Countdown - Iris Johansen [6]
“I wasn’t trying to intimidate you.” Manning grimaced. “Lord, you’re defensive.”
“My friend has just been shot. I think I have a right to be defensive.”
“Hey, we’re the good guys.”
“Sometimes it’s hard to tell.” She gave him a cool glance. “And you haven’t shown me your ID yet. Let’s see it.”
“Sorry.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out his badge. “My error. Show her your ID, Fox.”
She examined both IDs closely before handing them back. “Okay. Let’s get this over quickly. I’ll make a formal statement later but here’s what you need to know right now. It was too dark in that alley for me to be able to ID the first man who attacked us. But when I turned on the headlights I got a glimpse of the man who shot Mike.”
“You’ll be able to recognize him?”
“Oh, yes.” Her lips twisted. “No problem. I’m not going to forget him. Not ever. Give me a few hours after I get through this hell and I’ll give you a sketch of him.”
“You’re an artist?”
“It’s my major. And I’ve got a knack for portraiture. I’ve done sketches for the Atlanta PD before and they haven’t complained.” She took another sip of coffee. “Check with them if you don’t believe me.”
“I believe you,” Fox said. “That will be a great help. But you only saw him for a moment. It would be hard to remember enough to—”
“I’ll remember.” She leaned wearily back in the chair. “Look, I’ll do everything I can to help. I want to get this bastard. I don’t know what the hell this is all about, but Mike didn’t deserve this to happen to him. I’ve met a few people who did deserve to be shot.” She shivered. “But not Mike. Will you go check and see if there’s any—”
“No news.” Joe Quinn’s face was grim as he came into the waiting room. “I checked as soon as I got here.”
“Joe.” She jumped to her feet and ran across the room toward him. “Thank God you’re here. Those nurses were practically patting my head. They won’t tell me anything. They’re treating me like a kid.”
“Heaven forbid. Don’t they know you’re twenty-one going on a hundred?” He hugged her and then turned to the two detectives. “Detective Joe Quinn. The head nurse tells me you’re local police?”
Manning nodded. “Manning, and this is Sergeant Fox. Naturally, we have a few questions to ask the young lady. You understand.”
“I understand that you’re to leave her alone right now. She’s not under suspicion, is she?”
Manning shook his head. “If she shot him, then she did a hell of a lot to keep him alive afterward.”
“She’s protected him all her life. There’s no way she would have shot him. Give her a chance to get herself together and she’ll cooperate later.”
“So she told us,” Manning said. “I was just about to leave when you came. Just doing our job.”
Jane was tired of dealing with them. “Where’s Eve, Joe? And how did you get here so quickly?”
“I hired a jet as soon as you called, and Eve and I came ahead. Sandra is flying in from New Orleans, where she was vacationing. Eve stayed at the airport to meet her flight and bring her here. Sandra’s almost falling apart.”
“I promised her I’d take care of him.” She could feel the tears sting her eyes. “I didn’t do it, Joe. I don’t know what happened. Everything went wrong.”
“You did your best.”
“Don’t tell me that. I didn’t do it.”
“Okay, but Sandra had no right to saddle you with that kind of responsibility.”
“She’s Eve’s mother. She loves Mike. Hell, I love Mike. I’d have done it anyway.”
“We’ll wait in the hall,” Sergeant Fox said. “Whenever you’re ready to make a statement, Ms. MacGuire.”
“Wait a minute. I’ll go with you,” Joe said. “I want to talk to you about the investigation.” He turned to Jane. “I’ll be right back. I want an update and then I’ll go back to the nurse’s desk and see if I can get more info about Mike.”
“I’ll go with you.”
He shook his head. “You’re upset and it shows. They’ll be walking on eggshells around you. Let me do it. I’ll get right back to you.”
“I don’t want to sit—” She stopped. He was right. She wiped her wet cheeks on the back of her hand. She couldn’t stop crying, dammit. “Hurry, Joe.