“Of course, but most people were in bed in the middle of the night.”
“That was smart to kill at that time. It would eliminate most alibis. I trust no fingerprints were found on any of the windows, the front door knob, or in the kitchen?” She thought she'd asked him already, but for the life of her, Ariel couldn’t recall his answer.
“None that we could point to as belonging to the killer. My uncle suspected the killer wore gloves.”
“If Trent wanted to kill Samantha, he wouldn’t have worn them since he’d say he used the knife frequently.”
Benson blew out a breath. “That was what bothered me the most about the case. Ackerman should have focused more on the smudged fingerprints. It was a shame your brother and Sam argued in front of a lot of people that night.”
“I agree.” Ariel snapped her fingers. “Did anyone test Trent’s blood the next morning?”
“They checked his blood alcohol level, but by morning, he was more or less sober. There was no mention of other drugs. Why?"
Her mind raced. “I was thinking that maybe someone doused his drink to make him pass out. It would explain why he didn’t hear the killer come and go.”
“You think someone at my brother’s bar did this?” Benson asked.
“I’m not accusing Will or any of his workers, but someone could have slipped something in my brother’s drink to make sure that when he passed out, he stayed that way for hours.”
Benson’s shoulders relaxed. “Like I said before, you might have missed your calling. Ackerman should have brought that up at trial. I wish I knew why he didn’t.”
Preston finished off another piece of pizza. “While I think we need to examine the evidence again, the fact remains that someone is stalking you, Ariel. Unless you failed to groom an animal to their liking, I’d say this person wants you afraid. So afraid in fact, that you’ll realize asking questions about a murder is a bad idea.”
“I wish I could say for sure this person is stalking me for another reason, but I can’t think of what it would be.”
“Neither can we,” Benson said. “Ariel, I realize you don’t know us very well, but we’d like you to stay with us until we figure this out.” He lifted a hand as if to forestall any argument on her part. “Could we be the killers? I suppose, but we aren’t.”
“I realize that now. I can see that you both want to help.” Ariel always prided herself on being able to assess the goodness in people.
“We do. You can have my room, and I’ll sleep on the pullout sofa in my home office. It will be no bother at all,” Benson said.
“If you’re worried that this person will know where you are and come after you, rest assured the place is fully alarmed,” Preston said. “Jeffrey Granger, Benson’s cousin, owns a security firm. He fixed up the place in case some disgruntled defendant came after him.”
That sounded wonderful, and it wasn’t as if she had a lot of choices. “Okay. I guess I’ll need to pack.”
Both men smiled. “We’ll clean up while you do.”
Beth stood. “I’ll help you.”
Just what she didn’t need. Her friend would have her pack her sexiest outfits. In reality, Ariel would mostly be in her scrubs since she planned to go on with her life as usual. Ariel doubted anyone would try to harm her at the clinic with all those animals and workers around. Or would they? She shivered at that thought.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Beth asked as they stepped into the bedroom.
“I’m trying to think if I’ll be safe at work.”
“We’ll have to give the doctors a heads up. They’ll need to make sure you aren’t alone at any time. That being said, if this person really had wanted to harm you, they wouldn’t have just taken your picture.”
She appreciated Beth trying to calm her. “True, but I figured they were starting with something easy.”
“All I know is that you need to be more circumspect if you do speak with other people,” Beth said.
“I’ve been careful. I chatted with the server at the diner, and then I went to a gym. You and I were at a bar having drinks, and then we met two men for dinner. That doesn’t look suspicious to me,” Ariel said.
“Someone thought it was. They followed you to the prison.”
“I went to see my brother. No one knows what we spoke about.”
Beth blew out a breath. “We aren’t going to figure it out in the next few minutes. Let’s get you packed.”