Free Busted by Karin Slaughter

Jessica Fletcher ever making an arrest, but for the sake of the recording, he asked, “You’re waiving your rights, Ms. Lewis?”
    “Yes.” She impatiently pointed at the chair. “Now sit.”
    Will sat. He put the phone on the table between them. The little needle on the readout bounced back and forth as a jet roared overhead.
    Will waited for the noise to fade, then asked, “Do you want to tell me what happened?”
    Maw-Maw held a lungful of smoke before letting it out. “Poor Billie. She knocked on my kitchen door a while ago. I knew those cops were outside. I tried to get them, but she grabbed me.” She showed Will a mark on her wrist where he had no doubt Billie Lam grabbed the old woman, probably to keep the knife from going deeper into her chest. “She took me out the back and brought me here.”
    “That’s her car in the driveway?”
    “Gilbert’s,” Maw-Maw provided. “He let her drive it to work. That’s just the sort she was. Give her an inch and she takes a mile.”
    “Was Gilbert the third man at the gas station today?”
    She gave him a disappointed look. “You’re getting ahead of yourself.”
    Will held out his open hand, indicating she should continue spinning her defense.
    “I tried to help that sweet girl. Got her a job at the store. Took her into my home. And then she drags me here. Holds that very knife to my neck and tells me she wants allmy money.” She inhaled deeply. “I don’t know how it happened. I managed to get the knife somehow. I wasn’t going to hurt her. I just held it out in front of me, and she ran toward me, and…” Her voice trailed off. She gave Will a cat’s smile. “Poor little thing. She was so young.”
    “You said she was your granddaughter.”
    “Well.” The smile still played at her lips. “She was just as good as. That girl felt like family. All I ever wanted to do was protect her.”
    “Like you were trying to protect your sons?” Will leaned forward. “Wayne Walker and Doug-Ray Pierce.”
    “Both dead,” she told Will. “I heard it on the news. Wayne died half an hour ago. Bless both their hearts.”
    Will hadn’t heard about Walker, but he wasn’t surprised. “You don’t seem too broken up that two of your children are dead.”
    “Wayne was sick for a long time with the cancer.” She blinked, and he wondered whether her moist eyes were for show. “He was an asshole, but he was my asshole.”
    “And Pete McClendon?”
    “Sweet, but stupid.” She chuckled as she took another hit from the joint. “So stupid.”
    “He was robbing businesses on his own beat. We talked to the detectives on the case. They were about to arrest him.”
    “I told him he’d get caught eventually – don’t shit where you eat – but that boy was a shit-eater from the day he was born.”
    “What about the store today?”
    She set the joint down on the edge of the table. Will watched it smolder against the linoleum. Her hand shook as she reached out to the phone. She was better at working the device than Will. A series of swipes turned off the recorder, then she pressed the button and powered it down.
    She put the phone back on the table and picked up the joint.
    She said, “It was Wayne’s idea. He knew he was dying, wanted to go out with a bang. Fly to Vegas, get some hookers.” She lowered her voice. “Let’s be honest, nobody was gonna sleep with that asshole unless they was gettin’ paid for it.”
    Will had to take a moment to digest her words. It was very convenient that Wayne couldn’t dispute the charge. “What about Doug-Ray?”
    “He was following Wayne’s lead. That’s just how they are, isn’t it? Always looking for the fast score, too lazy to make it happen on their own. I told him it would get him killed one day.” She puffed out a cloud of smoke. “Men never listen to reason.”
    “Did you know Wayne was going to kill Doug-Ray?”
    “They were brothers, but they never got along.” She added, “And Arthur’s pension from