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“She’s my publicist,” he snarls. “She has to call me, because we work together. Sometimes,rarely, those calls get a little personal. She wants to test the waters, see if I’m gonna step out again.”
“A reasonable question,” Fletch murmurs, “Considering your inability to stay steppedinwith Misty.”
“I said no.” He closes his fist and presses it to the table. “I said no. It doesn’t matter that we had that one time. It doesn’t matter to me that I said yes to someone else. Gina and I were a non-starter, and I told her as much.”
“Looks pretty suspicious to me,” I tell him. “You’re all over Anna’s call logs. Gina’s all over yours. Misty, that poormarriedwoman, is the only one not getting laid, and now she has an entirely unaccounted-for week, where her only alibi is her ride-or-die bestie who’ll say whatever the hell needs to be said to keep her out of trouble.”
“She didn’t hurt Anna.” His jaw clenches open and closed in frustration. “She’s gentle, Detectives. Way too gentle for this world.”
“But not nearly as special as Anna, it would seem.” I push up to stand, and snap closed the file I brought in here. Heading to the door, I open it a couple of inches, pass our file to the uniform on the other side, then I speak, just loud enough for Perry to hear, “bring her in, Officer Clay.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Bring who in?” Perry bounds from his chair in a rage, but Fletch is quick and snaps a cuff around his wrist. He circles the desk and secures the second cuff behind his back. “We’re gonna sit you in holding for a few hours, Perry. Give you time to cool down a little.”
“Don’t bring Misty in here.” He surprises me when his eyes spill over and his rage makes way for complete terror. “Please don’t put her in a room like this. She didn’t hurt nobody.”
“We have a job to do.” I open the door wide and make room for them to pass through. “She’s looking pretty suspicious to me, Perry.”
“She didn’t hurt anyone! She would never.”
“I’d get my ass fired if I took your word for it and didn’t follow this through to the end. Sorry,” I shrug and flatten my lips in fake regret. “This is the way it’s gotta be.”
“It was me.” He fights Fletch’s hold and spins to me. He stands taller than I do by a couple of inches, but there’s no anger in his stance. No rage. No danger. If anything, he shakes like a leaf in the wind, and dances with the risk of pissing his pants. “I killed Anna,” he says. “She pissed me off, threatened to tell my wife about us, so I killed her.”
“How’d you kill her?” Fletch challenges. “What was your method?”
“I, uh…” He looks from me to Fletch. “I shot her?”
I shake my head and try not to laugh.
“I stabbed her!” he guesses again. “I hit her. I knocked her over, and she smacked her head on the edge of the counter?”
“Worst liar ever,” Fletch sighs. “This is why Misty always knew.”
“Vance?” A young woman—only twenty-three, according to the profile I’ve already pulled—cries from the other side of our bullpen and draws the eyes of a dozen detectives when she sobs. “Vance!”
“Don’t say anything, baby.” He fights Fletch’s hold and tries to bully his way closer. “You’re entitled to a lawyer, so don’t say anything, okay?”
“What’s this all about?” She’s only five feet and a few inches tall. Tiny. Smaller than Minka, even. Her hair is ash blonde, her eyes a mix of sky blue and dusky green. She wears jeans and a slouchy sweater, and splotchy cheeks that prove she’s been crying for days.
She tries to rush away from Officer Clay and run toward us. It’s veryRomeo and Juliet. Star-crossed and forbidden love.
Except, they’re not forbidden. They’re fucking married. And still, he couldn’t keep his dick in his pants. He loves her enough to go to prison for murder, but not so much to stay faithful and keep away from Anna Switzer.
Maybe she really was special, the way everyone says. The security guard. The mayor. The maid, too. Perry’s stupid in love with his wife, and yet, he couldn’t deny whatever it was that drew him toward Anna.
“Take her into Interview Room One,” I tell Clay. Then I turn toward Perry and help Fletch steer him toward the cages.
He can sit in holding for a few hours. Think about his actions. Reconsider his future. He’s currently on the team that my little brother will someday play for, which means he’ll become a role model for Cato.
And that kid is already fucked up enough.Minimizing assholes and idiots in his future is a must.
We check Perry in and sign him over to the watchguard, despite Perry’s shouts of guilt.
“Most guys we put in there are screaming about their innocence,” Fletch says from my right as we walk away. “This dude’s ready to sign away the rest of his life.”
“Love does crazy things to a man.” I drop my hands into my pockets and wander back toward the bullpen. “He loves her, Fletch. A lot. But he still couldn’t keep shit together for his marriage. I guess some people just can’t stay loyal.”
