Kanesha couldn’t argue with her mother, so she chose to blame me. Every time I encountered her, I felt like I’d run up against a buzz saw.

After glaring at me for a moment, Kanesha summoned another officer. “Deputy Bates,” she said, her voice taut, “Mr. Harris here called it in. Go with him and take a preliminary statement.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Bates gazed into the distance, not at Kanesha, when he spoke. His tone verged on insubordinate.

Kanesha’s eyes narrowed for a moment. She did not reply. She turned and walked in the direction of the elevator.

“Come with me, sir,” Bates said. “We’ll be using the manager’s office.” I had seen Bates around town, but I didn’t know him. He appeared to be about Kanesha’s age, mid-thirties.

Praying that Julia could get here quickly, I followed Bates around the desk. The manager came with us into her office and flapped about for a moment, still obviously unsettled. Bates calmed her down and asked her to step outside.

When we were alone, Bates sat behind the desk and motioned for me to sit across from him.

I sank into the chair, my stomach churning. Images of Godfrey, dead on the floor, flashed through my mind. Lord, I needed something to settle me down. A nice shot of brandy would do the trick, but I doubted Bates would let me ask for one.

Bates asked me my name, address, and so on. Then he got down to the meat of the interview.

After a couple of false starts, I was able to give an organized account of finding the body. I carefully omitted for the moment that I hadn’t been alone.

“How’d you get in the room?” Bates asked when I finished.

“I had a key.”

“And how’d you come by that?” Bates eyed me with suspicion.

“Godfrey’s son gave it to me. Godfrey had given it to him earlier.” That much was true.

Bates jotted something into his notebook, then he asked me to go through it all again, starting with why I came to check on Godfrey in the first place.

I explained again about the party having been canceled and my worries that Godfrey was ill, because he would have never, as far as I knew, skipped an opportunity for a lot of attention.

“I tried calling, but there was no answer.”

“And you didn’t ask somebody here to check on him?” Bates watched me, his face blank.

“No, I didn’t think of that,” I said. “My house isn’t that far away, so I just hopped in the car and came here.”

Bates nodded, and I continued telling my story for the second time.

During all this, I continued to worry about Justin. Surely Julia had arrived by now. She’d be upset at the news too, but the most important thing right now was looking after her son.