“Walker claimed she’d been looking into the night Piper died. Made it sound like she was in charge of the investigation and wanted to clear up my statement. When she couldn’t get in touch with me, he told me she asked him to come talk to me, since Marshall once worked with Walker in Atlanta before she moved to Hawaii.”
He frowned. “What else did he say?”
“That Marshall reached out to Aaliyah.”
“Aaliyah Downs?”
I nodded. “And that Aaliyah mentioned a little…disagreement Piper and I had gotten into that afternoon.”
“Disagreement? What disagreement? I don’t remember you saying anything about—”
“I didn’t think it was important. Not after she was attacked in our own goddamn home.”
“What was it about?” Nikko widened his stance, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
“It was stupid,” I sighed, scrubbing a hand over my face. “When I arrived home that day to tell Piper about being promoted to the majors, I was all excited. Thought she would be, too, considering I’d achieved everything I’d ever dreamed of.”
“Let me guess. She was…less than enthusiastic about your success.” He arched a brow.
“That about sums it up. Especially when I suggested we live in Atlanta during the season, then in Hawaii the rest of the year.”
“And Detective Walker liked the idea of you arguing.”
“He did. You know I’d never do anything to hurt Piper. He implied I did, though. Even implied I was the one who stabbed Claire, since the trajectory of the stab wound indicated it was inflicted by someone who was left-handed.”
“Which Caleb was,” he reminded me. “It was one of the reasons he was arrested. Couple that with the fact his semen was found on Piper’s body, his height and build matched the description you gave, and his truck was observed running a red light near your house in the minutes following the time of the assault, and it looked like a pretty open-and-shut case.”
He pinched his lips together, a contemplative expression crossing his brow. “But why would Marshall go hunting this when the lieutenant told me not to just yet. I didn’t even think anyone else in the department knew I’d spoken to her about it.”
“There’s something off about this.” I nodded toward Walker. “Something off about him. I always thought it strange he didn’t press charges against me for punching him when he was adamant about seeing me ‘hang’, as he’d said. But nothing. Not even a civil suit. Why? There’s got to be a reason, other than the fact my agent insisted I pay all medical expenses.”
Nikko stared into the distance, the solemn air a stark contrast from the energized atmosphere less than an hour ago.
“I’m normally not one for conspiracy theories, but you’re right. Something stinks about all of this. I’ll see what I can find out on my end. Reach out to some other detectives, as well as Curran and Ethan. See what they can dig up on Walker and Marshall.”
I slapped him on the back. “Thanks, cousin.”
“You bet.” He pulled me in for a quick hug. “In the meantime, you need to focus on Julia.” He met my eyes. “Nothing else. You got it?”
“That’s the plan.”
“We’ll find Imogene. And then we’ll make whoever took her wish he were never born.”
My fists clenched. “That’s also the plan.”