Page 29 of So Deadly
“We need to talk to you,” Faith repeated.“Can we come inside?”
Mitchell started to say no, then glanced behind Faith at her neighbor’s door.She pressed her lips together and offered a curt, “Fine.Is your dog really a K9, or did you just buy him a pretty vest?”
“He’s a trained K9 unit,” Faith replied, “with experience as a military working dog prior to his service with the FBI.”
“Anyone can say that.”
“If you’d like, I’ll give you my boss’s phone number,” Faith said.“He’ll verify that I’m the Chief Instructor of the FBI’s K9 School and therefore have at least a basic understanding of what I’m talking about.”
Mitchell’s lips thinned.She looked warily at Turk, who returned a steady gaze of his own.“All right,” she said reluctantly.“Minnie, come here.”
The little dog bounced onto her hands, and Mitchell pulled him protectively to her chest.She gave Faith a dark look and led the three agents inside.
The interior of the condo was pleasant: clean with decent furniture and a forty-inch tv rather than the usual theater screens Faith saw.It was light on decoration, however, and the appliances were old budget models.The refrigerator creaked and buzzed, suggesting it was on its last legs, and the burners of the gas stove were heavily rusted.Dr.Mitchell had fallen on hard times since losing her veterinary license.
“Okay,” Mitchell said, sitting in an easy chair and still clutching Minnie to her chest.“Tell me what this is about.”
“The murders of Margaret Hayes and Thomas Webb.”
“You’re shitting me.”
“I very much am not,” Faith said.
She and Jessica remained standing.Turk trotted around the apartment, claws rapping lightly on the linoleum, nose to the ground as he searched for clues.
“He’s not going to track mud onto the carpet in my bedroom, is he?”Mitchell asked.
“Do you have any ponchos in there?”Faith asked.
“What?”
“Anything that might connect you to our crime scenes?”
Mitchell blinked and looked between the three agents.“I don’t understand what this is about.Are you really asking me if I killed those two?”
“Yes.”
“Well, no.”She laughed.“That’s ridiculous.”
Remembering the time wasted at Amanda Prowse’s house, Faith asked, “Can you verify your whereabouts for yesterday morning and the night before?”
Mitchell blinked.“I was here.”
“Can anyone verify that?”
She scoffed.“I mean… I’m innocent until proven guilty, right?”
“So, no.”
She swallowed.“I don’t… Do I need a lawyer?”
Faith didn’t want to deal with lawyers if she could avoid it, so she backed off a little.“Why don’t you tell me about your interactions with the two victims.You and Thomas Webb were in business together at one point, correct?”
Mitchell shifted in her chair.Minnie tried to jump out of her hands, and she caught the dog and brought her back to her chest.“Thomas… would sell me equipment.”
“Can you be more specific?”
Mitchell clearly didn’t want to be, but Faith’s expression left no wiggle room.She sighed.“He would provide vests for the therapy dogs I would certify.”
