Page 35 of Skin Game
“No, I’m good. I didn’t do anything except refuse to fall for her scam. I’ll call you as soon as I’m done. But,” he added, “my place later?”
The way the week was going, Gabe could use some more up close and personal private Ranger Man time. Casey was very good at taking care of his people, and Gabe was starting to feel a bit delicate, even if he’d never admit so out loud.
A soft smile curved his lips. “Yeah. Your place sounds great. I’ll be there with bells on and all that. How about I stop and grab us pizza for dinner?”
“Oh god, yes.” Pizza was the world’s best comfort food. After talking to Eagan and the new guy, Gabe was fairly sure he would need all the comfort he could get.
“Howdy,Althea. I’m here to see Chief Deputy Eagan.”
If Gabe understood things correctly, Althea Mortine was the glue that held the TCSO together, especially since the county was still searching for an interim sheriff. She’d been behind that front desk for decades and knew everything there was to know. Whoever the county brought in as sheriff would have to run for the position when election time came around, but in the meantime, Althea was there to guide them.
Both Gabe and Casey thought Bree Eagan would do an excellent job. Elton had told them that she was facing resistance from the Old Codgers Club, but he was working on them to change their minds.
Gabe held the opinion that the Old Codgers Club had fucked up enough keeping Eli Rizzi in place and had lost their chance at influencing who would take the position now.
“Mr. Karne, I’ll let Deputy Eagan know you’re here,” Althea said formally.
“It’s Gabriel,” he reminded her.
Althea smiled primly at him and pressed buttons on her phone, presumably to alert the deputy. Gabe started to sit in one of the chairs across from the desk, but Deputy Eagan arrived before he could.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Karne,” she said. “We appreciate you coming to speak with us. If you don’t mind coming this way.” She gestured down the hall to the interview room.
Gabe liked Bree Eagan, which was unusual; he wasn’t usually a fan of law enforcement. But Bree seemed to fall toward the side of protect and serve, instead of arrest and harass, and he appreciated anyone who understood the true purpose of their fucking job.
And what is Casey Lundin if not law enforcement, Chance?
Fine. Point made.
She led him to the interview room he’d already spent too much fucking time in since first arriving on Heartstone.
“At least it doesn’t smell like old sweat socks in here anymore,” he commented, taking the seat closest to the door. Old habits die hard.
Gabe thought he spotted a glimmer of amusement in Bree’s eyes as she took her seat, but she quickly hid it away.
“Mr. Karne, this isn’t a formal questioning”—not yet anyway, Gabe inferred—“but if you don’t mind, I’d like to record your answers.” She indicated the voice recorder set into the table.
“That’s fine, but please call me Gabriel. Or Gabe.”
“For the purposed of this interview,” she said with a brief smile, “I will refer to you as Mr. Karne, but I promise not to in public.”
Eagan’s response gave Gabe hope that her questions weren’t too serious, and even better, she didn’t appear to be sizing him up for handcuffs. Not yet anyway. She reached across the table and pressed Record.
“First, Mr. Karne, how did you acquire that bruise on your forehead?”
Gabe lifted a hand and touched the tender area above his left eye, yep it was still there. “I had a run-in with a hedge Monday morning. I think the hedge won. You can ask Elton about it if you need to. He’ll back me up.” He was not admitting to breaking and entering lite while being recorded.
He was rewarded with a raised eyebrow and an ever so-slight shake of the head.
“The body of a young woman was discovered near the point last night,” Eagan began. “The victim was approximately five foot seven with dark blonde or brown hair and slender. Estimated time of death is sometime Monday evening or Tuesday very early. She hadn’t been in the water long. We have reason to believe she either knew you or knew of you. She carried no identification, and we have yet to find a cell phone or an abandoned vehicle that could help us determine her identity.”
Eagan stared hard at Gabriel, watching for his reaction to hernext words. “However, there was a paper tucked into the inside pocket of the jacket she was wearing. Once we got it dried out, we discovered your name and home address written on it. Can you explain this?”
What had happened to the fake genealogy paperwork? And her purse thing?
“Sort of,” he said, hating that the dead woman had been so young. She hadn’t even finished up Grifting 101. Maybe if she’d had a chance, she could’ve turned her career around. And why did he have to be associated with yet another body? “She came to my house Monday morning, said her name was Juliet Carter.”
Gabe went on to describe their interaction, starting from the time he’d been woken by Juliet’s knocking until she had left, pissed as hell because Gabriel didn’t believe her story. He even included her statement about men.