Page 71 of Playing for Keeps

Few words were spoken as we left the building. The first officer, McKeighan, opened the back door to his car, and we drove in silence to the police station. Snow crunched underfoot as I followed him inside. My wet feet slid on the tile floors as he led me through a maze of people, cops and civilians alike. Each step forward was harder and harder to make, my feet dragging, my stomach rolling, my hand clenching around the blue-green stone of my necklace.

“In here.” He stopped in front of a room in the middle of the floor, hand raised as if to usher me in. But a commotion at the other end of the hall caught my eye. The door slammed open, and a handful of police officers shuffled through.

But it wasn’t the cops that stopped my breath.

It was Vinny.

Hands behind his back. Blond hair hanging in his face, though not hiding the bloody scrape across his cheek. Clothes rumpled and hanging from him as if he’d lost weight.

His pale blue eyes caught mine as two cops dragged him past, and so many words were written there, unsaid.

I’m sorry.

I love you.

Everything will be alright.

* * *

After being left alone for a half hour in the interview room, the manicure I’d gotten for Corey’s wedding was ruined. Paint scraped off. Nails bitten to the quick. Cuticles littered with drops of blood. I wanted to cry, to scream, to pace and rage and run from the room. Instead, my body was frozen while my mind swirled.

I was shocked.

Lost in the questions that churned, the pain that bubbled up, boiling over and spilling out.

Aaron was dead.

Vinny was led away in cuffs.

But why? What had happened? Why wouldn’t anyone tell me what was going on?

When the door finally swung open, it wasn’t Officer McKeighan returning, and my heart felt lighter as Eugene Linden pushed into the room.

A year ago, when Frankie and Corey were being stalked, my brother had befriended Officer Linden while trying to keep Frankie safe.

Now, Linden had two paper coffee cups in his hand, and he glanced over his broad shoulders at the hallway behind him before stepping all the way in.

“Brought you a coffee,” he murmured, setting the cup on the table in front of me.

I grabbed it, holding it between my hands as I tried to soak up the only warmth I could find. “What’s going on?”

Linden shook his head, taking another glance back at the open door. “I’m afraid I don’t know. But you’ll be alright. I’m sure you have nothing to worry about.”

“I don’t even know why I’m here,” I insisted. But before I could say more, McKeighan popped his head in the door.

“Linden.” The man jumped, coffee sloshing all over his hand. “A word, please.”

Officer Linden threw a quick glance my way before dipping his head and leaving me there, alone.

Moments later, McKeighan came back in. He dropped the file folder he was carrying on the table, then took a seat. “So, you’re Corey Lucas’s little sister.”

It took everything in me to suppress the eye roll I usually gave when people connected me with my brother, but I couldn’t conceal my cringe. “Yes, sir.”

“And it was his wedding you were at Saturday night?”

My head nodded as I fingered my cup. “That’s right.”

McKeighan pulled his notebook out of his pocket, flipping through it before glancing up at me. “Where were you between the hours of ten o’clock and midnight?”