‘My books?’
Amy hadn’t been expecting that. Some of the tension in her shoulders eased, but only a little. Sullivan was observing her through dark eyes. Not necessarily with suspicion, but she could tell he was monitoring her reaction. She would never have figured him for a cop. Well, certainly not based on the ones she had encountered over the years.
‘What can you tell us about Grave Encounters?’
He caught Amy off guard. She wasn’t expecting these kinds of questions at all and had no idea where it could be leading.
‘It’s the first novel I wrote,’ she told him and Angell, not at all sure what kind of information they were after. ‘It was published about eight years ago – the first in my Zack Maguire series. Why?’
Sullivan and Angell exchanged a glance.
‘Two bodies were found this morning and the way they were killed mirrors a scene in your book,’ Angell told her.
What?
‘My book?’ Amy looked from one detective to the other. Was this some kind of prank?
From the expressions on their faces she knew they weren’t fooling around.
‘How do you know?’ she asked, aware it sounded a dumb question, but not sure what else to say. She looked to Angell for a response. The way Sullivan was intently watching her as if she’d done something wrong was a little off-putting. His partner was nicer.
‘Chapter twenty-six, the murders in the graveyard: girl buried alive, boy stabbed to death.’
‘That happened?’
Angell nodded.
‘It did, last night.’
‘Oh boy.’ Amy shoved her hands back through her hair and turned away from the detectives to look out over the park. The sun was setting, creating a dusky pink and orange backdrop, the trees motionless in the still heat. It was a pretty evening. Too pretty to be receiving news like this. ‘Why are you connecting it to Grave Encounters? It could be a coincidence.’
‘The killer left clues leading to your book,’ Sullivan told her grimly. ‘He didn’t make it difficult; he wanted us to know where he got his inspiration.’ He waited for Amy to look in his direction, then added, ‘He, or of course it could be she.’
Asshole.
‘You think I did it?’
Sullivan held her gaze before answering. ‘Nope,’ he conceded eventually. ‘But we would be interested in knowing where you were last night between about eight and eleven.’
‘It’s a standard question,’ Angell added kindly. ‘So we can eliminate you from our enquiries.’
Amy was rattled. Why would someone take a scene from her book and use it as a brief to commit murder. It made no sense.
There are plenty of sick people out there.
You can never tell how someone gets their kicks.
Right now she was experiencing a whole range of emotions.
Guilt, disbelief, a little bit of fear and frustration, and anger, the last mostly directed at Detective Jake Sullivan.
‘I was working,’ she told Angell. ‘Finished my bar shift about one thirty.’ Scowling at Sullivan, she added sarcastically, ‘Then of course I was busy getting dog training tips from you.’
He didn’t react to the jibe. ‘Work? I thought you were a writer?’
‘I am, but I need more than my books to pay the bills. I waitress at the Velvet Lounge part-time; it’s a cocktail bar downtown.’
‘I know where it is.’
‘Your friend mentioned someone wrote on your windshield,’ Angell said, changing the subject. ‘Was that today?’
‘Yeah, I was doing a signing for my new novel at Too Many Books this morning. My car was parked across the street and someone had written on the windshield, I think it was lipstick.’
‘What did it say?’
Amy looked at the floor, uncomfortable.
‘It said “bitch”,’ she said quietly. It was one thing telling her friends about it, but these detectives didn’t know her and she didn’t like the connotations the word implied.
‘Any idea who might have done it?’
‘There is a woman, Nadine. She’s a fan of my books and she got a little mad today because I’ve ended the series and tried something new. I didn’t see her do it and it might not have been her, but I can’t think of anyone else.’
‘Do you know her last name?’
‘Williams. Nadine Williams.’
Angell smiled. ‘We’ll check her out.’
Sullivan was leaning back against the wall, arms and ankles casually crossed, still regarding Amy intently, most likely trying to figure her out and what part she might play in all of this.
She didn’t appreciate the scrutiny. It had been a long day which had steadily gotten worse as it went along.
‘Do you have any more questions?’ She made a point of glancing through the patio doors at her friends. ‘We were about to eat.’ Truth was her appetite had gone. All she wanted to do was to go back to her friends and drink a few more glasses of wine.
‘We’ll be in touch if we need anything. In the meantime, you call us if you think of any information that might be useful.’ Sullivan pulled a card from his jacket pocket and their hands brushed briefly as he handed it to her.
Amy quickly pulled away. ‘I’ll show you out.’
Closing the door after them, she drew in a deep sigh and turned to face her friends. ‘I need more wine in my glass.’
‘You were a little hard on her,’ Rebecca noted casually as they left Amy’s apartment.
‘I guess a little.’ Jake was tired; the lack of sleep from the previous night catching up on him and making him grouchy. Still his mind was working overtime. ‘Don’t you find it convenient she has a new book out to promote?’ he questioned, opening the car door and dropping down into the driver’s seat. He turned the ignition and lowered the volume on the stereo as the Foo Fighters blasted out.
‘Yeah, I guess the timing is coincidental, but murder to promote a book?’
‘They say there is no bad publicity.’
Rebecca looked at him. ‘You honestly believe she is somehow involved in the murders?’
Jake thought of the pretty girl they’d been talking to. She didn’t come across as your stereotypical nutjob, but that could be a mask. She had appeared genuinely stunned when they’d told her why they were there. And when he’d run into her walking her dog, she hadn’t been acting in any way suspicious. There had been nothing in her demeanour to suggest that a couple of hours earlier she had killed two people.
She said she had been working and he had a feeling that, when they checked out her alibi, it would be the truth. Still, something didn’t sit right.
‘Well, no, not directly involved, although I guess she could’ve paid someone else to do it.’
Rebecca wasn’t having it.
‘I don’t buy it. She was genuinely shocked when we told her what had happened. She’d have to be a hell of an actress to pull off a performance like that. You’re on the wrong track with this one, Jake.’
‘Maybe, but she’s involved somehow. It wasn’t a coincidence the killer left her book for us to find.’
It was getting late and he needed to sleep on it. His apartment was only a block from where Amy Gallaty lived, but first he had to drop Rebecca off; then, when he got home, walk Roxy.