Page 15 of Dancing With Lies

Roxie noted the woman’s instant look of relief. She must have needed the sale. It was Emily’s money, she decided, and let it go. The dress would go in the back of her closet, maybe to be worn to a tea or something.

Roxie sat back for the rest of the afternoon, her thoughts on her parents. They hadn’t been as rich as Emily’s parents, but they hadn’t been far from it. Her mother had a Chanel account, provided by her father, and though the people from Chanel had never brought items for her mother to look over, Roxie had worn the best clothes and had owned a few items from Chanel’s lines as a teenager. She wasn’t a stranger to high fashion, which was what Mrs. Thompson had pointed out while also pointing out that Roxie was ‘just a stripper’ so how could she possibly be familiar with these kinds of events?

A knock at the door brought Emily’s head around, a frown of confusion on her face. “There’s nobody missing, who could that be?”

Emily excused herself and went to the door. Roxie’s eyebrows went up when she saw two police detectives outside holding up their badges, a woman, and a man. Now, what could this possibly be about, she wondered.

“Excuse me miss, we’re trying to locate Emily Thompson.” That was the red-headed female detective, the male detective stood behind the woman as if he wanted to appear non-threatening.

“That’s me. I’m actually Emily James now, I got married not too long ago. How can I help you?” Emily’s sweet voice spoke softly but politely.

“We need to ask you a few questions, ma’am. May we come in?” The woman asked and stepped in without being asked.

Roxie frowned at that. The woman should have waited to be invited in. Just barging her way in was plain rude and threatening. Roxie decided the woman must be playing bad cop then.

“What do you know about the fire at Elmo’s, Miss Thompson?” The woman asked abruptly and with an obvious sneer.

Her partner put a hand on the woman’s elbow as if to pull her back outside, and the whole situation set Roxie’s nerves on edge. She got up and went to Emily’s side as Emily spoke.

“It’s Mrs. James, and I know only what I’ve told other police already.” Emily hissed, looking back at her guests with mortification clear on her face. “Please, follow me to the library.”

“Emily, what is this? What’s Elmo’s?” Mrs. Thompson asked from behind Roxie, who now had an arm around Emily’s waist.

“It’s a strip club, ma’am.” The woman said with a smirk on her face that Roxie wanted to slap off, especially when she heard Mrs. Thompson gasp in shock behind her. Antagonizing your witnesses wasn’t the way to go about this, Roxie had enough dealings with the police over the years to know that. What was this woman’s problem? She hated Emily because she was rich and embarrassing her got the cop off? And that whole line about Elmo’s being a strip club was just plain rude.

She’d become accustomed to people putting her down a long time ago, assuming things like she took her clothes off for money when that wasn’t always the case, but the way the female officer sneered the term was insulting. It also embarrassed a woman who was one of her very good friends. Roxie wished she’d worn her combat boots so she could stomp the toes of the prickly bitch.

“If you would please follow us.” Roxie gritted through clenched teeth and pulled Emily away from the two cops. She wondered if she should call Dylan, or a lawyer, but decided to wait and see what the cops wanted to ask first.

“We don’t need you, miss,” the woman said dismissively as if Roxie were a servant of Emily’s.

Roxie turned to the hateful woman; her dark eyebrows raised in a dare, with a smile on her face that would have melted diamonds. The other woman bucked up for a moment, but then backed down. “You can either leave and go get a warrant to speak with Mrs. James, or you can let me go in with her.”

Roxie wasn’t going to budge and her steady gaze finally deflated the female cop. Roxie smirked when all the energy seemed to leave the woman. That was better.

She didn’t let her guard down though, and she listened carefully to the questions the cops asked about the fire, about Nathan, and about what Emily might know. Emily didn’t know much about either of the things, other than she’d been trapped in the fire but managed to get out.

“Wait, I thought I recognized you. You’re Roxie Simpson, aren’t you? Nathan Bawlow’s girlfriend. If you can call a stripper girlfriend.” The woman’s smirk was back, and Roxie noted her name and badge number.

“Miss Slater if you persist in insulting everyone like this, I will insist that you leave. You’ve been invited in, please don’t insult my guests.” Emily popped up with fire in her eyes. She took insults when they were aimed at her, but definitely not at her friend.

“My apologies, Mrs. James.” The woman replied, and Roxie noted the apology wasn’t directed at her. No matter. “So where was your boyfriend that night, Miss Simpson?”

“He told me he was out doing some deep-sea fishing, that’s all I know,” Roxie answered smoothly, not worried because that’s exactly what Nathan told her. It did worry her that they were asking about Elmo’s and Nathan at the same time, though.

“I see, and do you know where he is now?”

“I have no idea where Nathan is, I haven’t seen him in weeks.”

“So, you don’t know we’ve arrested him in connection with the fire that night?” the woman asked, her face a picture of triumph.

“No, I didn’t know that.” She remained calm but what else could she do? Especially with Ms. Slater the super-bitch standing there like she’d just won the biggest beauty pageant in the world with ease.

Roxie hated it when cops acted like this, but she knew she had to stay calm.

“If that’s all you have to ask, I have guests to get back to,” Emily spoke and held her hand toward the door, to guide the cops out politely but firmly.

“Of course, Mrs. James. If we have any more questions for you, Miss Simpson, we know where to find you.”