Scared Yet? by Jaye Ford Read Free Book Online

she’d never do again. Whenthe police arrived, he was trying to help her up and she was pushing him away, shouting at him, mad as hell, conscious that his mistress was clean and dry and feminine and petite and watching from the expensive louvre windows of their lovely new home.
    â€˜When was the last time you saw your husband?’
    Liv crossed her legs, tried to shake off the memory. ‘Last night at the hospital.’
    â€˜He picked you up?’
    â€˜No, he works there. He heard I’d been brought in and he wanted to drive me home. I declined the offer.’
    â€˜How did you get home last night?’
    â€˜I didn’t go home. A friend came and got me and I stayed at his place.’
    â€˜Does your husband know about your friend?’
    Liv let out a sarcastic huff. ‘Thomas isn’t jealous, if that’s what you’re thinking. He left me. And the man who picked me up isn’t that kind of friend. He’s the husband of my business partner. The three of us have been friends for years.’
    â€˜Does your husband have a stake in the business?’
    â€˜Not anymore. Why are you asking all this?’
    The detective laid a pen across her file. ‘Assaults are committed for all sorts of reasons, Livia. My job is to consider every possibility and eliminate as we go.’
    â€˜But the attack was random. It had to be. There’s no reason for someone to hurt me. Why aren’t you looking for people who . . . who do that kind of thing?’
    â€˜We’re doing that, too.’
    â€˜ What exactly are you doing?’
    The detective paused a moment and Liv wondered whether she was deciding to keep the details to herself. ‘The uniformed officers searched the car park last night and visited businesses in the street that were still open. The canvassing is continuing today and we’re checking on CCTV footage from the parking lot.’
    â€˜Did they find anything last night?’
    â€˜No.’
    â€˜Did anyone see anything?’
    â€˜No.’
    She wanted to know more, something, anything – couldn’t think what else to ask. The only thing she knew about police work was from the plethora of American cop shows on TV and she was pretty sure Rachel Quest wasn’t about to call in SVU or CSI or NCIS or any other combination of letters.
    â€˜What’s your relationship to Daniel Beck?’
    The question threw Liv for a second. There was no relationship. She barely knew him. ‘We rent space in the same building.’
    Rachel consulted her notes. ‘Did you know him before he opened the office in January?’
    Liv didn’t realise it had been that long. ‘No.’
    â€˜Do you see each other outside the office?’
    â€˜No.’
    â€˜You’ve never had a drink together, say?’
    â€˜We’ve waited in the queue for take-out coffee a couple of times.’ She smiled, tried to make light of it.
    Rachel didn’t join her. ‘You ever pull up a chair while you’re waiting and chat about . . . stuff?’
    â€˜No.’
    â€˜How well would you say you know him then?’
    â€˜Before last night, only well enough to say hello in the corridor.’
    â€˜I’m guessing you guys got a bit better acquainted while you were waiting for the patrol car, though.’
    â€˜Not really. I was pretty shaken up until I got in the ambulance. But he came to the hospital and sat with me until my lift came.’
    â€˜Is that right?’
    Something about the way the detective said it and the stillness of her expression made Liv feel like she’d put Daniel on the wrong end of the questioning. After everything he’d done she didn’t want to dump him on a suspect list. ‘Look, I don’t know why you’re asking all this but it wasn’t him. Yeah, he’s tall but he was wearing a shirt and tie when he found me. I’m lucky he was working late and