You Belong to Me – 32

 

 

Corey didn’t have to call the detective the next morning. Detective Foster called him first, asking him to come to the station.

 

Now, Foster said, “If you’ll have a seat, Mr. Byrne,” after he'd led Corey upstairs to his small office at the police station late Sunday morning.

 

Corey nodded, taking in the somewhat battered desk, the small window on one wall, and the row of filing cabinets on another. “Nice digs,” he commented sardonically, sitting. “Oh, by the way, could you call me Corey, please. It’d make me feel a bit less like I was facing an inquisition. And I’ll call you Darin.”

 

Darin arched one eyebrow as he sat and opened a folder. “A bit presumptuous of you.”

 

Corey shrugged. If he was going to get through this, he had to let the detective think straight off he wasn’t afraid, though that was far from the truth. “I figure, since you know my brother, that should put us on a first-name basis.”

 

“Who’s your brother?”

 

“Detective Kerry Byrne.”

 

Darin seemed puzzled momentarily, and then he smiled. “Good man. Good detective, from what I’ve heard. I didn’t know you were related.”

 

Corey smiled wryly. “Right now he might be wishing we weren’t. However, since we are, I’m going to follow his advice and tell you, well… everything.”

 

Darin leaned back in his chair, lacing his fingers. “Meaning?”

 

“I think I know who killed Brad. Okay, not who, like I have a name, but….”

 

“Go on.”

 

“I told you last night I had a break-in a few days ago and a valuable watch was stolen. What I didn’t tell you was why I had the watch.” When Darin didn’t say anything, Corey continued, “I went home to my parents’ place for Christmas vacation. A couple of days after I got back to work, my boss told me someone had left me a present. He’d found it on the front counter. It was the watch.”

 

“I presume whoever gave it to you did so anonymously.”

 

“Yes. I didn’t like that idea, especially since it was very expensive. And before you ask, I knew that because I’d looked at one like it at one of the better jewelers in town, sort of—” He smiled ruefully. “—lusting after it.”

 

          “All right. That could mean whoever gave it to you saw you at the jeweler’s. Then what?”