‘You’re about the only person in the world I trust,’ Peach said. She stared at him with all the intensity she could find, because she wanted him to realize she was serious. ‘You can tell me anything. You know that, don’t you?’

‘Did you know Mr Kiel well?’ Detective Clay asked.

Peach lay motionless in bed, with the phone at her ear. The vacant eyes of the mannequins stared at her, wondering what she would say. She was silent for so long that the detective repeated the question.

‘No,’ she said finally. ‘I didn’t know Justin well at all. We were basically strangers.’

Her answer prompted an awkward pause. ‘That wasn’t what I heard.’

‘Well, that’s how it was.’

‘You worked regularly with Mr Kiel, didn’t you?’

‘Sometimes.’

‘But you were strangers?’

‘We were colleagues,’ Peach said. ‘That’s all.’

His drawl got a little cooler and less Georgia-friendly. ‘Ms Piper, you do want to see us catch whoever did this to Mr Kiel, don’t you?’

‘Sure.’

‘So if you can help us with information, you’ll do that, won’t you?’

‘There’s not much to tell.’

The detective breathed into the phone, like a sigh. ‘Did you know that Mr Kiel sold drugs? He was a dealer?’

Peach wanted to scream. Her breath felt ragged in her chest. He wasn’t! That’s a lie! ‘No.’

‘Did you ever see him selling drugs? Or using drugs?’

‘No.’

‘Did he sell you drugs, Ms Piper?’

‘No.’

‘I’m not in narcotics. You can be honest with me.’

‘I said no.’

‘You’re aware that Mr Kiel was shot in a drug sale gone bad, aren’t you? Drugs were hidden in the motel room where his body was found.’

Peach felt the bed going round and round in circles. She got to her feet, made it to the wall, and slid down to the floor. Her free hand clenched into a fist. Her eyes squeezed shut.

‘I only know what I read in the newspaper.’

‘Do you know if Mr Kiel had any enemies?’

‘I don’t.’

‘What were you and he working on when he was killed?’

Peach wiped her nose. ‘What?’

‘I said, what were you and he working on when he was killed?’

‘Nothing.’

‘You weren’t working together?’

‘No, I hadn’t seen him in days. We hadn’t talked.’ That much was true. He’d dropped off the radar for a week. She’d been in a panic. Where are you? What’s going on?

‘Was Mr Kiel working on his own? Did he tell you anything about that?’

‘No, nothing.’

He never said a word. Whatever was going on in his life, he’d left her out of it.

‘Is there anything else you can tell me, Ms Piper?’

‘No. I don’t know anything.’

‘Well, I appreciate your help.’