Page 28 of Hell Hath No Fury

“You mean away from Emma Anderson?”

Fergusson shrugged. “You know how it is. I can’t ignore her simply on your word. So yeah, who else do you think I should look at?”

Matthias stared at the trooper. Was he trying to stroke Matthias’s ego in order to lower his defenses? Was he hoping Matthias would stop stonewalling him regarding Eric? “This isn’t my turf, Fergusson. I don’t know the players. Having been in Washington County just over twenty-four hours doesn’t give me any kind of insight on who had it in for Sonny Jones.”

“Fair enough. Do me a favor?” Fergusson held out a business card.

“I’ll call you if I hear anything useful.”Maybe.

* * *

Matthias found Emma waiting in his Jeep. She turned toward him when he climbed in, tucking her left foot under her right thigh. “Well?” she asked.

“I don’t believe Fergusson seriously considers you a suspect.”

“You don’t sound convinced.”

“He had to question you. It’s his job.” Matthias started the engine. “I’ve worked cases with him before when he was still with Erie Police.”

“And?”

Matthias considered his next words carefully. “I had issues with him on one case in particular, but before that? He was a good cop, kept an open mind, had good instincts.”

She studied him, her gaze unwavering. “What happened with that one case?”

“Long story.” One he wasn’t ready to get into with her. Not yet.

“So is he still a good, open-minded cop?”

He looked at her. Worry carved lines across her forehead and at the corners of her lips. “I intend to make sure he is.”

“Did you tell him anything about Eric?”

“Nothing he didn’t already know.”

“Such as?”

“His part in the land deal between you and Jones.”

She looked away, her lips pressed into a tight, thin line. “Eric was out of town.”

“So he says.”

Emma’s gaze snapped back to Matthias, and her voice turned hard. “You can’t believe Eric had anything to do with Sonny’s death.”

“No, I don’t believe Eric knifed Sonny Jones, dragged his body back to this construction site, dug a grave, and buried him. But Fergusson has to figure that out on his own.”

Emma caught her lower lip between her teeth for a moment, shifting in the passenger seat to gaze through the windshield. “That’s what happened to Sonny? He was knifed?”

“Officially, he suffered a penetrating wound. Fergusson believes he was stabbed. They won’t know for sure until after the postmortem.”

“You said his body was dragged back here. He was killed somewhere else?”

“I’m not working this case,” Matthias said.

“But you saw him. You’ve seen enough dead bodies to make an educated guess.”

“A guess, yes. At this point, even if I was on the case, we wouldn’t have anything solid until after the autopsy.”