Dying for the Truth (A Rockcrest Cove Cozy Mystery Book 4) by Emily Page Page A

succession as she struggled to get answers.
     
    Connors sat his large, bulky body back in the chair. A flush of red crept across his face. “I can’t reveal anything about the ongoing investigation to you.”
     
    “That is not correct, Connors,” Kyle interjected. “The law states that you can’t reveal this information to possible witnesses. But in Maddie’s case, you’re questioning her as a suspect, not a witness. She needs this information to build up her own defense.” Kyle paused to gauge Connors’s reaction. “Unless you don’t feel you really have a case.” He let his last statement hang in the air and waited for Connors’s reaction.
     
    “You want to quote the law to me?” he said, turning on Kyle. “I’ve been a law enforcement officer since before you were even a thought in your mother’s mind.”
     
    “Maybe that’s the problem,” Kyle said. “Just like I was born and grew up to be a good lawyer to defend my client, the laws have changed with the times. But Connors, you haven’t. You’re still stuck in the old days, and that’s why you don’t even realize that it is highly unorthodox for you to be conducting this type of interview yourself.”
     
    “What?” Connors sputtered.
     
    “You’ve always had an issue with Ms. Maddie, and you’ve allowed your personal judgment to cloud your perception of her. You have no real concrete evidence against her.” Kyle rose from his seat. “This interview is over.”
     
    “I do have evidence against her,” Connors defended.
     
    “Then it is your responsibility as a legal professional to divulge it,” Kyle retorted. “As far as I can see, the only evidence you have is a series of assumptions. You have no witnesses, no fingerprints, no DNA, nor anything else that puts her there at the time of the crime. In fact, your own evidence shows her leaving the scene more than an hour before he died.” Kyle slammed his fist into the table and came face to face with Connors. “What you have here is a lazy chief of police that would rather set up an innocent woman than actually investigate a crime himself. Come on Maddie, let’s go.”
     
    Maddie rose from her seat and joined Kyle at the door.
     
    “You can’t just walk out like that.”
     
    “Watch us,” Kyle retorted, and they both left Connors sitting in the room, fully disgraced.
     
    Leaving the police station, Maddie fought hard to not look back and followed Kyle’s instructions carefully. She just had this awful feeling that a group of cops were going to come chasing after her with their guns drawn, ready to take her back into custody, but after a few minutes, nothing had happened. She could noticeably feel the tension leaving her body and her back and shoulder muscles began to relax.
     
    She ventured a furtive glance as they got into Kyle’s car to see if they were being followed, but she only saw Bailey and Eleanor quickly keeping pace with them. In the parking lot Kyle explained to both ladies what had happened, and they agreed to follow them to Maddie’s shop.
     
    The drive was quick and uneventful, and by the time they had reached their destination Maddie was completely herself again. Just thinking about telling the tale of turning the tables on Connors like that was enough to elicit a giggle out of most people.
     
    As they all sat around in Maddie’s office retelling the events, she felt an unusual burst of energy. Feeding off the laughter of the others boosted her confidence even more. Kyle disappeared for a few minutes but returned later with two bottles of champagne. This first one they’d open today and the other they’d open when Maddie won her case. They all drank to a victory over Connors and laughed a little while longer before Kyle interrupted.
     
    “Well folks,” he started, “while I know that we’re all feeling a sense of relief after this type of questioning, I just want to point out that the battle has just begun. It’s time to get serious about