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and I rolled down the window so I could eavesdrop on their conversation. I’d promised to stay in the car, but I hadn’t said a word about not listening in.
    Luckily, I could hear them just fine from my vantage point.
    “What is it, Chief?” Grace asked as she pulled her robe around her. Her hair was a bit of a mess, and she hadn’t put any makeup on yet, but I still marveled at how pretty my friend was. It might have caused some jealousy and competition in some women, but I’d always been proud to have a friend like her. Going past the surface was what counted, and Grace was every bit as pretty on the inside.
    “When was the last time you saw Peter Morgan?” he asked.
    “Last night,” Grace admitted. “Why? Did he say something to you about me?”
    I knew right then that I should have called Grace and warned her that the chief was coming. Was that the real reason he’d brought me with him? If I was in the car with him, I couldn’t call Grace without him knowing it. Then why had he told me in the first place? Maybe he’d seen me in the front of the donut shop when he’d been at the crime scene, so he was making a preemptive strike by including me in this interrogation. Or maybe he was doing exactly what he’d said, making sure Grace had a shoulder to cry on after she found out about Peter Morgan. I wasn’t sure exactly what to believe, but I decided that until I heard otherwise, I was going to do my best to give him the benefit of the doubt, a real change of pace for me when it came to dealing with my mother’s boyfriend.
    “I need to ask a few questions before I answer any of yours. What time would that be?” the chief asked.
    Grace started to get even more suspicious. “Chief, Peter didn’t call you after he left here last night, did he? What a little weasel. He shows up on my front porch drunk, we have an argument, and the next morning, the chief of police shows up on my doorstep before seven. What a guy. I’m glad I slapped him last night, and I’m even happier that I didn’t take him back when he begged me to. I’m better off without him.”
    “Did anyone see him leave here? And you never told me what time he left.” The chief was persistent, I had to give him that.
    “No one saw him here, at least not that I’m aware of. I thought I’d made it clear that I was finished with him earlier when I found out that he’d been cheating on me, but he just wouldn’t leave it be. I admit that I was broken up about it at first, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I was better off alone than having him in my life. He finally realized that I was dead serious somewhere around eleven,” Grace said. “He kept mumbling something about Trish throwing him out of the Boxcar, and that he had to come here to make things right with me. Fat chance. Chief, that man’s a liar, and if he told you anything different, you shouldn’t be all that surprised.” Grace glanced over at the squad car, but from where it was parked, I doubted she could tell that I was there, given the shade of the tree and the way the car was angled. “Is that him? Come on out, you coward,” she shouted, and I ducked down a little in my seat.
    “Go on, bring him over here,” she said as she turned to the chief. “I have the right to face my accuser. Let’s hear what the loser has to say.”
    “That’s not Peter,” the police chief admitted. “It’s Suzanne.”
    “Suzanne?” Grace asked, clearly surprised by the information. “Why is she in your car? You didn’t arrest her, did you? Whatever you think she might have done, she didn’t do it.”
    I felt a rush of pride as my friend rose to defend me, not even knowing why I was there.
    “Actually, I brought her here for you,” the chief admitted.
    Grace looked more confused than ever. “Why would you do that? As much as I’m happy to see her, I don’t really need her for anything at this unholy hour.”
    I saw the chief tense a little, and I knew that