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Arson’s inked hands flash to mind. “No,” I lie. “Not that I could see.”
I don’t know who Arson is, exactly, but without needing to be told, I can guess he isn’t someone you implicate in a staged mugging.
Officer Asshole is decidedly unimpressed. “So, he’s a man of average height. What about his build? Was he fat, thin, muscular?”
I shrug. “I don’t know… Regular?”
That’s not even remotely true. Arson is muscular and built like a fighter who throws one punch and knocks his opponent out.
I don’t say that, and I don’t even know why.
“A man of average height and build with no distinguishing features,” he says drolly.
I stare at him. “He was wearing a black ski mask.”
“Any jewelry? Did he wear a ring?”
“Not that I saw.”
“Could you tell what race he was?”
“I’d say Caucasian.”
“You’d say?”
“We didn’t have time to go over his family tree.”
The officer hikes an eyebrow. “There’s no need to be smart, Miss Meadows. You would think you’d want to do all you could to cooperate and help us find whoever attacked you and yourfriend.”
“And you would think you would talk to me like someone who was attacked instead of being so rude. I’m not going to talk with you. I’ll happily talk with him,” I say, pointing at the tall, skinnier one, “and tell him what I know, but I’m done talking to you.”
The man opens his mouth, but before he can speak, Calvin steps ahead of me. “I’m going to have to agree and ask you to leave.” He draws a business card out of his suit pocket. “This is our lawyer’s number. If you have any further questions, you can ask him. Hallie has been through enough, she doesn’t need you treating her so aggressively.”
The nicer officer jumps in. “I can finish up the interview.” Looking at his partner, he says, “Why don’t you go wait in the car and I’ll be right down?”
The mean officer’s pupils seem to double in size. His nostrils flare like a bull as he looks back at me, but then he glances at Calvin and clutches the lawyer’s card.
“Fine,” he says shortly.
We all wait for him to get in the elevator and go downstairs, then the remaining officer turns back to smile sheepishly. “Sorry about him,” he says. He’s a tall, gawky-looking guy with skin so pale he looks like he never leaves his house. “He can be a little intense.”
Once that guy is gone, things are much less stressful. Calvin invites Officer Davis in to sit at the table, and I recount a seriously edited version of what happened last night. I keep everything that happened in front of Lance accurate so our stories match, but obviously I can’t tell him what happened after that.
I get nervous when we get to that part, but this officer isn’t pushy. He steps gently around asking what happened after the assailant shoved me in the car, then tells me that DNA evidence could potentially lead them to the culprit.
The only DNA evidence they would get off me is Calvin’s. Which is fitting because heisthe culprit in all of this.
Obviously, I can’t say that.
I consider it for the faintest glimmer of a second. I know it would be a little tricky considering I was asleep at his apartment when the police arrived. It’s not lost on me that if I tried to actually explain Calvin Cutler’s role in my life and all the villainous shit he is currently responsible for doing,I’mthe one who would come off sounding like an unhinged psycho.
In the end, I don’t tell on Calvin. I know the opportunity sort of presented itself with cops literally showing up at his apartment when I have his DNA all over my body, but I haven’t had time to think it through and I think doing it impulsively would be the wrong move. Once I open that box, I don’t think it can be shut again, so if I’m going to open it, I need to be sure.
And he has all that crap on Charity.
I still can’t believe that. Some part of me thinks maybe it isn’t real, that somehow he fabricated all of it to use against me because surely Charity wouldn’t do that to Tyler. Yeah, I saw her flirting with the bartender, but it was harmless.
I don’t know how to ask, though. It’s not like I can say, “Hey, by the way, I know this is a crazy question and I’m sorry, but some rich guy is trying to blackmail me into living with him with ‘proof’ that you cheated on Tyler the night before your wedding… That’s crazy, right? That definitely didn’t happen… right?”
