Run Away(18)
“Okay, fair enough.” Fagbenle leaned forward. “Aaron Corval was murdered.”
Simon had been expecting that and yet the weight of the words still sent him reeling. “And my daughter…?”
Hester squeezed his arm.
“We don’t know where she is, Mr. Greene. Do you?”
“No.”
“When was the last time you saw her?”
“Three months ago.”
“Where?”
“In Central Park.”
“Would that be the day you assaulted Aaron Corval?”
“Wow,” Hester said. “It’s like I’m not even sitting here.”
Fagbenle said, “Again I ask: Is there a problem?”
“And again I answer: Yeah, there’s a problem. I don’t like your characterization.”
“You mean my use of the word ‘assault’ to describe what happened?”
“I mean exactly that.”
He sat back and put his hands on the desk. “I understand the charges in that case were dropped.”
“I don’t care what you understand.”
“Getting off like that. With all that evidence. It’s interesting.”
“I also don’t care what interests you, Detective. I don’t like your characterization of the incident. Please reword.”
“Now who’s wasting time, Counselor?”
“I want the interview done right, hotshot.”
“Fine. The alleged assault. The incident. Whatever. Can your client answer the question now?”
Simon said, “I haven’t seen my daughter since the incident in Central Park, yes.”
“How about Aaron Corval? Have you seen him?”
“No.”
“So over the last three months, you’ve had zero contact with your daughter or Mr. Corval, is that correct?”
“Asked and answered,” Hester snapped.
“Let him answer, please.”
“That’s correct,” Simon said.
Fagbenle flashed a quick smile. “So I guess you and your daughter Paige aren’t very close, huh?”
Hester wasn’t having it. “What are you, a family counselor?”
“Just an observation. How about your daughter Anya?”
“What about his daughter Anya?” Hester countered.
“Earlier Mr. Greene mentioned that he and Anya were home alone all night,” Fagbenle said.
“He what?”
“That’s what your client told me.”
Hester gave Simon another withering glare.
“Mr. Greene, you took your dog for another walk about ten p.m., am I right?”
“You are.”
“Did you or Anya go out after that?”
“Whoa,” Hester said, making her hands into a T. “Time-out.”
Fagbenle looked annoyed. “I’d like to continue my questioning.”
“And I’d like to tongue-bathe Hugh Jackman,” Hester said, “so both of us are going to have to live with a little disappointment.” Hester rose. “Stay here, Detective. We will be right back.”
She dragged Simon out of the room and down the corridor, working her mobile phone the entire time. “I’ll skip the obvious admonishments.”
“And I’ll skip the part where I defend myself by reminding you that I didn’t know if the murder victim was my daughter.”
“That was a ploy.”
“As I was well aware.”
“What’s done is done,” she said. “What did you already tell him? Everything.”
Simon filled her in on their earlier conversation.
“You noticed that I just sent a text,” Hester said.
“Yes.”
“Before we go back in and say something stupid, I want my investigator to dig up all he can on Corval’s murder—time, circumstances, method, whatever. You’re not a fool, so you know what’s going on here with our hunky detective.”
“I’m a suspect.”
She nodded. “You had a serious ‘incident’”—Hester made quote marks with her fingers—“with the deceased. You hated him. You blamed him for your daughter’s drug problems. So yes, you’re a suspect. So is your wife. So is…well, Paige. My guess is, she’s the biggest suspect. Do you have an alibi for last night?”
“Like I said, I was home all night.”
“With?”
“Anya.”
“Yeah, that’s not going to hold.”
“Why not?”
“Where in your apartment specifically was Anya?”
“In her room, mostly.”
“Door open or shut?”
Simon saw where she was going with this. “Shut.”
“She’s a kid, right? Door shut, maybe blasting music on her headphones. So you could have sneaked out at any time. What time did Anya go to sleep? Let’s say eleven o’clock. You could have left then. Does your building have any security cameras?”
“Yes. But it’s an old building. There are ways of getting out without being seen.”
Hester’s phone dinged. She put it to her ear and said, “Articulate.”