***
“I said Iain’t done nothin’ wrong!”Ray’s voice pitched to a near yell.
Aiden’s temper ticked.He wouldn’t give Ray the satisfaction of knowing he’d rattled him, but oh, fuck, it took some self-control.“Glad to hear that.All I want is an alibi for Sunday night, early Monday morning.If you cooperate, I won’t call your parole officer.”
Ray’s pale, freckled face turned tomato red.“Fine.”He stood and dug into his pockets, pulling out a lighter, a partial pack of cigarettes, some change, dirt, a shitload of lint, and some crumpled receipts.
The junk spilled onto his desk and Aiden resisted the urge to shove the shit down the loser’s throat.
Ray returned to his chair and flattened out the receipts.“This one’s for beer I bought in Denver,” he said, pushing the slip of paper across the desk.He flipped through a couple more then shoved them all at Aiden.“Go to town.”
Aiden accepted the receipts and read the time stamps.The beer had been purchased Monday night at 11:19 p.m.The next receipt was for a motel room in Denver purchased a few hours prior, and the last receipt was a bus ticket to Whistlemore, purchased at 9:43 a.m.today.
Well, shit.
“Excuse me a sec.”Aiden stood, went to the photocopy machine, and made copies of all the receipts.Returning, he dropped the original slips of paper in front of Ray.“Thank you for your cooperation.”
“Am I off the hook?’Cause I wasn’t here for the incidents, right?”
Aiden bit his tongue, not wanting to reassure the man in any way and encourage him to pester Dez.“Like I said, thank you for your cooperation.This will help build our case to find who’s been harassing Ms.Zimmerman.”
Ray swung his lower jaw to the side, his mouth slack.“You a friend of hers?”
Aiden blinked twice.
Ray nodded.“Fine.I don’t have anything against Dezzy, though.She’s a good girl.I’d never do anything to hurt her.”
“Stealing her mom’s car and putting her through hell would hurt her.”
Ray held out his hands.“It’s not like that.Charlene and I have our troubles, but she loves me.She just forgot.”He let out a loose laugh then rubbed his hands on his thighs.“Am I free to go?”
Swallowing the thick pill of pride, Aiden flicked his wrist.“Yeah, we’re done here.”
“Good, good.I’ve got a tour booked in the morning I don’t want to miss.Hopefully Desiree will join me.”He collected his junk from the top of Aiden’s desk, not missing a coin.“You have a nice day now.”He smiled and slinked away from Aiden’s desk.
Damn if it didn’t feel like a snake slithering through his fingers.
He’d been wrong about Ray.
Maybe.
It wasn’t impossible that Ray had purchased his beer and found a way to Whistlemore and back between the hours of 11:30 p.m.and 9:30 a.m.But he also would have needed to be in town Sunday night to throw the brick through Dez’s shop window.It wouldn’t make sense for him to make three trips there and back...unless he was smart and knew how to hold up an alibi.
Considering his past, that was unlikely.
Aiden folded his hand into a fist.Someone else was after Desiree, and that threw a wrench into everything he’d laid out in his head.
She had to have an enemy, an ex-lover, someone who would want to hurt her.None of this made any sense.
He turned back to his computer and finished up his paperwork.Just after 4:00 p.m., he bounced early.He made a stop at the grocery store, picking up more food than was necessary, and then grabbed a cake from Rosie’s Café before going back to Dez’s shop just before 5:00 p.m.
His heart beat fast in his chest as Dez waltzed out of her store.She approached his car, her lips full and smiling, the juicy flesh tempting him just by being there.So much for keeping his thoughts platonic.
She dragged her fingers through the strands of her hair.God he loved the way the wavy dark curls accentuated her smooth, sun-kissed skin.She wore a pink sundress, the hem reaching mid-thigh, and it looked classy yet sexy on her tight frame.
She wriggled her fingers in a hello as he leaned across the seat and opened the passenger door.She tucked herself into the car, smooshing her purse that looked more like an overnight bag into the footwell.“Well?How’d it go with Ray?”
The last thing he wanted to do was talk about that lowlife, but she had a right to know.“For now, his alibi seems solid.He had receipts to prove his whereabouts.Of course, we need to verify with his bank that he used his debit card at those places.”
