Free Old Loves Die Hard (A Mac Faraday Mystery) by Lauren Carr Page B

call to accuse us of wrongdoing?”
    Jeff mopped his brow with the napkin from the place setting he was sitting at. “No, I don’t want the Maguire family demanding to know what we did wrong. But no call at all from them? No family representative telling the media that they intend to get to the bottom of this? That doesn’t happen.”
    “I haven’t released any statements about Christine’s death,” Mac pointed out.
    “You aren’t Broderick Maguire.” Jeff leaned in to whisper, “It makes me wonder if they aren’t saying anything because they’re preparing to slap us with a humungous multi-million dollar wrongful death lawsuit.”
    “We didn’t do anything wrong.” Hector pounded the table top with his fist. “Whoever killed those people are the ones who did something wrong.”
    “But the hole in our security is what allowed it to happen,” Jeff said.
    “Now you sound like you’re talking for their side,” the security chief objected.
    Mac was grateful for the vibration on his hip signaling the call on his phone. It gave him an excuse to end the conversation. “Quiet, men.” He checked the text on his phone.
    Jeff looked as if he feared that his wish to hear something from the Maguire family had been answered. “What is it?”
    Mac smiled. “Spencer’s police chief is now ready to talk.”
     
     
     
    Chapter Five
     
    The Spencer police department resembled a mountain sports club. The offices were housed in a three-story log building on the lake with a boat launch and dock. The cruisers were all-wheel drive SUVs in order to make their way up and down the mountain, both on and off the road. The department also had four speed boats and a fleet of jet skis for patrolling the lake.
    A fire was roaring in the stone fireplace in the reception area when Mac arrived for his meeting with David.
    The desk clerk, Tonya, had lived on the lake her whole life. Many suspected the long hours she put in at the station were an excuse to not go home, to which two of her three grown children had returned with their offspring after a short time spent in the outside world.
    Tonya greeted Mac with her usual toothy grin and asked about life at the manor, Archie, and Gnarly. Sometimes, Mac felt like she was simply going through the paces while making small talk until they arrived upon the topic of Gnarly and his latest escapades. She had three dogs of her own that she clearly loved more than her kids. The dogs were more self-sufficient and independent.
    On this visit, Tonya was unable to resist asking for the low-down on Gnarly’s bone theft. “When are you going to bring Gnarly in for his mug shots?” she asked with a laugh.
    “Depending on what progress David is making on his investigation, maybe Gnarly and I can both get fingerprinted and photographed at the same time,” Mac replied. “Do you think they’ll let us share a cell?”
     When he stepped to the back of the reception area to go upstairs to David’s corner office, she stopped him. “The chief wants you to meet him in the conference room.”
    Mac cringed. He winced a second time when she asked if he would mind turning in the semi-automatic he wore concealed under his shirt. In all the times that he had visited David at the station, he had never been asked to check his weapon.
    While he wasn’t completely up to speed on how the Spencer police did things, Mac was familiar enough with procedure to know that interrogations took place in the conference room where they could be recorded. He half-wished that he didn’t know as much as he did about the workings behind the scenes of a murder investigation.
    Tonya escorted him to the room he had suspected he would be interrogated in. It had a two-way mirror, and a hidden camera built into the intercom.
    “Would you like a soda?” she asked before leaving to return to the front desk. The mention of the soft drink made him realize how thirsty he was. At the same time, he was too offended to appreciate her