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She gave a minute shake of her head, lips pressed tightly together. Her gaze slid to the two cops facing off, then back to me, the message in her eyes loud and clear.
Be quiet.
“Detective Joyner.” Dawson rose, giving the tall woman a hard look before glancing toward the fire marshal. “Why are you taking over this case?”
“It’s connected to the one we’re working with Beth Creedy from the Houston Fire Department.” Joyner smiled politely. “That’s all I’m able to share right now. If you don’t mind shutting the door on your way out, I’d appreciate it.”
Dawson heard the silentfuck youin the sweetly voiced command.
He hated it as much as I enjoyed it.
The door slammed shut behind, hard.
“I think you might have upset him, Cindy.”
The female detective pursed her lips as she studied the door. “Yes. I think I have done just that. What a pity.” She was smiling as she took the chair across from me. “Mr. Ryson—” She paused and looked around, then patted her pockets, pulling out a phone. She tapped the screen, peered at something on it before looking at me once more. “Ryson is your legal name, correct? You use Maximus, your father’s name, for business purposes, but that’s not your legal name?”
“Correct. I don’t care what you call me. What are you doing to find Tina?”
Putting the phone down, she clasped her hands in front of her. “I’m getting to that. First, let me introduce myself. I’m not sure if you met my partner, Detective Hank Baylor. My partner and I handle arson cases that require interdepartmental cooperation. So Beth and I work well together.”
“Fine.” I didn’t give a fuck if they worked with the entire cast of the Muppets. I wanted answers to my questions.
Judging by the faint quirk of her lips, I suspected she knew how I felt.
“Mr. Ryson, I understand you’re frustrated. You’ve probably done this a dozen times now, but I do need your cooperation once more.”
“For fuck’s sake.” Looking away, I glared at the dull, relentless gray of the wall. “Let me guess, you want me to tell you what happened when I got to Tina’s office. Why I went there. What I had for breakfast and if anyone can corroborate my whereabouts.”
“Your whereabouts have already been corroborated.” She nodded to Gianni. “Gianni tells me you were having lunch with her and one of your other sisters when she received a call from a connection she has with the HPD.”
“Yes.” I breathed easier. She wasn’t going to make me recount every step I took since climbing out of bed that morning.
“Alright. You saw Tina this morning?” When I nodded, she pulled a stylus from her pocket and started making notes on her phone. “Alright, run through from the time you last saw her until you arrived at her office.”
After a muttered curse, I did just that.
When I finished, Joyner had made several notes, clarified a couple of points, then looked at Creedy.
Creedy sat next to Joyner in the spare seat.
“We could confirm two individuals who might have been involved in the fire at Ms. Siegler’s place,” Creedy said. She nodded toward Gianni. My sister was leaning against the wall. “I understand Gianni’s already shared some of that information with you.”
“Yes.” A knot settled in my throat. Tina was in this mess because of me. “A woman I used to…see was at her place along with somebody who Tina once dated.”
Creedy nodded. “Cecil Golden. I’ve talked to a few of his acquaintances, have a line in to talk to a few more. Did Ms. Siegler talk about her relationship with him much?”
“No.” With a restless shrug, I stared at the wall. In my mind, I saw Tina’s office, as it looked less than two hours earlier. “He’s a prick from what little she told me. Tina was doing well at the architectural firm where she worked—she was becoming one of their shining stars. He didn’t like that she was getting bigger jobs, better-paying clients. When he started chipping away at her self-confidence. She dumped him.”
“Smart woman.”
I nodded. “He showed up out here. Tina said he was looking for work. She told him she would think about it, but then he tried to put the moves on her. When she shot him down, he took offense. She punched him. After that, I don’t think she saw him again.”
“Would she tell you?”
I considered it. “More than likely, but if it was just a blip in her day, it might have slipped her mind. He didn’t matter to her. And she’d already proven she could handle him.”
“Cocky guy like that would take offense to a woman giving him the brush-off,” Joyner said.