Free Crazytown (The Darren Lockhart Mysteries) by Jon Grilz Page B

on his flight to Minneapolis, and his empty stomach was starting to voice its displeasure, but he declined. “No thank you, ma’am.”
    “Lisa.”
    “Lisa,” Lockhart repeated with a polite smile.
    “Can we get on with this?” Deputy Lind interjected.
    Lockhart took out his notepad. “Lisa, when was the last time you saw your brother?”
    “Two nights ago, when I ate dinner at my parents’ house,” she said as she took a seat on the couch and motioned for the men to do the same.
    “Was there a fight between anyone in the family?” Lockhart asked.
    “Why would you ask that?” Deputy Lind asked.
    Lockhart ignored the deputy. He needed to know if Mikey had left the house on his own accord in order to determine if the Webers themselves were suspects. What he didn’t need was the aggravation of giving someone leading questions. He could draw his own conclusions.
    “Yeah,” Lisa answered. “There was.”
    “What was the fight about?”
    Lisa closed her eyes. “The same thing as always—Mikey.”
    “What do you mean?”
    She leaned back into the couch and slouched. “My parents didn’t like that I left home to go to school at UMD. Dad’s been on disability for his back for a long time, and Mom only works part time so she can be home to take care of the twins. I think Dad looked at my going away to get a degree as my abandoning the family, and I think he thought Mikey would do the same thing because of his starting college classes already.”
    “But you came back,” Lockhart said. “What did you study?”
    “Education. I teach at Crayton K-12.”
    It seemed strange to Lockhart that there were schools so small that they could house every area student from kindergarten through their senior year in high school. Lockhart had turned his tassel and tossed his mortarboard among almost 600 graduating seniors, nearly the population of Crayton in just one graduating class. He continued without holding back, “During the fight, did it ever escalate to violence?”
    Lisa wasn’t fazed and answered as if it were the most normal question in the world. “No, nothing like that. It was just the same yelling about stupid things.”
    “When you left, was Mikey still there?”
    “Yes.”
    “Around what time was that?”
    “Um, we ate at six, so it was probably around seven-thirty.”
    Lockhart looked down at his notebook for a moment and hesitated. He had danced around the question, and he realized he had to be more direct. “Lisa, I apologize for the curtness of this question, but has your father ever physically abused anyone in your family?”
    The deputy moved quickly off the couch and stood close to Lisa, “You don’t have to answer that.”
    “Deputy!” Chief Donaldson barked.
    “Outside,” Lockhart commanded. He raised his eyes to the deputy, but stayed seated. He had had enough of Freddie Lind’s insubordination and interference. He managed to keep his tone flat as he glared at the deputy, awaiting his compliance and silently daring him to disobey.
    The two stared for a moment before Deputy Lind turned to Lisa and whispered, “You don’t have to answer anything you don’t want to.” Then he walked out the front door, slamming it behind him.
    “I’m sorry about that,” Lisa said, her face flushed crimson. “He’s just trying to protect me. I think he’s really scared about what happened.”
    Lockhart decided he’d deal with Lind later. For the time being, he knew his focus needed to remain on Lisa, because her parents had clearly left out some important detail. Lockhart scooted forward in his seat and leaned closer to Lisa. He kept his look as soft as he could. “He’s right, Lisa. You aren’t under arrest, so you don’t have to answer anything, but I promise you that my questions are only intended to help catch your brother’s killer.”
    “I know.” Lisa hesitated, and her eyes grew sad. She sat there for a few moments, and her nose twitched like she was stifling a sneeze or perhaps