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“Do you have a family, Brennon?”
“What?” His face snapped back to stare at me. His eyes were jumpy. “Why do you need to know that?”
I didn’t. But his reaction told me I was on the right track. “Just wondering how you get away with working all day and then being away from home all night. I’d think a wife wouldn’t be too happy about that.”
“She understands the demands of the job. She knew what she signed up for.”
“I see.”
“What about your kids?”
“You leave my kids out of this!”
I hadn’t known he had kids but he sure was sensitive about them.
“No problem,” I said. “Tell me where you were when Laura broke into the house.”
He recounted his story. I noted some minor details that differed from his report. Laura’s shooting stance, for example, Brennon said she had pointed the gun at Rossi immediately and did not waiver, but his testimony said she waved it at the room. It wasn’t enough to dismiss his testimony, but maybe I could build enough doubt.
“So, when did she take off her gloves exactly? If she was holding the gun and then you disarmed her, I assume she was still wearing them?”
His lips parted and he looked up at the ceiling. “Uh, she must have taken them off when I handcuffed her.”
“That must have been difficult.”
He shrugged.
“Then why did you not collect them as evidence?”
His leg bounced.
“I figured the detectives would collect them as evidence later.”
“But they didn’t. There were no gloves on Laura’s person or left in the room. How do you explain that?”
“I don’t know,” he said, his voice rising for the first time. “Maybe her father took them in the commotion. Maybe he’s hiding them to protect her.”
I ground my back teeth. He was lying. I was sure of it. But I still had to prove it.
He stared straight ahead. “Are we done here?”
Brennon’s leg bounced faster. I worried he would close up and become guarded with his responses.
Better to try again later and hope he’d change a few more details. Catch him in his own lies.
“Thanks for your time, officer. I’m sure we’ll be in touch.”
He grunted and stood. Watching him walk out the door, I decided I would meet with the second eyewitness now that the details were fresh in my head.
If I could get Rossi to slip up, Laura could have a chance of winning her trial.
*
Rossi’s neighborhood was one that I’d heard of but never visited. It was on the opposite side of town, near Little Italy. The homes on his street were more than five thousand square feet, and their yards were at least an acre. It was one of the wealthier neighborhoods, but I never had an occasion or a house party to lure me to this neck of the woods.
The long gravel driveway that led to a hulk of a home seemed out of place with the modern concrete architecture of the house.
Security had opened the gate without any hassle when I’d told them who I was. Perhaps this wasn’t the first time Rossi had come into contact with the law.
