Liar

by Campbell, Jamie

  The police were just finishing up their crime scene assessment, taking photos and evidence before the body was released to the M.E. and allowed to be removed. Given another hour and it would be like they were never there.

  “She wouldn’t do this,” the angry voice was coming down the hallway, along with footsteps. “You have to listen to me. This is ridiculous.”

  The man appeared in the living room, shadowing another uniformed officer who was trying to calm him down. “We need to do an investigation. Suicide looks like the cause at this stage.”

  “I’m telling you she wouldn’t do it. She wouldn’t leave me like this.” His eyes were bloodshot and wet, Kale White’s bad day was written all over him. The moment he saw Leo, he headed straight for him. “Detective, finally someone with some sense. Everyone is talking nonsense. Renee wouldn’t kill herself.”

  Amelia stood discreetly behind Leo, not hearing any lies. She tried to be as invisible as possible, letting the scene unfold around her. She was the only one that didn’t belong there and she refused to make it too obvious.

  “Take a few breaths, Mr. White,” Leo said soothingly, trying to calm the man. Clearly all the officers were failing at it. “I’m really sorry about your wife, I’m sure this is difficult to take in.”

  “You’re not kidding it’s difficult. Nothing is making sense.”

  “Renee left a note, Mr. White. It’s pretty clear what happened here. I’m really am very sorry.”

  “She wouldn’t do this,” Kale pleaded, willing someone to listen to him. “You have to believe me. You knew her, you know she wouldn’t do this. She just wouldn’t.”

  Leo knew it wasn’t strictly true, he had met the woman on several occasions, spending day after day waiting for news on her son. But nobody was really themselves in times of tragedy. The woman was so upset that he had no idea what she was really like under normal circumstances.

  “Mr. White, I know it’s difficult to accept-”

  “Don’t give me that bull,” Kale interrupted. “You’re just like the rest of them. You only believe what you want to see and don’t bother to do your job.”

  “Mr. White, it’s not like-”

  “Just like the rest of them,” he spat the words out and took off down the hallway again. “I need to get back to my wife and make sure she is being taken care of.”

  The officers and Leo exchanged a glance, brushing off the comments. Like he said, nobody was themselves in difficult circumstances. Kale White had always been tense but he was always respectful before. Losing his wife had obviously sent him over the edge.

  “We should call victim support and get someone down here to speak with him,” Leo said. Constable Cole nodded, already pulling out his phone.

  There was nothing else Leo could do there. The counselors would do a better job of comforting Kale than he could. At least they were trained in grief counseling. A two week course at the Academy wasn’t exactly filled with all the tools he needed.

  Returning to the car, his frustration was growing as Amelia trailed after him. He actually felt traction before when they left Mandy Parkes. Now, he was back to treading water. Whatever secrets Renee White held, she had taken to her grave.

  He turned to Amelia. “What are your feelings? What happened to Renee?”

  She was quickly taken aback by his abruptness, Amelia had never seen him that way. He was normally so calm and collected, this was a whole new side to him. “I don’t know.”

  “You must have felt something. You’re psychic, aren’t you?” He slammed the car door, turning the ignition key harder than necessary.

  She didn’t know what to say. No, she wasn’t psychic, she had no idea what had gone on in the White’s house? Kale had spoken with such conviction that he believed everything he spoke, there was no way to determine if he was lying or not. Because he didn’t lie, she would have to.

  “I didn’t pick up on anything, I’m sorry.”

  “Would more time have helped?” He was firmly grasping at straws and he knew it.

  “No.”

  He roared down the road, intent on getting answers. Dead people didn’t talk to him and apparently they now weren’t talking to his temporary partner either. There was only one other person that promised answers and had withheld them all. He headed directly for the Morning Times.

  * * *

  “Tell me what you know, Bree.” Leo tried to get a hold of his anger. He was in no mood to play games with her again. “Renee White is dead, you’re not protecting her anymore. I need to know what you know.”

  Bree Rowland stared, saying nothing. She had seen the detective’s temper before and wasn’t intimidated. She knew he was all bark and no bite, like his lazy Labrador.

  “What happened to her?” The reporter asked, unfazed.

  “It doesn’t matter, she’s dead. Tell me everything.”

  They stared at one another, waiting for the other to blink first. Bree knew she didn’t have to tell him anything, she could claim source protection and he would have to take her to court to compel her to talk. But that was a lot of paperwork and time consuming. Instead, she decided to do what she did best: negotiate.

  “Give me the exclusive to the story and I’ll tell you everything,” she said, sitting back in her seat and waiting for the reaction. She wasn’t prepared to compromise, not when she knew the potential of the story. If it was what she suspected, then it could be huge. A career making story.

  Leo, on the other hand, had different ideas. “A woman is dead and all you can think of is the story? I thought you were different, Bree, I really did.”

  He flopped down on the chair, trying to figure out how he was going to make the woman talk. He glanced at Amelia, standing by the door. Guilt was starting to creep in from his outburst. He was misdirecting his frustration, he knew he shouldn’t. He put the thought aside, to deal with later.

  Bree was studying him, trying to get a reading. He had played the disappointment card early, he normally used that only as a backup. “Come on, Leo,” she emphasized his name, making sure he got the point that it was now personal. “This is my career, my livelihood. What am I supposed to do?”

  “The right thing.”

  “The right thing includes making sure the public is well informed of events.”

  Leo shook his head in disbelief. Amelia watched them both carefully. With the way they were so familiar with each other, her suspicions were confirmed that they knew one another well. She would bet they had a long, intimate history somewhere in their past. She couldn’t help feeling jealous, she didn’t even know where the emotion was coming from.

  “Come on Bree, what’s it going to take?”

  “I told you. The information for the story.”

  “You know I can’t do that,” Leo urged. “All information has to go through the media department of the station. I can’t tell you anything.”

  “And you know you can be an anonymous tip off.”

  The detective weighed his options. If he told her everything about Renee White’s death then his head would be on the cutting block if the commissioner found out. He also wasn’t sure he wanted to put the family through that.

  On the other hand, it wasn’t going to stay a secret for long. The police station was a leaky place, it was virtually impossible to keep information quiet and away from the public. They always had a way of finding things out.

  Eventually, he decided getting the information from her and potentially catching a child murderer was going to outweigh the cost of privacy.

  “Fine. But you better have something good for me,” he conceded. He hated the way Bree smiled with the triumph. “You go first.”

  “No, you go first,” she replied quickly. This was her court, her kingdom, and she was going to call all the shots.

  Leo sighed, any other woman would have caved but not Bree Rowland. “Renee White probably died of an overdose, it looks like suicide. She left a note.”

  Bree leaned forward, her elbows resting
on her desk tentatively. “And the note said?”

  “She couldn’t live without her son and something was going on at work.”

  “And?”

  “And that’s it. It was brief and to the point.”

  She studied him, trying to determine if he was holding something back. Amelia already knew the answer, he was telling the truth. It was probably the most honest conversation the two had shared.

  “You swear on your mama’s grave?” Bree asked, trying to push his buttons to annoy him too. She reveled in having him where she wanted him. Although, it wasn’t entirely where she wanted him, she could think of several places she would rather be with him.

  “I swear. Now it’s your turn.”

  Bree threw up her hands. “Fine. Renee White came to me about four weeks ago. She said she had a big story and wanted to give me the scoop. She said she would only agree to talk with me if I promised to leave her name out of it.”

  “What was the story?” Leo pulled his notebook out of his pocket, poised to write down all the details.

  “She never told me, we didn’t get that far. The day she was supposed to meet with me, she never showed.”

  “Did she say why?”

  “No. But I guessed. It was the same day her son went missing. I assumed she had bigger things on her mind.” Bree arched her left eyebrow, challenging Leo to call her a liar.

  “And you never spoke to her again? I find that hard to believe, I know how far you’ll go for a story.”

  She laughed, a giggle that was far too little schoolgirl for her age. “You make it sound like I’m a monster. I only do my job, just like you do. Do I need to remind you how far you’ll go for your job?”

  Leo shifted in his seat, he couldn’t continue on, not with an audience. He didn’t want Amelia to witness it, not when it seemed like Bree would go to any length to get back at him.

  “I didn’t speak with her again,” Bree repeated, satisfied. “But I know she had something big. Out of respect, I decided to give her some space. Losing your child is traumatic, I didn’t want to apply pressure and have her completely back out of the story. I could wait.”

  Leo pursed his lips in thought. He didn’t think she was completely incapable of empathy and she could be very understanding when she wanted to be. He quickly glanced at Amelia, silently asking if she got anything. She moved her head in response, a nod barely visible except to him.

  “Did you have any clues about what she wanted to tell you?”

  “Nope. I only know it was big. And I’m more than pissed that she killed herself before she told me. Clearly no-one upholds their promises anymore.” Her eyebrow arched again, pointedly making sure Leo knew what she meant.

  He ignored the gesture, or at least pretended to. “What makes you think it was big?”

  “I found a bug.”

  “A listening device?”

  Bree nodded. “Yep. I found one in my phone. Someone had tampered with it. How they put it in, I have no idea. I always have my phone with me, it’s like a third arm.”

  “Which is why it was the perfect place to hear everything you said,” Leo added, believing someone had put a lot of thought into it. The average criminal would have put one in her office, car, or home. They wouldn’t be smart enough to place it in the one device she always kept close by. “How’d you find it?”

  “The damn thing squawked in my ear when I got too close to the satellites in the building. It almost deafened me.”

  “Did you check for others?” He suddenly had a terrible feeling, if there was one in the office then they would be able to hear everything he had just said. That would not be good.

  “Of course I did. My guys swept everywhere here, it was just the one.”

  “Do you still have it?” If he could get it, he might be able to trace it back to the owner. Leo was already running through his list of contacts for a bug guy. He knew several excellent ones.

  Unfortunately, Bree shook her head. “I tossed it in the river. I didn’t want to risk it continuing to work. Someone had already heard my private conversations for God knows how long.”

  “Damn it, Bree. I could have traced it back to whoever put it there. Why didn’t you come to me?”

  “Because, Detective Michaels, you made it quite clear to me that your door was closed.” Bree flicked her eyes to Amelia, silently daring him to test her patience further.

  “Well, it’s open,” he replied, standing. “If there is anything else, I want you to contact me.”

  “Whatever, Detective.”

  “Thank you for your help. I trust you’ll respect the White family’s privacy?”

  Bree said nothing, just rolled her eyes in response. She didn’t bother to walk them out. She waited until they were outside her office and slammed the door behind them. She had had her fill of visitors for the day.

  * * *

  Amelia sat in silence, feeling more awkward than she had in a while. She ate her cheese and mayonnaise sandwich and watched the people walking by the café. Leo was across the table, staring into his phone like he had done for the last twenty minutes. He had barely said a word since they left the newspaper offices and she didn’t dare ask anything. All she could think of was why all the men in her life were in such terrible moods lately.

  Leo took the last bite of his ham sandwich and put his phone down on the table. “I’m sorry about… everything you’ve witnessed today.”

  “It’s okay.”

  “No, it’s not. This case is getting to me and it’s frustrating. I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.”

  “I don’t think I copped all of it.” Amelia grinned, trying to lighten the mood. “I take it you and Bree Rowland have history?”

  “Something like that.”

  “Did you date her?” She knew she was asking for trouble, but perhaps getting Leo to talk about his problems would make him relax a little. Something about a problem shared being a problem halved.

  “You could say that.” He picked up his phone, changing the subject quickly. “I’ve been looking through Renee White’s telephone records.”

  “Judging by the shift in your excitement levels, I’m guessing you found something?”

  He flipped around the phone, pointing out what he found. Renee’s records were on the screen. “Over the past two weeks, she has received several calls a day from an unlisted private number.”

  “Is there a way to trace them?”

  “Unfortunately, no. But it means someone was keen to talk to her, each call lasted for more than a minute.”

  Amelia looked down the list on the phone, he was right. Several times a day, throughout the day, she had received the calls. “Could it be from her husband?”

  “Their home phone wasn’t private, nor was his work, and cell phones don’t have the ability to be private. Unless Kale White went out of his way to call her from an unlisted phone, then it couldn’t have been him.”

  As Amelia scrolled through the phone records, one of the numbers listed stood out. She recognized it, but had to think from where. In her mind, she ran through all the numbers she knew off by heart. There was her home, her work, and Lane’s number. That was about it, she had to think harder.

  “What’s wrong?” Leo asked, watching her study the records.

  “I know this number.” She showed him the phone, pointing at the digits. “I’m just not sure from where.”

  “She called it a few times. Perhaps it was the hospital?”

  “I don’t call the hospital.”

  “I can call it when I get home, my number is private. I don’t want to try it with my cell.”

  Amelia continued to stare at the number. It suddenly struck her. It wasn’t a number she called all the time, it was a number she saw all the time. It was on the letterhead she constantly archived. “You don’t have to. I know who the number belongs to.”

  CHAPTER 10

  “Why would Renee White be calling the district attorney?” Amelia asked when they pulled up out
side the white sandstone building.

  “I don’t know, but I hope to find out,” Leo answered. They jumped out of the car and headed inside.

  It was about ten degrees cooler within the walls of the large building. The oversized windows lining the walls let the sun filter through and cast shadows along their way.

  They were directed to the clerical offices and waited to speak with Rose Frankston, the district attorney for the county. They were assured by her secretary that she was a busy woman but, if they insisted, she could spare two minutes for the detective. If they only had two minutes, Leo was going to have to speak quickly.

  “Detective Michaels, how lovely to see you,” Rose Frankston greeted him, shaking his hand warmly. She wasn’t what Amelia expected. Instead of the cold and hard lawyer, the woman was small and petite, a perfect friendly smile across her dark skin.

  “You too, Rose,” Leo replied. “I know you’re busy but I was hoping to have a quick word?”

  “For you, of course.”

  Amelia wanted to roll her eyes so badly, yet another woman Leo had under his spell. She just hoped it didn’t go the same way Bree Rowland had – south.

  They were ushered into her office and she closed the door behind them. “Please, take a seat.”

  They sat in the plush leather armchairs across from her desk. The room was spacious, bookcases lined each wall with heavy and thick books. There was no way a person could have read them all, not even in a very long lifetime.

  “So, what brings you here?” Rose prompted, waiting. She pointedly looked at Amelia, waiting for an introduction. She liked to know exactly who she was talking to, a defense mechanism that was learned over the years.