“And Miss Calloway would prefer that I’m present,” Ink countered. “If you want to dictate who is present when you talk to her, then you can do that at the station in the presence of her lawyer. Otherwise, you can speak to the three of us here.”
“There’s no need for all that. I was just trying to respect her privacy,” he said and gestured to the chair. “May I?”
“Yes, of course,” I said. “I’ll get Ariel.”
As I hurried to the kitchen, I wondered what in the hell Ink was doing, because it seemed like he was deliberately trying to piss off the detective. “He’s here,” I told Ariel.
“Yay,” she said dryly. “Let the fun begin.”
“Please don’t be rude,” I whispered. “Ink is doing enough of that for everyone.”
“Oh, maybe this will be fun.”
Sighing, I followed her into the living room to see what hell awaited me. I wasn’t a huge fan of confrontation, and I had a feeling there was about to be a lot of it in my house.
Ink and the detective appeared to be in the middle of a staring contest when we entered the room. Detective Coleman broke away first and nodded at us. “Hello. You must be Ariel. I’m Detective Coleman. I came by to talk to you and your mom about Elsie Nelson.”
“Um, hello,” Ariel said.
“What can you tell me about your friend Elsie?” he asked.
Ariel looked at me as her forehead wrinkled in confusion. “My friend?”
“She’s already told the police everything she knows about Elsie,” Ink said. “It should be in their reports. Perhaps you have a specific question.”
Detective Coleman glared at Ink for a brief moment before he turned his attention back to Ariel. “Do you know where Elsie is?”
“No,” Ariel said simply.
“Did you tell her your house would be empty that Saturday so she could come in and get what she needed?”
“What? No, of course not,” Ariel said.
“I thought you were here to talk to us about the fingerprints you found after the break-in, not to accuse my daughter of facilitating it,” I snapped. “And for the record, I know Ariel didn’t tell her the house would be empty because the house wasn’t supposed to be empty. I was supposed to be home all weekend, but my mother had an accident that required my presence.”
“I see. And what about the cocaine found in the kitchen?”
“I don’t know what you’re up to, but I think you need to leave,” I said.
“There’s no need for that,” he said calmly.
“There most certainly is. First you—” The doorbell ringing interrupted my words.
Once again, Ink got up to answer the door. When he moved to the side, a man I vaguely recognized stepped inside. I couldn’t quite place him, but he had an air of authority that couldn’t be missed. He smiled kindly at me. “Hello, Ms. Calloway. I’m Sheriff Turner. I knew Coleman had a meeting with you today and wanted to stop by and see how the investigation is going. So, where are we?”
“I believe Presley was about to ask Detective Coleman why he drove by her house so many times yesterday that it scared her daughter. Or perhaps she was going to ask why he just accused her daughter of helping Elsie break into their house, or maybe she was going to ask if he was insinuating she had cocaine in her kitchen last weekend,” Ink told him.
“Well, Coleman,” the sheriff said. “I’d like to hear the answers to all of those questions.”
The tension was so high I was ready to sink into the sofa and disappear into the ether. Ariel looked the same.
Detective Coleman shifted in his seat but otherwise appeared nonplussed. “As you know, we’ve been actively looking for Elsie Nelson. When the fingerprints came back as a match to her, I thought she might be in the area, so I was driving around looking for her. I was under the impression that Ms. Calloway’s daughter was with her grandparents yesterday afternoon, so I had no idea she was even home when I was circling the neighborhood. As for the accusation, I simply asked if Ariel told Elsie the house would be empty on Saturday.”
“And the cocaine?” Ink helpfully added.
“I wanted to see if their answers matched the ones they gave us during the initial report. That’s not an uncommon practice,” he said.
“I see,” Chuck said. “Well, what is it you wanted to discuss with them? I’m sure they have things to do, and so do you.”
