“Thank you for dropping by, Mr. Grayson. Sorry to drag you up here again, but we’re speaking to everyone concerning the death of Dakota Storm.” Jenna leaned back in her chair. “Have you ever pitched a manuscript to her?”
“You called me away from the conference to ask me if I’d pitched to Miss Storm?” Grayson raised both eyebrows. “If you’d bothered to read my statement, I already told Deputy Rio she rejected me. She wasn’t a very nice person, but I didn’t kill her.”
“Ah yes, so I see.” Jenna scanned her files. “But we needed to speak to you again as you were the last person to see Jedidiah Longfellow, alive. Two of your acquaintances, dead within a week. Don’t you think that’s a little strange?”
“Ha, I can’t believe this is your idea of an investigation, or a relevant way to select suspects, Sheriff.” Grayson shook his head. “This is a crime writers’ convention. Ask anyone of us how to hunt down clues, if you need help. Honestly, Sheriff, there must be at least fifty authors here who have pitched to Miss Storm and just as many knew Jed. He is a bestselling author and has been signing books since he arrived. He suggested I join his critique group. That’s a group of authors who help each other by critiquing each other’s work. He was a friend and opened doors for me. Why would I kill him?” He leaned back and raised both eyebrows. “I can’t think of a single reason anyone would kill him.” He looked at his hands and picked at his nails. “Miss Storm maybe, but Jed never.”
“Do you know Kitty Pandora?” Jenna’s gaze never left his face. “She’s an author.”
“And was in my critique group, but she left when Miss Storm signed her.” Grayson frowned. “I went to her book reading and spoke to her afterward. I offered my congratulations, although she is such a self-centered woman, she looks down her nose at everyone.”
“Maybe, but she drowned in her bathtub.” Jenna’s expression remained neutral. “We have you on CCTV footage heading toward your room when the lights went out. You couldn’t have gotten inside your room, so where did you go, Mr. Grayson?”
“I used my phone light and went down the fire escape to the lobby and waited there until the lights went back on.” Grayson cleared his throat. “Can I tell you who was there? No, not exactly. It was dark and most people congregated around the fires to keep warm. The heating went off as well, you know.”
“So, you knew everyone who was murdered?” Jenna folded her hands on the table. “That’s a little more complicated than just a coincidence.”
“Like I said, there would be at least thirty people at the conference who knew them all as well.” Grayson looked amused. “Why pick me? I’m a small fry in a big pond. There are so many other people here with an ax to grind with most of these people… maybe not Jed. Everyone just loved Jed.”
Kane lifted his head from his notes. “Does the name Paul Tate, sound familiar?”
“Tate… Paul Tate… No, I can’t recall an author by that name.” Grayson shrugged. “Is he dead too?”
“Not that I’m aware.” Jenna glanced at her notes. “Do you own a laser pointer?”
“No.” Grayson narrowed his gaze. “I’ve seen them used during the conference. Has one been stolen?”
“I can’t say at this time.” Jenna glanced at Kane and raised one eyebrow.
After observing Grayson’s body language throughout the interview, Kane closed his notebook and looked at Jenna. “I don’t have any more questions.”
“Okay, sorry to keep you, Mr. Grayson.” Jenna stood and offered her hand. “Deputy Rio will see you out.”
Kane waited until Grayson had left the room. “He didn’t once look over at Em. His overall body language told me he was bored. We annoyed him, that’s for sure, but what he said is true. There’d be a ton of people here who have been involved with the victims at one time or another.”
“Yet he hasn’t got anyone to verify his whereabouts, same as the other three.” Jenna stood and went to the coffee maker. “Out of all the people here, those four seem to move around like ghosts.” She wrinkled her nose. “Grayson is over the top—heavy fake tan, too white teeth, enough cologne to drown in, and from his face I’d say he has so much Botox pumped into him his expression is frozen. He has no emotion in his eyes at all. Like he didn’t care any of those people were victims of horrible crimes.”
Nodding, Kane stood and went to her side, pulling clean cups from a tray on the bench. “We didn’t faze him. He sure didn’t act guilty, but I’ve seen psychopaths who could convince a cop they were innocent as they were stabbing their next victim. I figure he’s still on our watch list.” He leaned on the counter as Jenna popped coffee pods into the machine.
“He didn’t as much as look at me.” Emily opened a box of cookies and looked around with one held in her fingers. “Where’s Duke?”
Kane chuckled. “The walk outside in the cold was too much for him. He’s in front of the fire in my room.” He smiled at her. “Don’t worry, he sleeps most of the day. He’ll be fine. I’ll go and drag him outside again before we have lunch.”
“Why don’t you take your break now?” Jenna sipped her coffee. “I can handle the interviews.”
As they hadn’t missed a meal when working together for as long as he could remember, Kane shrugged. If Jenna wanted to play hardball, well he could too. “I’d rather be here so I can observe the body language of the suspects. We’re not filming the interviews and this will be a onetime deal.” He added cream and suga
r to his coffee and snagged a few cookies. “If that’s okay with you, ma’am?”
“Okay.” Jenna gave him a sideways glance. “I am capable of reading body language, but I know the FBI have one agent watching and one asking questions. I’m guessing we’re throwing away gut instinct and doing it by the book now?”
Kane looked up as Rio walked in with August Bradford. The man gave them all a disinterested stare and sat down at the interview table. He turned to Jenna. “He’s all yours.”
Thirty-Nine
Jenna took her coffee to the interview table and sat down. “Can I get you a hot beverage, Mr. Bradford?”
“No, just get this over with.” August Bradford drummed his fingers on the table. “In case you don’t know, we purchase tickets to various events here. I was just heading down to listen to a panel discussing forensics in crime novels. It’s an opportunity I didn’t want to miss.”