Part 10 (2/2)
”So why the call to Olivia? What were you going to talk about?”
He stalled to take a drink of water, hesitating long enough for her to be skeptical of anything he'd tell her.
”I wanted her to break it off with him. For Ethan's sake. I got tired of seeing the games she played, but everything backfired. The more I begged her to let him down easy, the more she dug her heels in. I think she got off on making me miserable.”
”So you're telling us you were being a good friend, is that right?” Gabe's low voice echoed in the small s.p.a.ce. ”You were looking out after your buddy.”
For the first time since her partner had walked into the room, he spoke up. Angel had to admit that his timing had been perfect.
”Well, yeah.” Peterson's voice cracked. ”I owe Ethan a lot. He's good to me. He gave me a place to stay and helped me into rehab. The guy's real solid.”
”You consider Ethan a friend, but not Olivia?” Gabe asked.
”Guess you could say that, yeah.” Peterson shrugged.
”Out of curiosity, have you ever been to Olivia's home? I mean, since you didn't exactly get along.”
”She would never have invited me. I drove Ethan once, and we picked her up for a charity gig, but I never got past the front door. Didn't want to.” He smirked. ”He called to tell her we were out front, and she came out to us.”
”So you've never been inside, is that what you're saying?”
”Yeah, exactly.”
When Gabe was done, Angel s.h.i.+fted gears to keep Peterson off balance and talking.
”Tell me about this event.” She shoved a photo across the table in front of him. The photo they'd taken from Olivia's home. ”You took the photo. When and where was it taken?”
Angel pretended to know more about the photo than she did. After Peterson looked at the photo, he rolled his eyes.
”That was a charity thing Olivia had put together. She was always doing that kind of thing.”
”What kind of thing?”
”She always made a big show and flaunted Ethan like he was a prize bull.”
”That must have been tough for you...to sit back and watch her use your friend like that. Was that what she did? Take advantage of him?”
”She used him, sure.” He sucked down more water. ”Using people, that was her thing.”
”Maybe with a blind guy...that's an easy thing to do,” she said. ”Or maybe he loved her.”
When Peterson snorted a chuckle and kept his head down to avoid her eyes, she decided to press him.
”You don't think he loved her?”
”No, I think he did, but that b.i.t.c.h wasn't capable of returning the favor. She didn't deserve a good guy like him.” He spun the bottle in front of him.
”Did Olivia do drugs?” she asked.
”What? No, she never did anything in front of me, but that doesn't mean she wasn't into it.”
”She never scored anything from you?”
”Oh h.e.l.l, no. I'm in rehab. I'm no dealer. Never have been.”
With Peterson knowledgeable of the drug trade, he would know about burner phones, but unless they found him with the phone that had texted Olivia on the night she was killed, they had no way to connect him with any message to Olivia.
”Where were you on Tuesday evening?” she asked.
”Is that when it happened?” He laughed. ”She didn't even make hump day? That's ironic.”
”What's that supposed to mean? Are you saying she screwed around and cheated on Ethan?”
Peterson glared at her and tightened his jaw, but he didn't answer her question until- ”You got firsthand information on that, sport?” Gabe stepped closer to Peterson and walked behind him, forcing him to turn. ”Maybe you were the one sticking it to Ethan by getting a piece of Olivia. Is that it?”
”No, that's not the way it was. I swear.”
Gabe leaned down and got into Peterson's face to whisper in his ear, ”Hooking up with Ethan's girl was easy. The b.a.s.t.a.r.d's blind in more ways than one. What happened? Did Olivia threaten to tell him? She liked playing games. Maybe she screwed with both of you. Around here, we've got a word for that.”
”Oh yeah, what's that?”
”Motive.” He stood and stepped around the table to face Peterson. ”Maybe you're the one Ethan should have watched out for. With friends like you, who needs a conniving girlfriend?”
”That's not what happened.”
”If you're telling the truth, you won't mind me taking this to my forensics guys.” Gabe reached for Peterson's water bottle, preserving any evidence with a hanky in his hand. ”You see, we found fingerprints and DNA evidence at Olivia's place. If the prints and DNA off your saliva match what we found, we'll know you were lying. You still denying you two were making it behind Ethan's back?”
Peterson looked as if he wanted to puke. Angel knew her partner was right. Pulling DNA and prints off the water bottle would give them something to compare against what they'd taken from Olivia's home and her secret stash of s.e.x toys. They'd have all the evidence they'd need to either exclude Peterson as a suspect or prove he lied. If he lied about being at Olivia's place, then what else had he stretched the truth on? From Peterson's expression, Gabe had triggered a reaction.
”That b.i.t.c.h. Even after she's dead, she still gets her way.” He chewed on his thumbnail and avoided their stares. ”Okay...I was involved with her, but I swear to G.o.d I didn't kill her.” His eyes watered. ”Ethan is gonna freak. Does he have to find out? I mean, I don't want to hurt him.”
”You should have thought about that before you tapped his girl,” Gabe said.
”No, it wasn't like that. She came on to me. If you knew Olivia, you'd know she didn't take no for an answer. That b.i.t.c.h had a cruel streak.”
”So you lied about not being at her place?” he asked. After Peterson shrugged and nodded, he pressed for more. ”If we check your DNA against her play things, are we gonna find you've been looking for love in all the wrong places?”
”She hit on me. The girl liked it rough, and I gave it to her.”
Bryce Peterson went on to admit to having s.e.x with Olivia Davenport and told them the wealthy young socialite liked role playing and props. Gabe had grimaced when he heard Peterson's version of the truth. Angel knew her partner hadn't bought into the BDSM set up, but the evidence was mounting.
”She treated me like I was some dumb a.s.s and she was the clever one, pulling it over on Ethan like he was a chump. You ask me, she got what she deserved.” He shook his head. ”But I didn't kill her. On Tuesday, I was at my rehab group session. You can check. People saw me there.”
He gave them the name of his counselor and the address of the rehab center, an alibi they had to confirm.
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