Page 64 of Shadow of Fear
“My name is Kinsley Pearce. I was the investigator who discovered your husband’s illegal business dealings.”
“You!” Kinsley felt the force behind her word even on the other end of the call. “If it hadn’t been for your interference, I wouldn’t be slumming it here in Idaho with my parents. I have nothing to say to you.”
“Wait, don’t hang up. This is important. Life and death important. Did you know that your husband was released from prison?”
“Yeah, sure I did. But he’s not my husband anymore. I divorced him.”
“Has he tried to contact you since he was released?”
“I haven’t heard from him, and I don’t expect to. I made it perfectly clear when we signed the divorce paperwork that he was out of my life and my children’s lives forever.”
“And how did he take that?” Kinsley held her breath as her personal questions could cause Marianne to hang up.
“Not that it’s any of your business,” she said and let silence linger. “He lost it, just like he lost it so many times at his trial. That shouldn’t surprise you, right?”
No, it didn’t surprise her in the least. “Did he threaten you?”
“Kind of, but I really don’t think he’d ever hurt the mother of his children. Despite being a felon and his crazy temper, he loves his kids and wouldn’t want to see them hurt by losing their mom.” She fell silent again and Kinsley waited it out. “Why are you asking all these questions all of a sudden? It’s not like you ever cared about our family. If you did, you would’ve never given the DA evidence so he could bring charges.”
“I was just doing my job, ma’am.”
“Don’t ma’am me. You and your job ruined my life. I should be the one threatening you.”
Kinsley pulled back from the force behind the threat. She’d never thought to suspect Marianne as the shooter, and she really didn’t, but she would be a fool not to try to get an alibi for the shooting times. “You wouldn’t have happened to come to Portland in the past few days, would you?”
“How in the world could I afford that?” she screeched. “My crappy waitress job doesn’t give me enough money to even support my kids, much less pay for a trip out of state. If we didn’t live with my parents, we’d be homeless.”
“And they can verify that you were in Idaho this past week?”
She didn’t answer right away. “That’s sounding a lot like you want an alibi for something.”
“It’s just that your former husband might be mixed up in something illegal again, and we want to make sure that you weren’t involved in it, too.”
“Of all the nerve. You don’t deserve to talk to my mom, but I’ll get her so you don’t go accusing me of something and putting me behind bars.”
“Hey Mom!” she yelled. “Come here and tell this lady where I was last week. She thinks I was helping Nico with something illegal.”
Kinsley felt bad about having to involve both Marianne and her mother, but she had to do her part to rule her out and find out if her ex had been threatening her. So she held the line and had a brief discussion with the mother, who confirmed Marianne’s alibi.
“Would you please call me if you do hear from him?” Kinsley asked when Marianne came back on the line.
“I wouldn’t hold my breath.”
The call disconnected.
“That didn’t go so well.” Kinsley told Dev about her conversation. “But hopefully if Huff does contact her, she’ll let us know.”
He rested his hands on the pages Russ had printed. “That’s all we can do then.”
“It just seems like there should be something more.” She shook her head. “I know all of you are doing everything you can, and everyone is stretched thin, but I wish there was something else that could be done.”
He leaned back and studied her. “Sounds like you’re eager to leave here.”
“Leave? No, I would just like to spend my week at the Bluebird with Jada without all the worry. And all of you could go back to your lives, too, and not put yourselves in danger.”
He tilted his head. “And here I was thinking that you were trying to get away from me.”
“Why would I want to do that?”
