CHAPTER 46 - Rita

CHAPTER 46RitaJOE AND I ARE IN AN INTERVIEW ROOM, DRINKING COFFEE, WAITING FOR Mrs. Bradley. I take out my phone to check the time and see if she’s texted that she’s running late. It’s ten minutes past nine o’clock. Joe is on his third cup. We’ve been working awhile.Finally, the door opens, and Chase shows Corrine Alworth into the room. She looks a little haggard, a navy cardigan thrown over a T-shirt, blond hair clipped up on top of her head, a few hanks dropping to her shoulders.“Where’s Mrs. Bradley?” I ask.She sits across from us and drapes her purse strap on the back of her chair. “She’s not coming.”“Why not?”“She left town for a few days.” Mrs. Alworth sets her phone on the table.Great. Not sure I like this development. Mrs. Bradley seems like an emotional loose cannon to me. I liked it better when she was here in town, where we could keep an eye on her. I clear my throat. “Okay. This is Special Agent Joe Thorne.” He clasps her hand. “Mrs. Alworth is Mrs. Bradley’s sister.”“FBI?”“Yes,” Joe says. “We’re helping out.” He opens his file folder and retrieves his reading glasses from his shirt pocket. “You weren’t at the Mountclair house the night of the incident?”“No. But I wanted to come in and check on how things were progressing.”“Where did your sister go?” I ask.“I don’t know.” Mrs. Alworth glances at her phone as if she expects a call at any moment. “But she said she’d be back soon. She needed a break from the press.”“You’re worried about her?”“Of course. The man who’s been calling threatened her last time.”“What did he say?” Joe asks.Mrs. Alworth’s eyes meet Joe’s. “He said that he wanted her back in the cellar. Did you have any luck tracing the phone?” she asks me.I lean back in my chair. “It’s a burner, so we don’t know who owns it, but Detective Fuller’s been working on locating the area the calls were placed from.” I text Chase, let him know that Mrs. Alworth is here.“Like the ones drug dealers use?”“Yes. We did check on Keith Russell. He’s right where he’s supposed to be—at Sing Sing. They even searched his cell and didn’t find any contraband, phone or otherwise.”She drops her head in her hand, rubs her forehead. “Why would someone want to harass my sister?”“We’re doing everything we can to sort this out. Hopefully, it’s just an idiot wanting to cause trouble.” But even as I say the words, my gut clenches. Someone went to a lot of trouble to scare Mrs. Bradley.Chase walks in, greets Mrs. Alworth. “We were able to figure out a location on the calls to your sister.”“And?”“Graybridge area.”“Where in Graybridge?”“Near the highway.”Mrs. Alworth blows out a breath. “Definitely not Keith Russell then. But who? Who would do this to Molly?” She looks at me with red-rimmed eyes. “All my sister ever wanted, Detective, was an ordinary life. A good husband, a couple of kids, a house, and a golden retriever. That’s it. That’s all Molly wanted. Me? I wanted the powerful career, travel the world. Big house. Family. I wanted it all, and I got it. Why not Molly? Why has she had to suffer so? She never hurt a soul.”“Life doesn’t always work out the way we want it to,” Joe says. “I went into law enforcement to help people whose lives went sideways through no fault of their own.”Well said, Joe. Mrs. Alworth half smiles at him.“We’ll do everything we can to help your sister,” Chase says.“Is she safe wherever she’s gone?” I ask.“I think so. She’s got her dog with her. She said she was just going to drive a ways, then stay a couple days in a hotel. She said she’d keep in touch.”I take a deep breath. “I was hoping to ask Mrs. Bradley about the night of July Fourth.”“That woman’s murder?”“Yes. Maybe she heard something.” Maybe somebody in that house heard or saw something that seemed unimportant at the time, but now, given what we know, might make all the difference.“What about Jay, his death?”“We’re working that alongside Ms. Robb’s murder.”“I’m sorry, but I’m concerned about my sister, her husband. I’m sorry about that woman, but you understand?”“Of course,” Joe says. “Dr. Bradley’s case is getting our full attention.”She nods, checks her phone, then drops it in her purse. “Anything else, Detectives?”“That should do it for now.” I stand. “You’ll call if you need us?”Mrs. Alworth slings her purse strap over her shoulder. “Yes. Thank you.”Chase walks Mrs. Alworth out. I finish my notes, anxious to question Mrs. Bradley’s friends.