Page 37 of Murder By the Millions

“I didn’t scream.” Or had I?

“I heard a dog bark at eleven thirty,” said an elderly man in overalls. He was barefoot. Glasses perched atop his balding head.

“We hear dogs barking all the time,” a younger man said.

“Not at this time of night,” the elderly man said.

Zach said, “What kind of dog, Mr.—”

“Smith. Ed Smith. A medium-sized dog is my guess. You know, it sounded like this.” He imitated a throaty bark. “Sort of muted, I suppose, but anything from this distance would sound muffled.”

“Folks, did any of your animals bark?” Zach asked the crowd.

They all shook their heads.

“Did any of you scream?” he asked.

A chorus of noes followed.

I said sotto voce, “Zach, I got a series of texts from Jason, the third at eleven thirty-five. I remember the time because I was so tired after going to the vet.”

“Why were you at the vet?”

“Darcy hurt himself.” I gestured to the foyer, where I’d left the cat in his carrier.

“Is he okay?”

“He’ll survive. Thanks for asking. But back to … this.”

This.Jason Gardner … dead. I couldn’t wrap my head around it.

I pressed on. “Like I told you, when I received the text saying it was urgent, I came right over. I arrived within ten minutes.”

“Mr. Smith, are you sure of the time?” Zach turned back to the elderly man.

“Yup. I was watching the nightly news. There’s a whole lot going on in the world these days. Not safe, you know. Lots of upheaval. Gotta watch the news to stay on top of things.”

I hadn’t heard a dog bark, but I’d arrived after the time frame Mr. Smith outlined.

“Thank you, sir.” Zach held up a hand. “Everyone, please give your statements to Detective Bates.”

Bates strode down the steps to the neighbors. The EMTs were standing beside their vehicle, awaiting further instructions. I imagined the police would have to release the body before they could transport it to wherever they needed to take it.

“Allie, let me see your phone,” Zach said for the second time.

“Yeah, that’s the thing. The text thread is gone.” Quickly, I added, “I didn’t erase it. It just vanished. Jason must have deleted it.”

“He could erase texts off his phone,” Zach said, “but he couldn’t off of yours. The texts would still be there.”

“I’m not making up the exchange. It’s the reason why I phoned him. To ask what was wrong.” I pulled my phone frommy pocket and swiped the screen to access my recent calls list. It showed I’d dialed Jason’s number. “Here’s my response. Time-stamped eleven thirty-six.”

“Doesn’t prove anything,” Zach said.

His curt tone irked me. Was he, yet again, questioning my veracity? That said a whole heck of a lot about our friendship.

“I want to believe you,” he said, as if reading my mind.

“Then do.”