Secrets in the Attic (Secrets 1)

His inscrutable grayish blue eyes fixed themselves on me. I swallowed back the lumps that had come into my throat and nodded.

Then we walked in.

8 Interrogation

I could always tell from the way other people looked at my father and addressed him that he commanded great respect. Just in the relatively short time we had lived in this community, he had been in the newspapers often enough. A feature piece had been done on him after his last court victory, because it involved a lawsuit against the county over some environmental issues. He had taken the case and charged only expenses, because he believed in the importance of protecting the environment. There was already some talk about asking him to run for a political office, but he loved what he did too much to do anything else.

Never having been inside a police station before, I did not know what to expect. From watching old movies and television, I thought I would see prisoners in cells, but it looked more like a

government office, with secretaries and office machinery. Even the woman who I learned later served as a police dispatcher wasn't in a uniform.

There were two detectives waiting with the chief of police when we arrived. My father explained that they came out from state law enforcement agency called the

Bureau of Criminal Investigations and were the ones usually called upon when there was a capital crime.

Chairs had been set up for my father and me. One of the detectives, a tall, thin man with light brown hair and unusually dark brown eyes that reminded me of shoe polish, sat across from us. His long, lanky legs were crossed, which made his upper torso look lower in the seat. He introduced himself as Lieutenant Cooper and the other detective as Detective Simon. Simon was considerably shorter, stouter, and less good-looking because of his oversized facial features and somewhat balding head of thin black hair. His forehead looked as if someone had drawn permanent crease lines in it with a thin stick of charcoal, too.

The chief was a kindly looking fifty-some-yearold man with what I called grandfather eyes and a pleasant, soft smile. His face was angular, with a firm mouth and a strong, taut jaw. He was about my father's size but broader in the shoulders. His name tag read "Chief Keiser." He rose after the detectives were introduced and offered my father his hand.

"Thanks for bringing her down so fast, Mr. Stein." "No problem. She's obviously very upset, and I think it's best we do this now and quickly."

"Oh, I couldn't agree more," Chief Keiser said. "Just a terrible thing. Terrible." He smiled at me again and indicated we should sit.

It didn't come as any surprise that the police would have found out so quickly how close Karen and I were. In our small school, everyone knew everyone else's relationships, friends, and family. Besides, Karen and I were together every opportunity we had during the school day. As Karen had said many times, we were birds of a feather. Of course, now I had to wonder just how close my feathers really were to hers.

"When something like this happens," Lieutenant Cooper began, turning his attention directly to me, "we like to find out why as quickly as we can. It helps us understand more about it all. We've been speaking with a number of people about it, and we have some ideas, but from what we've been told . . . Zipporah, is it?"

"Yes, sir," I said. "Zipporah. From what we've been told, no one would have a better idea, perhaps, than you." "Her mother would," I said quickly.

The two detectives exchanged a quick look, and

Lieutenant Cooper turned back to me.

"Why do you say that, Zipporah?"

"Because she's her mother," I replied. The

answer was so obvious it brought a smile to my father's face and even the chief of police's face, but the two detectives didn't even move their lips.

"Okay," Lieutenant Cooper said. "If you were Karen's mother, what would you know?"

"I don't know what her mother knew and didn't

know, sir. I was just her friend. I didn't live in the

same house. I never even had dinner with them." "Boy, you can tell this is the daughter of an

attorney," Lieutenant Cooper remarked.

I could feel Daddy bristle beside me.

"I don't think that's called for," he said. "She's

trying to be as accurate as she can be. Maybe you

should phrase your questions better, be more specific,

Lieutenant."