Free Blood Ties by Josephine Barly Page B

her?”
    “Not really. Were there no fingerprints or further evidence recovered from the crimes scene?”
    “You’re not really expecting me to answer that, are you Miss Pearson?”
    “One can only hope.”
    “Yes, keep on hoping. What about your sister’s relationship with Miss Andrews?”
    “They’d known each other for all their lives, due to my relationship with Susie. Over the past year, Susie represented Kelly during her divorce from Maxwell Lair. Kelly was ecstatic with how it turned out, so in case you’re wondering, no, I don’t think my sister could have killed Susie.”
    “Okay. What about Miss Andrews’ assistant, Sandra?”
    “What do you want to know about her? I already told Jared, we weren’t that close, so I can’t give you any personal information.”
    “How about your sister’s relationship with Sandra?”
    “Do you think she did it?”
    “Miss Pearson, I’m the one asking the questions.”
    “I guess they got pretty close; they got along fine and I’m sure Kelly will be devastated when she learns of Sandy’s death.”
    “Was Sandra in a relationship? The fact that you weren’t close doesn’t mean she couldn’t have mentioned a partner sometime.”
    “I know she broke up with a man last year, but I’m not sure I heard her mention anyone else since then. Sandy plunged herself into her work, and Susie tried to keep matters as professional as possible at the office, unless it was unavoidable.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Well, when she broke up with this man, Sandy was in tears and couldn’t help it. Susie gave her the day off, and if I’m not mistaken, took her out for margaritas at lunchtime.”
    “That must have been fun,” his tone was dry. “ Any illegal activities either Susan or Sandra were involved in?”
    “Not that I’m aware of. Susie used to smoke weed, but as far as I’m concerned, she wasn’t doing it any more. She smoked cigarettes now, because she didn’t have time to go to a gym and she said she needed a vice that wouldn’t make her fat. Sandy smoked from time to time, but she mostly did it out of stress or on social outings.”
    “Okay, nothing illegal then. Were they happy with their jobs?”
    “Susie loved what she did, and Sandy felt great not only with her specific work, but she was very pleased with having Susie as her boss. They were both respected at James & Walker, so if their murders are connected, I highly doubt it had something to do with people at the firm.”
    “I see. Is there anything in particular you think is rel evant regarding Susan’s or Sandra’s deaths or the attempt made on your life?”
    I sighed and thoroughly considered everything I knew, suspected and feared, and looked seriously at Captain Nicholson.
    “My sister, Kelly… Even if her fingerprint was found on a piece of plastic from the home-made bomb, I know she didn’t try to kill me.”
    “I am not pleased that you know that, Miss Pearson. That should be strictly confidential, but I’ll overlook it for the time being. I’ll take under consideration what you’re saying regarding your sister, but I can’t simply ignore evidence. Anything else you want to tell me?”
    “I can’t think of any particular client or opponent of Susie’s that would want both her and Sandy dead. She worked with sports stars, actors and actresses, businessmen and women, and plain filthy rich folks who would never stain their hands with blood.”
    “That doesn’t mean they couldn’t hire someone to do the dirty work.”
    “But Susie’s murder was intimate or passionate or something like that, right? And Susie was only sleeping with Ray; I highly doubt she’d cheat on him, especially with a one night stand.”
    “How so?”
    “Susie lived structurally. She slept around until she was twenty-three. On her twenty-third birthday, she swore she was done with that and promised to only sleep with men she was in relationships with. I know it sounds kind of dumb and you probably think