There was a long moment of silence and then, “The woman you suspect of doing the murdering.”
The cop tilted his head and paused briefly before saying, “I feel like there might be a story here.”
I went about explaining what happened, starting with the very beginning—Iris finding Teller cheating on her, and then finding out just today that it was her sister that he’d been cheating with. “And she left a really bitchy message, and Iris was in really poor spirits, so I left her a note.”
“And what does this note say?” the cop asked, typing stuff into his phone at a rate of speed that was surprising.
“No, you’re a cunt,” I supplied.
The cop paused with his eyes still on his phone, shook his head, and then went back to what he was doing.
After placing a call, he put the phone to his ear and corroborated my story.
“Officers were already there,” he admitted a few minutes later after hanging up the phone. “They were able to go through the footage. Confirmed you were there. Have the note in evidence.”
My lips twitched.
“And you, ma’am?” the quiet officer who hadn’t been part of the conversation asked. “What about you?”
Iris sighed. “I was at the gym for most of the afternoon. I left Target at around four. Drove to the gym. Swam in the pool. Decided to do some deadlifts. Went to the sauna. Messed around for an hour and a half there lifting—I started some weird complex that I didn’t like, and it really needed some attention, so I YouTubed how to fix what I was doing wrong which took a bit longer than I intended. Then left the gym at around seven fifteen for here. I disarmed the alarm probably at around seven thirty.”
Damn, that was pretty detailed.
And I wanted to know a little more about this ‘complex’ she’d been doing.
I also thought about how nice it would be to work out with her, or maybe watch her work out.
God, just thinking about watching her in a pair of tight shorts like the ones she had on, bent over…
“Thank you for your time and patience in answering these questions,” the seasoned officer said. I should probably ask him for his name, but I didn’t want to pretend I cared. It was just fewer words to say in my head if I knew his name. “One last question, if you don’t mind?”
Iris tilted her head, not voicing her answer.
“Have you seen your sister in the last twenty-four hours?” he asked.
Iris snorted.
“Not only have I not seen her,” she said. “But today, she blocked me. Or, at least, today she blocked me on social media. I don’t know when she blocked me on the phone. Have you met with my parents? My brother? My brother’s wife? They live in the same city as she does. So they would know more than I would on her whereabouts. The last time I heard, she was working for some nonprofit association from her home. So I can’t even tell you an office to find her working at.”
“Your parents should be getting visits as we speak,” he answered.
Iris groaned. “I was on the phone with my mother before you showed up. She said that she had a knock at the door when I was hanging up with her. So it’s possible.” She paused. “I’d just like to point out here that I’m not really in good standing with my family. We’re not close. So even if they did know where she was, they wouldn’t tell me. I’m kind of the ‘afterthought.’ You know?”
That actually hurt my heart to hear. That Iris thought she was anyone’s afterthought.
She wasn’t my afterthought.
She was my… holy shit. She was my everything.
It’d been less than a month, and I was already thinking of our life together long term.
Used to, when I was young, I’d tell anyone and everyone that I was never going to do anything long term.
Why?
Because long term always meant boring to me in my book.
But I couldn’t imagine life with Iris being boring.
Sure, we still had a lot of time to spend with each other before I said that we were going all the way, but I had this gut feeling down deep in my soul that she was. That eighty years from now, when I was dying of cancer or something, she’d be there holding my hand when I took my last breath.
“I’ll jot that down in my notes,” the officer chuckled. “Thank you. And, if you do hear from her, let us know immediately. She’s the top suspect in our murder case.”
Iris’s brows went up.
“Your sister can’t be located at this time,” the seasoned cop said. “We ultimately knew y’all hadn’t been a part of it. But we have to follow up all leads. Now, would you consent to a search of your house?”