Broken Grace by E.C. Diskin Read Free Book Online Page B

chair. “We really appreciate you coming in today. We’ll try not to keep you for too long.” She took the seat and Lisa took the one beside her.
    Lisa removed her coat and offered to help Grace with hers, but she refused. Bishop and Hackett sat across the table, and Bishop took the lead again. “Any new memories, Grace?”
    “I saw my mother,” she uttered, barely above a whisper.
    “What?” Lisa said.
    Grace looked at her sister and waited a moment for her vision to clear before speaking again. “Last night in the kitchen, it must have been a memory. I saw her at the sink, wearing an apron.”
    Hackett leaned forward. “So you’re starting to remember a few things?”
    Grace looked at him; the movement caused more blur, so she closed one eye. But even then, she could see something in his expression and his posture. The way he was still, waiting for a response—he cared. “Maybe. It’s almost like I’m remembering feelings as I walk around the house.”
    Bishop cleared his throat. “We’d like to share some information with you. Maybe it’ll help all of us.” He nudged his partner, like Hackett needed reminding of their purpose.
    “Great,” Lisa said cheerfully.
    “There are some things we’ve learned about Mr. Cahill—Michael—at this point.” Hackett arranged his pad and pen, ready to take notes. A white file box sat on the table next to him. Bishop crossed his arms and rocked back in his chair. “For one, Michael seemed to be a drug user. There was a pretty large bag of marijuana in the bedside table.”
    Grace wasn’t sure if that was supposed to mean something, but it didn’t.
    “Do either of you know anything about that?”
    “Don’t look at me,” Lisa said.
    They all stared at Grace, waiting for her response. “No,” she said.
    Bishop nodded as if he didn’t believe her, as if he’d interviewed tons of murderers and her responses were typical. She suddenly felt desperate to please this man, to say whatever he wanted to hear and help them solve the case, to get him to smile and stop examining her like a lab rat. But she didn’t know what to say.
    “We’re also wondering if Michael may have been a gambler.”
    Grace looked toward Hackett, pleading for some relief. Lisa piped in. “Why do you say that?”
    “His bank records indicate that he never used a credit card. His credit score is pretty low, so we’re guessing he’s had some money troubles in the past.”
    “What does that have to do with gambling?”
    “Well, nothing directly. But he had pretty regular withdrawals of cash after he’d deposit a paycheck, and every few weeks he took out pretty large sums of money. Every once in a while there were large cash deposits.”
    “I don’t see the connection,” Grace chimed in without making eye contact with anyone. It was easier to keep her head still, so her eyes remained on the table in front of her.
    Hackett spoke this time. “Honestly, Grace, we’re just keeping the options and ideas flowing at this point. Someone with poor credit is bad with money, someone who gambles is bad with money, someone who takes out large sums of money might gamble.”
    Lisa snorted. “Is that all you’ve got? I mean, it’s been a week since you found him. What about a murder weapon? Prints? What about DNA? Was anything taken?”
    Bishop rocked forward, bringing all four legs of his chair back to the floor as he responded. “We’re processing plenty of evidence, Miss Abbott. There’s an entire investigative task force assigned to the case, and the state forensics lab is examining several items. Just because it’s a small town doesn’t mean we don’t know what we’re doing. But it’s going to take a little time, particularly to get DNA evidence.”
    “Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to offend you.”
    Bishop cracked a smile. “It’s okay. Everyone seems to think that the lab can get back to us in an hour.”
    “Like on CSI ,” she said with a grin.
    “Right, but you