‘I suppose that’s what we’re here to find out,’ Adam said mildly.
‘I don’t have to talk to you. I know my rights.’
‘That’s true. But I hope you’ll decide to.’ He made a show of checking the folder containing Scarlett’s report, then let out an annoyed sigh. ‘Bishop didn’t file this paperwork.’
‘She was distracted,’ Deacon said blandly. ‘Had to ice her jaw.’
Colleen glanced at Deacon, then at Adam. She said nothing, but her mouth took on a slight curve, her shoulders straightening. Instantly, she looked more hopeful. Which was exactly what Adam wanted.
‘She’s always distracted by something,’ Adam growled.
‘I’ll make her file it when we’re done here,’ Deacon promised. ‘Like I always do.’
Adam saw the flash of satisfaction in Colleen’s eyes. Good. By putting down Scarlett, they’d become Colleen’s allies. ‘So you’re the hostess at Buon Cibo.’
Her satisfaction dissipated. ‘I was,’ she muttered.
Adam walked around the table and leaned against its edge, not quite in Colleen’s space, but close enough to make her cringe away. ‘Why “was”? Did you quit?’
‘No,’ she said sullenly.
‘They fired you?’ Adam pressed. ‘At Christmas? That’s unkind.’
‘They haven’t fired me. Not yet.’
‘I see.’ Adam crossed his arms over his chest. ‘Your job is to seat people, so you seated the two women today. Is that correct?’
‘You mean the redhead and the skinny girl?’ Colleen asked, her chin jutting out rebelliously. But her lips trembled, ruining the effect.
‘You mean the two guests who someone tried to murder?’ Deacon’s voice was icy. He’d removed his sunglasses.
Colleen jerked her head sideways to reply, but she caught sight of Deacon’s eyes and her mouth fell open, her eyes growing wide. ‘You’re—’
‘Why did you seat the redhead at the table by the window?’ Adam interrupted, taking advantage of Colleen’s momentary shock at seeing his cousin’s bicolored cat-like eyes, each one half blue and half brown.
‘He told me to!’ Colleen blurted out, then her eyes filled with sheer panic. She closed her eyes, her misery clear. ‘Fuck you both. I bet those are contact lenses.’
‘Who told you to?’ Adam demanded, huffing impatiently when Colleen shook her head stubbornly. ‘Miss Martel, I swear that I will dig so deep into your personal life that you’ll be able to see China.’
‘I didn’t do anything wrong!’ Tears were now streaming down her cheeks.
Adam shrugged. ‘Maybe you did, maybe you didn’t. Right now I don’t care. I just need to know who told you to seat Dr Fallon and her companion at that particular table. Someone tried to blow up your place of employment today. Dozens of people could have been killed. You think he’s finished? You think he won’t come back?’ Her teeth were still clenched so he leaned in a little closer. ‘You think he won’t come back for you?’
Colleen recoiled, swallowing audibly. ‘Me? I didn’t do anything! Why would he come for me?’ He wondered if she thought she was anything close to convincing.
Adam kept his voice gentle. ‘You communicated with him, Miss Martel. You just said “He told me to.” You are a loose end.’ He let that sink in. ‘If we catch him, you’ll be safe, so you’d be wise to tell me what you know. What you did. Otherwise, he stays out there on the street. You will be next and nobody wants that. Help us help you.’
Her shoulders sagged once again. ‘He asked me to seat them at that table. Said he was going to surprise her. That he was going to stand outside the window and propose.’
‘Who?’ Deacon demanded coldly, maintaining his role of bad cop.
‘I d-don’t know,’ she stuttered nervously. ‘He didn’t give me a name. I never saw him. I only talked to him on the phone.’
Deacon sneered. ‘You expect us to believe that you did this out of the goodness of your heart?’
‘No! I mean yes. I mean . . .’ She closed her eyes in a long blink. ‘He told me that he’d leave me an envelope with cash at the podium where I sign customers in. A tip.’
‘Two hundred dollars is an awfully big tip,’ Adam said, and held up his hand when she started to protest. ‘Don’t bother denying it. Your fingerprints were all over every bill.’
‘You sold out two women for two hundred bucks.’ Deacon ground out the furious words. ‘There might have been a hundred people hurt or killed if that bomb had gone off. You would have been killed too, in case that fact missed your attention.’
Colleen began crying, but Adam didn’t believe her tears any more than he believed anything she’d said. ‘I didn’t know what he was going to do. He said he wanted to propose.’
‘Even if that’s true, you didn’t think two hundred dollars was a lot of money just to seat his lady love?’ Deacon asked, derision dripping from every word.
‘That’s not my money. I found it. I was afraid you’d accuse me of something.’ Colleen shrugged tearfully. ‘I don’t know what else you want from me.’
‘We want you to tell the truth,’ Adam snarled, suddenly furious. ‘When did he call you? I want a time and date.’
She flinched, then pointed to the folder. ‘If I tell you, will you still arrest me?’
‘That depends on what you tell me,’ Adam lied smoothly. Because she was so fucking arrested. ‘Time and date.’
‘Thursday night. I don’t know the exact time. I was on duty at the front.’
She still hadn’t demanded a lawyer. ‘How did he contact you?’
She lifted a shoulder. ‘Restaurant phone, of course.’
Deacon fished her cell phone from the evidence box. ‘You got a call at eight thirty on Thursday.’
‘That wasn’t him,’ Colleen said. ‘I told you, he called on the restaurant’s phone.’
‘Along with a dozen other people legitimately asking for reservations.’ Deacon tilted his head, studying the young woman. ‘Clever, actually.’
Because that would be very difficult to disprove one way or the other. ‘She could be telling the truth,’ Adam said, reassuming the good cop role. ‘Who called your cell?’
Colleen licked her lips nervously. ‘My boyfriend.’
‘Oh, good,’ Adam said with a smile. ‘Then you won’t mind if Agent Novak calls your boyfriend right now. We’d like to rule him out as quickly as possible. Be sure to introduce yourself to whoever answers, Agent Novak. Use your whole title, you know, including the fact that you’re with the major case joint task force, investigating a homicide.’
Colleen glared. ‘Fine,’ she gritted out. ‘You win, all right? Don’t call that number.’
‘Because?’ Adam asked, still playing nice.
‘Because I don’t want him coming back for me!’ Colleen shouted, then slumped into the chair. ‘Look. He did tell me that he wanted to propose. I did think it was a lot of money, but I didn’t know what he really planned to do, okay? That’s the truth. He didn’t sound very friendly, but who am I to judge?’
‘How did he sound?’ Deacon asked. ‘Be specific.’
‘Deep and gravelly.’ She shrugged, then met Adam’s eyes directly. ‘I did not know he was going to try to kill the redhead. And I’m sorry that the kid was killed.’
‘You let the victim pass through,’ Deacon said. ‘You didn’t walk him to a table.’
She looked uncomfortable. ‘The man on the phone asked me not to.’
‘So he told you to expect someone to walk into the restaurant and up to the table?’ Deacon asked.
‘Yes. But I thought he was part of the proposal.’
‘Did he look happy when he walked in?’ Adam asked, knowing the answer. He’d seen the young man’s miserable expression on the tape Trip had shown him.
She hung her head. ‘No. But then I thought he was still part of it – like maybe he was serving her with divorce papers or something. I’ve seen that happen before. The amount of money made sense then. If he wanted to get her reaction on camera to something bad . . .’ She trailed off, looking truly sorry for the first time. ‘I didn’t expect what happened. You gotta believe me.’
Like hell I do. ‘Thank you,’ Adam told her formally. ‘We’re finished for now.’