“Lily Terrell,” Eli answered. “She says you’ll want to see her because she believes she’s a suspect in today’s attack.”
WELL, JACKHADN’Tseen this coming. In fact, he’d thought he was going to have to contact Lily to let her know that he had some questions for her. He’d expected an heiress like that to give him some flak. Instead, here she was, walking straight toward Kellan’s office.
Jack closed the laptop and checked to make sure there was nothing that a person of interest shouldn’t be seeing. There wasn’t. Well, nothing other than Caroline. Jack didn’t care for the fact that she was going to have to face yet someone else who may have had a part in the attack.
“She’s not armed,” Eli told Jack.
Jack appreciated that his brother had frisked the woman, but after getting a good look at her, he figured there weren’t many places Lily could have hidden a weapon. She was a tall woman, close to six feet, and she was rail thin. The cobalt blue dress shewas wearing clung to every inch of her. No chance of her hiding much in the tiny hand-sized purse she was holding.
“Marshal Slater,” she greeted, her voice a sultry drawl. It went well with her cool violet eyes and the auburn hair that tumbled over her shoulders.
She flashed him a smile, extending it to Eli and then to Caroline. “Miss Moser,” Lily added.
“How do you know me?” Caroline asked, taking the question right out of Jack’s mouth.
“I’m familiar with your work on Crime-Track that you did at the university with Gemma Hanson.” Lily’s answer was quick and unruffled. Actually,unruffledwas a good description for the woman herself. If she was bothered by being considered a suspect, she didn’t show it.
Caroline had indeed worked on that project, and Jack figured that was common knowledge. The media had hashed and rehashed it after one of the research assistants on the project, Eric Lang, had been uncovered as a serial killer.
“It’s work you should continue,” Lily added to Caroline a moment later. “It could be very beneficial to law enforcement agencies.”
Caroline lifted an eyebrow. “I doubt anyone wants to trust a profiler who worked side by side with a serial killer and didn’t know it.”
Lily made a sound that could have meant anything and turned back to Jack. “The shooting was on the news,” she said. “Details were sketchy, but when I heard your name and Caroline’s, I thought it best if I came in.”
“And why is that?” Jack had no intention of showing his hand until he found out more about this visit.
“Bennie Darnell is a handyman at New Beginnings, and he told me about Marshal Lee Zeller’sinterestin me. When I heard about the attack on the news, I assumed Zeller would be tryingto convince you that I was somehow involved. So I came here to clear my name.”
Jack exchanged glances with Caroline and saw that she was just as surprised as he was. Zeller had made it seem as if Bennie was his mole, but obviously the handyman still had some loyalty to his employer. In turn, that called into question any info that Bennie had given Zeller, because maybe Bennie was just the sort who liked to tell people whatever it was they wanted to hear.
“Why exactly does Marshal Zeller have an interest in you?” Jack asked. He tried to keep his tone level, more of a request than a demand, since he was still trying to figure out if Lily was playing some kind of game or if she truly was concerned about making sure her name was clean.
“Because of Skylar Greer.” She didn’t hesitate, and Lily looked him straight in the eyes when she spoke. Then she dragged in a long breath. “Even though he’s never come right out and said it, Marshal Zeller seems to believe I had some part in Skylar leaving New Beginnings. I didn’t.”
Interesting that Lily had used the word “leaving” when Zeller had described it as a disappearance.
“Why did the womanleave?” Jack pressed.
Now she dodged his gaze, but only for a few seconds. “I’m not sure. She didn’t speak to me about it, but I assume Skylar felt as if there was some other place she wanted to be. Hopefully, a safe place,” she softly added.
Yeah, Jack hoped the same thing, and also wished he could know for sure that the woman was actually alive. “You think Skylar could have gotten lured back into sex trafficking?”
Lily didn’t jump to deny that, and she glanced at Caroline. “You both know how hard it is to come back from a traumatic situation. Skylar was a troubled young woman and didn’t trust easily. I think it would be very easy for her to slip back into her old ways.”
Lily’s words were right. So was the concerned expression on her face. But something in her voice and body language didn’t ring true for Jack. Or maybe he was just projecting because of the sliver of doubt that Zeller had put in his head.
“Skylar didn’t trust you?” Caroline came out and asked.
“Sadly, no,” Lily answered.
Again, right tone, but it did nothing to ease that bad feeling. He considered a moment how to deal with this and went with the direct approach.
“I want copies of Skylar’s records,” Jack insisted.
Lily’s expression never changed, and she didn’t even pause. “I’m afraid I’ll have to insist you get a warrant for that. The privacy of the residents is a top priority for me.”
It was the exact answer he’d expected from the woman. Maybe stonewalling. Maybe just trying to be ethical. “I’ll get the warrant, and then you’ll need to come back in here to give me an official statement.”
