Inspector Rames

Chapter 58

"That wasn't as helpful as I'd hoped," I said as we were scanned into the police station. "Why can't we find any motive for Ruby's murder?"

"At least we know where the knife came from now," Alex replied. "And whose possession it was last known to be in."

Ethan's. It made me even more anxious to talk with him, and I ducked under the door before it was halfway up. "Let's track him."

Detective Inspector Sebastian Flynn was lingering in the entrance hall. He flashed me an easy smile as he moved away from the touchglass partition. "Morning. I heard from Cassia that tonight's your hen party."

"That's right." I stopped and shuddered. "I don't know what we're going to be doing."

Alex caught up with me. "No strippers."

Sebastian grinned. "You should have seen ours... Don't look at me like that, Amber. I'm only teasing." He winked. "We didn't have any."

"You'd better not have done." I folded my arms across my chest. "Because you'll be in trouble."

"I promise we didn't." He sobered up. "But we did go to Underworld Eclipse -- and one of their bouncers has just come in here. Levi Ford?"

Alex exchanged a curious look with me. "He's a person of interest in our investigation: Ethan Sharpe's best man. I didn't pay much attention to the bouncers last weekend."

"I did." Sebastian shrugged. "I was around, so I took him to the interview rooms for you."

"Thanks," I said. "I guess we'd better see what he wants."

Alex and I went downstairs to the custody suite and found Levi in Interview Room Three. He'd stripped off his coat and so was looking even larger than he had the previous day; arms the width of tree trunks taut beneath the sleeves of his t-shirt. The table looked fragile beside him.

He glowered at us when we entered. "I only wanted to tell you something. Now I've been stuck in here."

I sat down. "The interview rooms aren't just for people who've been arrested. They're also a good place for us to talk in private. Have you thought of something that could help the investigation?"

"Sort of. I didn't mention it yesterday because Ethan told me in confidence, but I was with Jade last night, and she was so upset that she made me feel guilty. Not that it has anything to do with Ruby, but whatever helps the investigation..."

Of course it didn't have anything to do with Ruby. I resisted the urge to sigh. "Go on."

"The day before the wedding, Ethan had a big bust-up with Iberia about one of her old flames. He called me afterwards and said he didn't know whether to go through with the wedding or not."

I leaned forward, my ears pricking up. "Who was it? Who was the old flame?"

Levi rubbed the back of his neck and looked at the table. "His mother."

"Brittany Sharpe?" Alex repeated.

"Yes. I could hardly believe it. But Iberia had never been introduced to Brittany while we were at school. She swore that she didn't know Brittany was married or that she had a son. It only lasted one summer -- then she rekindled her relationship with Ethan."

And received a shock, no doubt, when she had been introduced to his mother. "How did Ethan find out? Did Iberia tell him?"

Levi sighed. "No, apparently she was trying to keep it quiet. It was Brittany who let him know."

***

We went to the Sharpes' flat as soon as we could. William Sharpe let us in, but he didn't actually emerge to greet us.