Love's Protector: A Maverick's Shield Novel by Charisma Chloe Page B

I was wondering why she was wearing all of that. The weather was much like it is now.”
    “Did you hear anything?” Amour asked.
    “Yes. About twenty minutes later, I heard your mother screaming. She was telling her that she wasn’t going anywhere and to get out of her house. The whole thing was weird though.”
    “Why is that?” Jason asked.
    “Well, it seemed like I could almost recognize the woman’s voice but I just couldn’t place it.”
    “You have no idea who she could’ve been?”
    “No, sorry.”
    “Anything else?” he asked.
    “Just the woman leaving. She stormed out in a pit of fury, got in her car a drove off.”
    Jason rubbed his knuckles against his chin. “You didn’t see her face?”
    “No, I only saw her hair. I’ll never forget it because it was very red.”
    Jason’s eyes narrowed as the old lady confirmed what she’d said on the report and not what Daniel Riley had told them the previous day. “Do you remember about what time of day this was?”
    “Around two o’clock because my favorite soap was on. I was inside by then washing my tomatoes when I saw her leave the house. I can see Miss Carly’s front porch from my kitchen window. This one visited her quite a bit. I would see her and her fiery red hair parked outside the house at least two or three days a week. Funny thing is she never got out the car until that day.  I couldn’t see her face those other times either because just like that day, she always wore sunglasses and some kind of hat.”
    “Was she parked outside earlier that day?”
    “No, not that day. This time she pulled up, got out and went straight inside.”
    “Are you sure you didn’t hear anything else?” Jason asked.
    “Between the two of them, no but I did hear the front screen slam closed again and the big crash though.”
    “What crash?” Amour asked.
    “When Miss Carly had that heart attack and fell to the floor. Poor thing must’ve tried to get out the door and didn’t make it.”
    “Did you hear the crash before or after the woman left?” Jason asked inquisitively.
    “It was after, maybe about twenty minutes or so. At first I thought maybe Miss Carly had dropped something so I went on about my business. Next thing I knew the cops where here.”
    Jason bit his bottom lip and frowned. “Did you go over there Mrs. Pruitt?”
    “No, I stepped outside when help arrived.” She turned to Amour. “Your father was already there. Poor thing, he was so broken up over what happened. A heart attack at her age; who would’ve ever thought that?”
    “Who indeed.” Amour whispered under her breath.
    Jason faced Amour when he’d heard what she’d said. This was beginning to get to her. He could tell because she had started to bite her nails. He slowly turned to face Mrs. Pruitt again.
    “Do you remember anything else? Anything at all?”
    “No, I’m afraid that’s it…other than the police questioning me.”
    “Do you remember exactly what you told them?”
    “Same thing I just told you. You can ask one of them yourself if you want to, he’s still there.”
    “Do you know his name?”
    “I sure do, Robert Westfield”
    Amour instantly perked up. “As in Captain Westfield?”
    “Why yes! He was one of the officers that investigated that poor girl’s demise; him and his partner Officer Riley.”
    Jason looked into the old lady’s eyes. “Are you sure about this Mrs. Pruitt?”
    “Oh yes, I know every officer in there. I’ve known a lot of them since they were in diapers.” She took in a long deep breath. “Smells like your cookies are ready. I’ll have Millie fetch them for you.”
    Amour and Jason gave each other the “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” look. This case was starting to get more peculiar by the hour.  Up until today, Jason had thought he’d seen it all. He had no clue what Amour had gotten him into in the beginning of this investigation, but judging by what’s been happening so far, he had the feeling they