Page 58 of East

I’m hoping that’ll crack a smile out of Officer King, but her face remains stony as ever. “Both of your heels broke?”

“No, just one of them. But I ditched the other one so I wouldn’t be walking lopsided.”

“And these were heels?”

“Correct. Louboutins.”

Officer King lifts an eyebrow. “You threw away a pair of Louboutins because the heel on one of the shoes broke off?”

“I was drunk. I wasn’t thinking straight.”

Officer King jots some more notes down in the notebook. “So how did you end up wearing Kin Blackwood’s shoes?”

“I spent the night at Wick’s. And I woke up later than I meant to. I had to leave quickly to get to my job on time. So I threw on the first pair of shoes I could find that were close to my size. I found the silver sneakers by the door. They were clearly smaller than Wick’s feet, so I figured he wouldn’t miss them.”

“So you stole the shoes?”

“Oh, for God’s sake. I borrowed them. I was going to bring them back.”

“Where are the shoes now?”

“They’re at my house. I changed before I came to the gala.”

“And was Mr. Blackwood aware you were borrowing his brother’s shoes?”

“He was not. It was too early. I didn’t want to wake him to ask. Plus I just wanted to get the hell out of there. I was embarrassed by my behavior the previous night.”

“Because you felt you had been acting promiscuously?”

I sigh. “Yes. I was feeling bad about the date falling through and I went home with the first man who gave me some attention. I was going to write a note to let him know about the shoes, but then my Uber arrived and I completely forgot. I got to work by the skin of my teeth. I was barely out of makeup when we started this morning’s broadcast.” I grab my phone out of my purse, open the Uber app. “See. Here’s the proof. I ordered the Uber at five fifteen in the morning.”

Of course, if the murder occurred around three, this doesn’t do much in the ways of an alibi. But still it’s proof I’m telling the truth about this.

“Tell us about your upbringing,” Officer King continues. “We looked up your profile on the ChicagO2 News website. We understand you grew up in a rural area. Kettle Springs, is that correct?”

Alarm bells go off in my head. Why is she asking about Kettle Springs?

What does this woman know?

“Yes, but what does that have to do with⁠—”

Officer King holds up a hand. “Please, ma’am. We’re not trying to waste your time. All our questions are relevant. So please answer. Did you grow up in Kettle Springs?”

I sigh. “Yes.”

“On a farm?”

“Yes. My father’s farm. My stepmother took it over when he died.”

“While you were working on the farm, did you ever operate any heavy machinery? A tractor, for instance?”

Holy shit. Holy shit. Why is she asking about this?

There’s no way.

There’s no way they know about what happened in Kettle Springs.

“I was pretty young when I left to live in a foster home. I worked some of the machines on the farm, mostly under direct supervision.”