“We were supposed to go to the police station this morning.”

“Tell Detective Myers I’ll be back soon. She can wait.”

We hang up, and I feel guilty just a little to be lying to my sister, but I know she wouldn’t approve. Big sister Corrine would come out. The one who doesn’t think I can run my own life. She doesn’t mean to be overbearing. I know that. It’s what Keith Russell did to her too.

CHAPTER 46 - Rita

CHAPTER 46

Rita

JOE AND I ARE IN AN INTERVIEW ROOM, DRINKING COFFEE, WAITING FOR Mrs. Bradley. I take out my phone to check the time and see if she’s texted that she’s running late. It’s ten minutes past nine o’clock. Joe is on his third cup. We’ve been working awhile.

Finally, the door opens, and Chase shows Corrine Alworth into the room. She looks a little haggard, a navy cardigan thrown over a T-shirt, blond hair clipped up on top of her head, a few hanks dropping to her shoulders.

“Where’s Mrs. Bradley?” I ask.

She sits across from us and drapes her purse strap on the back of her chair. “She’s not coming.”

“Why not?”

“She left town for a few days.” Mrs. Alworth sets her phone on the table.

Great. Not sure I like this development. Mrs. Bradley seems like an emotional loose cannon to me. I liked it better when she was here in town, where we could keep an eye on her. I clear my throat. “Okay. This is Special Agent Joe Thorne.” He clasps her hand. “Mrs. Alworth is Mrs. Bradley’s sister.”

“FBI?”

“Yes,” Joe says. “We’re helping out.” He opens his file folder and retrieves his reading glasses from his shirt pocket. “You weren’t at the Mountclair house the night of the incident?”

“No. But I wanted to come in and check on how things were progressing.”

“Where did your sister go?” I ask.

“I don’t know.” Mrs. Alworth glances at her phone as if she expects a call at any moment. “But she said she’d be back soon. She needed a break from the press.”

“You’re worried about her?”

“Of course. The man who’s been calling threatened her last time.”

“What did he say?” Joe asks.

Mrs. Alworth’s eyes meet Joe’s. “He said that he wanted her back in the cellar. Did you have any luck tracing the phone?” she asks me.

I lean back in my chair. “It’s a burner, so we don’t know who owns it, but Detective Fuller’s been working on locating the area the calls were placed from.” I text Chase, let him know that Mrs. Alworth is here.

“Like the ones drug dealers use?”