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“So what am I supposed to charge you with?” Annie asked. “Trespassing? This ain’t worth the paperwork to me. If I can convince Mrs. Fontenot to let it go, you’ll be a free woman.”
Rayanne turned around in a little circle, contemplating her options. She chewed on a dirty thumbnail and stared at Annie. “What do you want?” she asked. “You ain’t gonna just let me go for no reason.”
“All I want is an honest conversation.”
“You’ll use it against me.”
“How? If you haven’t done anything worse than I know about, how will I use it against you?” Annie asked. “I’m trying to get you out of here with no charges.”
“Why?”
Annie gave a small shrug. “Maybe I think you deserve a break, Rayanne.”
“Yeah, right.”
“All I see every day on this job is people getting knocked down in life. Maybe I can give you a hand up, and maybe you do something good with it. And you’d save me doing a lot of paperwork, so…”
“You think that bitch would drop the charges?”
“I think if I can put it to her right. If I can tell her you were helpful to me…She’s pretty pissed right now, though.”
“Rich bitch,” Rayanne muttered.
“What makes you think she’s rich?” Annie set her notebook and phone down on the table and took a seat.
If Rayanne Tillis didn’t know Robbie Fontenot, how did she know anything about his mother?
Rayanne glanced away and shrugged. “She got that look, that skinny rich bitch look.”
“If she’s rich, how come her son is living on your street?”
“How would I know? Maybe she don’t like him.”
“She’s worried sick,” Annie said. “She hasn’t seen or heard from him since Halloween. Have you?”
“I told you, I don’t know him!”
“But you’ve seen him around, yeah? Coming and going.”
“I guess.”
“You live right next door. You must look out the window every once in a while. When do you remember seeing him last?”
“I don’t.”
“You knew he wasn’t home this morning, though.”
“His car was gone. It’s been gone. I thought he maybe just up and left. People do,” she said defensively. “All the time. They can’t pay their rent and they just leave, and they leave all their stuff, and somebody might as well have it.”
“Have you seen anyone else going in and out of that house?”
“Like who?”
“Like anybody. Friends of his. Girlfriends. Family.”
Rayanne squirmed a bit on her chair, scowling down at the floor. “Am I supposed to be the neighborhood watch or what? I don’t know nothing about that house.”
“Have you seen the cops going in and out of there?” Annie asked. “Your good friend Danny Perry?”
