“I’ve got an appointment with your chiropractor this morning. I’ll let you know.”
She nodded. “Are you sure you don’t want the coffee?” She hadn’t missed how he’d continued to ogle it when he thought she wasn’t looking. With her calling him out, he didn’t bother trying to hide the fact. “Here, take it.” Amanda lifted the fresh one from Trent and gifted it to him.
“Thanks. Hannah’s is the best.”
“No argument here.” She smiled at him as she left his office, but the expression was brief.
Emma Blair came through the doors and stormed down the hallway toward her. Spencer must have called his mother at some point overnight or had his lawyer notify her.
“How dare you drag my son in like a criminal,” she roared.
Amanda’s cheeks heated. The accusation wasn’t much of a surprise, but the ambush was jolting. “Emma, please, listen to me.” She reached out to touch the investigator’s shoulder, but she drew back and held up her hands.
“Please, keep your hands off me.”
There was no way Amanda could postpone this conversation. It didn’t matter how much she would have liked to join Trent at Spencer’s house and get on with following the evidence to wherever it led. “I think we should talk.”
“What youshoulddo is release my son,” Emma spat.
Amanda wasn’t doing this here in front of an audience. She gestured for Emma to follow her and took her to a soft interview room. It was normally used for questioning victims or their families. Once inside, she shut the door behind them.
Emma remained standing while Amanda sat on the couch.
“You’re just going to sit there?” Emma said with heat.
“It seems you have things to say to me.”
“You bet I do. You arrested him? He didn’t do this.”
“There haven’t been any charges laid against him, but he is a person of interest?—”
“Asuspectyou are holding in a cell.”
“Which we are within our right to do.”
Emma huffed out a breath.
“We follow the evidence, and if he’s innocent, more will turn up that leads us away from him.”
“Leads you away…?” Emma dropped into a chair.
“It pains me that we’re here, Emma, trust me. But what we have so far doesn’t look good for him.”
“Then you’re not looking at it right. I’ll have you know I called your father during the night, asking him to talk some sense into you, but he wants to stay out of this. He says he trusts you to do the right thing. Now you’re telling me to trust you. How can I?”
The question stung. It superseded the fact that Blair had gone to her father. That was crossing a line no matter which way one viewed it. “I’ve never given you a reason to doubt that you can.”
“Not until now. Just let my son go, Amanda. Catch the real killer.”
Amanda shook her head. “You know I can’t release him at this point.”
“Because you think he did this.”
“It doesn’t matter what I think.”
“What do you have on him?”
“You know I can’t tell you that.”
