When the sheriff and his scarecrow girlfriend didn’t react right away, Kit Somersby took the reins, the scamp, firmly seating Miles in a chair at her desk—right next to my cell, thank you very much—and perched in front of him on the corner, leaning in like a veteran homicide detective tired of the street and ready for anything.
Hilarious, if it wasn’t so awesome.
“Tell me about your black site, Mr. Weston.” She didn’t give him a chance to answer that while, in my head, I practically yelled at her to stop, grant him the time. “Tell me about your little venom fetish group and why you have the very poison that killed Mr. Kale in your collection.”
Miles was still distracted by the open case, visibly distressed. I could only see his profile, but it gave me enough to know he’d likely answer her questions if she promised to save his stash.
“Would be a shame to lose that evidence,” I said.
Kit looked up in surprise, then over at the Useless Duo before nodding. “Put that on ice, won’t you, Deputy Norton?” Like she was the boss, and they were her underlings. While I almost choked on a laugh at her attitude, it worked, Rose frowning but doing as she was told, the vial replaced and the case disappearing with her into the staff room, supposedly into the freezer and safety.
Miles turned his head, flashed me a grateful smile despite his visible panic. “I didn’t kill Jameson,” he said to me.
“That so?” Kit was asking the questions, but it was clear Miles knew who the voice behind them really was. “Tell us about it, then, Mr. Weston because this is making you look very guilty.”
“Yes, I run a venom fetish site.” Miles rubbed both hands on the thighs of his dress pants, and only then did I note Kit hadn’t handcuffed him. A slip of the mind, perhaps, but one she made because she was hasty and inexperienced. If the time came, she was fired from the sheriff’s department, we’d be having a chat about best practices before she came on with me at FI.
“Where did you get the venom?” Kit prodded him for more.
“It’s Jade’s,” he said, before hurrying on in haste, now holding up his hands to stop her from asking another question, I could only guess. “It’s old. I bought it from her on the first day of the tournament. She’s been saving it since Darwin died and finally agreed to give it up.”
“Which means you and Ms. Saito could have been in on Mr. Kale’s death together,” Kit said, voice dropping though it made her sound a bit ridiculous, and I fought a sigh and eye roll over her attempt to do what? Sound more manly? More aggressive? Another talk to have.
“I bought it for a client who wanted to use it for a live broadcast,” he said. “He’d already managed to find some, and the video was a huge success. He wanted to repeat the performance but couldn’t source any more venom. I knew Jade had some and asked her for it. That’s all, I swear.” He glanced at me. “I’m sure you’ve seen the proof of his fetish by now.”
I hadn’t, but Fleur’s word was gold.
“Did Mr. Kale know about your black site, Mr. Weston?” There was a question I hadn’t thought to ask.
Miles’s groan of understanding wasn’t helping him any. “Yes,” he said then, as though hating his traitor mouth for opening. “He was threatening to expose me to the poker community. But it didn’t matter. I was going to retire from touring. Thanks to him, I haven’t had a tour director job in two years. I’ve had enough.”
Sure, he had, and didn’t he just blame Jameson for it? I nodded ever so slightly to Kit who gave a more aggressive agreement to Miles. “Where were you a half-hour before the victim finished his game, Mr. Weston?”
Miles hesitated, then sagged. “At that table,” he said. “I fetched him a drink from the bar. Jameson was on a winning streak, and I needed to stay with him to announce his victory. But there were no waitresses available, and the bar was so close, I agreed to get it for him.”
“Despite the fact you and Mr. Kale had a history of conflict,” Kit said.
Miles didn’t respond right away. “Look, I hated the guy, okay? But even I was wrapped up in the heat of the moment. Jameson hadn’t been on a streak like that in years. Everyone was wound up. Bygones, deputy. And I’m a professional. So, I did what was good for the tournament and the game because that’s what we do.”
“Giving you the perfect opportunity to dose his drink and incapacitate him.” That was from me, I couldn’t help myself. Miles’s gaze shifted to mine, that panic returning. “You didn’t try to kill him, did you? You didn’t realize the cut from George’s punch would mean the venom would kill him. You were just trying to ruin him, make him sick when the toxin mixed with all that alcohol in his system. Bring him down while he was on a lucky streak. Like he tried to ruin you.”
Miles was shaking his head, denial in his face, but Robert was on the move, grasping the announcer by the upper arm and dragging him to his feet.
“My office,” he snarled, shoving Miles toward his door. “Now.”
“Oh, boss,” Kit sing-songed in her normal voice. “What should I do about Miss Sims?”
Rose shot her a look filled with enough venom to rival any snake, but Robert just shrugged.
“Let her go,” he said. “I’ve caught the real killer.” And slammed his door behind him.
Wouldn’t you know, the phone on Kit’s desk rang the second Robert was out of earshot? She answered it, Rose alternating her death stare from me to the sheriff’s closed office door, clearly wanting to be in there, questioning Miles, but not willing to leave just yet. Did she have plans for Caroline? More than likely, it was me she wasn’t going to let out of her sight.
I’d interfered with her investigation again, after all.
“Yes, sir,” Kit said a moment after answering. “Yes, sir, I understand, sir. Thank you, sir.” She hung up then, doing a terrible job hiding her smug happiness. “You’re free to go, Ms. Fleming,” she said, heading for my cell with keys in her hands.
Rose lunged for her instantly, but Kit dodged, the two standing toe-to-toe, the younger deputy far too fearless and enthusiastic for her own good. Fired? She’d be lucky if Rosebert didn’t run her out of town after this.
“Over my dead body,” Rose snarled.
If there was a God.
Bad Fee.
Kit, thankfully, kept her mouth shut on that particular suggestion. “That was the DA’s office in Montpelier,” she said. “We’ve been instructed to release Ms. Fleming immediately or come under investigation for false arrest.”
Rose spluttered and Rose twitched, but when Robert’s door opened one more time, the whoosh of air that it created clear evidence of his own anger, there was nothing Rose could do.
“Let Fanny go,” he snarled, Kit obviously not the only one who had a call from the district attorney’s office. He stared me down a long moment, a moment in which I struggled not to smile, almost won. “You disobey me again,” he said, the chill in his voice the scariest I’d ever heard from him, flat and empty expression a threat like no other, “and I’ll do more than put you in a cell, Fiona Fleming. Just push me and we’ll see how far I’ll go to get rid of you.” Another slam and that was that.
Awesome. Considering he’d just all but threatened my life in front of witnesses? Today was a good day despite everything.
Right?
Caroline hugged me hard the moment she was free. I tugged her free and guided her away from the cells, not exactly worried but uncomfortable enough in the proximity to my recent accommodations and not wanting to give Rose a chance to change her mind and go against the DA’s orders. Because the hate she fixed me with? Meant if Robert didn’t try to kill me, she was going to.
Just a matter of time.
Good to know. Bring it.
“Thank you.” Caroline was crying all over again, but this time in happiness. She accepted the tissues from Kit when offered, the young deputy’s rather smug smile making me uncomfortable. She needed to learn to hide how she was feeling better and, though I wasn’t the best at it either, maybe we could both take lessons in poker faces, no pun intended.
“Caroline.” I kept my voice down, hand on her elbow while she trembled and blew her nose. “I told you it was going to be okay.”
She nodded, shivered. “I need to call my folks,” she said. “Fee, I remember when he went to get Jameson’s drink. I can’t believe Miles killed him.”
“If it was an accident, then so be it,” I said. Paused a second, hating loose ends. “Do you recall if he was alone at the bar?”
Caroline thought about it a moment, then shook her head. “I don’t remember,” she said. Not that it mattered. I hugged her again, escorting her out of the bullpen and to the receptionist area, Jimmy Dodge vacating his lecherous looming over the girl behind the desk—I needed to learn her name, I guess because she’d been here over a month now so maybe she’d be staying, poor thing—to join us.
Grinning, hazel eyes narrowed, jaw dark with scruff, handsome enough if average in height and build. It was the utter cruelty and lack of empathy in his gaze that made me shiver, the way he spoke like he only pretended to be human.
“Thanks for the help, Ms. Fleming,” he said. Laughed. “You’re a whiz at this, aren’t you?”
I ignored Kit’s warning headshake while I looked him up and down, knowing it was an open challenge to someone like him, his youthful misogyny worn visibly in the way he held himself, in the way he looked at all four of us, all female.
“Takes the right woman to get the job done, I guess.” I turned and left, then, noting the flash of anger in his eyes, not bothering to wait for his retort, knowing that would make things far worse in his mind.
Understanding I made an enemy and not caring. Like the O’Sheas were my friends on level to begin with. With three exceptions, I hoped, though I couldn’t bring myself to compare Darius, Malcolm and now Eve to the man I left in my dust.
Robert was dangerous. But Jimmy Dodge? He was a demon.
***