AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I didn’t say that, but if she did, she most likely acted alone; I’m not sure she has the physical strength to do that. But this isn’t the kind of thing you do with a bunch of witnesses around. And committing a murder that she details in a novel she wrote that is selling like hotcakes wouldn’t be too smart, and Fiona Fowler doesn’t impress me as a woman lacking in intelligence.” Slade turned to the chief. “If you don’t mind, Jimmy, I’d like to tag along.”
The chief nodded. “That’s fine but remember you can’t enter either her business or her home without her permission.”
“Understood.”
Went followed him out and they rode in Slade’s SUV behind the patrol car.
“You don’t think she did it, do you?” asked Went.
“I hate to admit it, but I don’t. Like I said to the chief, I think she’s too smart to use her own book as a blueprint for a murder unless she’s a narcissistic psychopath and I don’t think she is. But I do think someone used her book as a guideline.”
“Who do you think threw the bricks?”
“Too soon to tell. Could be the murderer; could be some kind of idiot vigilante—murders like this bring out the wackos—or could be some teenagers playing a prank on a dare. But whoever it was, at the very least meant to scare her and at most intended to cause bodily harm or worse. Can you pull up that dispatch call? I’d like to know just how pissed Ms. Fowler is. I’ll take the lead so she can vent her spleen on me.”
They arrived at Fiona’s bookstore/home and headed up the stairs. Slade planned to lead with an apology. The playback of the call had proved Fiona was pretty angry, and he wasn’t sure she didn’t have a right to be. At least from her point of view, the police, or rather he, had acted precipitously.
They had to knock twice, but when she flung the door open, it was obvious she was loaded for bear and in a take no prisoners frame of mind. Once again Slade felt his groin tighten. If he thought she was attractive and a little bit sexy in meek author mode, this smoldering Amazonian had arousal surging through his system. This was a woman upon whom he wanted to loose his full-on alpha male. He wanted to dominate her in and out of bed and would settle for nothing less than complete dominance in the bedroom and being her dominant partner out in the real world. He wondered if Fiona had any idea how incredibly sexy she was.
She pushed past the uniformed officer and invaded his personal space. God, she was incredible. “What the fuck do you want?”
He doubted any of the four of them would appreciate the unvarnished truth that what he wanted was to toss her over his shoulder, take her to her bed, and fuck her silly. Instead, he said, “I was there when the alarm came in and asked if I could tag along.”
“Why? Didn’t you and your lackey there have enough fun hassling me yesterday? For all I know, Detective Rafferty, you’re the one who threw the damn bricks. You look like you have enough muscle to pull that off.”
So, she’d noticed his muscles. That was good. He didn’t feel as much of a jackass for thinking about her body if she was thinking about his. Maybe that was common ground he could build on.What the hell am I thinking? I need to focus on the case not on how much I’d like to see her naked.He was pretty damn sure she hadn’t done it, but still, he couldn’t rule her out completely.
Slade stepped into her space, making her retreat. “We might want to step inside. I agree with what you told the dispatcher. Somebody throwing bricks at your home and your business makes me think that at the very least, someone is trying to frighten you…”
“What do you think the worst-case scenario is?” she asked as she stepped inside her home.
“If one of those bricks had hit you, it would have hurt you. If it had hit certain areas of your body with enough force, it could have killed you.” She paled visibly. “Let me start by saying that I may have acted rashly yesterday, and you have every right to be angry with me. The chief isn’t too happy with me, either.”
“So, you don’t think I did it?” She noticed the patrolman moving towards the window. “Careful, I didn’t have a chance to clean up the glass.”
“No, I don’t,” said Slade. “But I can’t rule you out as a suspect…”
“Sure, because I wrote a novel that pretty much was the blueprint for whoever did it.”
Slade nodded. “Why don’t you let Went clean up this mess and the one downstairs? Patrolman Jennings, can you go see if you can get something to board up the window downstairs and this one here until we can get a repairman out to do the job properly.”
“I can clean it up…” started Fiona.
“I have no doubt you can, but as you said, you’ve been inconvenienced enough.”
Fiona blushed. Surely psychopathic murderers didn’t blush, did they?
“Your vacuum?” asked Went.
Fiona pointed to the sliding barn door that hid her utility room. “In there. The one for downstairs is in the little office nook behind the cash register.” She turned back to Slade. “I take it you heard my call.”
“Went, before you clean up, I want Ms. Fowler’s home and business processed.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You might want to check the trash can by my desk. I found a banner strung across the foot of my staircase that called me a murderer.”
“Went, process the foot of the stairs as well.” He turned back to Fiona. “I did hear the call. Frankly I wanted to know what we were walking into. The dispatcher was upset, but in my mind, you weren’t all that far out of line. You have every right to be angry.”
