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“What now?”
Catherine’s eyes are red, her lips a little swollen from when we kissed. She looks deliciously rumpled, just then. But sensing that she’s feeling the emotional toil of the interview, I fold her into a hug. “We’ll try and identify the man she left the Moonlight Lounge with, trace her steps from there.”
“It’s not a lot to go on.”
The matter-of-fact statement draws a chuckle from deep in my chest. “Sometimes it’s just snooping until you stumble on the right lead.”
She nods against my chest.
“I have one last question,” I say.
“Shoot.”
“The night that Lizzie died, you said that you were home, watching movies on your laptop?”
“Yes.”
“Can I take it with me?”
“My laptop?”
“Yeah. Our forensics team could probably use your internet location and browsing history to put you at home at the time of the murder.”
“Isn’t that what you’d callcircumstantial?” she asks. “Just because my computer was connected to the internet and a movie was playing, doesn’t mean I was sitting there watching it?”
“Technically. But it’s enough to get you moved to the back of the file with the other girls for now.”
“Back of the file?”
I think about how to explain the case book structure. “It’s exactly what it sounds like. We have different sections, including one for suspects and one for persons cleared. The others all have alibis; Lyla with Rye, Juliette with Dylan Duke, and Toni with Drakos.”
Catherine stops moving.
I glance down at her stricken expression. “You okay?”
“Yes. You want the laptop because of us?” She gestures between us. “This.”
“Partly,” I don’t lie to her. “Taking you off the list of suspects makes it easier to justify my poor professional decision-making but…”
“But?”
“Nobody actually thinks you did it. And I want to protect you from the case as much as possible. Proving that you were home takes you from victim’s roommate with an unverified alibi to just victim’s roommate.”
“Okay.”
“I might not be able to bring it back until the case is closed.”
“It’s fine. I don’t have anything on there that I need. I can use the desktop at home until I get this one back.” Going to the table, she hands me the laptop. “Here. I trust you.”
Chapter 22
Catherine
I stand in the tiny alleythat runs behind the row of houses on my street, and wave to Aiden as he drives off. I try to ignore the ache in my chest as I watch his SUV turn onto the main street, but it’s not easy to pretend that the dull throb isn’t resonating in every cell in my body.
His words rattle around in my head.White male, about six-foot, blond hair, blue eyes. Quiet type. The bartender said he threw a lot of cash around, ordering top shelf liquor and such. Wore an ugly gold Rolex.
Before I can change my mind, I pull my cellphone from my pocket and dial Antoinette.
