Free God Only Knows by Xavier Knight Page B

you
     tested the handwriting yet, then?”
    “Because I’m patient,” he responded, “and because you don’t reopen a cold case without strong evidence. I want live corroboration
     of what’s in the letter, and more. Tell me this, Cassie,” he continued. “Toya says in the letter that you were at the heart
     of the night’s events, that everything jumped off because Eddie was so infatuated with you. Apparently, the other girls didn’t
     really like you even, they just felt sorry for you.”
    Despite herself, Cassie leaned against her driver’s-side door, ready to bolt from the car if she had to. “I’m not talking
     about this with you anymore, not here,” she replied. “I don’t feel safe. If you want to question me,
Detective,
send an objective officer of the law to my house, where I’ll gladly undergo interrogation with my husband in the room.” Cassie
     nearly stood in her seat as she raised her eyes to glare at Whitlock. “And get out of my car.”
    Whitlock sat back, a smirk on his face. “Why don’t you just unburden yourself here? You’ll feel better. Afterward, we’ll get
     accounts from your other partners in crime so the record can be corrected. And, yes, as part of that process, my mother and
     I will be happy to bankrupt you by taking ownership of every property you own.”
    “That ship has sailed,” she replied, a part of her disagreeing with the words but feeling the need to be forceful with this
     potential maniac. “Get out of my car!” Even as she spoke, she grasped the driver’s-side door handle, ready to bolt for the
     park’s visitor center —which she prayed was actually open by now.
    Whitlock, however, opened the passenger-side door first, flooding the car with a chilly breeze. “So that’s a no.” Swinging
     his feet around onto the lot’s pavement, he kept his face turned toward Cassie’s. “I understand if you need time. There’s
     a lot at stake once you confess everything. I’d probably need a few weeks to get up my nerve too.”
    “Why are you harassing
me
? Toya’s the one you think already confessed to something.” The honest question welled up suddenly, exploding from Cassie
     with such force that it froze Whitlock in place as he stood.
    A misleading smile on his face, the detective turned back around and leaned inside the car. “To be simple about it, Cassie,
     of the girls I know were involved, you’re just the one who’s fair game. I mean, Toya lives in France with her big-shot executive
     husband, and Terry is a welfare mom in Cleveland. Then we have you —living right here in Dayton with a picture-perfect family
     and a very successful business. If you were in my shoes, who would you go after first?”
    Relieved at least by the idea that he’d somehow missed Julia’s role in everything, Cassie fought a shudder and turned her
     car back on. It seemed negotiation was not an option with this man —should she just beg for mercy now?
    “By the way,” Whitlock said, leaning so far into the car that his lips were now inches from her right ear, “coming at me with
     money will never slow me down. I want the truth.” He paused suddenly, took a hand, and ran it underneath her chin. “Well,
     that’s not really all I want. Like my ex said at the divorce hearings, money’s not my weakness —it’s women.”
    Not sure what to expect, Cassie just stared blankly as Whitlock continued, still leaning over her. “I think Eddie would agree
     you’ve held up pretty well through the years. You’re a very beautiful woman, sort of like Will Smith’s wife with a few excess
     pounds, but in all the right places.” His lips grazed Cassie’s right ear, his bacon-laced breath assaulting her. “I don’t
     really know how far I could actually press charges against you. I’d probably get more joy out of experiencing what Eddie dreamed
     of the day you turned him into a vegetable. You want to protect your precious son and family? Get a little more creative