Her dad hustled her out of the building and to his car. It was still warm inside, and the luxurious leather seat felt like a hug as Sienna sank into it.
“Buckle up,” he said, starting the engine. “The roads are a mess.”
They crept along, snow falling so heavily the wipers couldn’t keep up. She saw that his knuckles were white from gripping the wheel so tightly.
“I’m sorry you had to come out in this weather, Dad.”
“Thank God you’re okay.” He didn’t take his eyes from the road. “But we do need to talk about your mother.”
“About Mom?” she repeated, confused.
“About how we break this to her.” He approached a stop sign and eased through it without stopping. “I’m not sure how she’ll react to this. We need to prepare for the worst.”
The worst. A full-blown paranoiac episode. Sienna shuddered. “We could keep it a secret?”
“That won’t work. It’ll be in the newspaper. On the TV. Even if I ask the police to keep your name out of it, it’ll get out.”
“I’m sorry,” she said again.
“She’s sleeping now. That’s good. I’ll tell her about the murder in the morning. Play down how you were involved. If you need anything or have any questions, nightmares, anything, come to me. Not a word to her. Okay?”
“Okay.” She hugged herself, wondering how he would have “played it down” if she had been the one lying dead in the snow. How would he have protected her mother then? “When it comes to Mom, you always know best.”
They drove the rest of the way in silence and without incident. They had no sooner gotten inside than Chief Thompson rolled into the drive. The headlights of his GMC Yukon sliced across the front window, followed a moment later by the sound of a car door slamming.
Sienna hovered just inside the front parlor, peering around the door casing, watching. As expected, her dad opened the door before the chief had the chance to ring the bell and wake up her mother.
Her father greeted the man at the door, though his voice was far from welcoming. “Fred.”
“Dan.” The chief sounded angry. “You know why I’m here.”
“I do.”
“That move you pulled at the station, you were out of line. A girl is dead.”
“And Sienna is traumatized.”
“She may have seen or heard something.”
“She didn’t.”
“How do you know?” Her dad didn’t have a response, and the chief pressed his advantage. “Can I come in?”
Her father didn’t answer and Sienna wondered if he was going to refuse. Apparently, the same thought crossed the chief’s mind because he added, “I have the right to question her. Here. Or back at the station. It’s your choice.”
“Damn right it’s my choice. She’s my daughter.”
“She’s eighteen, Dan. In the eyes of the law, an adult.”
“Dammit, Fred!” He lowered his voice. When he spoke again, it shook with emotion. “It could have been … My God, she was right there.”
“I understand. You’re scared. What parent wouldn’t be? But I have a responsibility to that other girl—and to her family—to do everything in my power to find whoever did this and bring them to justice.”
Her father’s voice lowered more. She had to strain to hear him.
“Sienna’s fragile. You know that.”
Fragile. Her cheeks heated. The way her mother was fragile.
“How would you feel in the other family’s shoes, Dan? Wouldn’t you want me to do my job?”
Sienna stepped into the doorway, hands curled into tight fists. “I want to help, Dad.”
“Sienna—”
“He’s right, what if it had been me?”
His face seemed to cave in on itself, as if just the thought was too painful to contemplate. “Okay. But I’m staying.”
The chief stomped the snow from his boots and stepped inside. “I have to question her alone, Dan.”
“That’s ridiculous!”
“It’s protocol.”
“I don’t give a damn if it’s etched in stone on your mother’s grave—”
“Dad!” Sienna took another step into the room. “It’s okay.”
“The hell it is.” He glowered at the lawman, who seemed unperturbed.
“Thank you, Sienna.” He shrugged out of his coat, removed his scarf and gloves, and handed them to her father. “Dan, close the door behind you.”
Her father nodded curtly, then crossed to her, looked her in the eyes. “If you need me, I’ll be right outside the door.”
“I’ll be fine,” she said with forced bravado. “I’m stronger than you think I am, Dad.”
She saw in his eyes that he didn’t believe her. She couldn’t blame him; truthfully, she didn’t believe it either.
CHAPTER SIX
Chief Thompson ushered her across to the couch, then took a seat directly across from her. He met her eyes. “I have to ask you some questions. About tonight. Do you understand why?”
“I think so.” Her voice sounded wooden to her own ears. The way her mother’s sometimes did, after one of her flare-ups.
“You were first to the scene. You know what that means, right?”
Like everyone else, she watched crime shows. She swallowed hard and nodded, head filling with the image of red snow. “Am I a suspect?”
“In terms of investigative protocol, yes. But do I think you killed her? No, of course I don’t.” He shifted in his seat, but didn’t take his gaze off her. She had a feeling that gaze missed nothing. Like he could see her wildly beating heart, read her fearful thoughts.
“But,” he continued, “I can’t summarily dismiss anything. That would make me a very poor cop.”
“And you’re not.”
He smiled slightly. “That’s right. That’s also why I’m going to make notes of what you say. I don’t want you to be nervous about that. It’s part of the process.”
“Okay.” She folded her hands in her lap. She realized how cold they were. “I’ll try not to be.”
He reached into his jacket pocket and brought out a photo. He held it out. “Do you know this girl?”
Brown eyes and hair. A dusting of freckles across a pert nose. An earnest smile.
Red snow. A white parka. A sensation like ice cracking beneath her skates. Her hands began to shake.
“Yes. From the library. Her name’s Madi.”
“Madison Robie,” he said. “Yes.”
Her head went light. Sienna told herself to breathe. “I saw her tonight.”
“At the library?”
“She works there. I see her every Wednesday night.”
“Were you friends?”
Sienna shook her head. “I know her from there. She’s older. A junior, I think.”
“How did you happen to be out so late in such bad weather?”
“I have study group every Wednesday night.”
“You didn’t consider skipping tonight, because of the snow?”