She immediately relaxed and her tail wagged. Then she stretched her neck toward him, granting easy permission.
He complied by petting her head. “Oh, you are pretty, aren’t you?” His accent held a hint of Boston. Then he stood.
I gestured him inside. “Come on in.”
He shook his head. “Thanks, but I want to get a lay of the land first. You go about your business while I scout the property for weaknesses.” He dug out his phone and scrolled through. “I have a full schematic as well as Aiden’s notes on security, but I want to see for myself.”
I angled my neck to see his phone. “Aiden drew schematics and a security map for my place?”
Kurt looked up and his forehead crinkled. “Of course. Why wouldn’t he?”
Indeed.
My phone rang justas I sat down to sketch out some preliminary notes for Kelsey Walker’s case. “Hello.”
“Hey. It’s Clark. Detective Pierce called and asked if we could meet for an interview late today. Apparently justice doesn’t relax on Saturdays.”
I paused. “Talk to me about what?”
“There’s an FBI agent who wants to talk to you about Agent Sasha Duponte’s death and he’s going through the local police right now to help preserve Aiden’s cover as a federal agent. As you know, we don’t have to talk to him, but I think we might as well get it over with. What do you think?” Clark asked.
The last person I wanted to deal with today was an FBI agent investigating me. “This whole situation is so sticky,” I muttered.
“At least the federal agencies are playing well together right now. I think that in the spirit of cooperation, we go in today. Let me do the talking as your counsel,” Clark said.
If cooperating meant keeping Aiden safe, I’d do it. “All right. I’ll meet you in front of the police station in thirty minutes.” I clicked off, finished my iced tea, and tried to figure out what to wear that would make me look both cooperative and innocent. A light summer dress in a blue poppy color and simple sandals were the best I could do.
I let Zena out and then in, making sure she was comfy in the living room before heading to my Jeep Cherokee. It was a darker green color and drove well in the snow. The vehicle was also great in the summer because it had A/C and a connection for my phone to play music.
Kurt was waiting next to it. “Where are we going?”
I’d already forgotten about Kurt. “I’m going to be interviewed by the FBI, and my lawyer will be present. So I can meet you back here.”
“Great,” Kurt said, opening the passenger side door and hopping inside. For a big guy, he moved gracefully. Kurt had to be around thirty and was slim but muscled.
I walked around and slid into the driver’s seat to start the vehicle. “I’m surprised you don’t want to drive.”
“I can shoot better if I don’t have to hold the wheel,” he said easily, pushing the button to unroll his window.
“I doubt you’ll have to shoot anybody,” I countered, backing out and driving out onto the country road.
He kept his focus outside. “You never know. An ATF agent was murdered on your porch, so obviously there’s somebody out there who wants to cause you problems. Or someone who took advantage of a situation and doesn’t care if they cause you problems. Unless you’re the one who killed her. Either way, I’m ready to fire if necessary.”
“I didn’t kill her,” I said. Yeah, he made some sense. “How long have you known Aiden?”
“About five years,” Kurt said. “We’ve worked together on a couple of jobs, and he requested me for his unit here. My transfer just came in.”
“Did you know Sasha?” I turned down another tree-lined road.
“Yeah,” Kurt said softly.
I breathed out. “I’m really sorry she was killed.”
“Me, too,” he said, straightening at seeing a light blue truck parked to the side of the road. He relaxed when two fishermen came into view as they parted high grass to head into the trees. “There must be a creek in there.”
“Yeah. It leads to the lake. Good trout fishing if you know where to look.” Locals often fished the creek. “It’s called Blue Creek, but I don’t know why. The water is green like most rivers in Idaho.” Rather, the moss and rocks were green, and the water just looked green. I wondered why the creek was called Blue Creek.
“I like to fish,” Kurt said, watching the trees speed by. “At least, I used to like it. It’s been a long time.”
