Distortion (Moonlighters Series) by Terri Blackstock

“That’s him! The last one.”
    “You sure?” Max asked.
    “Yes, he’s the one.” An unexpected rage burst inside her, and tears blurred her vision. “I looked him right in the eye at the gas station. He shot Bob.”
    Max picked up a phone and spoke into it. “She made him,” he said. “We have a positive ID. Put him in the interview room.”
    As the men filed out one by one on the other side of the glass, Juliet lunged for the window. Knowing the man couldn’t see her, she hit the glass. He heard it and turned toward her.
    “Why did you do it?” she shouted. “What did you want from him? Why did you kill my husband?”
    Cathy touched her shoulder. “Juliet, he can’t hear you.”
    Juliet turned back to her son, suddenly self-conscious, trying to catch her breath. Zach’s face was twisted and wet. “I just want to know why,” she said. “I want to be there. I want to hear what he says.”
    “You can’t,” Cathy said. “Honey, just be patient. They know how to get him to talk.”
    “But if he’s the one who called and left that message . . . I want to know what they want.”
    Michael looked at Max. “Mind if I watch the interrogation?”
    Max raised an eyebrow at Forbes.
    Forbes shrugged. “Yeah, I guess that’ll be okay.”
    “But why him and not me?” Juliet asked.
    “It’ll take hours,” Max said. “We have to do it meticulously, without emotion.”
    Cathy put her arm around Juliet’s shoulders. “They’ll keep us informed. Michael and I will make sure.”
    Juliet wiped her face and turned back to Zach. He was still staring at the window behind which the killer had stood. She shook herself out of her thoughts and tried to focus on him. She put her arm around his shoulders. “Sweetie, this is a good thing.”
    He nodded. “I know.”
    “He’s not going to get away with it. They have him now. And I’m sure all our questions will be answered soon.”
    “It doesn’t even matter,” Zach whispered.
    “What?” Juliet asked.
    “It doesn’t matter,” he said louder. “Dad’s still dead.”
    She wilted next to him, dropping her face into his hair. “I know. It doesn’t bring him back.”
    She could hardly breathe as she led Zach back to Cathy’s car. Outside, humidity enveloped them. It smelled like rain, and the wind whipped their clothes and hair.
    “What will they do to him?” Zach asked as he took his place in the backseat.
    She tried to think. “They’ll read him his rights. Then they’ll charge him with murder.”
    “Will somebody bail him out?”
    Juliet looked at Zach. How did he know about bail? Of course—he’d probably seen it in a hundred movies.
    Cathy spoke up. “He’ll be assigned an attorney if he can’t afford one, and his attorney might request bail. But we’ll make sure he doesn’t get it. Or that it’s so high he can’t pay it.”
    “Then what?”
    “Then we wait. He might realize how strong the case against him is and plead guilty. Maybe he’ll talk and expose anyone else involved.”
    “Will they kill him?”
    Cathy looked at Juliet, then back at Zach in her rearview mirror. “Florida is a death penalty state. He could be executed, or he’ll get life in prison.”
    Juliet couldn’t tell whether that comforted Zach or made things worse.
    “Will they shoot him in the head like he shot Dad?”
    Juliet felt as if she’d just turned a corner into a whole new tragedy. Why should her son be forced to think about things like this? “No, they don’t do that, honey.”
    “They should.” His mouth shook, and he struggled to hold back tears.
    Several moments of silence ticked by. Then Zach spoke again. “Mom, I want to hear that tape.”
    “What tape?”
    “The message they left on Dad’s phone. I want to hear what they said.”
    “Why?”
    “Because . . . I’m the man of the house now. I need to know what we’re up against.”
    Juliet’s heart plunged even further. “I gave the phone to the police. I don’t have it.”
    He was