Boring. That was how many of Ginny’s days were as a Baytown Police Officer. Maybe boring was too harsh of a word. Uneventful. Yeah, that’s better. But today’s investigations had her running ragged while Sam and Burt took on all the town patrols. Mitch had apologized ahead of time, but she understood why he wanted her there. Now all she felt was bone tired, as the interviews played over and over in her mind.

She and Grant had found Robert Banks at the mayor’s residence, the door being opened by Corwin’s, wife, Phyllis. Letting them in, she called for Robert. Corwin came from his study, his eyes narrowed on them. Turning to his wife, he groused, “Why did you let them in without a warrant?”

Phyllis glared at her husband, “Seriously? We have a possible rapist on the loose in this town and you’re quibbling about your nephew answering some questions?”

“There’s no evidence of a rapist,” he argued back, “just some woman who got felt up in the park when she probably—”

“Not. One. More. Word, Corwin,” Phyllis announced, her finger in his face. “You are too good of a public servant to say what just ran through your mind.” Successfully shutting her husband up, she turned to Robert as he descended the stairs, his eyes darting between the different persons in the foyer.

Ginny watched the self-assured young man. His dark hair was brushed to the side and he had that cute look that probably appealed to the young girls, with his almost filled out body and height. Wearing a light blue polo and checkered shorts, he appeared as though he could grace the cover of Teen Golf magazine—if there was such a thing.

“Robert, this is Officers Spencer and Wilder. You may speak with them in the living room and your uncle and I’ll be in the kitchen. I trust you will cooperate fully and completely with all their questions.”

“Of course,” Robert said, nodding politely.

“Phyllis, one of us should be with him,” Corwin said, pulling out his phone. “Let me call our attorney.”

“I’m sure that won’t be necessary,” Robert said. Looking up at Grant, he asked, “Would it be alright if either my aunt or uncle were with us?”

“Certainly,” Grant nodded.

“Aunt Phyllis?” Robert asked. “No offense, Uncle Corwin, but Aunt Phyllis remains a bit cooler, if you know what I mean.”

“Of course,” Phyllis replied as Corwin humphed and turned to leave.

After settling, Ginny began, “We understand you were near the park late last night. We are simply trying to identify anyone in the area who might have heard or seen something that might aid our investigation. Can you please tell us of your whereabouts and times?”

“Certainly, Officer. I’ve been in town for about three weeks now, on a break from college. I’m taking a semester to study a small town and have previously studied a large city, as my major is Public Administration. I figured it would give me a chance to connect with my uncle and aunt again, watch a small town Mayor in action and, well,” he chuckled, “also give me a break from classes before I go back to finish.

“I’ve just started meeting some people and have to say that there really aren’t very many here that are my age. I’ve found a few that I’ve hung around with. Last night, there was a party at the apartments…uh…condos, off Franklin Street.”

“Who was having the party?” Ginny asked.

Scrunching his brow, Robert said, “There are couple of teachers who share a place there. One is Ben, but I’m afraid I don’t know his last name. The other is James. I don’t know his last name either, but I know he works as a PE teacher at the high school.”

Ginny kept her expression neutral, but knew who he was talking about. Offering an encouraging nod, she focused on Robert.

“Tell us about the party,” Grant commanded in the tone he used when he wanted information but still made the person think they were just talking to a friend. Ginny held her smile knowing, at this moment, Grant was using his hey, I’m just a guy, too persona.

“It was good,” Robert smiled. “Plenty of booze, but nice, you know. Not like some frat party where everyone was just getting trashed. There was a game on TV and they had a nice set-up with a wide-screen. They had the table set up like a buffet with food, drinks on the kitchen counter.”

“Did you recognize anyone else there?”

“Oh, sure, but I hardly know their names. I saw a couple of girls who work at the Seafood Shack there and a few more from the beach. Same with the guys…a few I recognized from some of the restaurants in town.”

“And after the party?” Ginny asked.

Robert reddened slightly, his eyes cutting to his aunt who was sitting quietly in one of the upright chairs. “Well, I kinda hit it off with one of the girls and she invited me back to her place. We walked to her apartment that was a few blocks over, at the far end of the park. I stayed there for a bit and then had to walk back across the park to get to my car, which was left at the condo.”

“What time was all this?”

“Uh…we left the party about midnight and I left her place about 1 a.m.”

Phyllis lifted her eyebrow as she eyed Robert. “Didn’t stay long, did you?”

Fully blushing now, Robert said, “Just long enough to…uh…have a drink…and talk a bit.”

“Uh huh,” she said, then settled back in her chair, shaking her head slightly.

“We’ll need her name, of course,” Grant said. “And what you saw as you walked in the park.”

“Her name was Cindy Snyder,” Robert said. “She’ll corroborate everything I’ve said. But as to what I saw in the park…nothing. Honestly, nothing. I didn’t see anyone or hear anyone at all. I was back to my car in only ten minutes…uh…fifteen minutes, at most, and then drove home.”

Holding his gaze for a moment, Ginny and Grant only had a few more questions and then they left. Standing at their SUV for a moment, they discussed the next course of action, missing Robert pulling back the curtain in the living room watching them with narrowed-eyed interest.

It only took a few minutes to find Cindy’s apartment and her at home. Still hungover, she looked a bit worse for the wear, but her statements matched Roberts’. Of course, he had no witnesses to what happened after he left her apartment and headed back to his car.

Later in the afternoon, she and Grant drove to the high school to meet with James and Ben. “James Smithson is a new teacher here at the high school…this is his first year here. Benjamin Hudgins is also fairly new, but he’s been working here almost three years.”

Grant grunted his acknowledgment and they walked up to the fence lining the football practice field. Grant shook his head, saying, “Man, this is nicer than what we had about fifteen years ago.”

Looking up, she thought about the original Baytown Boys and smiled, imaging a ninth-grade Brogan, Grant, and Mitch. “So, you all had to rough it in the old days,” she joked.

Chuckling, he said, “Well, we didn’t have our own practice field. So, we had to share it with whoever else was practicing at the time. I think the girls’ field hockey had to share it with us. “Of course, back then, the chance to watch the girls run around in shorts didn’t exactly upset us.”

“Anyone I know?”

“Busted,” he laughed. “Jillian always caught my eye, even back then. Everyone always thought of Katelyn as the athlete but, let me tell you, Jillian had a mean swing.”

Laughing, she turned and watched as Ben jogged over to the fence. His ready smile greeted them and she could see why Jillian had gone out with him a couple of times before Grant got his act together and went after her. Tall, muscular, but lean—more of a runner’s build. His sandy blond hair was covered with a ball cap, which he took off to swipe his brow before replacing it back on his head. A sideways glance told her that Grant was not thrilled to have the reminder that Jillian had finally gotten tired of waiting on him standing right in front of him.

“Hey, the team manager said you needed to talk to me and James?” Ben asked, as he leaned on the fence. “Do you want to talk here or go sit somewhere?”

“This is good,” Grant said curtly. “We need to know about the party last night. Who you were with and if you noticed when people came and left.”

Ben scrunched his face to the side in thought and said, “Truthfully, I don’t remember too much about the times. It was supposed to be a football game party. We have a large, flat screen TV and had invited about ten or so friends over to watch the games. But, like most parties, more and more people showed up.”

“Did you stay at your place the whole time?”

“Yeah—uh, no. I had to make a snack run to the grocery at about nine or so. We were low on chips, dip, that kind of stuff. It probably took about thirty minutes to get there and back.”

“And you didn’t leave any time after that?”

Ben hesitated for a moment before sighing. “I’d like to ask what this is about, but I got a bad feeling that something happened to someone.” Shaking his head, he answered, “I walked two of the women home. They had dropped by and when it was time to leave, I didn’t feel right about them walking by themselves.”

“Can you tell us where you walked them and what time?”

Rubbing his chin, Ben replied, “Both lived on the other side of the park. One was on the south side, in one of the vacation rentals, and then I walked the other one to the east side, to one of those condos. Time? The last game was over and they’d stayed for a while, just hanging out. I’d say it was close to midnight.” He blushed and said, “I sound l like an old fogey, but with today being a work day, I was ready to call it a night. I’d preferred the party had just been some of us friends watching football, not a full-blown party.” Jerking his head toward James, who was ambling over, he laughed, “Now, my roomie over there had no problem with a few women showing up.”

Just then, a group of cheerleaders wandered by, giggling and shouting, “Hi, Mr. Smithson!” James threw his hand up good naturedly and waved at the girls, his smile wide and white.

Ben rolled his eyes and grinned. “Anything else I can answer for you, officers?”

Ginny knew Grant still had his don’t fuck with me face, so she smiled pleasantly and asked, “What time did you get back home and can anyone verify that?”

“Hmm, I guess it took about forty-five minutes to escort both women home and then back across the park to our place. Yeah, yeah, it was near one in the morning…well, this morning, because I was glad a few of our friends had stayed to clean up. When I got back, the place was in good shape and they were leaving.”

“So, you and James were both there as the last people left around one a.m.?” Ginny asked.

“Well, James wasn’t there. I figured he was in his room with…uh…well, with one of the girls. So, I said goodbye to the last of our friends, locked the front door and headed to my room and crashed. Hell, we have to get up at about 6:30 a.m. for work, so I can’t pull the all-nighters anymore. But I did hear James come in later.”

“I thought you said he was in his room—”

“That’s what I thought, but I heard the front door later and happened to roll over. It was about two then.”

“Did you ask him about it this morning?” Ginny inquired.

Ben laughed, “’Fraid not. We’re roommates, that’s all. We go and come as we please.”

James made it to the fence and slapped Ben on the back. “You hanging in there? Jesus, I know I’m getting older when I’m dragging my ass from being up so late.” Sliding his gaze through Ginny, he turned his attention toward Grant, saying, “Heard you needed a word.”

After Ben rattled off the names of the guests, he waved and took off running after the boys on the practice field and Ginny and Grant began the questioning over again.

Forthcoming, James told them he had stayed in during the party, corroborating the times that Ben was gone to pick up food. As to the end of the party, he grinned, “I admit to a hookup.” His gaze shifted to Ginny for an instant before moving back to Grant. “Ben had gone to walk some girls home, he’s such a good boy scout. Anyway, most of our friends had left and there was a girl I had an eye on, so we hooked up.”

“At your place?”

James leaned back, a hand on his heart, “Good God, no! Despite what you might think, our party was not some kind of college, frat-boy orgy! I drove to her place and we had a good time. Kissed her goodbye a little before two in the morning and drove back home.”

“Did anyone see you when you got in?”

“No, but Ben’s door was closed so, I assumed he was already in bed.”

Ginny pinched her lips together, listening to his flimsy alibi. Grant showed James the list from Ben of the men who had attended the party and James confirmed.

“Can you tell me what this is about?” James asked, angling his ball cap to keep the sun out of his eyes.

“A woman was attacked in the early hours of the morning. We’re following up on anyone reported to have been out in the area,” Ginny said.

“Damn,” James cursed. He looked to the side where the cheerleaders were practicing and said, “I’ve been toying with the idea of working with some of the girls about physical safety and protection. You know, things we often wait until college to even talk about. I figured these teenage girls could use some tips.” He looked back to Ginny and smiled. “Would you be interested in helping?”

A tight-lipped smile formed on her face as she, non-committedly, said, “If you get it started, let me know and I’ll see.”

As Ginny and Grant made it back to the SUV, he turned and said, “That’s kind of like putting the cat in charge of the bird cage, isn’t it?”

“No kidding,” she said, climbing inside.

“Would you really work with him?”

“I might need to, if for no other reason, to see what he’d actually teach the girls,” she replied, sucking in a deep breath to relieve the sinking feeling rushing into her stomach.

* * *

The sinking feeling had now turned into acid as Ginny faced Silas. She and Mitch had walked to his office and he had made them wait in the Town Hall lobby for fifteen minutes after the receptionist had told him they were there.

Now, sitting in the chairs facing his desk, his glare heavy on them, Ginny felt her anger slicing through her gut once more.

Mitch, cutting to the chase, said, “We need to know where you were last night.”

Silas’ eyes widened slightly before narrowing. “You have got to be kidding.”

“Not at all. We’re talking to everyone who was reported to be in the area of the park late last night. You’re name was reported. So, I’ll ask again. Where were you and I’ll go ahead and throw in the next questions—what time and who did you see?”

“I don’t have to answer any questions,” he replied, his nose in the air, and Ginny was reminded that Jillian had referred to him as a weasel. She always thought it was because of his personality, but now she realized it was his physical appearance also. She remained quiet, knowing Silas would only respond to Mitch, because he was the Chief, but also because he was a man. The thought only mildly irritated her—she trusted Mitch to handle Silas but she also itched to spar with him. Re-focusing, she watched with interest as Mitch’s silence began to unnerve Silas.

“As town manager, I—”

“You know that no one is above the law,” Mitch interjected.

“Don’t try to intimidate me, Chief.”

The sarcastic emphasis on Mitch’s title did not go unnoticed by her but appeared to be completely ignored by Mitch.

“Silas,” he continued, “I’ve got a sexual assault case on my hands and you, of all people, must want it solved as soon as possible. The news is now on it and every step we take is being watched. You think, for one minute, that the person who reported that you were seen out last night in the vicinity of the park, will stay quiet. Answer me now and this can end. I can report that we followed up on all sightings and determined they were not who we are looking for. The alternative is that reporter from Virginia Beach, the one you’re always cozying up to when she’s in the area, will be reporting on you.”

The more Mitch spoke, the more Silas’ lips pinched together. His gaze jumped from Mitch, to her, and then back to Mitch. The silence stretched interminably, but she knew Mitch was patient. They could wait.

Finally, Silas leaned back in his chair, anger vibrating from his being. His pen tapping on the desk, he said, “Fine. I was out. I was visiting a friend. I didn’t want my car to be seen in front of he—uh, their house, and so I parked several blocks away. I…visited, and then walked back to my car.”

“Time?”

Pinching his lips again, he replied, “About one in the morning.”

“Did you see or hear anything while you were walking by the park?”

“No. Certainly not. When I heard there was an attack, I was horrified. Don’t you think that if I knew something, I would have come forward?”

“No, I don’t. But then, that’s why we’re here.”

“Listen, I don’t have to put up with your insinuations.” He reached for his phone, adding, “In fact, I think I’ll phone my attorney.”

“No problem,” Mitch said. “By the way, who were you with last night, so we can corroborate the times?”

Silas’ hand stilled on his phone, his fingers slowly pulling back. “Who?”

“Yes, we need to verify your story and the times.”

Ginny noticed the slight shaking of his hands as well as the pitch of his voice, which was rising. Silas leaned forward, baring his teeth, and she could now say without a doubt that he was indeed a weasel in every sense of the word.

“How dare you not take my word,” he seethed.

Mitch sighed as though talking with a recalcitrant child. “Silas, I want to put this to rest. You think I want to be chasing false threads to this investigation? Hell, I want to get this over with so that I can continue finding the person responsible.”

Ginny kept her gaze straight ahead but was surprised at Mitch’s words. At this stage, Silas was still a suspect, but Mitch was acting as though he believed Silas was innocent. Before she had time to process this further, she noted Silas seemed to relax slightly and she understood. Mitch was a master interrogator. Right now, he was playing good cop which, she realized, made her bad cop. And that thought had her struggling to hide her smile.

Silas’ gaze jumped between the two of them and he leaned toward Mitch slightly. “I was…uh…with a woman.”

“Nothing wrong with that,” Mitch acknowledged, a slight smile on his face. “I know you’ve been dating Holly Prescall. Congratulations. In fact, I heard that y’all are picking out china already. We’ll just check with Holly and—”

“It wasn’t Holly,” Silas admitted, his words forced between gritted teeth.

Sighing again, Mitch said, “We’re gonna need a name, Silas.”

The silence once more hung heavy over the office.

“Celia.”

Ginny managed to keep her face neutral, hoping the widening of her eyes had gone unnoticed.

“Celia Ring…your receptionist?”

“Yes,” he bit out.

“Okay, we’ll talk to Celia on our way out.” With that, Mitch stood and, with a nod toward Silas, he stepped to the side, allowing Ginny to walk out in front of him.

Celia was sitting at her desk just outside the mayor’s office and her eyes hit them as soon as they moved toward her. Casting her eyes toward Mitch, she purred, “Hello, Chief Evans,” ignoring Ginny. “Do you want to see Corwin?”

Ginny knew the town talked about Celia when Corwin first hired his secretary. But she also knew Phyllis controlled the family money and Corwin would not chance an affair. But Silas, the weasel? Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mitch stand back and she knew that was her cue to step in.

“Celia, we need to corroborate a story from last night and early this morning.” Celia’s cat-like smile dropped from her face as her eyes cut over to Silas’ office door, firmly shut.

“Uh…I…uh…”

“We need to know who you were with, what time they arrived, and when they left.”

“Uh..I…”

“We are investigating an assault in the park, Celia. After reporting your concerns, I know you want to do anything you can to assist us in checking on the reports of people in the area.”

Celia’s eyes flashed irritation mixed with resignation. “Yes…sure, yes. Silas Mills came by last night about eleven. We had…uh…business to discuss. Business that was…couldn’t wait.”

“And he left at what time?”

“About one…one this morning.”

Thanking her, Ginny and Mitch turned to walk away when they noticed the mayor’s door slightly open with Corwin standing at the opening, listening. Continuing to walk through the back corridor that led to the police station, neither spoke until they were back in their workroom, once more staring at their board.