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Klein took one step toward her, halving the already meager distance between them. “I guess I wasn’t clear enough when I phoned you. I told you I wouldn’t be pulled back into this, and I meant it.”
Jason put his hand on the butt on his Glock. “Since we’re clearing things up, you won’t be calling Lilly again. And you won’t be getting in her face to issue any other threats.”
No more steps toward her, but that didn’t stop Klein’s expression from tightening. “She and her father ruined my life.”
“And you had no part in that?” Lilly asked.
“None,” Klein quickly answered.
Jason obviously didn’t buy a word of it. Glaring, he motioned toward the room behind them. “Escort him into interrogation,” Jason told O’Reilly. He waited until O’Reilly had done that before he continued. “I need to be here during the questioning, but I’ll get someone to give you a ride back to the house.”
Yet another head-against-a-brick-wall moment. “And if I don’t want to go?” she asked.
“Tough. You’re going.” He leaned in closer, until his mouth was practically right against her ear. “You’ve had a long day, an even longer night, and you need some rest. Please, just go. You don’t have to worry about being there alone with Erica. I’ll make sure an officer stays there with you until I get back.”
She was about to argue, but O’Reilly came out of the interrogation room where he’d deposited Klein.
“Before you listen to Klein being grilled, you might want to hear what the crime lab had to say about that surveillance video taken from the security camera at the gate of your neighborhood.” O’Reilly closed the door to the interrogation room. “They were able to partially enhance the image,” he explained.
Lilly couldn’t help it. Her hopes soared. This could be the break they’d been praying for.
“And were they able to determine who was behind the wheel of that car?” Jason asked.
“No.”
She’d had mere seconds of that soaring hope, but that dashed them.
“But they were able to get a better look at the license plate,” O’Reilly continued. “They only got a partial, but it was enough to run it through DMV and come up with a name.”
All right. That was a reason to hope again. “Which is it—Wayne Sandling or Raymond Klein?” Lilly asked.
O’Reilly shook his head. “Neither. The car is registered to your former secretary, Corinne Davies.”
CHAPTER NINE
Jason unlocked the front door to his house, stepped inside and listened for any sound that shouldn’t have been there. He could hear the hum of the air-conditioner. The rhythmic swish of the brass pendulum in the grandfather clock in the foyer. The TV was on low volume in the living room.
All seemed well, but he wasn’t about to take that at face value.
Yes, he was paranoid.
That could happen when only ten hours earlier someone had come close to killing Lilly and him.
There was a plainclothes cop watching TV from the sofa in the living room. Jason nodded and tried to convey his appreciation that the man was guarding the place in his absence. Unfortunately, the guards were a necessary precaution that might have to continue for a while.
Jason didn’t even want to think about how long a while might be.
He continued down the hall. Listening. Staying vigilant. Erica was in the playroom, and even though she was holding a magazine, Jason didn’t think she was reading it. She tossed it aside and practically leaped to her feet when she saw him. But Jason motioned for her to sit back down.
“Where’s Megan and Lilly?” he whispered.
There was little change in Erica’s expression, just a soft intake of breath that had a hint of frustration to it, and she aimed her index finger in the direction of Lilly’s room. “Lilly insisted on having Megan with her,” she said.
Uh-oh.
That had probably caused an argument or two. Not from Megan. But from Erica. Things had probably not gone smoothly while he’d been at headquarters. Still, it couldn’t be helped. He’d had to do reports and he’d wanted to help with the investigation and interrogation of the suspects. Plus, Lilly had needed some rest. And it was a necessity to get her out of headquarters, away from Wayne Sandling and Raymond Klein. For that to happen, he’d had no choice but to send her with the police escort back to the house. Unfortunately, that meant Lilly had had to deal with Erica on her own. He was sorry he hadn’t been here to run interference.
Jason turned toward Lilly’s room, and because the door was open, he spotted her immediately. She was napping not on her bed but on a brightly colored patchwork quilt stretched out on the carpeted floor.
