The lieutenant shifted his gaze from Cillian to Victoria. “You’re the one with this supposed evidence?” He would have had to speak with McCully about the case to know that.
She nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Okay.” He leaned forward on his elbows. “Let’s hear it.”
She shot Cillian a quick glance. Perhaps his approach worked better than she thought. Straightening her spine, she used the calm, polite, but confident tone that worked best with people like the lieutenant and her father as she laid out the evidence she’d shared with McCully.
Lieutenant Willis listened in silence until she described Thomas’s fear of falling. He held up a hand like a stop signal. “I have to agree with McCully on this point. Mr. Briscoe’s balance issues and fear of falling are further evidence of an accidental fall, especially on an icy driveway where anyone could have slipped.”
“But he didn’t actually have balance issues.” Victoria met the lieutenant’s gaze. “He only feared that he did.”
“All the more reason for him to have gone out to get the mail.”
“We’re going to have to claim professional knowledge here, Lieutenant.” Cillian glanced at Victoria before returning his focus to the older man. “Ms. Weston here has been a practicing physical therapist for years, and I’m a clinical social worker. When a patient, especially an elderly one, has fallen, they can develop fears like Briscoe’s. The fear that they’ll fall again can convince them that they can’t trust their balance. And that fear is so strong that I promise you, that person is not going to suddenly go out into icy weather to get the mail. Especially when he knows his favorite person who collects his mail is coming that morning.” Cillian smiled. “I’d be willing to give expert testimony on the stand, if you’d like.”
Lieutenant Willis watched Cillian in silence for a few moments again, his expression appearing to transition between irritation and grudging respect. “All right.” He shifted his gaze to encompass Victoria. “You’ve brought out some interesting details that could…” he lifted his hand again, “I’m only saying could, be relevant. I’ll discuss what you’ve told me with Detective McCully to be sure he understood it all.”
“Thank you.” Victoria kept the surprise from her voice. She hadn’t expected that much progress to be made from this meeting.
“But that said, I don’t want civilians like yourselves interfering in police investigations or trying to play amateur detective.” His stare turned stern enough to be her father’s. “I expect your involvement in this to end here, is that understood?”
Her shoulders stiffened. Wonderful. They had irritated him, after all. At least his response wasn’t quite as impolite as the detective’s.
“Whether you like it or not, Lieutenant, she is involved.” Cillian’s tone hardened next to Victoria, twisting her stomach. He shouldn’t challenge the lieutenant like that. He could push him too far. “And so am I. Someone left this note on her windshield this morning.” Cillian leaned forward and placed the paper on the desk.
Lieutenant Willis opened the note, appearing to read the contents. He looked up, his jaw still set in the same grim expression. “This could have been left by anyone for a myriad of reasons. It could be a harmless prank, completely unrelated to what happened to Briscoe.”
“Wow, really?” Cillian shook his head. “I’m beginning to feel like I’m talking to your detective, and the same suspicions are coming to my mind. I suppose there are people who want this death to have been accidental, right?”
Victoria put her hand on Cillian’s arm, squeezing her fingers into the leather of his jacket and the tight muscles underneath.
But she was too late.
The lieutenant’s eyebrows pulled lower, his expression darkening as he stood. “I’m going to have to ask you both to leave now. And I suggest you steer clear of this situation and my detectives.” The warning in his tone didn’t need any further clarification.
Cillian rose, as well, and Victoria lifted her purse off her lap to do the same.
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Cillian couldn’t resist taking another stab at him, apparently. “We’ll be back.”
Victoria grabbed his forearm and tugged him toward the door with the most normal smile for the lieutenant that she could manage. “Thank you for your time. We’re sorry to have bothered you.”
Cillian thankfully allowed her to pull him from the room and move quickly back up the hallway.
“We’re sorry to have bothered you? Really?” Cillian’s tone was more amused than irritated as he looked down at her.
“I was trying to do damage control.”
“That wasn’t damage. It was laying the groundwork. We’ve got him nervous now. He’ll get on McCully and look into all the evidence again, questioning all the assumptions. You didn’t need to placate him like a scared puppy.”
She kept walking without looking at Cillian. “Politeness goes a long way toward keeping the peace with people like him. You should try it sometime.”
“I’ll stick with putting bullies in their place, thanks. I am enjoying this part, though.”
What part? She glanced at him.
He grinned and sent a pointed look to her hand. Which was still holding his arm.
She yanked her hand away. She had not meant to do that.
