Through the barred glass window, I saw Arnie’s head jerk up and the look of shock bloom on his face. Apparently he hadn’t been ready for Lord’s brand of honesty. I was assuming my mother wasn’t ready for it either.
“And I’ll be taking my daughter with me.”
“No way in hell,” I snapped.
She tossed her hair. “Charming language, Eleanor. I guess that’s what you get for sleeping with the lowest common denominator.”
Her attacks on Lord continued to stoke my rage. I fisted my hands at my side, trying to hold back. Fuck it—
But Lord intervened again. “Go sleep it off, lady. You’re not impressing anyone here.”
Thankfully, my mother huffed out the door. “You’re just hurting yourself. Don’t think he won’t—”
Lord slammed the door. I didn’t need to hear her finish; I knew what her warning was. Denton wouldn’t let this stand. I shoved it away. Denton couldn’t do a damn thing to me.
“You okay, sweet thing?”
I looked up at Lord’s quiet words. I decided to go the route of perfect honesty. “I think so. At least she wasn’t slurring and stumbling. She’s not all the way through her first bottle, if I had to guess, which makes today my lucky day?” I couldn’t help making that last bit a question.
“Your ma’s a real piece of work.”
“That’s putting it lightly.”
“Whatever issues she’s carrying, they’re hers to deal with, not yours.”
“I don’t know about that. Since I can’t pretend she doesn’t exist, pretty much all of her issues bleed over onto me eventually.”
“No more. She doesn’t touch you. Ever. None of her bitterness touches you again. I’m not having it.”
“You can’t just wave a magic wand and make my mother disappear. Besides,” I added quietly, “she’s not the one I’d make disappear if I had my choice.”
Crossing to stand in front of me, Lord took my hand. His thumb rubbed over the back of it, and I appreciated both the soothing gesture and the connection between us.
“Your stepdad is the one you’d want gone.”
“Got it in one.”
“He fucks with you, he’ll find an early and uncomfortable end.”
The last person you want walking in on a threat to end someone is a cop. Especially the cop you once considered a friend but had already dragged you down to the station for questioning about one murder—which was where I’d been the morning Jiminy had crossed the line to fuck with Elle. I was still thankful Hennessy had wrapped up his questions as quickly as he had or I might not have been back in time to show Jiminy his interest was wholly unwelcome.
“Lord.”
“Hennessy.”
“You want to elaborate on what you were just saying?”
“Figure of speech.”
The detective’s eyes narrowed on me. “That ain’t making me feel a hell of a lot better, because I’ve got some more questions for you.”
“Told you everything I knew about Bree,” I said.
“Ain’t here about Bree.”
Then what the hell? “No new guns in on pawn the last couple days, so what do you need?”
“You know a guy who went by the name Jiminy?”
My hand, still closed around Elle’s, tensed at the use of the word went.
“He’s one of Rix’s guys. Low level gangbanger.”
Hennessy pulled a small pad out of his inside front pocket. “He was one of Rix’s guys. And I’m going to need your alibi for seven AM, two days ago.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
Elle sucked in a breath. “Holy shit.”
Hennessy’s eyes darted to her. “You knew him too.”
“She don’t know jack shit, man.”
“I wasn’t asking you, Lord. I think the lady can speak for herself.”
“She didn’t know him. I’m the one who tossed his ass on the ground when he tried hassling her. You want someone with a motive, you talk to me.”
“H—How did he die?” Elle asked.
Shit, it was a question I really didn’t want to discuss in front of her. She didn’t need to be part of this. Didn’t need to be exposed to this side of life. Hennessy only paused for a beat before answering.
“Same way as Bree. Shot in the back. Same caliber. Lab is analyzing the bullet now, but since I’ve been doing this job for a while, I’m going out on a limb to guess that it was the same gun.” Hennessy looked at me. “Which is why I’m here. Because it seems like you’ve got a connection to both.”
Years of creeping behind enemy lines helped me keep my cool. “You bringing me in?”
He slapped his notebook against his other palm. “Should I be?”
Fuck. It wasn’t like I had any confidence or faith in the justice system. Innocent people went to prison all the damn time.
As the thought flipped through my brain, Hennessy studied my every move. If he was so fucking good at his job, he’d realize he was barking up the wrong tree. But even I knew that this looked bad.
“If I tell you you’re looking the wrong way, aren’t I going to look more like a suspect?” I asked.
Elle sucked in a breath, and her nails dug into my hand. I was pretty sure it was the sound and gesture for shut the fuck up.
Hennessy spoke, and I got the impression he was choosing his words carefully, “I think it’d be in your best interest to call your lawyer before you come down to the station for more questions.”