Lily nodded, but some wariness crept into her eyes. “It sounds as if I’ll need my lawyer for that.”
“That’s probably a good idea.” Jack didn’t especially want to deal with her lawyer, but he liked that his comment had caused her some tension. He wanted Lily out of her comfort zone, since nervous suspects were more likely to make mistakes.
“We’ll get into this more after I have the warrant,” Jack continued, and he decided to go with a long shot. “Tell me about your relationship with Eric.”
Lily’s eyes widened, and she fired nervous glances at Caroline, Eli and him. “There was no relationship.” Her voice was clipped now. “I knew Eric only because we were in the same social circles.”
“You knew him,” Jack emphasized.
Lily’s mouth tightened for a moment. “Eric and I rarely spoke and only at parties and such.”
But the bottom line was that she had indeed known him, and Jack was fairly certain that hadn’t come up in the investigation. Of course, there would have been no reason for it to have. Lily hadn’t been a suspect, and there’d been no record of Eric ever contacting her. The only reason Jack had asked her about it was because he was toying with the idea that Eric and Zeller might have had some part in the sex trafficking. They could have teamed up to lure Buck to that inn so Zeller could kill him.
That was a long shot.
However, if Eric and Zeller were connected, then maybe Lily was, too. That could explain why Zeller was so hell-bent on pinning something illegal on her. Maybe he wanted her to be put away so she couldn’t expose his own crimes.
“What about Kingston Morris?” Jack went on. “You know him, too?”
Lily’s slow nod was as uncertain as the rest of her. “Yes. Again, the same circles, and I knew him slightly more than Eric. How is he involved in this?” she asked.
Jack knew it wouldn’t be long before word got out, so he decided to tell Lily so he could see her reaction. “Kingston showed up at Caroline’s house. Trespassing,” he added. “Her address was protected and wasn’t easily accessible. Still, Kingston managed to get it, and shortly afterward, Caroline was attacked.”
Lily pressed her hand to her chest as if to steady her heart. “You suspect Kingston of trying to kill her?”
“He’s being interviewed now,” Jack answered, dodging Lily’s direct question, and yeah, Kingston was a suspect all right.
“I see.” Some of the color drained from Lily’s face. She paused, moistened her lips. “Is it because of Grace Wainwright? Is that how Kingston got Caroline’s address?”
Jack glanced at Caroline to see if she recognized the name, but she only shook her head.
“Who’s Grace Wainwright?” Jack asked.
Lily opened her mouth, then closed it just as fast. Maybe rethinking what she’d been about to say. “Grace was at New Beginnings. She had gotten caught up in sex trafficking,” Lily added. “She also had some family problems that prevented her from going home, and she asked if she could stay there while she straightened out her life. However, before that, she was romantically involved with Kingston.”
For someone who was hesitant to share much on Skylar, Lily clearly didn’t feel the need to hold back with Grace.
Jack stared at Lily. “And why would Grace have known Caroline’s address?”
“Because Grace has excellent computer skills and wasn’t always ethical about whose information she accessed. She could have hacked into the files, found Caroline’s address and given it to Kingston. Or sold it to him.”
Jack didn’t have trouble latching on to what Lily hadn’t said. “Grace accessed information about you?”
Lily’s mouth tightened. “She did. Actually, she managed to steal some funds from my bank account. When I caught her, I told her she had to leave New Beginnings. She did, but I’ve since heard rumors that she’s still using her talents for illegal activities.”
He was definitely going to have to question Grace about that. But if she had indeed managed to get into Justice Department files, then she had to be better than just “excellent” when it came to hacking.
Jack made a mental note to contact Grace ASAP, and then he moved on to the next question he had for Lily. “Why is Zeller so hell-bent about coming after you?”
Lily hesitated, and he saw the pulse kick up on her throat. “I suspect it’s because he feels guilty.” She stopped, huffed. “Look,I’m guessing you’re not going to want to hear anything negative about one of your fellow marshals...”
“Trust me, I want to hear it,” Jack insisted.
Lily nodded and made a suit-yourself sound. “From what I’ve gathered from conversations with some of the girls who came to New Beginnings, I believe Zeller knew Nicola Gunderson and that he talked her into helping him bring down the sex-trafficking ring.”
Everything inside Jack went still. He definitely hadn’t heard Zeller mention knowing the dead girl, and he was pretty sure that should have come out by now. Especially since it was his father who was investigating her murder.
“I’m not surprised Zeller didn’t mention any of this to you,” Lily went on. “In fact, I suspect he doesn’t want anyone to know that he’s the reason that Nicola was murdered.”
