Anthony opened his mouth but then seemed to change his mind about what he’d been about to say. “Tit for tat,” he threw out there. “I’ll give you permission to test my gun if you’ll give me back my mother’s diary.”
The comment clearly surprised Grace. “The diary is still being analyzed,” she let him know.
“Well, I want it back now,” Anthony demanded. “I should have never let it out of my hands.”
Livvy heard a lot of regret in the man’s voice. And worry. Grace no doubt picked up on that, too.
“There are some inconsistencies in the diary,” she informed him, “and it’s being checked to see if it’s valid. There are tests to determine the age of the ink.”
Again, Anthony opened his mouth, stopped and then cursed. He groaned but managed to keep a defiant expression.
“All right, full disclosure,” he finally said, holding up his hands. “I wrote parts of the diary.”
“Really?” Grace stretched out the syllables on that. “Why would you do something like that?”
He huffed. “Because I wanted to draw out my mother’s killer. I wanted to draw out Chloe. I didn’t want her dead,” he was quick to add. “I wanted her to admit what she’d done, and I thought the diary would get you to arrest her.”
“Or I could arrest you for falsifying evidence and obstruction of justice,” Grace fired back.
That put some panic in Anthony’s eyes, and he stayed quiet for several moments before he snapped out, “I want a lawyer.”
Grace pulled in a long breath but then nodded. She motioned for him to stand. “You can make that call and then wait in reception. You won’t be leaving the building until you’ve finished this interview.”
“Are you arresting me?” he grumbled.
“Not at this moment. Don’t give me a reason to change my mind about that,” Grace warned him.
Anthony cursed her and stormed out, nearly knocking into Eden, who was right by the door. Eden gave him a long cop’s glance before she motioned for Grace, Livvy and Ethan to go back into Grace’s office.
“I just finished taking Sienna’s statement,” Eden explained. “She says she was in her quarters on the top floor when she heard the shots, and at first she thought it was a car backfiring or a TV on too loud. Sienna said when the noise continued, she made her way down the back stairs, where you found her.” Eden glanced at Livvy and Ethan.
“Where we found her. And Franklin,” Livvy emphasized.
Eden nodded. “Yeah, about that. Sienna says Franklin didn’t join her there on the stairs until after the shots had stopped. And get this—Franklin asked Sienna to do him a favor and to telleveryone that he’d been with her during the entire time of the shooting.”
“So, he asked her to lie,” Grace muttered, and she smiled. “Sounds like grounds for an arrest to me. Since Franklin’s lawyer got here about ten minutes ago, we can start the interview. Come on,” she added to Livvy and Ethan. “Let’s see what Franklin has to say.”
Chapter Twelve
Ethan wished he could ask Livvy to sit out this interview. She was no doubt still rattled after giving the details for that sketch. Heck, rattled as well because of the gunfire they’d gotten caught up in at New Hope only a few hours ago.
But there was no way Livvy would miss the chance to question one of their key suspects, and Franklin had zoomed to the top of that suspect list by asking Sienna to lie for him.
Ethan thought of the mess he’d seen in Chloe’s office. Had the brother and sister gotten into an argument there, one that had turned violent after Chloe had followed Franklin into his office? Maybe. But it was also possible that Franklin had had no part in it and that he had another reason for wanting Sienna to lie for him. Ethan hoped they would have answers about that soon.
Grace, Livvy and he stepped into the interview room, and Ethan immediately spotted Franklin having a whispered conversation with a brunette woman in a navy business suit. She was probably only in her early thirties, but she had a no-nonsense, seasoned expression that Ethan had often seen in veteran attorneys.
“My client is grieving the death of his sister,” the lawyer was quick to say. “He’s in shock. I want you to make this fast so he can go home and start making arrangements for her funeral.”
“Things would have gone a lot quicker if we hadn’t had to wait for you to show up,” Grace fired back. “And as for a funeral, that won’t be happening any time soon, so you have plenty of time toplan it. This is a murder investigation, and it can take weeks for the body to be released.”
That clearly didn’t please the lawyer, but Franklin didn’t react. Ethan noted that he didn’t appear to be in shock either.
Grace ignored the woman’s steely look and turned on the recorder. “Sheriff Grace Granger, Deputy Livvy Walsh and Deputy Ethan Oakley in an interview with Dr. Franklin Voss and his attorney. Could you please state your name?” she added, glancing at the brunette.
“Helene Barrett,” she provided, and she rattled off the name of her impressive-sounding law firm.
Grace added the date and time for the sake of the recording, and then the three of them sat across the table from Franklin and his lawyer. Ethan instantly caught a whiff of something coming off Franklin and recognized it as the soap in the bathroom just up the hall. It was so strong that it was almost as if Franklin had bathed in the darn stuff.
