Last Call by Libby Kirsch

Author:Libby Kirsch
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sunnyside Press

Chapter Twenty-One

The next morning, Janet awoke to pounding at the office door. She had slept fitfully, tossing and turning on the uncomfortable couch. The pounding continued, and she stood unsteadily, wincing as her bare foot touched the cold concrete floor.

“What?” she yelled—or at least tried to. The word came out like she’d run it through the dishwasher, muddled and wet. She cracked the miniblinds open and winced again as the bright sunlight hit her red, swollen eyes. Detective Finch stood on the other side of the door, flipping his key ring around like a lifeguard with a whistle. “What do you want?” she asked, refusing to open the door.

She’d thoroughly read the subpoena the day before; they had no right to search her office, but she wasn’t going to take any chances.

“Janet Black, you look like hell.”

“Seriously?” she called back. “You’re seriously going to open with that line?”

He barked out a laugh and banged on the door again.

She wrenched it open, and the blast of heat hit her in the face like a nine-iron.

Finch assessed her from top to bottom, with the blanket wrapped around her, one foot bare. “Have you been crying?” he asked with a deepening frown.

“No,” Janet answered mulishly. “Goddamn air conditioner is stuck on, and the wool blanket I found in the closet is irritating my skin, but if I took it off my face, I was freezing.”

“Is that right?” He stared past her to a pile of tissues by the couch.

She pulled the door closer. “What do you want?”

“I just wanted to ask, one last time, if there’s anything you’re not telling us about Ike, about Elizabeth—about anything at all.”

“Are you for real? Your department just ransacked my house, accused my boyfriend of a felony, and basically told me I’ll lose everything no matter what. You’re not welcome here.”

“A man is dead!” He stared at her, a sudden heat in his voice. “I don’t get the impression that you even care.”

“Of course I care,” Janet said, wrapping the blanket tighter, despite the hot day, “but I care more that you seem hell-bent on pinning a murder on an innocent person, instead of actually solving the crime, which means whoever’s guilty is getting a free pass!” She glared at the cop and stepped back to close the door.

“I don’t want any surprises, Black. Do you understand?” The sunlight cast shadows on the wrinkles on his face, making him look older and more haggard than usual.

“Yeah, well, me neither. No more Sunday subpoenas. Our lawyer’s going to . . .” Her mind, still fuzzy from sleep, couldn’t come up with any kind of credible threat, and Finch snorted when she fell silent.

“Despite what you might think from watching TV, this case is getting colder by the minute. Chances are it will fade away, just like too many others.”

She watched him walk across the lot to his car and felt an odd prickle of confusion. Even as O’Dell doubled down on pinning the crime on Jason, Finch seemed to suggest they were out of leads.

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