“And no alibi?”
“None that can be verified.”
“Not good.”
“Nope.” She sighed.
“You don’t need me to say this either, Amanda, but I’m going to anyway. I don’t want you doing the questioning.”
His statement landed like a punch in the stomach. “What?”
“This isn’t up for negotiation. Trent will handle it. You can be in the room if you keep quiet. Can you promise me that?”
It felt like she was watching this take place from outside of herself. She’d proven herself thus far. She wasn’t sure why he didn’t trust her to go all the way with this. Even if it came down to a formal charge.
“Amanda?” Malone prompted.
“How could I just sit there?” There was no way she could promise to remain mute.
“That answers my question then. Trent will go in alone, and you’ll watch from the observation room. I’ll stick around with you.”
As if he doesn’t trust me…
Malone pushed out from his desk and pulled an ice pack from behind him before he stood, and the three of them went down the hall. Trent popped in for a look through the one-way mirror.
Spencer was seated with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. The body language suggested defensiveness. Why couldn’t he see that his being here was just procedure? If he was innocent, it would be a standard Q&A session followed by his release. Then just like he had said, they could pursue other suspects. Or more to the point,the actual killer, as he had put it.But he must have known what they’d find and how it would look.
“I’m ready to go in.” Trent looked at her as he spoke. She could tell he hated that Malone had benched her, but she trusted Trent with the questioning.
She nodded, still speechless.
When Trent entered the room, Spencer shook his head. “Where’s Amanda?”
“Detective Steele isn’t available for this interview. I’m Detective Stenson,” he told the lawyer. An older gentleman whose glasses were sliding down his narrow, ski slope nose.
“Jerome Thornton,” the attorney said. “It seems we’re here under prejudice.”
Amanda bristled, wanting to break through the glass and set the lawyer straight.
“We’re here because evidence led us to your client,” Trent pushed back.
The lawyer smiled tightly. “The way I understand it, the lead detective is a blood relative of my client. He feels she may be overcompensating, making a show of doing her job by accusing him of murdering his girlfriend. Surely, that’s a conflict of interest and a perversion of justice.”
“If any of that were true, we wouldn’t be here. Detective Steele would have disregarded what we’ve discovered, made excuses for your client.”
Amanda’s heart warmed at how Trent had held his own while standing up for her.
“But isn’t it more accurate to say that Christine was your client’s ex-girlfriend?” Trent turned to Spencer.
Spencer’s gaze shot to the one-way mirror, and it felt as if he were looking right at her. “What the hell are you?—?”
His lawyer reached out with a cautionary hand.
“—talking about?” Spencer finished in a slightly softer tone while stilllooking at the glass.
“My client doesn’t seem to know what you’re talking about,” Thornton said, echoing Spencer’s response.
Trent reached into the folder he’d brought into the room and produced a printout. He pushed the sheet to the opposite side of the table. “That’s a text message from Christine to your client last Thursday. I’ll allow you time to read it.” Trent sat back while Spencer picked up the page.
