The Running Girls(38)

It only took Laurie a few seconds to realize the interview was a waste of time. The way the lawyer, Neil Mosley, sat bolt upright, his arms crossed, with Frank Randall shrinking away to his side, made his opening words inevitable.

“My client would like to assert his right to remain silent,” said the lawyer, as Laurie took a seat opposite with Remi.

“We’re not charging Mr. Randall with anything. We would just like to ask him some questions,” said Laurie, looking past Mosley to Frank, who shifted in his seat.

Had she really got it so wrong about him? He’d done a terrible thing in his past and that had to be taken into account, but Laurie hadn’t thought him capable of killing Grace. If he had, then she feared what it said about her. She’d thought Frank was someone who had killed his wife, for reasons even he wasn’t sure about, but had never considered him a potential habitual murderer. If Filmore and the others knew about the time she’d spent with the man over these last months, she would be ridiculed; and if he was guilty, rightly so.

“That’s fantastic,” said Mosley. “Then Mr. Randall can be on his way.”

“Answer a few questions and we’ll see what we can do.”

Mosley chuckled and Laurie didn’t much care for the sound. “That’s a good one.”

“Frank, just tell us where you were on Tuesday night.” Maurice had claimed to have dropped Randall off on Wednesday morning, but they hadn’t been able to verify that yet.

“Don’t answer that,” said Mosley. “Please, Detective Campbell. I know you’re doing your job, but Mr. Randall has asserted his rights. He won’t be talking tonight, and I don’t believe you have any reason to be holding him here.”

Remi leaned toward the man and his client. “A young woman has just been killed in the same manner as Mr. Randall’s former wife, Annie Randall,” he said as Laurie placed pictures of Grace Harrington’s corpse on the table. “The wife Mr. Randall murdered.”

Frank squirmed and looked away from the photos; Mosley seemed unaffected by them.

Laurie wanted to pull Frank aside and demand he tell her what had happened. It still just did not compute that Frank had attacked and killed Grace Harrington. He wasn’t that old, but his mobility was severely limited due to his leg injury. And even if he had the strength, that type of brutality seemed beyond him.

But maybe that was what Annie Randall had thought, too.

She’d make one more attempt at questioning him.

“All we need is a reason not to keep you here overnight, Frank. Just tell us your movements on Tuesday evening and I’ll see about letting you get home.”

“I believe you’ll be allowing my client home the second this interview is over,” said Mosley. “Unless you want to charge him, which I would strongly advise you against.”

“Thank you for the advice,” said Remi.

“Let me remind you that you have nothing beyond a dubious link to a very old homicide investigation.”

“At present,” said Remi.

“Exactly, Detective Armstrong. If you should ever be in a position to offer us more, then we’ll be happy to discuss. Until then, my client will not be speaking.”

“Frank,” said Laurie, “this will only make things worse for you.”

“I am presuming that is not a threat, Detective?”

“If he leaves here without so much as an explanation for where he was that night, everyone will presume his guilt. I’m trying to protect him.”

“Very commendable, I’m sure. Now, if we could wrap this up.”



The song was the same during Maurice’s interview. Like Frank, he’d been advised to assert the right to remain silent, though he had to be reminded of this on a couple of occasions by Mosley. Laurie understood why the lawyer had instructed the brothers to take this course of action, but that didn’t make it any less frustrating. What she needed was for forensics to be pushed through, but those results could be days away.

“I don’t think we have any option but to let them go,” she said to Filmore, back in the lieutenant’s office.

“Who is this Mosley guy?” said Filmore. “Never come across him before.”

“He’s employed by Maurice Randall’s church group. A coalition of some thirty churches nationwide.”

“That’s all we need. Some high-octane attorney throwing wrenches into the works.” Filmore shook his head. “You’ve been looking through the Annie Randall case. Anything there that can help us?”

“The injuries seem identical, but we need to wait for the autopsy report. Annie Randall’s body wasn’t discovered for three days after she was killed, whereas we think Grace Harrington died in the last eighteen hours. I think it’s too circumstantial to charge him now.”

Filmore sighed. “We won’t even have enough to get a warrant to search his house for the murder weapon. Fine, do your best to keep this quiet, and send a patrol car to watch Randall. He’s not to leave Galveston, though. Tell that lawyer that, will you?”

Laurie left the office and told Remi of the decision not to charge Frank. “That will not go down well,” said Remi, glancing over at Warren, who was busy diverting the attention of some of the civilian staff from their work. She made the agreement with Mosley that Frank would be released on the condition that he stayed in Galveston. The agreement wasn’t legally enforceable, but Mosley agreed to it readily enough.