Chapter Sixteen
Ring. Ring. Ring.
Sleepily, I reached for my phone. “Hello?”
“Knoah?”
“Morning. What time is it?”
“Oh, thank God.” His sigh of relief was audible. What’s going on? “I’m at the door. Will you let me in?”
“Of course. What time is it?” I hadn’t set an alarm last night since no job beckoned today.
“A little after six.”
Wow. That’s early. Belatedly, his urgency barreled through my foggy state. “I’m coming.”
I threw the covers back and grabbed my robe. After Garrick left, I stayed up late thinking about all that happened. The kisses. The feel of Garrick next to me. I’d waited for the guilt, yet it never came.
I opened the door, and Garrick filled the doorway holding a bag and flowers. What looked to be a police officer stood behind him. My heart caught in my throat. “What’s going on?”
He dropped everything and brought me into his arms. “Thank God you’re okay.”
I pulled back. “What’s going on? Why are you here?”
“I was going to leave flowers and some muffins on your doorstep this morning.”
He was so sweet.
“Are you Knoah Knox?” A middle-aged man in a sports jacket took a few steps closer. Behind him in the hallway, two police officers walked past my door. Garrick shifted me beside him in a protective stance. I loved how safe I felt around him.
“Yes, I’m her.”
Peering around me, he asked, “Is there anyone else in the apartment?”
Nervousness prickled my senses. Something wasn’t right. “No, I’m home alone.” A gurney rolled passed the door. My stomach pitched a little at the sight. “Can you tell me what’s going on?”
He cleared his throat. “Your neighbor was murdered last night.”
Murdered? What? It took a few seconds before I found my voice. “What? Who? Are you sure it’s Jessica? Jessica Knight?”
The detective turned to the officer who joined him, and I sank further into Garrick’s arms. “Ms. Knox, mind if we come in and ask you a few questions?”
I glanced up at Garrick for guidance. He nodded.
“Yes, please come in.”
Jessica’s gone? My heart galloped in my chest.
A man wearing a coroner’s jacket walked behind him, and Garrick’s arms flexed around me. She was gone. I’d been in her apartment just the day before, and now Jessica was gone.
I led everyone into the living room, still in shock. The detective who’d been with Garrick initially nodded at the two chairs. “May we?”
“Yes,” I responded woodenly.
“Knoah, why don’t you get dressed, and I’ll wait with the officers in the living room.”
I glanced down at my attire and realized I was wearing my silk robe. Underneath I only had on a camisole and shorts. “Thank you. I’ll be right back. Excuse me, officers.”
They nodded their acknowledgment. In a fog, I changed. Jessica was dead. Dead. This had to be a dream.
Garrick met me in the hallway and led me to the couch with a supportive arm around my waist. Once seated, he pulled me against his side possessively. I found it comforting, and melted into him. The last officer to join us remained standing. The other flipped through his notepad.
I straightened, not sure what to do with myself, and fidgeted with my fingers.
“I’m Detective Williams and this is Officer Bruscow.” I nodded. “Ms. Knox, when was the last time you saw Ms. Knight?”
“Almost a week ago when she gave me a key to her place. I’ve been taking care of her cat, Snickers.”
The man’s face gave nothing away as he jotted down some notes. “When was Miss Knight due to come home?”
“Umm… last night. She’d been in Boston to see her parents. Her fiancé, Michael, was out west meeting with a client, I think. He was coming home today. Or that’s what I believe Jessica said when she dropped off the key.”
Detective Williams wrote some more and then looked me straight in the eye. “Why is your name on Miss Knight’s rental agreement?”
I shifted a little further into Garrick, feeling a little bit of the weirdness I’d been feeling this week. “I sublet it to her. My roommate and I had planned to knock out the adjoining wall and make our place larger.” I pointed to the wall in front of me. “The landlord changed his mind but agreed to let me sublet it. He wouldn’t void the lease since expanding the apartment wasn’t listed as a condition. We signed a transfer.”
Garrick’s fingers tightened around my shoulders.
A few pages flipped and he read something on his notepad. “The sublease wasn’t on file. You’re still listed as the renter.”
“I can get you a copy if you’d like.”
“Is it here? Yes, I’d like to take it.”
Garrick stiffened beside me. “You can take photos of the paperwork, if you’d like, but the originals stay with Ms. Knox.”
“Mr. Shaw.” The detective’s voice held a clear warning.
Garrick remained undeterred. “I’ll have my lawyers down here, if necessary, and you won’t get the copy without a warrant. As you can see, Ms. Knox wants to cooperate, but I will protect her best interests. I’ll also be taking the proper steps to correct this oversight regarding the paperwork.”
Neither officer looked surprised by the statement. Garrick must have told the officers he owned the place.
This was the tone I’d heard in his office that first day. Garrick was in full-on business mode. The officers looked at each other, silently communicating, and the detective nodded. “Okay, that will work for now.”
I stood. “I’ll be right back.”
Something was off with the way Garrick eyed the men. I wasn’t sure what he thought, but I would follow his lead on this.
I hurried to my bedroom and went through the file to find my copy. When I returned to the room, the detective was in the middle of writing something else. I handed over the agreement. “Here you go.”
The detective looked over the agreement. “Everything seems to be in order. Bruscow, will you take the necessary images?”
“Sure.”
Officer Bruscow pulled out his phone and flipped through the pages as he took pictures. “Ms. Knox, is there anyone you can think of who might have wanted to cause Miss Knight harm? What about her fiancé?”
I considered the different times I’d seen Jessica over the past few months. Was there anything suspicious? I didn’t remember anything from our brief encounters. “No, never. She was a great neighbor. Quiet. Respectful. We never hung out, but we saw each other in passing. Sometimes we’d loan each other eggs or sugar if the other was out.”
“What about her fiancé?”
Each time I’d seen him, he seemed like a man in love. I’d liked him, but I didn’t really know him very well. I answered with what I knew. “Michael wasn’t officially living there, but he spent a lot of nights over. I think he lives in Harbour Valley Apartments. We saw each other in passing on the way to work, and he helped us out a few times when things broke. They seemed happy.” A hand went to my mouth. “Has someone told Michael?”
“He was the one who found her.”
I gasped and couldn’t stop the tears. Finding the one you loved dead was horrible. Closing my eyes, I asked, “Where is he?”
“He’s gone to the station with his parents and the cat.”
His tone was cold, and I didn’t understand why. This man rubbed me wrong way. I grabbed Garrick’s hand and squeezed it. “Is he under arrest?”
Officer Williams responded, “No, it was at his request.”
My stomach turned. I knew how he must have been feeling—losing the one you’d planned to spend your life with.
The pain.
The torture.
The what-ifs.
“Ms. Knox, is there anyone you can think of who would want to hurt you?”
Garrick tensed beside me and asked, “Is there something you aren’t disclosing?”
“No. We’re investigating all possibilities. Ms. Knox’s name was on the lease. The front office doesn’t have Jessica’s name on file, and the manager said the filing cabinets were broken into two days ago.”
A vein pulsed in Garrick’s neck. He owned this property, yet he seemed in the dark about this. He remained silent. “Again, I’d like to ask—Ms. Knox, do you have any enemies? At work? Social circles?”
Me? Who would want to hurt me? My life was boring. Even at work, I’d always had good relationships with my clients—except this week, I felt like I’d made my first enemy. A queasiness settled in my stomach. “Umm… no. I mean, I got fired yesterday. But I can’t imagine my ex-boss wanting to kill me. Plus, she has my correct address on file.”
“Why were you fired? And where were you employed?”
If Mickey hadn’t fully hated me before, she would now if the police questioned her. “I believe my boss, Mickey Rapier, wanted to see Garrick, the man I’m dating, romantically. She was not pleased when she found out about our relationship. I worked for As You Wish Event Planning for three years, and then she abruptly let me go. I had an impeccable record.”
He scribbled a few more things in his notebook. “Until we figure this out, I would suggest you find somewhere else to stay. And we’ll need that address, if you decide to.”
“Okay, I’ll keep you posted.” There was no way I was staying here now knowing Jessica was murdered next door. I would find a hotel. Or if needed to, I’d go home.
What if someone’s after me?
Me?
Why?