Death By Blue Water (A Hayden Kent Mystery Book 1) by Kait Carson Read Free Book Online

scared.”
    “It will be fine.”
    For a moment, when she entered the cool of the building, her throat closed and she couldn’t breathe. Grant looked at her. Hayden read the alarm in his face. She opened her mouth and closed it again when she was unable to force any sound past the obstruction. The woman behind the counter was saying something Hayden couldn’t catch. The pounding of her heart drowned out the words. Terror rose in her like a wave. Grant reached out and grasped her arm.
    “Can you get her a glass of water?” Grant said to the officer who wanted them to follow her. “I think she’s going to faint.”
    The woman hurried off in the direction of the rear of the building. Hayden shook herself and the world fell back into place. “I think I’m okay.” She daubed perspiration from her upper lip. “Let’s get this over with.”
    A muscle jumped in Grant’s jaw and his eyes searched her face. His expression told Hayden he didn’t agree with her assessment of her well-being. When the officer returned, he took the triangular paper cup and handed it to Hayden. She drained it in one long gulp and handed the empty cup back to the waiting officer.
    “Ready now?” the uniformed woman asked.
    Hayden gave a slight nod in response to Grant’s questioning look. She and Grant followed the cop to a small room located in the middle of a very long hallway. From the outside, the building looked much smaller. Hoping her fear didn’t show on her face, Hayden took a deep breath and walked into the interrogation room.
    An unwelcome dampness filled her eyes. She blinked to clear them. In an effort to calm herself, she studied her surroundings. A grey metal table sat bolted to the floor flanked by four metal, straight back, chairs, two on a side. The walls were cinder block and painted a stark white. A metal lamp hung suspended from the drop ceiling over the center of the table. The compact fluorescent light fixture inside curled around itself exposed and naked. Hayden couldn’t decide if the lamp came out of the box ugly or had sacrificed the bottom in the distant past when the CFL bulb was too big to allow it to fit.
    Taking a closer look, she wondered if the light concealed a microphone. If there was any truth in television, it should. She noted an extra wire wrapped around the hanging pole of the lamp and decided it was a microphone cord. The knowledge that they needed her permission to tape the interview was cold comfort. A large clock that displayed the usual twelve-hour reading on the circumference and military time circling inside decorated the wall. A mirror with black curtains on either side completed the grim decor.
    Grant place a hand in the small of her back and guided her to a chair. He sat next to her. The police officer receptionist left them, closing the door behind her.
    “I feel like I’m in a bad dream…” Hayden began.
    “Go over the story again, as much as you can remember. Tell them what you know. Resist the urge to explain or speculate. Just the facts, ma’am.”
    Hayden appreciated Grant’s attempt to lighten the mood, but couldn’t manage a smile. “I don’t know much. Only what I found.”
    Grant patted her hand “Then that’s what you tell them.” He paused a moment. His eyes drilled into Hayden’s. “Is there anything you’re not telling me?”
    A feeling like bubbling soda in her veins shot through her. He knew her too well. Nothing about Sunday, but everything about Friday and Saturday. She was grateful when the door opened, cutting off any reply she could make. Officer Barton entered accompanied by a man dressed in civilian clothes, who Barton introduced as Detective Landsdown.
    “Thank you for coming,” the detective said. “We’ll try to get you out of here as quickly as possible.” He held up a small tape recorder. “Do you mind? We don’t have a shorthand reporter available.”
    “If it will get us out quickly, no. We don’t mind,” Grant said. “We’ll want a