“My brother, I’m staying.”
Derek sat silently, watching the battle of the wills. His eyes bounced back and forth between his brother and the strikingly beautiful detective.
“Fine.” Detective York walked over to the other chair and slapped a folder down onto the table. “It might be good for you to hear what we have on him. Maybe then you’ll stop trying to interfere in my case.”
Eric sat back down. “Oh, I’d love to hear what you have on him. Because I’m pretty sure it isn’t enough to make your case stick.”
York smiled. “We’ll see.” She turned and greeted Derek with a nod. “Mr. West. I spoke to your girlfriend the other day. I’m sure she told you about me.”
“She did.”
“Good. So, Derek.” She paused. “May I call you Derek?”
He gave her a slow grin. “You can call me anything you want”
She kept the same, fake smile on her face, but Derek knew she wanted to roll her eyes at him.
“I have a few questions for you, and it would really save me some time if you’d be honest when answering them.”
“I have no reason to lie to you, Detective.”
When she smiled again, Derek saw the shield over her eyes Charlie had described. “Good. Then, let’s get started. Would you care to explain why you went to New York last night? More specifically, why you went to Caleb Porter’s apartment?”
“I went there to talk to him.”
“To talk.” She smirked, then removed a picture from the folder and laid it out in front of him. “This is you standing outside the building just before you entered, correct?”
Derek looked down at the picture. It was grainy, but his face was clearly visible as he stood on the sidewalk, looking up at the building. They’d installed exterior cameras since he’d been there last.
Shit.
“That’s me,” he confirmed.
“What’s in the bag, Derek?”
“Clothes.”
She raised an expertly trimmed brow. “Clothes?”
“And shoes.”
“It seems rather odd to bring clothes and shoes to a man’s apartment when all you were planning to do was talk.”
“I went straight there from the airport. I had no other choice but to bring it with me.”
“I see. And what did you and Mr. Porter discuss during your visit?”
“Look, Detective York, is it?” Derek leaned on his elbows. “Let’s cut to the chase. I know you know about Porter and how he treated Charlie when they were married. I also know you don’t have any real evidence connectin’ me to the guy’s murder because, well, I didn’t kill him. So why don’t you savemesome time and stop pretendin’ like you do.”
York thought for a moment then smiled. “Your southern charm is cute and all, but if I didn’t have evidence, I wouldn’t be here. You unlawfully entered his place of residence the same night he was murdered. Thanks to the new surveillance cameras management installed a week ago. We have you leaving the building approximately an hour before his body was found.”
“That’s all you’ve got?” Eric laughed. “Then, you don’t have shit.”
“Not to mention”—Derek added— “if I killed him in his apartment, how did I get his body outside without it bein’ seen?”
“New York detectives found Mr. Porter’s blood inside the laundry shoot at the end of the hallway on his floor. There was more on the bags of clothes in the large laundry cart positioned beneath the chute’s opening.”
“So, you think I killed him and threw him down a laundry chute?”
