Dead Certain - Mariah Stewart [52]
“She had blood . . .” Amanda’s hands patted her chest.
“Yes. He did that, too.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “Why would anyone . . . ? She was such a sweet and gentle woman. Why would . . . ?” She looked bewildered, lost.
“We’re going to do our best to find that out.”
“Why are you holding me if you know I didn’t kill her?”
“You’re not being held. You can leave whenever you want. I’d rather you didn’t, for two reasons.”
“They are . . . ?”
“One, because I might still have some questions I need you to answer about what happened. What you saw. What you heard.”
“I’ve already told Dana—Officer Burke—what I know, but if you have other questions, okay.”
“Chief, Detective Crosby is here and he’s asking for you.” Joyce barely got the words out through the intercom before Evan Crosby opened the office door after little more than a cursory knock.
“So I see.” Sean waved Evan in as if he hadn’t already entered the room.
Evan pulled a chair next to his sister’s and sat on the edge, taking her hands in his. “How are you feeling, sweetheart?”
“I’m okay,” she said, though tears were forming in her eyes all over again.
Her brother continued to hold her hands even as he looked at Sean. “Want to fill me in, Mercer?”
Sean quickly did so.
Evan blew out a breath. “Jesus. First Derek, now Marian. Any idea of what is going on around here?”
“We were just about to get into that.”
“Chief Mercer was just telling me why I’m not a suspect,” Amanda said.
“Well, isn’t that nice of him.” Evan turned to Sean. “I think I’d like to hear that myself.”
“Marian O’Connor’s throat was slit. From behind. By someone taller and stronger than she was. Now, I don’t know how strong she was physically, but I know she was close to five foot ten. Amanda, you’re what, five foot five?”
Amanda nodded.
“But you still think she had something to do with Derek’s death?” Evan pressed.
“I think she had something to do with it, but not in the way you mean.” The two lawmen stared at each other for a long moment. “I’m thinking there’s a connection between Derek England’s murder and Marian O’Connor’s.”
Evan nodded slowly. “You think the same person committed both.”
“Yes, I do. But I don’t think that person is your sister.”
“Why would someone want to kill Derek and Marian? What do they have in common?” Amanda stood, her arms wrapped around her middle. “Other than the fact that they’re both shop owners dealing in antiques, what do they have in common?”
“You,” Sean told her. “They both had you in common.”
“But that’s silly. That makes no sense to me.” She shook her head. “I mean, why?”
“If I knew that, I’d probably be able to figure out who, but right now, I don’t have a clue,” he admitted. “Now, I have to think that the phone calls, the flowers, were probably from the same person who—”
“What?” Evan grabbed Amanda’s arm. “You didn’t tell me that you were getting calls again.”
“They just started right before Derek’s death, and it had happened only a few times. I didn’t want to jump to conclusions. I mean, it could have been legitimate wrong numbers. As for the flowers, I found the first one the day of Derek’s memorial service. I thought it might have been left there by a friend, or a neighbor,” she explained.
“Don’t sit there and tell me that it didn’t occur to you that you’d been down that road before, Manda.” Evan’s gaze was stony.
“Well, it did, but I didn’t want my imagination to run away with me. I didn’t want to make it something other than what it was. It took me a long time to get myself together after Archer Lowell, Evan. I did not want to crumble the first time someone hung up my phone when I answered.”
Evan turned to Sean. “She told you about this?”
“Yes.”
“And what did you do about it?”
“I tracked the rose to a grocery store out on Route Thirteen, but there’s no way to trace the buyer. The store manager told me they sell dozens every week.”
“Store surveillance tapes?”
“Destroyed after ten days. But even so, we don’t know who we’re looking