One in a Million by Gina LaManna

Author:Gina LaManna [LaManna, Gina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: janet evanovich, rom com, cozy mystery, romantic suspense
Publisher: LaManna Books
Published: 2023-08-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

Gaston sat across the interview table and eyed me evenly. “I’m innocent.”

Jack and I had brought Gaston back to the precinct. In the time it’d taken to get him processed and into an interview room, he’d significantly calmed down.

He’d regained his cool composure, which didn’t help me in my questioning, but there wasn’t much I could do about it. He’d agreed to speak to me without a lawyer, for now, and I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity.

“Is that why you agreed to talk to me?” I asked. “Because you’re innocent?”

“You know I’m innocent. I can see it in your eyes.” Gaston nodded like he was sure of it. “In my business, I need to be good at reading people. Studying people. I know you don’t like me, and hell, I don’t like you either. But I figure you’re a good cop, and you’re not going to put me behind bars for something I didn’t do.”

I considered his compliment.

“I’ve read up on you,” Gaston continued. “I’ve read the stories. You’d arrest your own father if he stepped out of line. Again.”

“Watch it,” I said, realizing that Gaston did, in fact, know a lot more about my history than I’d given him credit for.

“I’m not saying anything you wouldn’t say yourself,” he said. “You care about right and wrong. Rules. It’d go against your nature, not to mention be plain wrong, to convict a man for a murder he didn’t commit.”

“Let’s say I do believe you.” I leaned forward. “I’m going to need some help drawing a line from A to B because even if my intuition is wanting to believing you, I’ve got a lot of hard science, doctors, and fellow cops who aren’t so understanding of my gut feelings.”

“Why do you think I would only talk to you alone?” Gaston sat back. “How’d you get my DNA?”

I was hesitant to say too much just yet. If Gaston was the killer, if he was behind the FedExed gruesome appendages, then I needed to see if his story matched up with the details I had.

“If you didn’t kill Lance or rob your own store, then who do you think might have?” I asked. “Who do you think would’ve gone through the effort to pull off a heist and an ugly murder, and then frame you?”

“Someone who didn’t like me,” Gaston said. “I never thought Cora was crazy enough, but maybe she’s struggling enough where it was her last resort. I know her boutique isn’t going to last long.”

“How do you know?”

“She told me when she came into the shop yelling at me for stealing her new designs.”

“Which designs?” I asked.

“The Solstice line,” he said. “We have a new line coming out that celebrates the summer solstice. It’s just launching. She said we stole it from her.”

Cora had, in fact, mentioned the Solstice line. She’d said that Gaston didn’t have those designs in his store yet because she hadn’t given him the ideas. I explained this to Gaston.

“Technically, she’s not wrong,” Gaston said.

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