“Like when you purchased maternity garments as a gift for your son’s fiancée?” the detective said, with a grimace. “I heard there was a confrontation about that earlier in the evening.”

“Yes. Like that. I was wrong for doing that, okay? But my strained relationship with Rosalee and my recent diagnosis have nothing to do with what happened last night. I have no reason to hurt anyone.”

“If not you, then who did? Who was that angry last night?”

“Everyone! We were all tense all weekend long, me included,” Elizabeth said, with a sigh.

The detective stared at the woman, searching her face for clues. Elizabeth was adamant she had nothing to do with the murder. Perhaps too adamant and defensive…

“Out of everyone, whose behavior stood out the most to you yesterday? Was anyone behaving strangely?” the detective asked, carefully. Elizabeth didn’t strike her as the kindest woman, but she was certainly observant.

“Well, if I had to pick one, I’d say Tinsley. She’s a weird girl, so strange-looking and awkward… and I saw her creeping around the house a few times, doing things that didn’t make sense to me.”

“Doing things that didn’t make sense … like what, for example?” the detective leaned forward, closing the short space between them.

“It was like she was up to something in that house, always snooping around, like she thought nobody could see her. Yesterday, I was in the kitchen cleaning up and getting a drink, when she suddenly popped out of the pantry. It was the strangest damn thing. Nearly gave me a heart attack.”

“The pantry?”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “You sure like to repeat yourself, officer. You remind me of my therapist,” she said, with a gushing sigh. “Yes, the pantry,” she said the words slowly, the words bitter on her tongue. “You know that place where people keep extra food and cleaning supplies?”

Now it was Detective Smalls’ turn to roll her eyes. “Why did you consider that strange?”

“It wasn’t strange that Tinsley went in the pantry, but the odd thing is… she was in there with the door closed and the lights turned out for a while, which took me by surprise when she emerged like a freakish ghoul. Something about that girl isn’t right. I thought maybe she was hiding in there in the dark, waiting to spring out and attack someone. Maybe me…”

“Why would she want to do that, Elizabeth?”

Elizabeth huffed. “I have no idea. Maybe she was in there doing drugs. Who knows?”

The detective leaned back in her chair, scribbled something on the notebook in her lap, then ended the interview with Elizabeth Beake.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Crime Scene, Walkthrough #2

Detective Nina Smalls’ father was right about one thing—crime scenes are not the same when you return a second time. Or a third, or fourth…

But instead of seeing fewer details, this time, the detective sees more.