He rolled his eyes and sighed in frustration. Whether it was toward me or this case I didn’t know. “We haven’t found her yet, but we heard back from the police in Peninsula, Ohio where she lives that she hasn’t been seen at home for over two weeks and her next door neighbor says she’s supposed to collect her mail for another week until she gets back. If they hear she’s home, they promise to give me a call. That’s all we know as of right now.”
I was sure when we finally got to speak to Mariah that this entire case would take on a new light, and Derek’s complacent attitude toward her potential part in her sister’s murder was nothing less than exasperating. I was just as sure that blowing up at him to press my point about her being more important than he thought would get me nowhere, so I forced a smile to appear on my face and kept my mouth shut.
We sat there in silence waiting for Donny to show up with his initial report as the minutes ticked by. While I studied the nearly bare beige walls of Derek’s office surrounding us, I prayed to God that whatever the coroner had to say showed us a different potential suspect. I really wanted Donny to say there was no way Alex could have done this horrific crime, but I’d take him offering something that would point us in a different direction if that’s the best I could get.
A knock on Derek’s office door startled me out of my daydreams of being able to give Alex the good news that he was no longer a suspect, and I spun around in my chair to see Donny standing in the doorway waving a brown folder in front of him.
He stepped into the office and handed it to Derek as he said, “Remember what I said about this being purely preliminary. You’re in a hurry, but I can only say what was done to your victim and what I think was the weapon used.”
Derek opened the file and scanned the information for a few seconds before closing it and tossing it on the desk. “Just cut to the chase and tell me so I don’t have to sift through all that, okay?”
Shrugging, Donny looked unhappy about having to give him a verbal rundown after just handing him the official preliminary report. “Fine. Your victim was attacked by a right handed person from behind. They came around with a knife and jammed it into the left side of her neck cutting her clear over to the other side. She bled out in minutes.”
“Can you tell if the person who did this was taller than her?” I asked as my heart slammed into my ribcage.
Both Derek and Donny turned to look at me with narrowed eyes as if I’d asked a question they thought I shouldn’t have. Shaking his head, Donny said, “She was killed as she sat in a car. That makes the killer’s height pretty much a non-issue.”
“Continue,” Derek ordered. “Is there anything in this report that I can use to focus on a single suspect?”
Donny’s body language screamed his defensiveness at Derek’s pressing for something definitive. With his arms folded across his chest, he answered him. “As I told you yesterday, I believe a hunting knife was used. I don’t have the company name and model, if that’s what you’re looking for. There was some skin I scraped from under her fingernails, and I found two dark hairs behind her right ear to go with one the crime scene guys found in the backseat. I don’t know if they’re from the same person, though. I’ll know more in a few days, so that’s really all I can give you for now.”
Looking thoroughly dissatisfied that Donny couldn’t give him anything more, Derek thanked him and waved him out of his office like a king tired of the person trying to please him. As I sat replaying everything the coroner had reported, I had to think Derek’s plan to bring in a suspect today had been quashed, thankfully. Nothing he’d told us pointed to Alex, so at least there was that.
I had an idea, though. While the crime scene unit had already scoured Bethany’s car, I wanted to see it for myself. I didn’t think I’d find anything they hadn’t, but maybe by seeing it firsthand in the light of day I could get a sense of how the crime had happened. Also, it would keep Derek busy for a few hours if he had to escort me on my field trip.
“I’d like to see Bethany’s car,” I announced to Derek and instantly saw a look of confusion cross his face.
“Why? It’s been checked over by the state police crime unit. What do you think you’re going to find that they didn’t?”
“Please just humor me this one last time,” I pleaded, knowing this wouldn’t be the last time I asked him for a favor.
He looked unconvinced. “I can’t figure out what you want to see it for is all. Aren’t you the one in the partnership who likes to focus on the behavior and psychology of people instead of actual physical evidence?”
“I just want to see it. How long is it going to take to ride out to the barracks and have a quick look-see? You’ll be back before it’s time to take your mid-morning coffee break.”
“And if I say no can I assume you’re going to badger me until I change my mind?”
“Badger is such an ugly word, Derek. Admit it. You have nothing more than you did yesterday to warrant questioning Alex or anyone else, for that matter. It might do you good to get out of this office, and at the very least you’ll be able to tell the mayor you’re actively working on the case.”
Derek’s eyebrows shot up into his forehead. “I think you’re going to lose your father a customer at this rate.”
I stood up and put on my coat as I continued to cajole my way into a trip to the state police barracks where Bethany’s car was being held. “Come on. What’s an hour out of your life to satisfy your curiosity?”
He smiled and grabbed his coat. “I’m satisfying your curiosity, Poppy. At least try to keep it straight as you’re manipulating me.”
I chuckled as I followed him out into the hallway to leave. “Manipulating is such an ugly word, Derek. So ugly.”
“Uh huh. Let’s get this moving.” He stopped midway to the car and turned to look at me. “Remember the chances are just as good that you’ll find something that hurts your partner as helps him.”
I didn’t need to be reminded of that. The mention of dark hairs found on Bethany’s body had made my heart sink, and it hadn’t recovered yet, even if my playacting like nothing the coroner had said was successful.
Derek led the way to the trooper on duty in charge of evidence and warned me to hang back while he got permission to see the car. Unlike usual, I listened to his command, afraid if I didn’t that he might recant on his agreement to let me take a look at the inside of the car. While I assumed I was grasping at straws, I needed to believe what I was doing might result in something to give me hope.
He stormed back toward me after speaking to the trooper for nearly five minutes. I hadn’t overheard much since I’d been lost in my own thoughts of how I was going to tell Alex I didn’t find anything yet to help him, but by the furious look on Derek’s face as he approached me, what he’d heard hadn’t been good.
“What’s wrong? Did they say we can’t examine the car? Why? Is it because I’m here?” I asked in Gatling gun fashion as he walked past me out the door. I followed him and repeated my questions in case he hadn’t heard me in his rage.
By the time we reached his squad car, he’d calmed down enough so there wasn’t smoke about to pour out his ears. Leaning against the driver’s side door, he said, “The car has been moved, and no one seems to know where and all the records associated with the case are gone too.”
Stunned, I struggled to find the words to say and finally just asked, “What?”
He ignored me and instead took out his cell phone to call someone. Furious, he barked into the phone, “Donny, we’re going to need to rely on the DNA off Bethany because the goddamn crime scene is gone.”
Before the coroner had the opportunity to say anything in response, Derek jammed his fingertip onto the END on his cell phone screen and jammed the phone back into his coat pocket. I didn’t know what to say or what to think. Was the fact that the car was missing going to help Alex? I wasn’t sure of anything anymore.
“Derek, what’s going on? The state police don’t just lose a whol
e car. What did they say happened to it?”
Once again, he ignored me. He opened his car door, and as he got in, he mumbled, “Maybe Alex really is the killer. If he had a friend in the Maryland State Police, maybe he could get them to hide the evidence to give him time to flee.”
I grabbed a hold of the door as he moved to close it, shaking my head as I stared down at him in disbelief at what I’d just heard. “What are you talking about? Fleeing? What makes you think Alex had anything to do with this? You act like he’s some all-powerful super villain who can just make evidence like a car disappear. He doesn’t have that kind of pull with the state police. No one does.”
Derek looked up at me and said, “Get in the car, Poppy.”
“No! I want you to listen to me now!”
He tore the door from my hold and slammed it in my face. I hurried around to the other side to get in before he drove away and left me standing there, and as I sat down next to him I heard him say into his phone, “Bring Alex in for questioning. Have him there when I get back.”
Once again he angrily ended the call and then started the car without saying another word to me. My mind spun with questions I knew he wouldn’t or couldn’t answer, but I had to try to convince him that he was making a mistake jumping to those conclusions.
As we sped down the highway back toward Sunset Ridge, I did my best to change his mind. “Derek, you know Alex isn’t the type of person to kill anyone, and he’s not the type of cop to destroy or hide evidence or have someone do it for him. Please listen to me!”
The emotion drained from his face, and he stared straight ahead as he shook his head. “I want to believe he’s innocent, but every time I let myself think that, something comes up to point to him. Bethany’s neighbor’s claim that she heard him fighting with Bethany. The florist who pretty much described Alex to a T. The missing evidence. The fact that this murder is just like the murder of his wife.”
“Those are all just coincidences. Think about it. They’re just coincidences. That’s all.”
He stopped the car as we got off the exit and turned to look at me. “Just when do these coincidences begin to add up for you, Poppy? Because they’re adding up for me.”
I didn’t know how to answer that question, but for me, none of those things added up to Alex being guilty of murdering Bethany. No matter what Derek thought, they didn’t mean he was a murderer.
Chapter Twelve
Alex sat alone in the interrogation room when Derek and I returned to the police station after what may have been the most tension-filled car ride I’d ever experienced. I’d utterly failed in my attempt to persuade him to see any side of this case that didn’t involve Alex acting like some criminal mastermind, forever one step ahead of the law and mocking them the entire time.
I followed him toward the room, but Derek turned and stopped me with a stiff arm to my midsection. “I think I’ll be doing this alone, Poppy.”
God, I was tired of this with him! Pushing his forearm away from my body, I poked him in the chest and every ounce of professionalism in me disappeared. “I’m sick of you constantly threatening to cut me out of this investigation. I’m his partner and I’m going to be there when you question him. And don’t tell me you can have me hauled out of here in handcuffs because I have threats of my own that I can use on you, and they’re a hell of a lot worse than me being seen in handcuffs. So stop with this nonsense and let’s get in there so you can ask your questions and hear him answer them.”
Derek’s eyes opened wide in surprise at my outburst, and I waited for him to bark right back at me, but he didn’t. Instead, he took a deep breath in and puffing his cheeks, let the air out as he shook his head. “You must really care about him. I hope you’re ready for what he might say because it may not be what you’re hoping for.”
Still standing toe-to-toe with him, I stared up into his eyes, confident in my knowledge of who Alex truly was. “I know what he’s going to say because he didn’t do it, Derek. So ask all the questions you want. The answers aren’t going to change from yesterday. He’s not your killer.”
Derek’s steely gaze remained locked on mine in a battle for who believed in their side more. “Fine, but when this all falls apart, don’t come running to me crying because he wasn’t who you thought he was.”
He turned before I could tell him that first, I wouldn’t be running to anyone crying, and second, if I did, he’d be there for me like he always had been because that’s what friends did for one another. Even if they disagreed like never before and couldn’t understand the other’s point of view no matter how hard they tried.
The door opened, and my eyes met Alex’s. They were filled with so much sadness. There he sat in the very room where he’d questioned suspects, and now he was the one on the opposite side of the table being accused. I smiled as I sat down wishing I could sit beside him so he wouldn’t feel so alone.
Derek didn’t waste any time on niceties and got right to work. With his eyes set in a hard stare, he asked, “Are you sure you wouldn’t prefer to have your attorney join you for this, Mr. Montero?”
Alex’s expression twisted into a grimace before he croaked out, “Mr. Montero? You can’t even call me by the name you’ve used ever since the day we met?”
I touched Derek’s sleeve, and he turned to look at me with a face that made me yank my hand away from him. Hoping to change the tone of this interrogation session, I gently said, “This doesn’t have to be acrimonious, does it? I know you see him as a suspect, but you do know him.”
“Poppy, you can either remain quiet or you can remove yourself from this room. Your choice.”
His harsh tone surprised me with how much it hurt. Derek had never spoken to me like that before. I backed away to nurse my injured feelings, but Alex came to my defense immediately.
“You don’t have to speak to her like that, Derek. Whatever you think of her opinion about me, she’s your friend. Try acting like she is.”
The look in Derek’s eyes made me fear for Alex’s safety, and when he snapped his head around to face him, I worried he might go over the table at him. Instead, he merely barked, “I’ll treat her as I see fit. She’s in my house now. If you don’t like that, too bad. You don’t get a say in how I run this investigation.”
And then Alex said what he and I had thought from the very beginning but hadn’t said a thing about to anyone but each other. “Investigation? Why don’t you call it what it really is? A vendetta against me because you’ve got some small town jealousy thing going with me. It’s not like you’ve actually bothered to look for anyone else who might have done this crime, other than when Poppy has forced you to. No, this is your own personal revenge on a professional rival. Or is it a personal rival, Derek? Is that what this is?”
His words came out so fast I couldn’t jump in and stop them. Derek heard about half of them before he jumped out of his seat and leaned toward Alex like he wanted to hit him. By the time Alex had finished speaking, Derek’s right arm was cocked and ready.
I leaped out of my chair to try to get control of the situation before the two of them began to pound each other’s faces into the concrete floor. Standing on the side of the metal table as they glared across it at each other, I gently spoke up and hoped what I was about to say wouldn’t make things worse.
“Please, don’t do this. Stop before this gets out of hand.” As if they didn’t hear me, they continued to exchange glowers, Derek’s blue eyes full of fire and Alex’s dark brown eyes full of hatred.
After a few seconds, I knew my nice girl act wasn’t going to end this standoff, so I raised my voice to as loud as it could get and yelled, “That’s enough! The two of you aren’t getting anything done here but showing everyone how much testosterone you have. Derek, sit down and do your job, and Alex, try to remember he has to do this, no matter how much you hate it. Okay? Or do I have to get nasty here?”
They didn’t move for a long moment, and then at the same time, they both looked over a
t me with surprise in their eyes. I rarely unleashed that side of my personality, so I could understand why it had shocked them to hear me snapping at them like that. I just hoped it didn’t mean Derek would now refuse to let me stay while he asked his questions.
He sighed and slowly sat back down in his chair while the corners of Alex’s mouth crept up ever so slightly to give me a tiny smile that told me he approved of my gambit. I took my seat again too but held my breath as I waited for Derek to tell me whether I could stay or had to go.
“Okay, things got a little heated there for a minute, but Poppy’s right. We both have to do this, no matter how much we don’t want to. Once again I have to ask, though, Alex, you don’t want your attorney present for this?”
Alex shook his head. “No. I don’t need a lawyer to tell you I’m not the person who killed Bethany. I’m fine by myself.”
I smiled at him to let him know I was there for him. I wasn’t sure not having his attorney by his side was the best choice, but I believed in his innocence and his choice. I just hoped talking like this wasn’t a huge mistake that would come back to haunt him.
“Okay. Let’s get started. I need you to trace your movements Sunday night. Where were you in the hours before the murder?”
Alex looked over at me with sadness in his eyes, and I knew he hated telling Derek our personal business. I didn’t have a problem with being dragged into this, though, so with a silent nod I let him know he should tell him everything we did that evening.
“I was at Poppy’s that night, but I didn’t feel well, so I left to go home a few minutes after eight o’clock. I drove home and Bethany called me on my way there. I talked to her and then after spending a few minutes at my house, I drove to her apartment.”
Derek turned to look at me and then looked back at Alex. “I guess I don’t have to ask if Poppy can vouch for what you’re saying regarding when you left her house. Okay, now about that phone call from Bethany. What did she want?”
The Darkest Hour Page 11
