𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐅𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐃─𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬

thirty one.

She thought about lying, but figured it would only make things worse. "I was for a bit." She confirmed. "But not when she was killed."

"Where'd you go?"

"I had to go to work." She answered calmly. She left out the part where they ran because they didn't want to get arrested. They didn't need to know that detail. 

"Who was at the airstrip when you left?" Bratcher pressed, his voice unnervingly calm. 

"Ward Cameron, Sarah Cameron, and..." she trailed off for a moment, meeting the expectant eyes of the SBI agent. "And John B."

"No one else?"

"Not when I was there. No."

He nodded thoughtfully, as if her words were providing him with some sort of epiphany─Charlotte was sure they were not. 

"Tell me, Miss Carrera, how do you know Ward Cameron?" Bratcher moved on from John B, and Charlotte couldn't tell whether to be grateful or fearful for that. 

Her eyes flickered to Shoupe again, very well knowing that he knew all of these answers. Her throat was beginning to feel thick as she swallowed hard. "I used to date his son." She finally answered. 

"Rafe Cameron?" Bratcher confirmed. 

"Yes." 

Charlotte's voice now sounded gravelly as she spoke. 

Bratcher kept his eyes on her. "Was it serious?"

"Yes." Charlotte said again. "We dated for five years."

"Why'd you break up?"

A nervous laugh flew from Charlotte's lips. "That's kind of personal, don't you think?"

Conceding, Bratcher moved on. "Did you see Rafe Cameron the day of the murder? Rumour has it he had been staying with you. "

Her hands were sweating at this point. This was starting to feel an awful lot like an interrogation. "Should I have a lawyer here?" She wondered, suddenly feeling too exposed for her own liking. 

Bratcher's face barely even twitched. "If you would like one we can certainly get you one."

"We're not looking to get you in trouble." Shoupe reaffirmed. "I promise, Charlotte."

Weighing her options, Charlotte determined that getting a lawyer would only make her seem more suspicious. "He wasn't staying with me anymore, so I didn't see him until later that night." Her answered was aimed toward Bratcher's earlier questioned. 

If he was relieved she was still talking, Bratcher didn't show it. "And how did he seem?"

"Honestly?" Charlotte breathed. "He seemed stressed out─more than usual. So did his dad." She paused for a moment, trying to decide if she was going to say what she really wanted  to. She was trying to be careful with what she said. Because honestly? She didn't want to get Rafe in trouble. Despite all that he had done.

When she spoke at last, her words were more sure than they had ever been. "Ward Cameron is the reason for Sheriff Peterkin's death and I know that for a fact."