Free WidowMaker by Carolyn McCray, Elena Gray Page B

killer came back? Because he thought Mitchell saw something? They always go after the witness. To tie up loose ends and stuff. Was he going to be another of Terror in the Trees ’ victims?
    “I'd love to.” Agent Boulder braced his hands on the table, leaning his body toward Mitchell. “Why don’t you start with why you were at the studio so early?”
    “I ...” Mitchell swiped at his eyes. “I was working on my doctoral thesis.”
    The agent raised an eyebrow. “That early?”
    “Elmore had to rush-edit the film for the premiere tonight.”
    Mitchell could remember how excited he had been. Back when he wasn’t in an orange jumpsuit being grilled by an FBI agent. He shifted in his seat, trying to find a position that didn’t stress his bladder.
    “When you got there, did you see anyone else around?” Boulder asked.
    “No. But the security cameras in the halls should show everyone who was down there.”
    “What did they show?” the agent asked the lieutenant.
    The officer shifted, scratching his head nervously. “Um ... I’m not sure if we have reviewed them completely yet.”
    “What?” Boulder’s eyes narrowed on the lieutenant. Mitchell squirmed even though the lieutenant was the one getting the Darth Vader stare.
    “We didn’t think ... since he was covered in blood ... it seemed an open-and-closed case.” The lieutenant tried to justify the department’s actions. “All we needed was a confession.”
    “Oh, great!” Mitchell cried. “I’m a little preoccupied being a murder suspect, and I have to do your job, too!” How was it that the cops didn’t even look at the tapes? What exactly had they been doing for the last two hours? Plus, Mitchell felt about a hundred times braver with the special agent glaring at the lieutenant.
    “Perhaps you should think about bringing those tapes in here,” Derek said. When the lieutenant shuffled his feet, the special agent barked, “Pronto!”
    If Mitchell were gay he would have fallen in love with Boulder right then and there. If Kyle MacLachlan from Twin Peaks and Tommy Lee Jones from The Fugitive ever had a love child, it would be Special Agent Boulder.
    Maybe now Mitchell could go to the bathroom.
     
     
    * * *
     
     
    Amanda paced back and forth in the conference room, chewing the edges of her expensive, manicured nails. Damn it, she’d chipped the forty-five-dollars-a-bottle nail polish. She thought that she had broken the habit. Fifteen thousand dollars in hypnotist bills said she had, but here she was gnawing away like a seven-year-old.
    But who could blame her? How could it be her fault that the arrogant FBI agent had decided to impound her film? No matter how she tried to justify it, she still felt as though her father’s ghost gazed down upon her, demanding that she “fix it.” That had always been his mantra. If she had been bullied at school or lost her lunch money, his only response had been, “fix it.”
    But how could she fix this ? If she lost the studio to creditors … Her entire legacy, her entire family’s legacy, would be lost.
    Her vice president rushed into her office. “Look, I haven’t even sealed the Truth or Scare deal. I just need a few more—”
    “They want to impound the film!” Amanda replied as she resumed biting her nails. “ Terror in the Trees . The FBI wants to confiscate it.”
    “What?” Howie stammered. “Why?”
    “It’s that damn Mulder-wannabe.”
    This was all Jill’s fault. Like Amanda didn’t know that the FBI agent knocking on the studio’s door wasn’t the same exact agent whom Jill had left at the altar. Was he doing this to punish his ex-fiancée? Did his reason really matter? Right now, she needed to figure out a way to salvage her opening.
    “What about Ms. Connor? The premiere? The president ?” Howie fidgeted with the cuffs on his shirt. Probably worried about his own bonus.
    “Jill’s out of the loop.”
    “But ...”
    “Her entire studio doesn’t ride on this film,”