Benjamin didn’t know how he felt about the possibility that Charlotte had had an affair with the guy Luna had in the interrogation room. Once again, he observed from behind the darkened glass, his arms folded across his chest as he listened.
He had that slick attorney look that Benjamin immediately didn’t like. It reminded him too much of military administration making decisions without any tactical experience that inevitably killed people.
But unlike Roger, who’d been a gangly, somewhat unattractive man, this guy was handsome in that rich kind of way.
A man like him wouldn’t have any issues snagging the attention of any woman he put his sights on, maybe even Charlotte.
Hell, Benjamin didn’t know enough about his sister to honestly know whether or not she’d stray. He wanted to believe that she wouldn’t, but life was full of contradictions, and being an adult was messy.
Luna’s voice cut into his thoughts as he tuned back into the interview.
“Scott, you had to know that Brianne wasn’t going to back up your version of the breakup. She said that she caught you and Charlotte kissing. Why’d you lie?”
Scott’s jaw worked as if he was prepared to lie again, but he held back, compressing his lips into a fine line as if struggling with something. Then, he came clean with a chagrined chuckle. “Okay, the truth is, maybe I wasn’t so honorable in my initial approach to the situation, and when it came time to tell the story, I didn’t like the way I came across.”
“Altering the story doesn’t change the facts, it only delays the discovery,” Luna said. “What’s the truth? What really happened? Were you and Charlotte having an affair, something that Brianne discovered?”
“Charlotte and I weren’t having an affair,” he said, but admitted, “Brianne did catch us kissing, though.”
“Would you mind clarifying?”
“I’d rather not.”
“I’m going to have to insist.”
He sighed. “It’s real simple. I was interested and Charlotte wasn’t. I misread a situation and reacted by kissing her, which is right about the time Brianne walked in, but it wasn’t reciprocated on Charlotte’s part and I felt like a real jerk afterwards.”
“How did Charlotte react?”
“She was embarrassed,” he answered, “and worried that Brianne might tell Roger. I assured her that I’d make sure Brianne didn’t say anything and immediately went to take care of the problem.”
“Which is when you tried to make up with Brianne?”
“In a knee-jerk reaction, and in hindsight, I’m grateful she turned me down,” Scott said. “It wasn’t my finest moment. I was trying to placate Brianne to protect Charlotte but it ended up pissing Brianne off more and making the whole thing worse.”
Sometimes men could be blindingly stupid. Luna put that aside for the moment. “You also didn’t mention that the chili cook-off location change to the Johnson Ranch had been cancelled before Charlotte’s death. Any reason why you didn’t mention that?”
“Didn’t seem important. We have business deals fall through all the time. Why would that one, a particularly small and unimportant one in the big scheme of things, warrant much attention?”
“If Charlotte was in any way involved, let me make those decisions. Is there anything else you’d like to share at this time? Perhaps to clarify or provide what might’ve been missed the first time around?”
Scott paused, bristling ever so slightly. “I came down here to help but this feels a lot like a different kind of questioning, Detective Griffin. Should I be calling my lawyer?”
“Do you have something to hide?”
“No.”
“Then why would you need your lawyer?”
“Because this feels less like friendly cooperation and more like targeted interrogation.”
Luna held his stare. Benjamin admired her strength, never wavering despite the growing hostility in the man’s gaze. “We appreciate your cooperation. I’d like to believe we all have the same goal—finding the person responsible for the Leicki murders—and your willingness to be transparent is a big help.”
Buttering the bread with such precision, playing to his ego. Benjamin watched the man’s every move, every twitch. He didn’t come off as overtly guilty—pissed off and insulted, but not guilty. However, accomplished liars knew how to mask their true emotions.
“Of course I want to help. That’s why I’m here,” Scott returned with a faint scowl. “But let’s try to remember, we’re all on the same side.”
“And as such, we should endeavor to be honest with one another going forward, yes?”
“I don’t like feeling schooled,” he warned.
“I don’t like being lied to.”
The terse standoff between the two built tension, yet Luna held her ground. Then, she went full throttle, shocking Benjamin.
“I’m going to need your whereabouts on July 16 between the hours of 8:00 p.m. and midnight.” She ended with, “And Mr. Johnson, if you can’t account for your whereabouts, you might want to call that lawyer.”
Hot damn, that’s how you get things done.
Luna was taking a big risk—one the chief wasn’t going to be happy about—but her instincts told her to press forward. Ordinarily, she might’ve pulled back but it was something Sayeh said about the law being a lonely profession for a reason. She couldn’t be afraid to step on toes, even if those toes belonged to rich, influential men with a lot of reach.
There came a time for every person in law enforcement when a case dropped into their lap to test their mettle. It just so happened that her chance came at a personal cost. Finding Charlotte’s killer was going to require stepping on toes—hell, maybe even smashing those toes into the ground, if need be.
And she was willing to do it.
She joined Benjamin in the interrogation viewing room. The pride in his eyes sparked an unwelcome but sweet warmth in the pit of her belly that she immediately stomped to ash.
“You might’ve made an enemy with that Johnson guy but it was damn beautiful to watch you in action,” Benjamin said with an unapologetic grin that sent trickles of awareness through her body. She flushed and ducked her head, waving away his praise, but he wasn’t going to let it go.
“No, I’m being serious. You’ve shown me in so many ways that I was wrong about your ability to handle this case and I’m embarrassed that I doubted your skills.”
“Benjamin, I appreciate the vote of confidence but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We’re a long way away from finding anything that connects anyone to Charlotte’s murder,” she warned, not wanting to get his hopes up. Letting Benjamin down wasn’t something she wanted to contemplate. “I want to catch who did this, just as much as you, but the reality is that I doubt it was Scott Johnson.”
“How so?”
She shared her thoughts. “Well, I have a sneaking suspicion when I check his alibi, he’ll come out clean as a whistle. He didn’t even bat an eye when I asked him to account for his whereabouts. It doesn’t make sense. Even if Scott and Charlotte were having an affair, it would take a sociopath to kill her entire family in a crime of passion. I think Scott might be a narcissist but I don’t think he’s a killer.”
“Not even to protect his ego?”
“It would be a stretch.”
Benjamin took a minute to chew on her answer, finally admitting, “I get it. Maybe I did get a little too excited when you caught him lying but it’s frustrating to have nothing so far. I guess I needed a little hope to cling to. I met his ranch manager last night at the local brewery, a guy by the name of Hank. It seems everyone in town has an opinion on this case.”
“Yeah? How so?” she asked.
“Hank was telling me it had to be the work of some homicidal drifter, same as that case in Billings or something like that, because it seemed highly unlikely a crime of that nature had been committed by a local.”
“That’s what we’d all like to think,” she admitted. “Did he say anything about Scott as a boss?”
“A little. He said Johnson’s a decent boss. The pay is good and the work stable. Usually when people get the chance to bitch about their boss they take it but Hank didn’t have nothing bad to say. I guess that’s a point in his favor, even if I still think the guy’s an ass for chasing a married woman.”
“I don’t blame you,” she said with a frown. “I’d like Scott Johnson to be guilty of something but I can’t put my finger on what that could be. I have this feeling I can’t shake though that I need to keep putting the pressure on.”
“If it’s there, don’t ignore it. That feeling has kept me alive more times than I can count,” he said.
Part of the insulation she felt from danger in her field was the relative comfort of a small bubble, but this case had shattered that illusion. Now everything had the potential for something far worse. Nothing felt safe.
As if reading her mind, Benjamin shared, “Yeah, something happened last night at the brewery that’s been chewing on my backside and each time I try to brush it off as nothing, it keeps coming back.”
She frowned with concern. “What happened?”
“When I left the brewery, I found all four tires on my rental slashed. At first thought, dumbass kids without any appreciation for the cost of the damage came to mind but there’s something about it that doesn’t feel right.”
Luna agreed. “One tire makes sense but all four? That’s excessive. Also, it would take more than one person to get the job done without being noticed. Seems planned out. I don’t like this.”
“I don’t like to jump to conclusions but it creates more questions than gives answers,” he admitted.
“Why would someone try to intimidate you?” she asked, troubled. “I don’t like this at all.”
“I’ll be fine,” he assured her, “but maybe this means you’re getting too close to the person responsible for Charlotte’s death and if that’s the case, they can try and scare me off all they want because it ain’t gonna work.”
Benjamin’s innate strength plucked at a long-silenced chord inside her, one she thought had disintegrated with dust and disuse but was vibrating with an intensity that made her feel alive again. She swallowed, her toes curling in the privacy of her shoes, struggling to find her bearings again. “I—”
But Benjamin must’ve picked up on that subtle tune because he jumped on it. “Let me make you dinner,” he said.
“Dinner?” she repeated, dumbfounded. “What do you mean?”
He chuckled. “I mean, you and me enjoying some adult conversation over a decent meal prepared by yours truly. I promise I know my way around the kitchen. You won’t die from my cooking.”
She laughed at the unexpected humor. “I’m not worried about your cooking skills,” she assured him. I’m worried about how you make me feel when it’s inappropriate given the circumstances. Politely decline. “Um, I guess that would be okay. Sounds innocent enough,” she said, ignoring her own advice. “Should I bring anything?”
“A robust red would be nice,” he suggested. “I’m making steaks.”
“Okay,” she agreed, still spinning from her reckless decision. “Six thirty good?”
“Perfect.”
She watched as he left the station, leaving her to wonder how far down the rabbit hole she was willing to go when it came to Benjamin Reeves—because at the moment, she was free-falling straight to the earth’s core.
And she didn’t feel nearly as bad about it as she should.