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T his was going to be a delicate interview. Lulu couldn’t just barge in and accuse Kathleen Meadows of telling her roommate that Dana Cartwright was pregnant. But she also couldn’t take too long getting to that important question.

On the drive to the doctor’s office, Lulu had decided that she’d open with questions about Allie’s alibi. She’d see how open Kathleen was to being honest about Allie. If she tried to dance around the questions or outright lie, this interview was going to take much longer than it should.

Kathleen appeared nervous when Lulu walked in and introduced herself. The woman kept clearing her throat and appearing flustered as she asked her co-worker to cover for a few minutes.

“The doctor said we could use her office. She’s with patients right now.”

The two of them sat on the loveseat against the wall, surrounded by the doctor’s diplomas, certificates, and several photos of her family.

“Thank you for meeting with me today. This shouldn’t take long.”

“It’s fine. Fine.”

It didn’t sound fine. Kathleen’s voice was wispy, and Lulu had to concentrate to hear her. The other woman was pale, her hands wringing together in her lap all while chewing on her bottom lip.

Yep, she’s nervous as hell. Do you have something to hide, Kathleen?

“I need to ask you about the night before Dana Cartwright’s body was found,” Lulu began. “Your roommate Allie Baker said that she was home all night after Jay dropped her off at about ten. Can you confirm this? Were you also home?”

“I was home,” Kathleen said, nodding in agreement. “All night. I never left.”

That was nice, but Lulu wasn’t concerned about Kathleen’s whereabouts. But it was interesting that she hadn’t yet said whether Allie had been home.

“I think I should remind you that lying to an officer of the law is never a good idea,” Lulu said. “If you’re hiding something material to the investigation, you could be prosecuted for obstructing justice.”

“Prosecuted? As in go to jail?”

Kathleen sounded scandalized. Good. If she hadn’t been thinking about that, maybe she would now.

“That can happen, although I couldn’t say for sure what might happen in this case in particular. I just wanted to make sure that you understood that lying - even by omission - could be costly. I know that we all want to help a good friend, but at some point, they may ask too much of us.”

Kathleen rubbed at her temple and gave out a heavy sigh.

“The fact is, Allie isn’t even one of my close friends. We ended up as roommates because she was a friend of a friend. We’re friendly, but we’re not involved in each other’s lives. She spends most of her time with her boyfriend, honestly. She’s rarely home.”

“Jay Bradford?”

“Yes, him.”

“You say she spends most of her time with him. Were you surprised to see her home that night?”

“Kind of. She spends the night at his place most nights. That’s what makes her the perfect roommate. She’s never there.”

“I can understand that.” Lulu took another breath and forged forward. If they weren’t best buds, Kathleen just might tell the truth. “So, I’ll ask again. Was Allie home that night with you?”

Kathleen looked down at her hands and then back up to Lulu.

“Kind of.”

Lulu almost opened her mouth to ask a follow-up question, press her further. But then she remembered something her father had told her about.

Shutting up.

He’d said that most people were uncomfortable with silence. When someone creates a silence that isn’t welcome, people will often rush in to fill the quiet. They’ll start talking, and sometimes, they’ll talk about the very thing they didn’t want to talk about. Just so they didn’t have to hear the quiet.

Lulu waited, giving Kathleen her most patient but expectant look. She didn’t mind the quiet. She could wait all day.

Kathleen, on the other hand, looked fine at first but then as the time stretched on grew visibly agitated. She shifted in her chair, her gaze darting all around the office. She looked like she wanted to jump out of a window and keep running.

“She was in the apartment after Jay dropped her off, but she later left. She didn’t say anything to me before she left, but I went out to the living room and looked out the window. Her car was gone so I assumed she drove somewhere. Maybe over to Jay’s house? I thought perhaps she just wanted her car there for something in the morning.”

There it was. Kathleen hadn’t wanted to be a tattletale. But, once again, Allie was lying about her whereabouts that night.

“Was she gone all night?”

“No, she came back about three or so in the morning. I heard her take a shower and I woke up, so I don’t know exactly how long she’d been home.”

“Did you ask her about it later?”

“No, like I said, she’s not around much. I didn’t think it was a big deal until you asked me about it today.”

“She didn’t ask you to lie about where she was?”

“We didn’t talk about it at all. I’m not in trouble, am I?”

“No, being honest is the way to go. I do have to ask a few more questions. Please be as honest with these as the last.”

“I will.”

Kathleen nodded solemnly, appearing relieved that she wasn’t going to jail for her barely-there roommate.

“You’re the receptionist here, correct? You see everyone come and go?”

“Yes,” Kathleen replied tentatively. “I mean, if I’m on the schedule. I don’t work Saturday mornings.”

“Did Dana Cartwright come into the office recently? Say, in the last two months?”

“I can’t say. Privacy rules.”

“Did you tell Allie that Dana had been here?”

The look of guilt swept over Kathleen’s face. Her lips were pressed together, and her knuckles were white as she wrung her hands together ruthlessly tight.

“I’m not allowed to talk about the patients. There are privacy laws.”

“Did you maybe accidentally let it slip that Dana had been in for an appointment? Was Allie talking about Dana?”

“She complained about Dana all the time,” Kathleen whispered. “She said that life would be so much better if Dana wasn’t around.”

“As in dead?”

“She didn’t say dead,” Kathleen denied. “Just that it would be better. I took it as she wanted Dana to move out of town.”

“Away from Jay?”

“Yes, Allie was very jealous of Dana.”

“Did she and Jay argue about Dana?”

“Sometimes,” Kathleen conceded. “Allie could be…sensitive about things. Sometimes, she would perceive slights that really weren’t there. I tried telling her that Dana wasn’t after Jay, but she didn’t believe me.”

“Kathleen,” Lulu said, keeping her tone patient and even. Friendly. “Did you tell Allie some of Dana’s personal business at the practice? Be honest, please. I’m not looking to get you in trouble, but I need to know the truth.”

“No. No, I wouldn’t do that.”

As Kathleen denied it verbally, her head was nodding in the affirmative. A clear clash of body language. Usually, the body was telling the truth.

“If I subpoena Allie’s phone records between you two, what am I going to find?”

Kathleen, who was already on edge, completely broke down at the question. Her mouth opened in a soft but plaintive wail as the tears began to flow down her cheeks. She was talking and sobbing, and Lulu could only make out about every other word.

It was enough for Lulu to realize that Kathleen had mentioned Dana’s visit to the doctor to Allie.

“Slow down,” Lulu said gently, reaching for the tissue box on the desk and handing it to Kathleen. “Take a few deep breaths, and start from the beginning, okay?”

It took a little while for her to calm down, but eventually the tears slowed, and she was able to continue.

“Allie brought up Dana,” Kathleen explained. “I didn’t bring her up. She was complaining about Dana, as usual. I didn’t even think. I just mentioned that Dana had been in the office. I know that I’m not supposed to say those things, so I immediately shut up. I dropped the subject, and at the time, Allie did, too. But I guess she didn’t. She was bugging me all the time as to why Dana was there. She kept asking if Dana was pregnant or if she was sick. She’d call me during the day, she’d send me texts, she’d bug me when I came home after work.”

“So, you told her?”

“Not really,” Kathleen replied, more tears slipping down her wet cheeks. “Allie did the whole thing where she said what she thought, and if I didn’t correct her then she’d know she was right. I just wanted her to leave me alone, Sheriff. She was making my life miserable, and I just wanted some peace.”

“She guessed that Dana was pregnant, and you didn’t correct her?”

“Yes, but it didn’t work. Allie was even more upset, and she ranted about it for days.”

“Did she argue with Jay about it?”

“No, she said she needed to figure out what to do before she talked to Jay. She said she needed to talk to Dana first. Get her to admit that the baby was Jay’s. She said she wanted to convince Dana that Jay wouldn’t want the baby, and that she should leave town to have it. Then while Dana was gone, she’d marry Jay.”

Allie had it all figured out. Get her rival out of town, marry Jay, and then when Dana returned it would be too late.

Kathleen’s hand latched onto Lulu’s arm, gripping tightly.

“I tried to talk her out of it. I swear I did. I tried to tell her that she needed to stay far away from Dana, but when Allie is like that she doesn’t hear anyone. She only knows what she wants.”

“That night that Allie left the house and didn’t come back for a few hours…You didn’t ask her about that?”

“I was afraid to,” Kathleen admitted. “I didn’t want to know. All I wanted was a roommate to help pay the bills. I didn’t want to get caught up in some romantic melodrama. I just wanted peace and quiet in my life.”

Lulu levered to her feet, tucking the notebook and pencil into her bag.

“I’m going to have this typed up, and you’re going to need to read it over and sign it. Make sure you’ve told me the truth today. Is there anything you’ve said that you want to change in any way?”

“No, I’ve told you the truth. Are you going to tell the doctor what I did?”

“You may want to do that yourself. If it turns out Allie has done something illegal, the whole story is going to come out eventually.”

“I’m going to lose my job,” Kathleen sobbed. “I wish I’d never met Allie.”

“Dana Cartwright would probably say the same thing,” Lulu replied. “Thank you for speaking with me, Kathleen. I’ll be in touch about signing your statement.”

What a massive, tangled web of bullshit. So much drama, lying, and subterfuge.

It was time to take what she had to the district attorney. Did she have enough for a search warrant for Allie’s car and home?

It was time to find out.