Waiting for Detective Pole to come in and interview me had me sweaty and uneasy. I assumed he’d know all about me by now. My biggest worry was, since he’d interviewed Tanner first, he’d told him all my dirty laundry. If he had, I wasn’t sure how I’d face Tanner when we finished up here. My heart ached with the idea he’d reject me now. I wasn’t sure I could handle that gracefully.
I jumped when Detective Pole came in, closing the door behind him with a decisive click. He sat down, scraping the chair on the linoleum floor noisily. “Sorry to keep you waiting, Seth.”
“No problem.”
He smiled. “How are you holding up today?”
“Well, I’d rather be anywhere but here.”
“Of course. Murder is a nasty business.” He sighed. “But we can’t just pretend it didn’t happen and go on about our day, now can we?”
“Nope.” I watched him warily.
He clasped his hands and leaned his elbows on the table. “Your husband certainly is protective of you.”
My chest tightened. “Is that right?”
“Oh, yes.” He grimaced. “I’m afraid I stepped on his toes a few times.”
“Did you?” I could only guess what that meant.
He raised his brows, his gaze intense. “He did not like me even hinting that you could be involved in his dad’s murder.”
My stomach clenched. “I’m not involved.”
His smile was agreeable, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Well, that’s what we’re here to figure out, isn’t it?”
“Well, since I know I’m innocent, I don’t have anything to figure out.”
He nodded. “I know your father-in-law ran a background check on you. How did that make you feel?”
My face warmed. “Is this therapy or an investigation?”
His mouth hardened. “Seth, I’d advise you to play nice.”
I exhaled roughly. “It made me feel like shit. Obviously.” I lifted my chin. “He tried to extort money from me.”
“Why come to you for money?”
“Good question. I have no idea why he even needed cash.”
“Douglas owed some pretty bad people money. He’d had some gambling issues in the past. My guess is he was afraid to go to his family for the money. I guess he figured you’d be willing to do whatever to keep your secret.”
I widened my eyes. “Shit. Well, I didn’t kill him. I was afraid he’d tell Tanner about my past… troubles… but I wouldn’t have hurt him.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Why haven’t you told Tanner about your record? Don’t you think he deserves to know?”
“Why should I have to? That was then and this is now.” I clamped my teeth, feeling sick.
He studied the sheet of paper he held. “You started young.” He glanced up. “Guys with rap sheets like yours usually end up dead by twenty. How’d you get out?”
“A friend helped me.”
“Nice friend.”
My thoughts moved to Gordon. “Yes. He saved me.”
“Are we talking about Gordon? He was at the wedding too?”
