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“I think so.” Eloise glanced in the direction of the medical examiners, huddled around Kim as they collected evidence or whatever it was they did in these situations. “I tripped over her and then, when I realized … I don’t know. I checked, you know? To see if she was breathing?”
“But you didn’t call 911 immediately?”
Eloise took a shuddering breath. It felt like a trap, but she’d already admitted as much to the dispatcher, so what else could she do now but tell the truth? “No, I didn’t. Kim, she was … It looked like she’d been hurt. She had bruising on her neck,” Eloise stopped and placed a hand on her own throat to indicate, waited for the detective to nod her understanding, “and I thought, maybe whoever hurt her might still be around.”
“You were frightened?”
“Yes, I was. It probably sounds pathetic but I was scared so I ran back to my car and called for help once the doors were locked.”
“And you didn’t see those two,” the detective gestured to Sarah and Chloe, each standing several feet away and talking to different detectives, “until after the arrival of the first police cars?”
“I didn’t even know they were here,” Eloise admitted, although she should have realized. The parking lot was virtually empty of cars on the weekend, even though they shared a lot with the office building on the other side of the street, but she hadn’t noticed their cars. Maybe she would have, if it hadn’t been for the storm and her own preoccupied thoughts, but she knew it looked strange that she hadn’t. “I was distracted,” she finished lamely.
“By the storm?”
“And some personal concerns. I was just trying to get into the office, grab some paperwork I’d forgotten about, and go home.”
“And Ms. Campbell, she was a coworker in the building?”
“Kim was a friend,” Eloise corrected. “We both worked for Sun Valley—different departments—but there aren’t a lot of women working here so we tended to stick together.”
“I understand that,” the detective muttered and Eloise, her gaze taking in the number of men wearing badges around them, figured she did. “And them?” She gestured again to Sarah and Chloe.
“The same,” Eloise said with a nod. “We were all close.”
“And to your knowledge did Ms. Campbell have any enemies? Coworkers with a grudge? Ex-boyfriends?”
Eloise shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. She dated occasionally but there was no one she’d had problems with. No recent breakups or unusual drama. Kim was sensible and careful about who she spent her time with.”
“And the coworkers? Sometimes those boys’ clubs don’t like it when women start coming around, taking their promotions and such.”
“I don’t think so.” Eloise paused, arms wrapped around herself to hold in the sorrow and anxiety. “We’ve always got people making snide comments or saying something inappropriate, but I can’t think of anyone that stands out. She hadn’t gotten a recent promotion or had a bad interaction with anyone, unless she kept it to herself.”
“Had she been acting like herself lately? No changes in routine or personality?” Eloise hesitated a little too long and the detective narrowed her eyes. “Ms. Mason?”
“She’d been stressed the past few weeks. Work hasn’t been great on anyone and Kim worked in the auditing department so she wasn’t exempt from that.”
“Auditing, huh? So, her job was …?”
“To go over the accounts, make sure everything was normal and there were no discrepancies.”
“What would happen if there were discrepancies?”
Eloise frowned. “She’d have to investigate it. Usually, it’s an error of some kind, maybe someone gets reprimanded or even loses their job.”
The detective tapped her pen against the clipboard. “And what if it’s not an error? What then?”
“You mean, what if someone was purposefully putting in the numbers incorrectly?” Eloise wrestled with the idea of that, against the thought of someone in their company being that foolish. “That would be embezzlement and I suppose she’d have to report it, and the bank would notify the police.”
“That’s a powerful motive for murder.”
“I suppose, but there are several people that work in the auditing department. Even if someone was attempting to steal money from the bank, they’d have no way of knowing that Kim was the one going over the accounts involved.”
“Well, it’s something to think about,” the detective said, a tight smile telling Eloise she hadn’t dismissed the idea as a possible motive. “I think I’ve got everything I need from you for now, but I need you to stay close over the next few days, just in case I have more questions.”
“Am I a suspect?” Eloise cleared her throat when the detective lifted an eyebrow. “I mean, since I found her? That’s how it works, right? So, I was just wondering if that makes me a suspect.”
“Not officially.” The detective tipped her head, gravity and the wind doing nothing to disturb the smooth black bun confining her hair as she stared at Eloise. “You’re a person of interest because you found the body, but I doubt it will take long to move on to more likely candidates.”
