Gray was looking over a proposal for a new app one of his programmers wanted to make when the police came looking for him. They worked faster than he thought. He would have figured the corpse identification would take longer, let alone finding the phone records.
"Good morning detectives, what can I do for you?" he asked mildly as they walked into his office and sat down after flashing their badges.
"We wanted to ask you a few questions about Lacy Knighton."
It was imperative that he kept his cool. Playing dumb was his best bet at this point.
"What about her?"
"How about we start with how you know her," the female detective said.
He shrugged. "We have a mutual friend of sorts. I recognized her while getting myself a drink at a bar sometime last April and we hit it off."
It was close to the truth, anyway. The best liars knew that it was better to leave parts of the truth out than make something up entirely. It was easier to remember what you told people that way.
The cops didn't have anything on him. As long as he didn't slip up and reveal anything, he would be perfectly fine. Living in the foster system taught him to hide his true feelings behind a façade. It was one thing to be grateful for about that horrible experience.
"Your secretary told me that she visits here frequently," the male detective said.
Gray should have paid more attention to what their names were. He was a bit distracted at the time because of nerves.
"Socialites have a lot of free time. It was easier for her to come to me than the other way around."
"She also said that you had Lacy thrown out of here by security last Thursday. Want to tell us what that was about?" he asked sharply.
This was the crucial part. One wrong word and he would be toast. He had to stay as nonchalant as possible. Maybe even a little rueful. Gray changed his tone accordingly.
"Unfortunately, Lacy overstepped the bounds of our friendship. She seemed a little out of it when she came to visit me but I certainly didn't expect her to start violently making out with me. I had to get two security guards to help me pry her off; you can ask them."
The detectives' faces didn't give anything away. He couldn't tell what they were thinking and it increased his unease. But he couldn't let it show.
"What are the names of those security guards? We'll be speaking to them as well."
"Mitchell Swenson and Joseph Parker. They should both be in the office right now. You can talk to them once we finish up here," Gray said pleasantly; trying to appear as cooperative as possible.
It was within his best interest to seem worried about Lacy. He put on his best concerned expression before speaking again.
"Detective, did something happen to Lacy? Is that why you're asking me about her?"
"Why don't you tell me more about throwing her out of your office, before I answer any questions. What time did this happen? And what did you do after that until 7 PM?"
False worry creased his brow, as if he were truly concerned about that witch. Perhaps Gray missed his calling as an actor. He pretended to think about it even though he had rehearsed what to say dozens of times already.
"What time…I hadn't been back from my lunch break terribly long when she came…around 12:40? There should be security footage showing her being escorted out of the lobby with a timestamp on it. You might want to check with Mitchell or Joseph.
"After that it took me about twenty minutes to refocus on the reports I was reading over but I worked on those until my three o'clock appointment, Charles Bower, arrived. We chatted for nearly two hours. After that I remained in the office until six and drove home."
The male detective was writing down notes as the female detective recorded the conversation. The worst of it appeared to be over.
"Can you tell me what happened to Lacy now?" he asked in a worried voice.
The female detective looked up. "I'm sorry to tell you this Mr. Meyer but Lacy Knighton was murdered last Thursday. It appears to have been a mugging. Right now we're trying to figure out who the last person to see her was."
Gray put on an appropriate look of shock. "Murdered! How horrible! Poor Lacy…"
"Indeed. We'll be speaking to your security guards. If we have any further questions we'll contact you. Please let us know if you think of anything else that might be helpful, such as if she said she was planning on going anywhere as she left."
The male detective handed him a business card and he nodded mutely, feigning grief. Once they left he loosened his tie. It felt awfully stuffy in here all of a sudden.
===
Keeley was changing Violet's diaper when she got a call on the intercom from the doorman.
"Mrs. Hale, there are a few police officers here looking to speak with your husband. Should I tell them to come back later?"
So they finally realized Lacy was obsessed with Aaron and were coming to question him. She should have expected this was coming but didn't think it would be so soon. She glanced at the clock. Aaron usually got home around this time of day.
"You can let them up; he should be home within the next fifteen minutes. Tell them to meet me on the second floor. I can't leave my infants unattended to greet them at the elevator."
"Yes ma'am," he said respectfully.
She still couldn't tell if this guy was judging her about the previous incident a few days after Valentine's Day or not. His professionalism hadn't cracked in a while.
The police came up a few minutes later, introducing themselves as Detectives Flynn and Ruano.
"Mrs. Hale, the doorman said your husband should be home within the next fifteen minutes, is that correct?"
She nodded. "He's usually back between 5:50 and 6:15, depending on traffic. May I ask what this is about?"
"We wanted to ask him a few questions about an acquaintance of his," Detective Ruano said simply.
So they weren't going to confess they were here investigating a murder? Interesting. She had never been interrogated by the police so she didn't know what kind of methods they typically employed.
Kaleb began fussing and she quickly apologized before turning around to pick him up out of his bouncer. He probably needed his diaper changed as well but she didn't want to do it until Aaron came back to keep the detectives busy.
Detective Flynn gave her a reassuring smile. "Your children are beautiful."
"Thank you."
Just then, Aaron's voice came floating faintly up the stairs. "Sweetheart, I'm home! What's for dinner? I'm starving."
He froze in his tracks at the top of the stairs, taking in the scene of his wife sitting across from two professionally dressed strangers.
"Aaron, these are Detectives Flynn and Ruano. They wanted to ask you a few questions about someone you know," she said as calmly as she could.
"Who?" he asked with a frown, playing along.
"Lacy Knighton. I believe she's a friend of yours?"
"That isn't the word I would use. I saw her a few times a year at social events at the most," Aaron said firmly.
"Mrs. Hale, could we speak to your husband alone?" Detective Flynn asked.
She nodded and took Kaleb upstairs with her. Aaron excused himself to help her bring Violet up before going back down and facing the music. She gave him a quick kiss for luck, unable to voice her thoughts in case the detectives overheard.