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I sed hard, then fixed Allen with a hard look "How long has the surveillance been messed up?"

A e by the recorded data"

"And how lance around the room "Probably no one I do only because we tried to access the recording froht and couldn’t"

A tiny bit of tension left my body "Then why the hell would I make up a story like this if I knew that the surveillance video would prove ?"

The sour expression on Allen’s face deepened, but I could see I’d scored a point And to judge by the nods of others in the room, I wasn’t the only one The mood in the room seemed to shift, to el’s not stupid And right noe have no other inforet any reason to think otherwise"

I shot hi smile twitched the corner of his hed and sat in the chair at the head of the table "This whole situation is distressing After consideration, I’el was the victim of a prank--some sort of frat boy hijinks--since I find it hard to believe that there could be any nefarious purpose to stealing the body of an elderly security guard" He shook his head while I gritted my teeth Frat boy hijinks? There wasn’t a university within fifty miles of Tucker Point

"Right now, I’smile And perhaps it really was, but I was too wound up at the ave me a measured look "How about if Detective Roth and I speak to Miss Crawford on our own for a few et a coherent statement without so many onlookers, you understand"

Dr Duplessis seeiven an excuse to leave "Yes, of course Let’s all clear out and let the police do their job"

Within asqueeze and a worried look on the way out--leaving only the three of us I trusted Ben, but the captain scared the crap out of me, and not only because I had no doubt that he knew my criminal history He had ice-blue eyes that see he wasn’t the type who could be misled easily, if at all

He took a seat across froether on the table "Miss Crawford, I want you to tell your story again, please With your permission, I’d like to record your stateital recorder and set it on the table "S-E-P-S-O case number twelve dash four nine six three one," Ben rattled the words out "Detective Ben Roth and Captain Jeffrey Pierson interviewing Angel Crawford" He gave ht smile, then sat back

"Miss Crawford," Pierson said, "please tell us in your oords what happened tonight"

I did Again Detailed the whole godda it lasted And then Pierson askedme to clarify points, or he’d repeat parts back to ht Sometimes I had to correct hih it, I was absolutely certain that I’d changed ine parts of it And I was hungry Oh fucking lord, was I ever hungry Why the hell hadn’t I chugged so 911? Why on earth had it mattered that I not heal up the cuts? It sure hadn’t helped them believe my story I kept ernails would start falling off, just from the stress

"Look," I finally said, "I think it’s i seemed…professional"

Pierson lifted an eyebrow at e to scowl at hiuy wasn’t nervous at all He was cal seemed almost rehearsed I ed "He aiting foryou could have seen that I caht fro here with the body He didn’t have long to prepare, and it was fucking flawless"

Ben tapped his chin "Tell us again what he said"

God This would be like the fourth or fifth tiive it to me or I’ll kill you’ But he said it super cal about the weather"

"Did he have any sort of accent?" Pierson asked

I thought for a second "No No accent at all"

Ben let out a soft snort "Well, that in itself tells us a lot in these parts"

"Right," I said, straightening "He didn’t sound like he was from around here"

Ben jotted some notes onto the pad in front of hi else you can tell us about him? How tall was he? Eye color? Build?"