Free Dark and Deadly 00 - Secrets Exposed by Lisa Renée Jones Page A

in a defeated tone and then added, “and a multitude of hangouts to match.”
    Mark leaned back in his chair. “What about the last victim, Elizabeth Moore? You were seen going into her home the night of her murder.”
    Roger ran a hand through his hair. “She was getting over losing her mother to cancer. I was like a father figure to her, I think. She was having trouble with her grades and really life in general.” He frowned, his eyes seeming to replay the past. “She started crying during the tutoring session that night, so I offered to walk her home. To be honest, I was worried that she was on the brink of a real disaster.”
    Lindsey interjected, “What do you mean disaster?”
    “She was partying a lot, drinking too much. I knew because she was late to class several times, and she had fallen asleep during lectures, that kind of thing. I confronted her during a tutoring session and told her she was making it hard as hell for me to pass her.” He shook his head. “The girl was headed for trouble.”
    “Do you know where she usually partied?” Lindsey asked.
    He grimaced. “I’m afraid not. It was out of character for me to even speak of personal matters with a student.” He glanced from Mark to Lindsey as if he was trying to read their thoughts. “It doesn’t look good for me, does it?”
    Lindsey responded in a calm, matter-of-fact tone, carefully avoiding promises of any sort. “The evidence is fairly circumstantial from what we can tell.” She held up a finger. “However,” she said with emphasis, “it would help if we had another angle on the murders, another suspect perhaps. That’s what we’re going to look for over the next few days.”
    “Mr. Williams,” Mark said and then paused. “Roger,” he corrected before continuing. “We do need you to know, people have been convicted on far less evidence. Though Lindsey is absolutely correct, the evidence is fairly circumstantial, the reality still stands as mentioned before; the jury will want justice for those girls. You are the common denominator, and without anything else for us to latch onto, it will be hard to create doubt in their minds.” Mark spoke the cold, hard truth. Though she had gotten Hudson off in similar circumstances, he hadn’t had some as incriminating as the visit to Elizabeth Moore’s house.
    “Do you have any enemies?” Mark asked.
    “No, none,” he said adamantly. “I keep to myself.”
    Mark’s expression held skepticism, as did his tone. “None? Come now, everyone has some enemies.”
    “Really,” Roger insisted. “I keep to myself.”
    Lindsey thought he seemed a bit of a hermit. “Have you ever lived out of state?”
    “No, why?” he asked in a puzzled voice.
    “Just being thorough,” she commented. “Can you think of anything else we should know?”
      “No,” he said in a defeated tone. “I wish I could say I did.”
    Mark stood, and Lindsey followed his lead. Roger’s head flew up to watch their movement, but he didn’t stand. “We’ll be in contact,” Lindsey told him. We’re filing a continuance to get more investigation time. We feel optimistic we’ll get it under the circumstances, but we’ll keep you posted.”
    Mark added, “Finish that questionnaire.”
    Walking around the table, Mark knocked on the door as he hit a buzzer. Lindsey frowned. The double-kill action indicated impatience, but upon examination of his features, Mark was nothing but calm.
    Something had him uptight. She wondered . . .
    * * * * *
    Mark hated interrogation rooms.
    Walking, Lindsey by his side, he was damn glad to be done with Roger Williams.
    Opening the passenger’s door to his black BMW, he let his hand drift to the small of Lindsay’s back as he guided her into the car and tried not to stare at her very long, very addictive legs. A much-needed distraction from the edginess that had built during their little chat with Roger. He shut the door and walked to his side of the car, Lindsey on his