You Looked Down on Me Once Now You Look Up (Patricia and Oliver) novel Chapter 281

Outside the hospital, a police officer stood smoking, lost in his own thoughts.

His partner leaned against the car, arms crossed, replaying the scene from the interrogation room in his mind. He shook his head. “She was way too calm.”

“She says it was an accident, but the way she acted… it was like she had everything planned out. Even getting hauled in for questioning didn’t faze her. She had this whole quiet confidence, like she’d already figured out every step.”

He nudged his partner with his elbow. “Doesn’t that strike you as odd?”

The other officer flicked his cigarette ash. “It’s beyond odd.”

“There’s something about them. I can’t shake the feeling they knew each other. It almost seemed like a fight over money gone wrong. Like, someone snapped.”

“But come on. She’s married into money. Just her pension could support a whole family. What could she possibly have to split with some nobody?”

He sounded like he’d thought this through a hundred times.

Brandon took a drag, frowning as he stared at the ground. He finished half his cigarette before lighting another. “Let’s just wait for the results.”

His partner either didn’t hear him or just kept going. “And families like that, they do everything to avoid scandals, right? Kelly’s not exactly young anymore. For her to be caught up in something like this, dragging her own name—and the Newton family’s—through the mud? For her to actually take the blame for being an accomplice to a rapist… unless—”

Brandon locked eyes with him. “She’s hiding something even bigger.”

The forensics report came back fast.

A female officer walked out with the paperwork. She looked their way and nodded.

Greg’s DNA was found on Kelly.

Which meant the rape charge might actually stick.

And her case for self-defense? There was evidence for that, too.

The group headed back to the station.

Brandon faced Kelly. “Ms. Phipps, did you know the victim?”

“No.”

“This was your first time meeting him?”

But the Newtons could easily afford it.

Brandon sat in the lobby, watching as Kelly was led away.

He kept his eyes on her back, suspicion and doubt written all over his face.

Kelly must have felt his stare. She turned and looked at him, her expression pure disdain—just like that time years ago at Riverdale College.

That look—cold and dismissive—was something every music student would remember.

“Stop staring. She’s gone,” his partner said, tapping the desk. Brandon snapped back to reality.

“They’ve ID’d the victim. He was a student at the sports college, but he was reported missing three years ago. No clue how he just showed up now.”

Brandon glanced at the computer screen. “No way they didn’t know each other.”

“Did the blood test on the sheets come back yet?”