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“You’re a woman,” Nico finished for her.
“Yeah.”
“I get it,” Nico said. “We preach equality, but at the end of the day, we males still have that DNA-fueled urge to protect the fair maiden.”
“Seth graduated the academy a full year after I did,” she said. “I love him like a brother, but I’m also tired of being assigned menial jobs while he gets to work on actual cases.”
She’d worn her hair loose today—a seldom sight—so it was difficult to see her face beyond the thick curtain of inky black, but he saw enough to know her grievance was genuine.
Watching to gauge her reaction, he asked, “So, it’s a real boys club?”
Zoe winced. “No, it’s not that bad. I don’t think any of them do it on purpose.”
“That doesn’t make it okay.”
She sighed. “It would just be nice to be taken more seriously, that’s all.”
Nico frowned. “You think they don’t take you seriously?”
“I think they’re afraid to let me do my job.”
“Why would that be?”
For a moment, Zoe froze. Nico knew he’d touched on something both private and pivotal to the issue at hand but couldn’t guess what it was.
Before he could inquire further, she cleared her throat. “Darcy lives right here.”
The plot of land Darcy Walsh lived on was wild and well-maintained at the same time. Surrounded by lush forest on all sides of the boundary, the four acres were mowed neatly, right up to the semicircle garden bed surrounding a big, silver trailer. The dwelling was obviously permanent, propped up on brick stilts with a wooden deck stretching along the front. Shelves for flowerpots had been drilled into the exterior under the windows. A beat-up Volkswagen sat under a shade cloth to the side.
Zoe parked and they both stepped out. They made it as far as the gravel path before the trailer door swung open and a skinny blond with smeared mascara and a sour look leaned against the doorjamb. Her hair looked like it hadn’t been brushed in days, and she wore a pale-green dress that did nothing for her figure.
“Hello, Miss Walsh,” Zoe greeted. “I’m Officer Lane and this is Lieutenant Dominici. I hope we’re not disturbing you.”
“Nice place you have here,” Nico said, looking around.
Darcy lifted her chin like the statement offended her. “It’s rented.” Her eyes bounced between them before settling back on Zoe. “Did you find out who killed her?”
For a second, Zoe looked to Nico, who kept his gaze forward, intent on letting her do her job, and, as she’d put it, take her seriously.
“That’s why we’re here,” she told her. “The lieutenant has some questions for you, if you don’t mind.”
“Questions, questions,” she scoffed. “I already told Chief West everything I know.”
“There’s just a few details we’re not entirely clear on,” Nico said.
“Like what?”
“Like the fact that Isabelle was in a relationship with a man named Logan,” he said. She went from sullen to spooked in seconds. “You seem to have left that out of your statement.”
Reigning her emotions in, Darcy shrugged. “Don’t know him.”
“You were her best friend,” Nico stated. “I’m no expert on women, but I find it hard to believe she didn’t tell you about him.”
If looks could kill, Nico knew he would have dropped dead at the snarling glare Darcy speared him with.
“What the hell do you want from me?” she demanded.
“The truth.”
