“You think it’s related.”
“I’ve got this guy’s fingerprints outside a robbery scene. His file’s incomplete, those robbery files are incomplete.”
“Yeah.”
“Will you give me the other detective’s name? The one whose partner moved to violent crimes?”
“He’s a pain in the ass,” Ben warned. “A real battle-ax. I only call him as a last resort.”
Luke smiled. “I’ll leave it till morning, then.” But come morning, he was going to nail Graham Kendall to the wall.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
LUKE STARED AT Graham Kendall through the tiny square of reinforced glass in the interview room door. The guy was cool as a cucumber, still neatly pressed and groomed in his expensive suit and silk tie. He didn’t look like a man who’d been interrogated by the police for two hours. He looked like an executive humoring his managers with a meeting. His lawyer was a little more tense, but Luke didn’t think that had anything to do with the situation. The guy looked like he had a stick up his ass 24/7.
They weren’t getting anywhere with the questioning, so Simone was trying out her good-cop routine, even encouraging Graham to flirt with her. Graham was clearly a man used to manipulating women if he expected clear-eyed Simone to believe he’d be interested in a date with a significantly pregnant woman.
What a slimeball.
Luke reached distractedly for his phone and dialed Tessa’s number.
“Hello, Detective,” she answered after only one ring.
Her voice snuck through the phone like a seductive hand. “Hello, Tessa.”
“Did you call to apologize?” she prompted.
“I do apologize. I was preoccupied last night. And tense. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” she said easily.
“But that’s not why I called. I need to see you and your brothers immediately. We’ve got a lead on the robbery, and I need to ask you a few more questions. Do you think you could get everyone together?”
“Sure, everyone’s here right now. What kinds of—”
“I’ll be there in five minutes.” He raised a hand to get Simone’s attention, then tilted his head toward the hallway. She was still rising when Luke opened the door. “Gentlemen, if you’ll excuse us. We’ve got an emergency, but we should be back in an hour.”
“Detective Asher,” the attorney said, his words rigid with the knowledge that his client wasn’t yet under arrest. “You can’t expect my client to remain here all day. He has no knowledge of the robbery and you have no reason to suspect him—”
“Aside from the print.”
“There’s no proof he’s even been on Donovan property. He’s answered every question, and now he needs to get back to his work. If you could—”
“We only need a few more—”
“We’re leaving,” the attorney snapped. Graham Kendall’s mouth rose in a confident smile.
“It’s one o’clock,” Luke interrupted. “How about if you take Mr. Kendall out for a nice lunch, then stop back in and see if we have any more questions.”
“Nonsense.”
“I’d hate to find that we had difficulty locating Mr. Kendall after lunch. We might be forced to call his associates, his employees, his clients, just to track him down.”
Kendall’s smile stiffened.
“Are you threatening my client, Detective?”
“Of course not. I’m just worried about the time I’ll lose making phone calls if Mr. Kendall leaves Boulder before Detective Parker and I can finish this interview.”