“And why is that?” Pataki asked.
“One, because he has motive. He was livid with Lionel. He very vocally expressed his hatred for the man at a public party just before Christmas. There are witnesses. He accused Lionel of stealing from him. Two, he had opportunity. As the boyfriend of Lionel’s TA Mia, he had access to Lionel’s apartment. That gave him access to Lionel’s pills.”
Pataki lifted one unkempt brow. “And how could you possibly know any of this?”
“It’s all over campus,” she said with a dismissive flick of her of her wrist. “That’s where I heard it.”
Half of that statement was true, so she wasn’t a complete liar. And really, was a lie of omission really a lie at all? It didn’t matter. All Natalie knew for sure was that she couldn’t tell the cops that her witness to the boyfriend being in Lionel’s apartment was the ghost of his landlord.
“What were you doing on campus?”
“Having lunch at The Well. You should try hanging out there. It’s a hubbub of activity,” she told him.
“And there’s beer,” Liam added, lifting his coffee cup and staring down into it as if he wished it contained beer instead of coffee.
Pataki let out a huff of breath so big the force of it ruffled the edge of the bunched up napkin he’d tossed on the table in front of him. “You got a name for this kid? The boyfriend.”
“Peter… something. I don’t have his last name. But he’s Mia’s boyfriend.”
Crap. She should have asked Lionel for a last name. Maybe she could call back and get it. If he remembered it. Lionel didn’t seem like the type to worry about details like students’ names.
She continued. “Maybe I can find it?—”
Pataki held up his hand to stop her. “No. No need. We have the name. He was her alibi for the night Graves was found dead. Although now we know that doesn’t matter if the pills were swapped days or weeks ahead of time.” He let out another sigh and leveled a glare at Natalie. “You know, this case has gotten a whole lot more complicated since you got involved.”
With a sigh, Pataki leaned forward again, reaching for his sandwich as Liam let out a snort. “You should try dating her.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Men.
Natalie had delivered the name of the killer right into Pataki’s lap, but instead of jumping up and heading back to the station to organize a search party or a task force or whatever police do in these cases, he and Liam both sat and enjoyed their lunch first. Granted it was a good sandwich but this was murder they were talking about here.
“Are we really going to sit here in the New Haven police station waiting for an update from Pataki?” Liam asked after lunch was over and Pataki had finally taken some action on the new lead.
“Yes,” she answered.
“Why? He has your number. He promised he’d call.”
“But what if they need me? I can help. You know I can. You know there are certain things I can do that the police can’t.”
“Yes, Natalie. I know. But they don’t. And you keep dropping tidbits you couldn’t possibly know into their lap and you’re going to have to tell them.”
“And they won’t believe me about the… you know… and then they won’t believe anything I say. They’ll stop looking into Peter and he’ll get away with murder. Is that what you want?”
“No. Of course not. But it’s been close to two hours. And these are the most uncomfortable seats on earth.”
“Hey, I let you eat lunch first,” she reminded.
“Yes, thank you. Very generous.”
“It’s not all fun and games here for me either. There are… things making me uncomfortable too that I’m having to ignore.”
“Really?” One dark brow cocked up. “You hadn’t mentioned anything so I assumed, you know, there weren’t any here.”
“Oh, there are. Everywhere.” The police station. The Well. The diner. Natalie had just gotten really good at not looking. If she pretended hard enough they were just people, it almost worked to help her forget they weren’t living people.
“So, who’s here?” Liam asked, excitement in his voice.
