Theo and I waited off to the side while the firefighters tended to Hoffman and then spoke with the paramedics and cops who arrived on the scene within the next couple of minutes. By the time the paramedics had Hoffman on a stretcher, he had regained consciousness. When he caught sight of me, he pointed an accusing finger my way. “Did you do this to me?”
“Of course not!” I planted my hands on my hips. “Why are you accusing me?”
“Someone hit me from behind.”
“It wasn’t me. I’m the one who called 911. You’re welcome,” I added acerbically when he showed no signs of gratitude.
“Where’s the whiskey you stole?” Theo called out from her spot by the building’s back door.
Hoffman scowled as the paramedics loaded him into the ambulance, but he said nothing further. As annoying as that was, I figured I already knew the answer. Whoever had attacked Hoffman had taken the booze he’d most likely stolen from Freddie’s office.
“Code four,” Theo said under her breath as I joined her by the door.
At least, that’s what I thought she said.
“What’s a code four?” I asked, confused.
“Thor,not four!” she corrected in a harsh whisper.
Detective Callahan strode past, giving us a suspicious glance on his way to the ambulance.
“Oh, great,” I said as he climbed inside to talk to Hoffman.
Theo and I spoke separately with a uniformed police officer, outlining how we’d found Hoffman in the alley. There wasn’t much to tell, so it didn’t take long, and we’d already finished by the time the detective hopped down from the back of the ambulance.
I silently warned my knees not to tremble when the detective fixed his ice-blue eyes on me. Theo returned to my side as Callahan approached.
He didn’t bother with a greeting. “It’s interesting that you were the one to find your ex out here,” he said, never blinking as he studied me.
I crossed my arms, then uncrossed them when I realized I’d taken on a defensive posture. “I’m not the one who attacked him.”
Callahan’s eyes narrowed by a hair. “I didn’t say you were.”
My arms hung awkwardly at my sides, like they didn’t belong there. The right one twitched, and I gave in to the urge to cross them over my chest again. “You were insinuating. I know Hoffman accused me, but I didn’t do it.”
Theo spoke up in my defense. “She’s been with me for the past hour. Well, for most of it, anyway.”
Oh, fantastic.
Way to help me out, Theo,I wanted to say, but instead I gritted my teeth.
Callahan’s blue eyes shifted to Theo and then returned to me. I got the feeling he was mentally fitting me for an orange jumpsuit.
“I checked the video surveillance footage from the grocery store,” he said, causing a weight to settle in my stomach. “It’s a seven-minute walk from this building to the store, and yet, on the day of the murder, you didn’t get there until nearly twenty minutes after leaving the Mirage.”
I knew what he’d left unsaid: That gave me plenty of time to sneak back into the Mirage through a side or back door, murder Freddie, flee the building, and then continue to the grocery store.
“I have shorter legs than you,” I pointed out, relieved to find that my voice wasn’t trembling like my knees were. “Plus, I stopped at the park for a few minutes to enjoy the sunshine.”
“Did anyone see you there?”
“Nobody who knows me,” I said, the weight in my stomach growing heavier.
His eyes still on me, Detective Callahan flicked open his notebook. He finally looked down to write a line or two, and I sucked in a breath, glad to be momentarily free of his intense scrutiny.
Then he hit me with the full force of his blue gaze again. “I’d appreciate it if the two of you left the scene now.” He gestured toward the open door and gave us a pointed stare.
I huffed out a sigh, and Theo rolled her eyes, but we obeyed.
