Page 41 of So Deadly
Jennifer sniffed.“There’s no point.The woman whose dog killed him moved to Alaska.Even if I wanted to kill her, I couldn’t.”
“But you can kill others.Other people whose choices put innocent people in danger.”
Jennifer’s brow furrowed again, very briefly this time.Then she smiled bitterly.“Some, maybe.Not all.Not even many.Probably one if I sneaked up on them.But I’d be caught.I’m not a fighter.I’m not good with guns.I’d just end up going to jail, and everyone would think that I was just a killer.It wouldn’t change anything.”
“You sound like you’ve given this a lot of thought.”
That earned Faith another frown, but she ignored that one too.Jessica had clearly made up her mind regarding Jennifer already, but Faith wasn’t so sure.
“I did,” Jennifer admitted.“After Princess died, I thought about it.I guess everyone does.I fantasized about meeting that dog in a dark alley, shooting him so the owner had to watch, and then shooting her too.I thought I could maybe follow them home and hit the dog with my car.”She chuckled.“Stupid stuff.And like I said, it wouldn’t change anything.Princess would still be dead.”
That cast a bit of a shadow on Faith’s suspicion.The killer thus far had shown no interest in the dogs aside from ensuring they couldn’t be attacked.They’d locked Margaret Hayes’s and Robert Crawford’s dogs away, and when Crawford’s dog got out, they fled rather than face it.If anything, the killer was afraid of big dogs.Jennifer could be lying, but she didn’t give any sign of that.
It was time to stop beating around the bush.
“Where were you earlier this afternoon?”Faith asked.
Once more, the furrowed brow, the slight pause.“This afternoon?I was shopping.”
“Where?”
“The farmer’s market in Chestnut Hill.”
Faith and Jessica shared a look.Faith refrained from asking Suleiman directly if she had killed Robert Crawford, at least for the time being, but she wanted to follow that lead.An accusation might put Suleiman on the defensive.Maybe by being coy, she could coax Suleiman into releasing incriminating information.
“Did you happen to see an altercation there?”Faith asked.
“An altercation?Like a fight?”
“An argument.It didn’t become physical.”
“Um… No.There was something going on on the other side of the market, I guess, but I didn’t see it.”
“What time did you leave the farmer’s market?”
“Four-thirty, I think.”
That was two hours ago.Faith and Jessica were called to Crawford’s house around five-thirty.The attack couldn’t have taken place more than fifteen minutes before the police arrived or Crawford would have already bled out.If Suleiman left the farmer’s market at four-thirty, she could have walked to Crawford’s house in thirty minutes.More than enough time to attempt the murder.More than enough time to come here after the attempt and maybe take some quick steps to hide evidence: a shower, burying the clothing, but not enough time to completely destroy it.
“Would you mind if we searched the premises?”she asked.“Just to clear your name off our list?”
Jennifer blinked.“Sure.Um… Are you guys gonna like, tear everything apart?”
“We can’t promise to leave everything perfectly tidy, but we’ll do our best to keep things clean.”
“Okay.That’s fine.”
Faith was a little surprised that Jennifer so readily agreed.Even an innocent person would likely have hesitated at least a little more before agreeing.Sure, she’d brought up the investigator’s respect for her property, but that wasn’t exactly hesitation.
She wasn’t acting like a suspect, but she wasn’t acting like a normal person either.Faith couldn’t be sure if it was just some unknown bias that made her feel that way.She just felt off to Faith.
“All right,” Faith said.“We’ll call a forensics team and get that out of the way right now if that’s all right.”
“Sure.I didn’t kill anyone.”
“Hopefully we’ll prove that tonight,” Jessica replied with a smile.
Jennifer nodded.She looked back at Turk and stroked his fur.He allowed the contact but looked hard at her, unsure whether to trust her or not.
