drive my mum’s car.
The woman hadn’t cleaned it out in twenty years.
“Can I go?” I asked, holding Noah’s gaze.
He nodded. “You may go. If you plan to leave Fox Point, you’ll have to notify us.”
