“Is that a fact?” Alan leans forward and cracks his knuckles. So irritating.

“It is. I’d like to go now.”

“Not so fast, Mrs. Harris. What if I tell you there is video footage of you dropping your dog, Cash, off at the back gate of the next community over from The Cove on the day you swore you were home all day? Would you be surprised? Actually, as you know, it was more violent than just dropping the poor dog off. I have a video of you shoving the poor dog out of your car without stopping, on the day Mary died. What would you say about that?”

“Wrong. I didn’t do that. I would never hurt Cash.” I glare at Alan. How dare he accuse me of such cruelty? Besides, he knows I was home all day. They’ve already investigated all of this. Case closed.

“Well, I just got to thinking. That was a far way for the pup to travel with a leash on without getting tangled up. And he came home pretty fast, as I recall, before Betsy, before anyone else. It was almost like someone had him in her car, and then realized it would make her look guilty. Are you following me?”

“No. It didn’t happen.”

“So I went over to Diamond Bay security office. Asked one of my buddies there if I could watch their video from that day. Lucky, ’cause if I’d been just another month later, they would have taped over the footage.”

I meet his eyes. “You’re seeing things. I was at home. Waiting for Cash and Mary to come home from their hike.”

Branson shakes his head. “It’s a good thing Sam was paying attention during your little drives. He tipped me off about the dog. My nephew is smart. Going to make a good detective someday.”

My face tries to register surprise, so I cover it with my hands. Sam? Alan’s nephew? “Are you talking about Lyft Sam?”

“Yes, Sam Branson, my brother’s boy. He’s studying criminal psychology in school. Can’t wait to have him join the force. He’s done great work on this case. Observant. He was worried you might hurt Betsy before we could bring you all in today.”

“Sam doesn’t know anything about me.” I wrap my arms around myself and lean back. “I’m done here.”

Branson leans forward. “Mary and Betsy didn’t talk for long. Mary wanted Betsy to come home with her, but Betsy wanted to stay and hang out with Bo. Mary decided to blow off steam, go for a hike on her own, as you know. Betsy and Bo were together in a different part of the park when Mary died.”