Nothing to Hide by Allison Brennan

Author:Allison Brennan
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Thursday Early Afternoon

“You’re quiet,” Jerry said as they drove to the Sun Tower Suites. “We’ve done nearly a dozen of these interviews this week, and you’ve always had an opinion. You think he’s lying?”

“No,” Lucy said.

Melancholy, she supposed, would be the right word. They didn’t say anything to Marissa after talking to her brother-in-law—Lucy wanted to talk to her about the rape, but the woman was eight months’ pregnant. The stress of discussing it wouldn’t be good for her or the baby. But at some point—if Chris Smith had anything to do with Julio’s murder—she would have to give a statement.

“We’re going to have to talk to Smith.”

“Not yet,” she said.

“Why not? He has motive—if we believe Vallejo, then Dario is his kid. Something like that could set something off. And remember—Julio was killed with a blow to the back of his head. Everything else was just window dressing.”

“There may be a motive to kill Julio, and there may be a motive to kill Standish, but it’s not the same motive. And if we take what we know as gospel, they are the moral victims. Standish’s wife cheated on him with at least three men. Julio’s best friend raped his fiancé. We know that the same killer killed these three men. Even if we discount the consistent MO, they were shot with the same gun.”

“I agree, but that doesn’t mean don’t question Smith. His name came up, there was a confrontation, and Julio is dead.”

“Vallejo said that Julio saw Smith in the hotel. If they did have an altercation, someone there must know about it. Let’s find that person—or persons—and that gives us another reason to talk to Smith.”

Jerry didn’t say anything for a moment, then nodded. “I see what you’re getting at, but we already have a reason. If this guy is guilty, I don’t want him to get off.”

“Guilty of killing Standish and James? Because why? He may have a motive for killing Julio—Julio lied about the paternity of Dario—but what would be the motive for the others? We would have to find a connection between Smith and the other two victims before we go there.”

“There could be a connection.”

“Yes, but the best case right now is to pursue his altercation with Julio, and if we bring up the reason, then it’ll tip him off.”

“To what?”

“What if he doesn’t know that Dario is his son? I don’t want him to learn it from us. He could make Marissa’s life hell.”

“He raped her.”

“Oh, come on,” Lucy said. “We both know rape is going to be almost impossible to prove after seven years. He could sue for a paternity test, then sue for custody. I’m not going to give him that option. He doesn’t need to know any of this, which is why we find an actual witness to the fight between Smith and Julio. With Vallejo it’s hearsay with no one to corroborate because Julio is dead. We find a witness, we have reason to talk to Smith and ask for his explanation, his alibi, maybe learn something if we play this right.

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