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Elliot, they can get to me. Go upstairs, Dawn, and look around. You could fill
a swimming pool with the blood. Someone was capable of doing that, and it
wasn’t me.”
    “New plan,” Dawn said, the gears and wheels of her
mind clearly churning. “You play victim.” She stood and paced across the room.
“Don’t look at me like that. I know you hate to play games, but you do it so well.”
    “I quit playing games when I killed my boyfriend!”
    “Shut up! You didn’t kill him,” Dawn said impatiently.
    “It amounts to the same. He’s dead, and it was my
fault.”
    Dawn ignored her. “I’m thinking.” She rubbed her
forehead. “I still say we lie. What time did you get home?” She turned and
stood with her hands on her hips.
    “We are not doing this. Look at me. I’m not a stupid
eighteen-year old girl afraid of her own shadow anymore.”
    Dawn shook her head. “You didn’t learn anything from
Scott’s death. You want to believe the truth will set you free. It doesn’t.”
    “I wasn’t there this time. No smoking gun. No motive.”
She laid her head against the back of the couch and covered her face with a
throw pillow.
    “No motive? Instead of a suicide note, there’s a note hinting
at a motive .”
    McKenna screamed into the pillow, muffling the sound.
“You win. I guess I got home about midnight. Might have been a little later.”
    “Where the hell were you?” Dawn furrowed her brows.
“If I’d known you wanted to be out late, I would’ve jumped at the chance.”
    “You had a date.” She shrugged. “Anyway, it grew late.
You know how I am. I listened to the concert for a while after you left. I
drove around then stopped for a diet soda.”
    “Decision made. I’m going to the station and telling
them I was with you.” Dawn sat next to McKenna again. “You don’t know what
happened up there.” She pointed a finger at the ceiling. “I’m taking you home
with me unless you promise to play up to the detective.” She smiled. “It won’t
be difficult. He’s a hottie. Flirt, get his attention.”
    “Oh, god. You’re warped.” She leaned back into the
couch cushions and rolled her eyes. “Now you want to set me up with the man who
thinks I killed my father.”
    “Mickey, I’m scared, too. Obviously someone came into
this house without tripping the alarm. What if whoever did this didn’t get what
they wanted from Elliot? They could come back for you.” Tears slipped from
Dawn’s eyes.
    With startling clarity, she recognized Dawn felt the
stress and fear as acutely as she did.  “I’m going to be fine. I didn’t kill my
father.”
    “Please, let the detective get close enough to protect
you even if he believes he’s looking for evidence against you.”
    McKenna groaned. As much as she wanted to believe this
was an awful dream she’d wake up from, the truth was that the nightmare was
just beginning. Dawn made good points and perhaps, at least for the short term,
she could buy some time with a few small lies.
    “If this backfires, we’ll both end up in prison.” She
stood up. “Albert Wells has been Elliot’s attorney for years. He’s not a
defense attorney, but he’ll know who to recommend.”
    Dawn sighed. “And in the meantime?”
    “I make nice with the detective.”
    “How nice?”
    A flutter tickled her tummy. Damn good-looking men
with big weapons. “As nice as I need to be.”
    * * * * *
    The following day, Dustin sat at his desk with his
feet propped on the corner listening to Tyson describe in detail his date from
the previous night.
    “When did you find time for a date?”
    “Dustin, my friend, unless you’re dead or the equipment
is broken, there is always time for a little lovin’.”
    “Don’t you think about anything besides sex?” Richard
Jasper slapped a manila folder on the table next to Dustin’s feet. “Initial
blood work results,” he said as an explanation as he walked past the desk
toward the captain’s office. Homicide wasn’t