by Alexa Davis
“Right, everyone,” I suddenly heard Mike’s voice booming out. “We need to have an emergency staff meeting.” When no one moved, and we all glanced at one another in shock, his tone turned from serious to irritated. “Now, please.”
This hadn't ever happened before, so none of us knew what to expect. I half thought someone was about to get fired. Either that, or someone knew the truth about me, but surely that wouldn’t be a discussion that was up for public consumption. I hoped as much. I didn’t feel like a public shaming was the right way to go, however inappropriate I’d been.
We all sat around the table in a stunned silence, just waiting for Mike to speak, and when he finally did he said the words that I was least expecting in the world. “Now, it isn’t public knowledge yet, but the media are aware of it. A dead body has been found at Roy Larkin’s property, and he’s being held in custody.”
What the fuck? My heart stopped dead in my chest. Was this for real? It was as if I was having some sort of horrible nightmare, that I couldn’t wake up from.
“What do you mean?” one of the photographers asked, voicing the question that I wanted to ask the most.
“Well, it means that he is the main suspect. I would like you to go to his property and to take some photographs…whatever you can get. And June,” as his eyes found me, I felt bile rise up in my throat. “I need you to get your ass down to the police station right away to find out what the hell is going on. It’ll be a media circus down there, so you really are going to have to do your best to find out what you can.” He moved by my side and placed his hand on my shoulder. “I believe in you. This is the kind of thing that you’ve been asking for, after all.”
How ironic – he was right. I’d been praying for something this exciting to happen in Florence for me to write about, and now that it had, and I really didn’t want it to be the truth. I could barely wrap my head around it. Roy Larkin, who I was only with a short time ago, is being accused of murder… I couldn’t even begin to process it.
“Yeah…yeah, of course,” I gasped, glancing around the room in shock. Everyone was looking a little stunned that something so insane could have happened in our small, quiet town, but none of their emotions matched mine. I was absolutely petrified, and utterly confused. How could that have happened to Roy? There was no way that he could be a murderer… Could he?
“Well, you better go now then,” Mike continued, indicating towards the door. “This story isn’t going to write itself.”
As I drove down to the precinct, I felt like I wasn’t really there, like my mind and body had become separate things. I just didn’t know how to deal with any of it. I couldn’t get my head around the last time I’d seen Roy, all sweet with donuts and kisses this morning, and now… It seemed absolutely unreal. I had the sensation that I would eventually arrive at the police station to discover that it was all a mistake, and then life could return to normal.
But as I pulled up the car, and I saw the amount of people surrounding it with video cameras, microphones, cameras, and recording equipment, I knew that it was real.
I felt like I should probably call Mike to tell him to get another photographer down here too, but I didn’t really want Roy’s humiliation photographed. Sure, that was my heart speaking over my head, my love life making decisions that could ultimately impact upon my career, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself. Maybe, if I ever got a chance to see him around here, my sensibilities would kick in and I would snap a picture on my phone. It wouldn’t be the same, but that wasn’t my fault. It was the editor’s decision to send me here alone, after all.
I stepped out of the car with my mind racing and did my best to mingle in with the crowd. I wanted to hear what others had to say, what they’d discovered while I hadn't been here – and it didn’t disappoint.
“Is there any evidence?” I overheard one guy hiss to another. “Is there anything solid we can base a story on?”
“At the moment, the police seem to suspect Larkin because of the time of death.”
My heart raced as I tried to imagine any possible time that Roy could have killed someone. I did my best to calculate the time it would have taken him to drive from my place to his, but I couldn’t quite figure it out.
“And, what time was that?”
I moved closer, needing to hear the answer to that question, too.
“In the middle of the night sometime. I heard around midnight…”
I let out an audible sigh of relief at that point, glad to hear that Roy couldn’t possibly have committed the murder. The guys might not have been able to confirm the exact time of death, but it was obviously someone who’d been dead for a while, rather than someone freshly killed. At least that meant that Roy was innocent, that I hadn't allowed myself to be totally conned by a murderer…
Shit, I shuffled back through the crowds, all of a sudden needing some air. Everyone felt claustrophobic as I realized just what a dilemma I was in. If the murder happened in the middle of the night, when Roy was with me, that made me his alibi. I could prove to the police, and everyone else, that he was innocent…but it would put my career on the line to do so. I would have to risk everything else to set him free.
I fell out from behind everyone and grabbed onto my knees as panicked breaths escaped my body. This was too much, it was such a horrible choice to have to make, and I had no idea how the hell I was going to make it.
“Are you okay?” I heard a voice call out from behind me. I knew that there was someone there, but it felt really distant, that I wasn’t quite there. “Would you like some water?”
I tried to answer, to say anything, but I couldn’t seem to manage it. My voice was strangled, and my lungs went tight. All of a sudden, my body felt far too heavy for my legs to hold up and I felt myself slump to the ground as everything went black…
***
“I’m okay, thank you,” I did my best to reassure the woman who caught me as I blacked out for a second. “Really, I think was just dehydration…and I haven’t slept too well. I feel fine, honest.”
But she didn’t look like she believed me. “I’m not convinced,” she examined me critically. “I think that we might need to get you to the hospital.”
“No, no, I can’t,” I forced myself to stand, just to prove my point, even though I felt really shaky on my feet. “I’m here to write a story. I can’t leave; my boss will kill me.”
“I don’t think anything is going to happen anytime soon,” she started, but I wasn’t about to leave. This wasn’t really anything to do with the story – it was all about me and Roy, and the decision that I had no idea what to do with.
As I moved away from my savior, making it to the back of the crowd, I tried to rationalize my fears. I tried to tell myself that it would all be okay, and that my evidence wouldn’t be needed anyway. I tried to convince myself to have faith in the justice system. If Roy was innocent, they would find that out anyway, no matter what I said or did. But of course, I wasn’t convinced. There was no way of telling which way this could go, and that scared the hell out of me.
Maybe I was wrong anyway; maybe Roy wasn’t innocent. There was no way I could know for sure, after all. I was pretty convinced, but without having all of the details, I couldn’t be certain, and I really didn’t want to throw away everything that I’d spent my entire life working towards, just to have him guilty anyway. There wasn’t anything I could do until I had some more information.
I felt incredibly frustrated, knowing he was inside that building, only a few feet away from me, and I couldn’t even talk to him. I might have only known him a short while, but I felt like we had a strong bond and that I would be able to know the truth just by asking him outright and looking into his eyes. I might not have liked the answer, especially if it went against what my instincts believed, but knowing had to be better than this.
The endless anticipation, the waiting, the just not knowing anything at all…it was absolutely driving me crazy.
I could feel my ph
one ringing in my pocket, and I felt certain that it was Mike calling me, but I ignored it, focusing only on those doors instead. Unless they had some hardcore evidence, something real to hold him on, then they would have to let him go eventually, and I wanted to be there for that. I needed to see him; I was holding on for that moment. Until then, until I saw him, time was suspended for me, and I wasn’t sure that anything could feel real.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Roy – Monday
I sat there in the interrogation room of the police precinct with my lips squeezed tightly shut. There was no way I was going to say anything, not without my lawyer, who Lewis was already arranging for me, because I didn’t want to end up convicted over some stupid slip up.
The female police officer barking in my ear kept telling me that I was being held because me reaction to the murder wasn’t “normal,” which angered and frustrated me no end. Who the hell was anyone to judge what a normal reaction to anything was, never mind something so stressful? And for me, who’d seen so much death in my life that I didn’t know how else to cope, it was just about all that I could do. I didn’t want to tell anyone that much, though, because I certainly didn’t need to be questioned about everyone else in my life who had passed away.
“Come on,” she tried again. “You’re going to have to speak eventually.”
They needed me to talk now, before any legal representation arrived, because it would complicate things when it did – which was exactly what I was hoping for. Sure, I could have just told them that I was with June when the murder was committed, but I didn’t want to do that until I’d had some serious legal advice.
Plus, I would rather have talked to her about it first. I didn’t want to do anything that would ruin her career. I knew that sleeping with me, someone she was supposed to be interviewing for the newspaper, wouldn’t look good. I didn’t want to blow that fuse if I didn’t need to.
Surely, they would eventually begin to see that I was innocent, anyway, and I wouldn’t have to spill any beans.
“I’m here,” Lewis came crashing through the door, looking more disheveled and stressed than I had ever seen him before. “I’m here; sorry I’m late.”
“Why are you here?” I hissed at him, glancing at the police officer, who did the decent thing of finally vacating the room. “I thought that you were getting me a lawyer?”
“I have a law degree; don’t you remember? You paid for me to do it while I worked? I finished it a couple of years back.”
That did sound familiar, but it didn’t fill me with any confidence. He hadn't exactly practiced any law, and what I really needed was someone with experience, but from this position, I didn’t exactly have any choice. “Right… Okay…”
“So, what have you said? I need to keep up to date on what you’ve told the police already?”
“I haven’t said anything,” I told him seriously. “I was waiting for advice.”
“Nothing at all? Not even when the arrested you?”
I recalled that moment for a second. It felt like one minute I was alone, and the next I was surrounded by people, chaos, and noise. Things were happing, stuff was moving, but I remained still, like I was in a movie and everything was just rushing past. I could hear people talking to me, asking me questions, but I didn’t know how to speak. Even as they put me in handcuffs and threw me into the car while reading me my rights, I said nothing. “I didn’t say a thing,” I confirmed.
“Okay, so now we need to work out our legal strategy,” he said, pulling out papers from his briefcase. “There has to be something we can do.”
“I didn’t do it,” I snapped quickly, as least needing him to know that part. He had a funny look in his eyes, and his choice of words left me a little bewildered. “I would never—”
“Oh, I know,” he interrupted me quickly, in a way that took me back a bit. There was something a little off in his voice. “I would never think that. I just need to find a way to get you out before they can start pressing charges. Now, where were you? When the murder happened? Were you still in St. Louis?”
I pursed my lips for a second before deciding to tell the truth. “No, I was here, but I was with a woman.”
“So, just tell them that!” His eyes lit up at that, but I shook my head before he could get too carried away.
“No, no, I can’t. We can’t let anyone know that we’re together.”
“Why not?” he gasped, looking at me in shock. “I thought Crystal’s ex knew about you? Or is it the son?”
“It’s not Crystal,” I told him firmly. “It just isn’t an option, okay?”
Before Lewis could question me more, the official interrogation began, leaving me with no other legal representation at all. All I had was him and an alibi I couldn’t prove. I didn’t feel like I stood a chance in hell.
As they asked me where I was at the time of the murder, I did my best to tell them the truth without giving a name. When the asked me about my odd reaction to seeing the dead body, I decided to be honest about my past. I felt like if that could help detract from any other line of questioning, then it had to be worth it. As the woman got angry with me and told me that I wasn’t helping myself by keeping so quiet, Lewis finally stepped in and did what needed to be done. I appreciated him being there, but in all honesty, I probably could have coped without him.
“As far as I can see, Officer,” he started, staring her down as he spoke, “you have absolutely no evidence against my client. He has already expressed that he wasn’t home at the time, and you seem to be basing everything on the fact that Mr. Larkin acted strange when he phoned the police and when you arrested him. Now you tell me how someone is supposed to act. Have you never gone into shock before?”
He stood up, growing impassioned with his speech. “Now as I understand it, there isn’t any reason at all to keep him here, and you certainly cannot arrest him without anything substantial to go off, so I am going to take Mr. Larkin away to let you do your job and find the killer. You are wasting time here; what you really need to be doing is looking elsewhere.”
I bit my tongue, trying not to tell Lewis to shut up because I had the distinct feeling that he was making everything that much worse. The police were never going to let me go, not when they didn’t have anyone else to hold in my place, but much to my surprise, they did.
“Okay, well you are within your legal rights to leave, but I would suggest that you stay.”
“Thank you very much; we shall be leaving now.”
With that, Lewis picked up his belongings and stalked from the room, leaving me with no other choice but to follow him. He walked quickly, causing me to run a little to catch up with him. “Can you do that?” I whispered into his ear. “That seemed a little…much.”
“It’s within your legal rights. They have no evidence on you, you didn’t do it – it really is as simple as that,” he stopped for a second, and stared at me. “Now, you might want to prepare yourself; it’s a media circus out there.”
“What, really?” I gasped, dreading having all eyes on me, but it was too late. He was already on the move again.
I guess it made sense. After all, nothing ever happened in this small town, not really. There was the odd big event that captured everyone’s attention: a lottery win, a health-related miracle, acts of heroism, but nothing that lasted very long. Not like this would. This was bad, and it had my name attached to it, a fact that was never going to disappear. I wasn’t going to be able to escape this for a very long time.
All of a sudden, the idea of getting the hell out of Florence didn’t seem like such a bad one, after all.
Lewis practically kicked the doors open, and the circus began. Cameras flashed, people screamed, video cameras whirred, microphones were shoved in my face. I felt a sickness building within me, an intense fear gripping at my heart, and for a split second, I feared I might pass out.
“Just keep going,” Lewis hissed at me. “And remember that you’re innocent.”
“
What happened in there, Mr. Larkin?”
“Why did you kill that guy?”
“What were you doing when the victim was murdered?”
So many questions… What the hell was I going to do?
“My client isn’t taking any questions,” Lewis yelled loudly, but he didn’t manage to drown anyone out. “No comment; he is an innocent man… Just put your head down,” he whispered to me. “Don’t look at anyone and get into the car.”
But I couldn’t obey his instructions – my eyes were flickering everywhere, looking for a friendly face. I just wanted to see someone, anyone, who might believe me, but it didn’t look like anyone did. It was a witch hunt, and I was the witch. How the hell was this happening to me? What had I done to deserve it? It didn’t feel like anyone had as bad luck as me.
And then I saw her.
June.
Those familiar eyes, I would recognize them anywhere. She was here. Sure she was in the crowd of the journalists, as if looking for a story, but I could see in her eyes that she wanted to know more for herself – and that she might just trust me. I wanted to run to her side, to explain everything, but I couldn’t, not without wading through the vultures first, and I wasn’t quite ready for that. I needed to get the hell out of there.
As our eyes locked, I tried my best to communicate all that I couldn’t say aloud, hoping that at least some of it was getting across. She looked pale, bewildered, as if this was affecting her, too, which of course it was. She was involved in this as unwillingly as I was, and in a way, she had as much on the line as I did.
Her hand moved slowly to her ear, and she made the call me gesture, which I nodded along to, glad that she was actually willing to give me a chance to explain. She could have turned her back on me, assuming I was guilty, or decided she didn’t want anything to do with the situation, but she hadn't. She was here. I nodded quickly in reply and watched as she turned her back on me.
