by Cindy Bell
“No, of course she wouldn’t. She was always the more stubborn one of the two of us.” Sophia stepped past Suzie and farther into the basement. “Would you like something to drink? I have water.” She turned towards a bag of groceries.
It was the perfect opportunity for Suzie to bolt up the stairs and back through the door, but it didn’t seem to her that Sophia posed any immediate threat. Maybe if she could get some more information out of her, she could determine once and for all whether she was the killer.
“Thanks, I’ll have a water.” Suzie took the bottle that Sophia offered. “It must have been so hard for you to see someone you were so close to betray you like that.”
“It was. But it’s far harder now to think that she died believing that I was still angry with her. I’ll never have the chance to make things right with her.” Sophia leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes. “Look, I know you’re here because you suspected me. I’m surprised you were even able to find me. And I’m sure you’re chomping at the bit to tell the police about me.” Sophia opened her eyes and looked into Suzie’s. “But I didn’t do this. I loved my cousin. I wanted to fix things between us. I was there that morning just to check on her. She wouldn’t answer my calls, or my e-mails. I was worried. I guess I was right to be. I can’t expect you to believe me.”
“Turn yourself in to the police and tell them the truth if you’re innocent.” Suzie kept her voice as calm as she could. “If you didn’t hurt your cousin, then you should have nothing to be afraid of, right?”
“Wrong.” Sophia frowned. “I have a history with her. I was there that morning. If I were the police, I’d lock me up and throw away the key. I can’t go to the police. They will never believe me, just like you don’t.”
“I don’t know what to believe. But I know that you can’t hide here forever, and the longer you do, the more guilty you look. Sophia, let’s take care of all of this. Let’s clear the air.”
“I can’t.” Sophia sniffled. “I would never survive in jail. I mean, look at me.” She gestured to her slim figure. “They’ll eat me alive.”
“If you didn’t kill your cousin, then you’re not going to jail.” Suzie offered her hand with a reassuring smile. “I have someone you can talk to. Just come with me.” Suzie knew that if she walked away from Sophia, she would find a way to disappear, and she might never face justice for the murder of her cousin. No, she couldn’t be certain that Sophia killed Amelia, but she knew there was enough evidence to suspect her and she couldn’t let her slip away.
“You know someone?” Sophia wiped at her eyes. “Someone who will listen to me?”
“Yes, I do. Let’s go. I’ll drive you myself.” Suzie’s heart fluttered at the offer. Was it wise to give a murder suspect a lift? If Sophia thought she trusted her, she was more likely to agree to turn herself in.
“All right, yes, it’s for the best.” Sophia gathered a few items.
“How long have you been here?” Suzie swept her gaze over the contents of the basement that she could see. Nothing seemed too out of the ordinary, but she knew that Jason could get a warrant to search for any evidence.
“Since the morning Amelia died. I didn’t know where else to go.” Sophia clutched her purse and looked at Suzie. “Go ahead up, I’ll be right behind you.”
“You first.” Suzie took a step back and gestured to the stairs. She had no intention of turning her back to the woman.
“You think I did it, don’t you?” Sophia’s eyes widened as she stared at her. “But I didn’t, I didn’t!” Her voice grew so high-pitched that Suzie winced.
Suzie placed her hand on the woman’s back and gave her a light push towards the stairs.
“It doesn’t matter what I believe, Sophia, all that matters is the truth.”
Chapter 12
As Mary turned on the SUV, her heart fluttered. She had never been that confident about her driving, despite shuttling two kids between what seemed like thousands of activities. She preferred it when her ex-husband was able to drive instead of her. Of course, in none of those situations was she actively following a murder suspect. She did her best to keep some distance, but that only wore on her nerves more, since she was certain that at every turn and red light, she would lose sight of him completely.
Mary began to wish that Suzie was with her trailing Monroe. After a few minutes, she noticed that Monroe appeared to know exactly where he was going, and intended to get there quickly. He wove between cars, and pushed past the speed limit on several occasions. After some time, he turned onto the highway. Mary braced herself for the faster speeds and thicker traffic. After she flipped on the radio in the hopes that some music would help her to relax, she settled in for a long drive. If he had to take the highway to get where he was going, she was sure it was a good distance.
Several minutes slipped by before he took an exit. She trailed his car, a few car lengths behind him. When a car turned between them, she breathed a sigh of relief. But that relief was short lived as he turned into a nearby parking lot. She had a split-second decision to make, either follow him in and risk blowing her cover, or continue past and risk losing sight of him and where he might be going. She decided to turn in right behind him. It wouldn’t be that unusual for two cars to turn into a motel just off the highway, would it? He had already parked, and she had to make a move, or she would really draw attention from the cars behind her blaring their horns.
Mary followed him into the parking lot but continued past his car to the other end. As she parked, she stared in the rearview mirror at Monroe’s car. She could see him climb out and head to the motel room in the middle of the strip. She held her breath, as if he might detect the shallow sound and realize that he was being watched. When he reached the door, he did give a glance over his shoulder in her direction, as if he might feel her eyes on him. But he turned back to the door and knocked. She closed her eyes for a moment. If she stayed in the car, she knew that she wouldn’t see much of anything. All she would know was that he was at a motel room. She could call Jason and let him know, but by the time he arrived, whoever was inside might be gone. She decided it was important just to get a closer look. When she opened her eyes again, she saw him disappear inside. She had missed her chance to see who might have opened the door, but then from her position, she probably wouldn’t have been able to tell.
As quietly as she could, Mary stepped out of the car and headed towards the motel room. Each of the rooms had thick curtains that covered the windows. None of them were open, including the one that Monroe had disappeared into. She was nervous, but she managed to walk right up to the motel room, then continue past it. She lingered a few inches away from the window and listened.
It wasn’t difficult to hear what was happening inside, as the voices were loud. One she recognized as Monroe’s, the other she guessed belonged to Jessica.
“What are you doing here?” He shouted the question.
“It’s none of your concern, Monroe. How did you even know I was here?”
“Someone snooping around recognized your picture. You took a tour of the bed and breakfast where Amelia was staying? Why would you do that?”
“I did what I had to do.”
“I told you I would take care of it!” Monroe’s voice rose even louder, and Mary jumped at the sound of a heavy thump. Had he hit her? The wall? A table? She couldn’t be sure, but it sent her heart racing.
“Never mind, it doesn’t matter now, does it? The story is never going to get out.”
“Because she is dead! Who do you think they are coming after? Was that part of the plan too, Jessica? To get rid of me by pinning Amelia’s death on me?”
“Monroe! I had nothing to do with Amelia’s death. Do you really think I’m capable of something like that? Can you really look at me and tell me that you think I’m a murderer?”
“I don’t know what to think! You lied about coming here, didn’t you? You didn’t even tell me what you were up to. You knew I was coming here to w
arn her about the lawsuit.”
“Which I told you was a stupid idea from the beginning. I knew if you warned her, she’d just lawyer up and come after us, again. So why would you do something like that? I tried to stop you, but you wouldn’t listen. I had to find out what she was really up to, how much she really planned to reveal. Why wouldn’t I do that? She was known for her dramatics. She claimed to have so much information about us, but I was willing to bet she didn’t have nearly as much as she pretended to have.”
“So, what did you do, break into her room?”
“No, I couldn’t. That woman who gave me the tour, watched me like a hawk. She wouldn’t let me near Amelia’s room. That’s it, that’s all I did. Then when I heard Amelia was dead, I got scared. I didn’t know what to do. I figured I’d better just lay low for a while.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that you were here? Why didn’t you call me?” Monroe asked.
“I didn’t know what happened to Amelia.” Jessica’s voice trembled as she spoke. “I was afraid.”
“You think I did this?”
“Didn’t you?”
“No!” Monroe shouted, and something thumped again. “I’m not a murderer, Jessica!”
“Maybe not, but you’re an idiot. You do realize you probably led the police right to me, don’t you?”
“No, I didn’t, I was careful.”
“There is no way to be careful enough during a murder investigation. You have to get out of here, and fast, before the cops see us together. They’re going to think that we did this together, that it was our plan from the start.”
“Oh Jessica. I knew we should have left all of this alone from the beginning. We should have stopped all of this when Amelia started suspecting us.”
“Keep quiet! Just keep quiet! I need to think.”
Mary shifted from one foot to the other as she tried to memorize every word that was spoken. She knew that Suzie would want to hear every detail. As she leaned a little closer, she felt a hand slip over her mouth, and an arm go around her waist. The warm palm pressed lightly against her lips muffled a shout, and the arm around her waist kept her from being able to run.
“Sh.” Jason’s voice lingered beside her ear. “Don’t make too much noise. I don’t want them to be spooked.”
“Jason!” She swatted at him as he pulled her back away from the door.
“Watch it.” He frowned as he batted her hands away. “What are you doing here?”
“What are you doing here?” Mary shot back.
“My job.” Jason gestured to the shield on his belt. “I’ve been tailing Monroe, hoping that he would lead me to Jessica. Imagine my surprise when I realized I was tailing you, too.” He folded his arms across his chest and stared hard into her eyes. “Your presence here could taint any evidence I collect.”
“I’m sorry, Jason. I wasn’t supposed to get out of the car. I just wanted to hear what they were saying.”
“Mary, it’s okay. But you need to be careful.” His expression softened as he studied her. “Come with me.” He led her away from the motel room back to her car. As they walked, she shared what she had overheard.
“I’m going to go in and speak to her. But I need to know that you’re safe first. Please, go back to Dune House.” Jason opened the car door for her. “And if you see my cousin, you let her know that I need to have a conversation with her.”
“Yes, okay, I will.” Mary fiddled nervously with her purse. She decided against telling him where Suzie was. After all she might not have found anything at all. Once in the car, she pulled out of the parking lot under Jason’s watchful eye. She was about a mile down the road when her cell phone rang. She saw that it was Suzie calling.
* * *
As Mary hung up the phone, her hand trembled. She dialed Jason’s number and put the phone up to her ear. As she expected, it went to voicemail. He was probably inside the motel room speaking to Monroe and Jessica. She left a brief message requesting a call back and for him to meet them at the police station. On the drive there, her stomach churned. The thought of Suzie being alone in her car with the person who might have killed Amelia haunted her. Why had she let Suzie go there alone? She should have insisted on joining her, then at least she could have talked Suzie out of that decision. But then she might never have overheard what she did in Jessica’s motel room. Maybe Suzie was safe with Sophia, because Amelia’s killer was busy with Jason.
When Mary parked at the police station, she knew it would be a bit of a wait before Suzie arrived. She headed inside and found Kirk at the front counter. He rifled through some paperwork, then glanced up at her.
“Mary, how are you?” Kirk smiled.
“A little nervous.” Mary offered a smile in return, then filled him in on Suzie’s plan to bring Sophia in.
“Wow, I can’t believe she found her. We’ve been looking and hadn’t been able to turn up anything. You know what, I’m going to send a patrol car to escort them in.” Kirk pulled out his radio.
“Wait Kirk, what if that frightens Sophia off?” Mary frowned.
“I’ll just tell them to keep a distance and no lights. If any issues come up, they’ll be right there to help out.” Kirk spoke into his radio, then looked back at Mary. “I hear you had a bit of an encounter yourself this morning.”
“Maybe.” Mary blushed as Kirk studied her.
“It’s all right, I get it.” Kirk closed the folder in his hand, then steered her towards his desk. “I can’t let things go until a case is solved either. In fact, I just discovered that we might have another suspect we knew nothing about. I’ve been looking through the hate mail that Amelia received since leaving the company, and I discovered that she received several death threats. At first, I assumed they were random, sent from multiple people, then I realized that the font was the same. I’ve found at least five from the same sender now, and that makes me believe that someone was quite serious about doing harm to Amelia.”
“Suzie said that Sophia was trying to get Amelia’s attention. Are you sure they weren’t from her?” Mary peered at the papers that Kirk spread out across his desk.
“I considered that, she did send some letters. Some were quite angry, but none were death threats. However, I still compared the font and the style of envelope and so forth to the anonymous death threats. The font doesn’t match. It’s still possible that Sophia wrote these letters using a different device, but I think it’s also possible that there is someone else out there with very violent intentions.” Kirk frowned as he handed some of the notes over to Mary. “Why don’t you take a look? I could use another set of eyes on these, I’ve already had the lab go through them, but nothing was gained from that. It seems that whoever wrote these was successful at keeping them clean.”
“I’ll take a look.” Mary looked over the paper, paying attention to every little detail. The words themselves were harsh and violent enough to make her wince, but it was those same words that surprised her. “This wasn’t written by some random crazy person. This was written by someone good with words.”
“I think so as well.” Kirk tapped the paper with his fingertip. “The words and sentence structure seem almost professional.”
“Yes, exactly.” Mary rubbed her fingertip along the letters on the page. “And this wasn’t printed, was it?”
“The lab says it was written on a typewriter.” Kirk nodded. “They can’t place the model or brand, but it definitely wasn’t printed on a printer.”
“Amelia used a typewriter.” Mary considered that thought for a moment.
“A typewriter that’s missing and was likely used as the murder weapon.” Kirk sat back in his chair.
“What if—” Mary’s voice trailed off as she wondered if she should really vocalize what she thought.
“Hmm?” Kirk met her eyes. “What is it, Mary?”
“Well, it’s a bit strange.” Mary shifted in her chair.
“I’d still like to hear it. Some of the best theories come out of the stra
ngest places. So, let’s hear it.” Kirk folded his hands on the desk between them.
“What if Amelia wrote them?”
“Amelia?” His brow furrowed. “Why would she do that?”
“Maybe to generate more attention around her book.” Mary shrugged, then shook her head. “Like I said, it’s pretty strange, and probably not true.”
“It’s certainly something to consider.” Kirk made a note on the pad in front of him.
“Mary.” Jason paused in front of Kirk’s desk, his expression stern. “I just got your message. Is Suzie here yet?”
“No, she’s on her way.” Mary slid back in her chair, she could tell that Jason was not pleased.
“I don’t know why she wouldn’t just call me to have me come and collect Sophia. Why would she take that unnecessary risk?”
“Maybe she thought it would spook Sophia.” Mary chewed on her bottom lip for a moment, then looked straight at Jason. “If she did this, she had a reason to do it. I trust Suzie’s judgment.”
“I trust her, too, but this is just too much of a risk—”
“Jason.” Kirk tipped his head towards the hallway. “Here she is now.”
Suzie and Sophia walked towards Kirk’s desk, as Jason turned to face them.
“Just a second.” Suzie held up her hand before he could speak. “Sophia agreed to come in and speak with you because I told her I knew people she could trust in the police department. Is that okay?” She met his gaze.
“Suzie.” Jason hesitated, then frowned. “Yes, of course it’s okay. Sophia.” He offered his hand to the other woman. “I’d like to hear anything you have to say.”
As Jason led her off to an interrogation room, Kirk followed after him.
Mary stood up from her chair and gave Suzie a light shove on the shoulder.
“What in the world were you thinking getting into a car with a murder suspect?”
“I know, I know.” Suzie wrung her hands. “Trust me, it wasn’t my best decision. But it got her here, didn’t it?” She glanced over at her friend. “I’m a bundle of nerves to be honest.”
