Amy rolled her eyes. "No, but they did teach us that tech could go a long way in helping keep things in order. Mom kept everything in files on her computer. I guess we just got in the habit of doing the same. Why do the work when a computer can do it faster for you?"
"I guess if you know what you're doing. I'm lucky to type out a report and not mess things up," Franks told her.
"Could be because you're using the department's old computers instead of something newer. Not only are the programs we use outdated, but so are the keyboards and everything else they give us to use. I can't do everything on my laptop, of course, but enough to make life easier." Amy glanced up at the clock.
"Half an hour to go." Franks sighed, seeing it was just eight-thirty. "I'm so convinced she's responsible for the explosion, I'm ready to go grab her from her bed."
"We have absolutely no proof she's guilty of anything. All we can do is question her about going into the bakery after hours and find out why she didn't mention that in our first interview." Amy sat back. "I've asked I.T. to let us know if they have any camera footage of that area, but they said they're still working with business owners to get some of the footage and that there hasn't been a lot to work with so far."
"She doesn't have to know we have nothing. We just have to ask the right questions." Franks pulled out a pen and started making notes. "We can act like we know exactly how much time she was in the bakery. We can hint that we found evidence of her tampering with stuff. If she knows as little about fire forensics as I do, we have a lot of leeway."
"We don't mention her daughter told us about her going into the bakery. Let her think we might have other witnesses. Evenif her daughter told her we asked about it, we can still make her nervous thinking there were others." Amy sighed. "But we have to be ready to be wrong on this. She might have just run in, got a cake, and left. We can't push forward with no evidence. There's still a possibility that this was something else."
Franks rolled his eyes. "Do you really believe that?"
"I don't know what to believe right now. We have no evidence showing one thing or another. We know the blast point was the bakery. We have hearsay that someone smelled gas in the kitchen of the restaurant. We have someone telling us that Mrs. Hilton went into the bakery after a fight with her husband, but for all we know, it could have been the daughter who went in there and is trying to frame her mother." Amy stared pointedly at Franks. "I'm just sayin' we have a lot of information with nothing to back it up. I agree right now, Hillary Hilton is our best lead, but we have to remember, in order to make a case against her, we need evidence, and as of right now, all we have is her daughter telling us her mother went in and grabbed a cake. That won't stand up in court."
"You're right, but until we get something from ATF that explains things, I'm pushing this. Angus nearly died because of this explosion, and I won't rest until we have answers. The families of those who did die deserve answers." Franks sighed. "Trust me, I wish we had more to work with, but it's like pulling teeth to get ATF to share anything. They have to have more than we're being told. I know they want to control this investigation, but this is our city, and our friends were injured. I can't just sit back and wait on them. Hell, I'm sure we have more leads than they do. We're out talking to people. They're waiting on lab reports and forensics."
"Those labs and forensics are important, but I get what you're saying. Still, we can only work with what we have. You and I both know arguing with the feds won't do us any good.They're worried about keeping the people of Fairway calm and assuring them this isn't going to happen every time they go out to dinner." Amy paused as her phone rang. She glanced at the screen, then at Franks. "It's Mrs. Hilton." She answered the phone quickly.
Franks half listened to Amy's side of the conversation but was more focused on figuring out what questions he was going to ask Mrs. Hilton when they interviewed her. He wanted to put her on edge, get her a little upset at the questions he was asking, but not push her far enough that she'd clam up and demand a lawyer. This was where he missed Angus most. He was great at pushing a suspect just enough to get answers without upsetting them. He hadn't done enough interviews with Amy as his partner to have the ability to play good cop, bad cop well.
"She'll be here in an hour." Amy set her phone on her desk. "She's not happy. Kept reminding me she has a funeral to plan and extended family coming into town."
"While I'm sure that's all true, you'd think a wife would do whatever it takes to find out why her husband was dead and his business exploded. Not to mention, if she's such good friends with Kathy Willgrow, she'd want answers to help her as well. She has to know insurance won't pay out until the investigation is complete."
"Shit." Amy smacked her hand on her desk. "We didn't look at who gets any insurance payouts. We don't even know if there is a life insurance policy. How could we forget that?" Amy started typing on her keyboard.
"I'd think any insurance for the restaurant would be handled by Tyler Chris, but you're right, we should have looked into this stuff first thing." Franks didn't even try to look anything up. By the time he even started searching, Amy would have all the information they needed. Her fingers flew over the keyboard. Franks was lucky to do more than chicken-peck his way toanswers. "I'd like to speak with Tyler Chris at some point. I know ATF and the fire marshal have interviewed him several times, but I'm betting they're keeping things focused on the restaurant. I'd like to get his take on Tom and Hillary's relationship and if Tom ever confided in him about how much his wife hated his career choice."
"We can find him after we interview Hillary. I'm curious as well just how much of a problem she'd become for them. I get the feeling they fought often about the long hours he kept. If the two men were as close as we've heard, Tyler will know better than anyone what was up with the Hilton's marriage." Amy continued to type as she spoke. "Pull up any interviews Tyler Chris has done with ATF and the fire marshal. Let's see if he has hinted at any problems between the Hiltons. We can also talk to other employees we haven't spoken to. They'd know if Hillary showed up often to complain or start a fight while Tom was at work."
Franks slowly started to search through reports, only finding one formal interview was done with Tyler Chris, but there were several notes made throughout other reports where he'd talked to investigators. He printed them off, finding it easier to read through them on paper than on the old computer screen.
They worked in silence for a while, then Amy sat back and frowned. "I found two life insurance policies. One is on Hillary Hilton for a million dollars; payout would go to Tom. But Tom's policy, also for a million, pays out to their daughter, Becca. It appears that both policies were created at the same time, but about six months ago, there was a change to Tom's, where he removed Hillary as his beneficiary and added Becca."
"Interesting. A man in a happy marriage doesn't remove his wife from his life insurance. I wonder if Hillary is aware of this?" Franks made notes to the list of questions he was going to ask Hillary when she came in.
"Depends if she's called to collect on the policy. She'd have gotten the death certificate when they released his body. But with everything going on, I'm not sure she's had time to deal with that yet." Amy started typing again. "I'm curious if Becca knows."
"I'm betting neither of them know he made the change. Seems like something Becca might have mentioned, but then again, she's grieving and might not have even thought about it. We'll know soon enough."
Franks started to gather everything he'd need for the interview into a folder.
"Looks like insurance on the restaurant will go to Tyler Chris. No other names listed. I'm not up on how it all works, and if they'll still pay out if it's found to be a criminal act that caused the damage. That's for someone with a lot more knowledge to figure out. I'm lucky to understand my car insurance policy." Amy shut down her computer and sat back. "How are we doing this?"
Franks grinned. "I'm feeling like bad cop today."
"Works for me. I'll be the understanding woman who recognizes her grief and pain." Amy arranged her own folder then stood. "Let's go meet her out front."
Franks nodded and followed Amy down the hall to the main entrance. He eyed the beautiful day out the window and wished he was out there instead of stuck inside. Maybe if he had time this week, he'd find the time to grill steaks for dinner again. He enjoyed sitting out back with Gretta as they watched the sunset and talked about their day. Having Gretta around was the only thing helping him keep it together while he waited for Angus to wake up. If she hadn't been there to keep him distracted, he knew for sure he'd spend his nights worrying about his partner and obsessing about the case. She had a way of drawing him away from the dark places his mind sometimes went. Shereminded him that he didn't always have to be focused on work and that time at home was when he should step away from his job and focus on his life for a change.
"There she is." Amy straightened beside him as she nodded to Mrs. Hilton walking toward them.
Franks took in the angry look on Hillary Hilton's face as she saw them waiting for her. She wore a black business suit and heels that had Franks wondering how she could walk so quickly in them because they were so high. "Mrs. Hilton, thank you for taking time to talk to us." Franks offered his hand once she was near.
She ignored his hand. "Can we make this quick? I have a lot to get done today. I have Tom's family flying in this afternoon and I still need to get to the cemetery to arrange interment. I don't have time for questions I've already answered."
