Page 34 of Hell Hath No Fury

“Did she accept it?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

Matthias cleared his throat. “Eric can’t be expected to answer for someone else. He told you she didn’t accept the offer. That’s all.”

Eric shot an appreciative glance at Matthias.

Fergusson scribbled on the page. “I’ll need to speak with Ms. Anderson again. And her sister.” He looked at Eric. “Where exactly is Nell Anderson?”

“I don’t know.”

Eric was a lousy liar. Matthias could tell Fergusson didn’t buy it.

“You want to try that again, Mr. Baker?” Fergusson said. “Where is Nell Anderson?”

A sheen of sweat glistened on Eric’s face.

“You don’t have to answer that,” Matthias said. To Fergusson, he added, “She’s not here.” Not entirely a lie. She wasn’t in the room with them, and he, personally, hadn’t seen her. “It’s not our job to locate your witnesses.” He intentionally didn’t call Nell a suspect.

“Fine.” Fergusson flipped a page. “Where were you between the hours of six last evening and eight this morning?”

“Last night, I was in Cleveland. This morning, I was on my way home.”

“Okay. What were you doing in Cleveland?”

“Personal business.”

“What kind of personal business?”

“The kind that’s personal,” Eric snapped.

Matthias ran a hand over his mouth to hide a grin.

“I’m sure you have receipts from the hotel.”

Eric didn’t reply, but again, his face gave him away.

“Restaurants? No? The Turnpike? Gas stations?”

“I drive a plug-in hybrid that gets excellent mileage and prefer less traveled roads. The rest, I paid in cash.”

“Surely you have receipts.”

“Had I known I was going to need an alibi, I would’ve kept them. But I didn’t.”

“Who did you see while you were there? Someone—anyone—who can verify your story.”

Eric didn’t reply.

Matthias cleared his throat. “Why the hell would he need an alibi? He has no reason to want to do harm to Sonny Jones.”

Fergusson glared at Matthias. “Are you sure about that?”

Matthias realized he wasn’t. He knew that Eric had been Emma’s best friend since grade school. That she trusted him with her life. But he knew nothing about Eric’s relationship with Jones.

“No?” Fergusson said, reading Matthias as clearly as he’d been reading Eric. “Mr. Baker, why don’t you tell Detective Honeywell about the confrontation you and Mr. Jones had last week at the Pub on Main?”