Most of the time.
That caused her to smile again, but the sound of approaching footsteps put a quick end to joy. They set aside their laptops and got to their feet just as Rory came through the door.
He volleyed glances at them, and she didn’t think it was her imagination that he was assessing how she was. “I’m fine,” Livvy said in a preemptive strike.
“Good.” Rory bobbed his head and seemed more than a little relieved about that. “We’ve got a couple of updates, and I figured you two wouldn’t want to wait until the reports were all done.”
“You figured right,” Ethan let him know.
Rory hitched his thumb toward the hall with the interview rooms. “Franklin and Sienna are here, and Sienna is giving her statement to Eden now. Franklin lawyered up, and we’re waiting for him to show.”
“He lawyered up to give a statement about his dead sister?” Ethan asked.
Livvy totally understood his surprise. Most people were in too much shock after something like that to ask for their attorney. And most innocent siblings didn’t think they needed legal representation for something that wasn’t their fault.
So, was Franklin guilty? Or was he just the sort of person who wanted to play it safe?
“The ME gave us some preliminary info on Chloe,” Rory went on a moment later. “She died from a single gunshot wound to the head.”
“Accidental?” Livvy suggested. “Perhaps hit with a stray bullet the shooter was firing?”
Rory shook his head. “There was stippling on her right temple.”
Stippling was the marks caused by gunpowder burning or coming in contact with the skin. That meant Chloe had been shot either point-blank or from a very close range.
Livvy thought of the mess in Chloe’s office. It looked as if a struggle could have taken placed there. It was possible that she had run and gone into her brother’s office, only to be murdered there.
“Were there defensive wounds on Chloe?” Ethan asked.
This time Rory shrugged. “Possibly. There were red marks on her arms. Maybe from where someone had grabbed her. Bennie and Garrison are getting statements from the staff and clients at New Hope to try to learn if Chloe had recently been injured.”
Garrison Zimmer was one of their fellow deputies, and even though he was a rookie, his instincts were good. Added to that, his calm, friendly manner might put the surrogates and others at ease.
“Garrison and Bennie have already done a search of the house and the perimeter, and they found no signs of a shooter,” Rory explained. “There are no indications of a break-in either.”
“Vernice was there,” Ethan pointed out.
“So I heard.” Rory checked the time. “She should be coming in soon. Anthony, too. We’ll find out if either of them have alibis for the time of the shooting, and we’re already getting a warrant to test them for gunshot residue.”
Good. Because with Chloe being killed up close, the shooter might have some GSR on their hands or clothes. Of course, if Vernice and Anthony were smart, they would at least have tried to clean themselves up. Franklin, however, wouldn’t have gotten the chance.
The three of them turned when there was the sound of yet more footsteps, and Livvy expected to see Grace or one of theother deputies step into the break room. Instead, it was a young woman with pink hair, wearing jeans and a sweatshirt.
“May I help you?” Ethan asked, but it wasn’t exactly a welcoming tone. Understandable because this wasn’t an area for visitors.
Despite Ethan’s gruff tone, the woman smiled. At Livvy. “I’m Nova Bonetti,” she said, as if she expected that to ring a bell for Livvy. It didn’t. “The sketch artist,” she added when she obviously saw the blank look on Livvy’s face. Then, the woman took out her ID to show them.
“Oh, I wasn’t expecting you until…” Livvy checked the time and groaned softly. “Now.” Only then did she recall the appointment that Grace had arranged. “Sorry—we’ve, uh, had a lot going on this morning.”
“Yeah, it looks busy out in the bullpen.” Nova hiked her thumb in that direction. “Do you need to reschedule?” she asked.
Livvy debated that. She was exhausted from the spent adrenaline that’d come with the shooting, but this could end up being important. Critical, even, if the images from her nightmares could be matched to a specific person. Of course, this could be a waste of time if the nightmare hadn’t actually happened.
She prayed that it hadn’t.
That she hadn’t witnessed something so horrific, though Livvy suspected that it wasn’t an actual dream but rather memories trying to leak through the gaps in her mind.
“I don’t want to reschedule,” she let the woman know. But then she considered a good place to do the session. “How about here?” she finally suggested when she realized that all the interview rooms and Grace’s office would likely be occupied.
