SEE HIM DIE by Debra Webb Page A

thought he asked the same ones again and again but she couldn’t remember. She told him about coming home and finding Austin. She told him about the blood. About how she tried to do CPR. She was certified, she added. But he was dead.
    “Can you think of anything else, ma’am?” he asked after what felt like an eternity.
    The memory of trying to escape through the bathroom window... of the doorknob turning... the floor creaking rammed into her.
    “The intruder!” Her gaze collided with the officer’s. “Someone was inside my house when I came home. I had to hide in the bathroom. He tried to get in.” Violent spasms shook through her. Why hadn’t she told him that already? Maybe she had.
    “Did you shoot the intruder?”
    She frowned. What was he talking about? She didn’t have a gun.
    “No! I hid from him. My landlady came to the door and he ran away.”
    The officer made some more notes in his pad. “Did you get a look at this intruder?”
    She shook her head. Hadn’t he heard her? “I locked myself in the bathroom.” Who would want to kill Austin? Why was he in her bed? Where was his car? She hadn’t seen his car. None of this made sense.
    “Mrs. Barton, did you shoot the intruder?”
    “What?” She jerked her head up. Hadn’t he asked her that already?
    He stood. “Excuse me, ma’am.”
    He moved away, leaving her there with her thoughts. She didn’t shoot anyone. She didn’t even have a gun. Why had he asked her that?
    Austin was dead
.
    The reality reverberated through her.
    How could that be?
    She’d just seen him a few hours ago at the bar. He’d been very much alive then. Barbie.
His girlfriend
had been with him when he left. Was she dead, too?
    Julie’s breath caught. Maybe Barbie had killed Austin. What was her last name? Julie struggled to remember but her mind was a jumble of thoughts and worries and images.
    “Ma’am.”
    Julie looked up to find the officer back again.
    “The homicide detective who’ll be in charge of this case has arrived. He’d like to speak to you now.”
    Her frown deepened.
Detective?
    “Mrs. Barton.”
    Julie’s attention jerked toward the familiar voice. The one she’d fantasized about. The one belonging to the detective who had come to her rescue when Austin…
    Austin was dead
.
    Homicide.
    Murder.
    Ma’am, did you shoot the intruder?
    Realization seared through her. He thought she killed Austin. That was why the officer kept repeating the same questions... to see if she was lying.
    Julie stared at the drying blood on her hands. She blinked. She was a suspect.
    “I didn’t do it,” she murmured more to herself than to the detective staring down at her. She could tell him about the intruder. He would know what to do. But she was the spouse. One on the verge of a nasty divorce. The words she’d flung at Austin in the bar just a few hours ago rang in her ears.
    She’d said she would see him in hell... and now he was dead.
    In her apartment.
    In her bed...

 
     

Chapter Six
    Mobile Police Department, 6:55 a.m.
    Blake paced the floor of the interrogation room. He supposed he shouldn’t be surprised at Cannon’s blast of fury back at the crime scene. He’d ordered Blake to take the rest of the week off and to steer clear of Randall Barton. The last thing Blake had expected was for the younger of the Barton brothers to get himself murdered while Blake was watching his wife.
    He checked his watch again. Five minutes later than the last time he’d taken a look. Blake turned and retraced his path. This was his first time in an interrogation room where he wasn’t the one doing the interrogating. Realistically, he felt confident his actions wouldn’t cost him his shield. There would, however, be a price to pay. He just didn’t know what it would be at this point. Another
smudge
on his record, for sure.
    As if he’d telegraphed the thought to the powers that be, the door opened and Cannon strode in. He still looked as mad as hell.
    “Sit,” he