“What do you think? She was disappointed. Dani was pissed. She sent me a bunch of angry texts. I tried calling. They wouldn’t take my calls. Complete silence. I figured they needed some time to cool down after this one.”
“This one?”
“Jesus, Quinn. Don’t you and the LT fight at all?”
They didn’t fight much but Noah was everything this irritating, frenetic man was not. She kept that to herself. “When is the last time you heard from either of them?”
“Monday.”
“Where were you when Cassidy came by the stationhouse a few weeks ago?” Josie asked.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It might matter.”
“Jesus, Quinn. I do this for a living, too, remember? I’m telling you it doesn’t fucking matter.”
“And if you’re telling me it doesn’t matter then that makes me think you’re hiding something. Are you hiding something,Turner? When I check your phone and the infotainment system in your car, what am I going to find? Did you intentionally try to keep your whereabouts that day a secret? Do we need to go to the stationhouse so I can take a formal statement from you? Don’t make me waste time running down something that really doesn’t matter when I could be using that time and those resources to find your family.”
They glared at one another. Spot’s tail wagged so hard it made his whole body wriggle. Like Trout, he could sense the rising tension in the room. Josie wasn’t about to give Turner the dramatic confrontation he was probably gunning for. He was the king of deflection. She was the woman who was going to dethrone his infuriating ass.
Leaning closer to him, she said, “I will find out, Turner. You know I will. I always do. What did you call me the first time we met? ‘The great Josie Quinn’? My reputation precedes me for a reason. You’ve had a front row seat for almost two years now. The only thing I don’t have is a goddamn cape. Do you doubt me?”
Good lord, she sounded like him right now but maybe she needed to put up a façade just like he did. Maybe she needed to speak his language: arrogant bravado.
The irritation drained from Turner’s face. With another tug on his beard, he said, “I was at the cemetery.”
“Which one?”
“Cahill Woodling Cemetery. Outside of Selinsgrove.”
“Stop making me pull teeth,” Josie said. “Who were you visiting?”
“My mother. Happy?”
She was pretty damn far from happy with him, but that didn’t matter right now.
“Cassidy sought you out at the stationhouse because she couldn’t reach you on your cell. Why was that?”
“It died.”
Josie wasn’t sure she believed him, but she moved past that for now. “Why was she looking for you?”
He glanced at Spot. “The dog. He was having an issue with his leg. Seemed like he was in a lot of pain. She wanted to take him to the vet. Dani was at work.”
“She visits you here often?”
“Jesus, Quinn. None of this matters.”
“If it doesn’t matter, then just tell me. Stop wasting time.”
“We don’t have a formal custody arrangement because we’re still married and since Cass is pretty much an adult, we don’t force her to spend a prescribed amount of time with either one of us. If she wants to be here, she comes here—and yes, she does come and stay sometimes. She’s got her own room. She loves the stupid dog. I’m honestly not sure if she comes over to see me or him.”
Josie had a feeling Cassidy was there to see him as much as she was there to see Spot. The dog was a convenient reason for her to stay over. Why she felt she needed a reason was a different story. Was it Turner putting the distance between them? Or was it the dynamic between her parents that made her feel as though she had to keep that distance?
For Josie’s purposes, it was irrelevant.
“Let’s talk about Maxine Barnes,” she said. “How many times did you follow up with her after the domestic call?”
