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LATER, DANA SAT IN Detective Troy’s office, feeling flustered.
Troy eyed the small blue button suspiciously in the plastic bag. He’d taken the plastic bag from her and leaned forward in his chair.
“Dana, thank you for bringing this in. I’ll send it down to the lab for fingerprints.” His gaze then captured Dana’s and her heart palpitated in her chest. “Now do you mind telling me, what you were doing at the scene of a crime?” He arched his brow. His sweet sexy lips thinned into a straight line.
Okay, he was probably not too happy about her going down to the lakeside where the suspect’s car had been.
Dana swallowed hard. She hated to lie. In fact, she sucked at lying. She would break out into a sweat and her tongue would get all heavy and tongue-tied. “ Um...Well...Troy I just wanted to...um take a walk.”
“By the scene of a crime?” He sounded dubious. “The shoreline stretches all across the town. That was the one spot you thought of going to?”
“Okay, I wanted to see if there was something that perhaps the forensics team missed.”
He furrowed his brows. “Missed? You think my team missed finding evidence after they combed the scene of the crime through thoroughly?”
“I’m not saying that, Troy.” Dana shifted uncomfortably on the seat. Maybe it was the heated gaze of his sexy ocean-blue eyes penetrating her that did it. Right now, she felt like a bundle of nerves. Like a tossed salad, back and forth with her thoughts and emotions. Why couldn’t she keep her self straight with this cute guy? Oh, right, because he’s a super hot detective and their lips had brushed so gently before and she could still feel the tingle of his soft touch on her lips.
Okay, focus back on the task at hand, Dana.
Just then an officer came into the office and took the bag from Troy. “Please send this to the lab and get me the results pronto.”
“Sure thing, boss.” The officer then left Troy’s office.
“Thanks again for bringing this in, Dana.” Troy then hesitated after he spoke. “Dana, I was wondering...we haven’t really had much time to speak since...”
Dana noticed a picture of the victim on the table. Chuck had a nasty gash at the front of his head in the image.
“That’s odd?”
“What’s odd?”
“I assumed the victim was struck from behind. But he was struck from the front.”
“Yes, he was. He was probably facing the perp.”
“Right. The perpetrator.” Dana had gotten used to police jargon by now.
She sighed deeply. “Something is very odd about being struck in the front.”
Troy glanced at the photo again. “Yes, I thought so too. It’s obvious that he knew the guy.”
“Exactly. He knew the killer.”
“Dana, I really appreciate all that you’re doing but we already have our guy.”
“But surely you don’t think poor old Ned did anything?”
Troy arched his sexy brow again. Darn it, she hated when he did that. Partly because it made him so irresistible and it annoyed her to no end that it meant that he doubted her.
“Dana, I probably shouldn’t be telling you this but the crime occurred between eight and ten in the morning.”
“Wait a minute!” Dana’s heart exploded in her chest. “Ned and his secretary were at the Cozy Cupcakes Café around that time. In fact, I was shocked that they were there the day after the...crash.”
“Why didn’t he say anything before?”
“Well, you know Ned’s memory comes and goes sometimes. He’s getting old now. Not to mention that he’s under so much pressure these days.”
“I spoke to his assistant, too. She forgot to mention that they were there together the whole time. I shouldn’t be telling you this, but she told me that she had been on the phone with her therapist so she was preoccupied for a period of time.”
“She told you that?”
Detective Troy sighed heavily. “Yes. Can you make a statement to that effect on Ned’s whereabouts between eight o’clock and ten?”
“Sure can. In fact, the café was pretty full that morning. Tons of people saw him there. I’m surprised Tiffany didn’t say anything.”
“She’s been quite emotional. Her doc says she’s not to speak to the police until she’s under control.”
“Oh, right.” Dana remembered that Tiffany had been seeing a therapist for a while now and sometimes had severe breakdowns. She was probably all shaken up from the fiasco and the near miss with Ned’s life, not to mention his arrest. And Tiffany had been seeing Ned on the side and had hoped that he would marry her after his divorce finalized. Well, this was according to the gossip mill at Berry Cove’s gossip headquarters down at Bea’s Salon.
“So you’re sure you saw him at your café between eight and ten?” Troy asked again.
“Sure did. Well, I wasn’t exactly sitting with them. I went over to speak with them but then I went back into the kitchen to work and when I went to the bank around eleven in the morning, he was still there.”
“Right. So he was there between eight and eleven?”
“Yup. He was there when I left at eleven in the morning because that was the time I had to make a deposit at the bank.” Dana paused. She was about to tell Troy that his assistant Tiffany had gotten up to take some long bathroom breaks but decided not to say anything yet. Not until she has more information on just what Tiffany was up to. Perhaps Tiffany was calling the insurance company or her therapist at that time.
Troy took down the statement and made a call to the holding area.