Free Out For Justice by Vicki Taylor

call a month ago?”
    “A month ago? It was nothing. Nothing at all. We got a little loud and the neighbors called the police. If they’d just minded their own business there wouldn’t have been any trouble.” Maggie wrung her hands then gripped the front of her shirt near the hem. “We had a little disagreement. Nothing serious. We’re fine now. You’ll see. When Ray comes home he’ll tell you. He’ll tell you we’re fine now.”
    Sam and Karen exchanged a glance. Where was the crazy bitch that Raymond’s friends described? Somebody definitely had his or her wires crossed. Would she be willing to cooperate? Karen nodded, her head bobbing slightly. She knew what Sam wanted. A look around the house. “Ms. Morris—”
    “Ms. Morris? Please, call me Maggie.”
    “Maggie. Would you mind if we had a look around?”
    “Why? Are you looking for something?”
    “We’re not sure, actually. But we’ll know it when we see it.” Karen shrugged her shoulders and looked bored. “It’s all a matter of paperwork anyway. I could go down to the district attorney’s office and get a search warrant and come back here when we’ve wasted God knows how many hours, or we can just have a look around now.” Karen shrugged her shoulders again. “No big deal, really.”
    “Really? Well, if it’s really not a big deal. I don’t know what you’ll find. Me and Ray, we haven’t done anything wrong.” Maggie’s eyes widened and she smiled.
    “Well, then that should make our search easy then, right?”
    “Huh? I guess so.”
    “There’s just the matter of your signature. If you’d sign this consent-to-search form, we’ll be out of your way in no time.”
    Maggie stepped only as close as she needed to sign the form. She took the pen Karen offered, signed her name, and stepped back. Karen gave her a searching look before accepting the pen and placing it back in her pocket.
    Sam was already heading for the kitchen while Karen made her way around the small living room.
    “Detective? The bedroom is that way.” Maggie pointed to a closed door.
    “Thank you, ma’am.” She saw that the woman was going to protest and said, “Maggie, I mean.” Karen stood aside. “But we can only search the common areas of the house while Mr. Thomas is away from the premises.”
    “Mr. Thomas? Oh, you mean Ray.” Maggie’s lips turned upward into a smile.
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    “What are you looking for? Maybe I can help you out here.”
    “We’re not sure exactly.” Karen wondered how much she could say. She looked toward the door where Sam disappeared and made a decision on her own. “We might be looking for a pair of boots or some kind of work shoe.”
    “Boots? What kind of boots?”
    “We’re not exactly sure. We’d have to take them in for a comparison to see if we have a match.”
    Maggie left the room and went into the bedroom. She closed the door behind her. Karen continued to look around the small living room, cringing when she realized that meant she’d even be looking behind the dingy couch. The small house, with so few common rooms, would be relatively easy to search in a short period of time. Karen knew Sam wanted to finish before their suspect arrived home.
    Pulling a pair of rubber gloves out of her back pocket, Karen prepared to get to work. The warm, airless room was dark. There was no air conditioning. The only light filtered through the partially covered windows. Karen’s hand roamed along the wall inside the doorway looking for a light switch. Finding one, she switched it on. She took in the room as she stood in the entryway, deciding on the best tactic to take.
    Karen decided that a logical approach would best suit the situation. She started on her left and figured she’d sweep the room from left to right ending back at the doorway.
    Grimy, sweat stained throw pillows were tossed haphazardly about the faded and torn couch. Ashtrays, overflowing with cigarette butts spilled onto the dusty surface of the