“I’ll go. I’ll get them,” Bic told her.
“Always got my back.” She gripped his hand, pressed her lips to it.
“Always will.”
“We’ll arrange for a uniformed officer to meet you at your residence and transport. Thank you for your cooperation. Record off.”
She stood a moment, then went with her gut. “If you’ve told me the truth, if you haven’t left out salient details or slanted the angles, no one’s going to arrest or prosecute you for defending yourself against an assault, or arrest or prosecute the woman who protected her minor child from additional trauma.”
As her eyes welled, Knight got shakily to her feet, reached out a hand. “Thank you.”
“If you left anything out, now’s the time.”
“You have it all. If I’d listened to Bic—and I won’t hear the end of that anytime soon—I’d have come to you or someone like you twenty-one months ago.”
“Next time, listen to Bic,” Eve suggested.
14
Because as Peabody had said, it could be fun, Eve decided to make it so and wove back to Hyatt’s office.
He shoved up from his desk, outrage in every pore, and flicked at his ear ’link.
“I intend to file a complaint on Ms. Knight’s behalf.”
“Okay, then you can add one on your own behalf after you give me your whereabouts last evening from six to seven P.M.”
He stared down his nose in a way that made her think Summerset did it a lot better. “I’m under no obligation to tell you a thing.”
“Maybe you should get that lawyer back on the phone, see what he has to say.” Wanting to goad him, Eve took another step toward his desk.
And had the satisfaction of watching him take a step back. “I’m going to have you both escorted from the building.”
She bared her teeth. “Try it. Peabody, make a note, Mr. Hyatt is unable to verify his whereabouts during the time in question.”
“So noted.”
“You can go to hell,” he said. “I was here, here in my office until shortly after seven. If you knew how to do the job my tax dollars pay you to do, you could easily determine this by checking the log for these offices and studios. Log in and out is required, by ID swipe. Now get out.”
“Do you often stay more than an hour after your boss?”
“I do my job. I do what has to be done. And I don’t answer to you.”
“You will if you’re lying,” Eve said easily. As she left, she heard him demand someone contact his lawyer.
It was a little bit of fun.
After they’d wound their way back down, Eve took the long route around the pedestrian area.
“Let’s take a closer look at Bill Hyatt. I just don’t like him.”
“Happy to. I didn’t like him, either. I liked her, and Bic.”
“People you like can still be murdering bastards.”
“But you don’t think so, not these two.”
“I don’t think so,” Eve confirmed, “but I’ll be checking their stories, right down the line. How much is public about Knight’s background?”