Or tried to wash away gunshot residue.
Even though Grace was obviously ready to start, Ethan jotted down a note about the soap and jacket, and he passed it to Grace. She nodded when she read it and then pinned her attention to Franklin.
“Dr. Voss, did you happen to scrub your hands in the bathroom?” she asked.
Franklin looked puzzled. Or rather pretended he was anyway. “I’m a doctor. I make a habit of thoroughly washing my hands.”
The lawyer huffed. “Why are you asking that? What does it have to do with why we’re here?”
“It could have everything to do with why we’re here,” Grace admitted, not looking at Helene but rather Franklin. “What about your jacket? Where is it?”
Franklin sat up straighter in the chair. “At New Hope. I took it off before your deputy put me in a cruiser and brought me here.”
The lawyer’s next huff was even louder, and she added an eye roll to it. But Grace ignored it. “Tell us where you put the jacket because it’ll need to be examined,” she remarked. “It’s standard procedure.”
“It is only if you think my client is a killer,” the lawyer piped in with that irritating tone that made Ethan want to curse. “He’s not. He’s a distinguished physician with a stellar reputation.”
“One who was on scene at his sister’s murder,” Ethan reminded her. “Clothing can pick up fibers and trace evidence. The jacket could help ID Chloe’s killer. And we all want that, don’t we?”
There. Ethan had thrown the ball into their court. If Franklin refused to cooperate now, it would show he wasn’t willing to do everything possible to get justice for Chloe.
Franklin didn’t say anything for several seconds, but finally muttered “Yes, we do all want that” through clenched teeth. “That jacket is somewhere in the parlor, I think. I tossed it there on my way out, and that means it’s probably contaminated as far as collecting potential evidence from it.”
That was true, and Ethan had to wonder if thecontaminationhad been intentional on Franklin’s part. Or he could just be reading the doctor wrong. Maybe Franklin hadn’t actually had any part in killing his sister but rather just wasn’t that torn up about her being dead.
“Still, even if someone else has touched the jacket, the CSIs will locate it and examine it,” Grace assured Franklin, and she fired off a text, no doubt to get that process started. “Now, tell us where you were when the shots were fired,” she continued once she’d finished with the message.
Franklin looked annoyed with the request. “Like I already told your two deputies, Chloe and I were supposed to have a video appointment with a client in my office at nine thirty. I washeaded there and ran into Sienna when the shots started.” He looked at Ethan and Livvy. “You saw us.”
“Were you with Sienna the whole time shots were going off?” Livvy jumped in to ask.
For a moment Franklin got a deer-in-the-headlights look, and he studied the three of them, maybe trying to see if they knew about him telling Sienna to lie for him. With his jaw tightening even more, Franklin leaned in closer to his lawyer, cupping his hands around his mouth, and they had a brief whispered conversation. When they were done, it was the lawyer who answered.
“My client was with Sienna for part of the time,” Helene stated.
“Part,” Grace repeated, sounding all cop. “Had the shots actually stopped by the time you joined Sienna on the stairs?”
That prompted another muffled conversation between Franklin and his lawyer. While they chatted, Grace took out her phone again. “I’m sure I have Sienna’s statement here to check to see what she has to say about that. You know, to make sure it meshes with what you’re about to say.”
If looks could have killed, both Helene and Franklin would have ended all three of them then and there. “My client doesn’t know if the shots had stopped when he joined Sienna on the stairs. He was in shock, terrified for his life and his client’s. By then, he’d put his hands over his ears to block out the horrific sounds.”
Ethan raised an eyebrow and stared at Franklin and her. He made sure they saw that he knew that was a lie.
“You know, telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth is a big deal in interview,” Ethan reminded him. “Facts and honesty will help us find the killer. And the sooner we do that, the sooner the media will back off covering the story. Itcan’t be good for business to have headlines likeMurder at New Hopesplashed all around.”
“My client is telling the truth,” Helene snapped.
Ethan shrugged and shifted his gaze to Franklin. “Give us your movements for the morning, prior to the shooting,” he insisted.
Franklin didn’t seem relieved by the slight shift in questioning. “I got up at six as I always do, worked out on the treadmill and had breakfast. Then, at about seven thirty, I got ready for work and went downstairs to my office.”
“Did you see Chloe?” Livvy asked.
“Yes. She was going into her office with the woman I told you about. The one with salt-and-pepper hair.”
“Where exactly were you when you heard the first shot?” Ethan wanted to know.
That brought another of those blasted whispered conversations with his lawyer before Franklin answered. “On the third floor. I’d gone up to check and see if the new client quarters were ready. We’ve had some issues with our housekeeping services. When I heard the shot, I was already on my way downstairs for my meeting, and that’s when I saw Sienna.”
