“It’s okay. You can tell me what happened. We’re just talking here,” the detective said, reaching out to pat the woman’s hand.

Delfina pulled back. “I didn’t kill anybody. You must believe me! I just helped with the mess. I didn’t want to lose my job or cost the other workers their jobs either! I knew that if people thought she was murdered on the property, it would come with lawsuits and lengthy investigations. The guests were rich, okay? And the bride’s future husband is a bigshot lawyer. But suicide… that seemed like a better option. I didn’t hurt anyone, I just put her up there with the rope so it would look like it was her own doing. We depend on these jobs… This is all we have… Please…”

Chapter Thirty

Crime Scene, Walkthrough #3

“Have you ever heard that expression: ‘Silence is deafening’?” Officer Smalls’ assistant asks her.

Here they are, back in the carriageway of the Leblanc-Landry mansion, the assistant’s second visit and the detective’s third in just under thirty-six hours.

The assistant’s eyes are droopy. His limbs are heavy. He feels punch-drunk without the punch.

“Yes, I’ve heard it,” the detective says, pressing her gloved hand to the exterior door. It opens with barely more than a nudge, creaking eerily in the night-time silence.

There is no one on the other side of it.

“That’s just creepy as hell,” the assistant mutters, pointing at the door. “Like some phantom butler letting people in and out any time they touch the door…”

The detective stops in the open doorway, listening. You could have heard a pin drop—her assistant is right, the silence here is loud. Not even the ticking of clocks or the buzz of night-time critters outside.

She shuts the door behind the two of them.

“It’s not really all that creepy, Matthias. On the surface, yes, but most strange incidents have a perfectly logical explanation. For example…”

The detective squats down behind the door, shining her heavy Maglite at the hinges while Matthias recovers from the shock of realizing she actually knows his name.

Detective Smalls stands up, reaches in her back pocket, and removes a small set of tools.

“Screws on the hinge need tightening, that’s all. This little screwdriver is junk, but it’s all I’ve got.”

He watches her, mesmerized as she tightens the screws. He never carries tools on him, but he will after tonight.

Detective Smalls opens and closes the door several times, pleased with her work. The door won’t creak open again on its own, at least not for a while.

“Now. Let’s get on with the real mystery. Who killed our girl?” she says, raising a brow at Matthias. He likes her more by the day… by the second…

“Follow me,” Detective Smalls says, and Matthias falls into step beside her.