Liar

by Campbell, Jamie

  Amelia’s phone started ringing in her handbag, the melodic tune filtering through the otherwise quiet living room. Harley had given up his search, lying on the rug in front of the door instead. She hurried to her bag and checked the caller ID. It was Lane. She sighed, hitting the ignore button and putting it back in her bag.

  “Do you need to go?” Leo asked. “I can drop you home. I think we’ve done all we can for one day.”

  “No, it’s okay,” she answered. She didn’t feel like talking to Lane yet, he would only be expecting the worst of her. Again. For the fiftieth time.

  “Do you want some dinner then? I can cook something?”

  Amelia quickly thought it through. If she stayed, she would be staying for a while. Lane would be sitting at home after he finished work and waiting for her. He would probably cook her dinner, setting it on a plate and trying to be patient. As the moments passed, he would worry about her welfare and whether she was okay.

  It was too much for her. Ignoring his call was one thing, she could find an excuse for that. Arriving home late wouldn’t be smart. She promised to do better and that wasn’t doing better.

  “I should probably go,” she admitted. “We can pick up again tomorrow?”

  “Bright and early.”

  * * *

  “… and then we finished the day by recapping the case and where it was up to. Then Detective Michaels dropped me home,” Amelia finished. She had reeled off everything she had spent the day doing in painful detail. When Lane asked her how her day was, she wanted to make sure she was thorough.

  Lane, however, didn’t quite see it that way. “You don’t have to be facetious, Amelia. I don’t expect a blow-by-blow. I’m not your diary.”

  “I said I would try, so I’m trying.”

  “No, you’re being sarcastic.”

  She had to admit he had a point. “Sorry,” she said sincerely. “I really am trying, Lane.”

  “I know.” He managed a smile. He took her in his arms, squeezing her in a hug. “I want this to work, I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  “Maybe you should keep a diary though, then I could secretly read it,” he joked, letting her go but still resting his hands on her hips. He didn’t want her to get away just yet. “Then I would know everything you’re up to.”

  She ignored his comment, trying not to bite as a thought came to her. Many women kept diaries, pouring their heart and soul into the hastily scribbled words. She had never been into it, but a lot of women were. On the pages, they documented their daily lives, from the inane to the important. Many diaries had been used in evidence in trials, especially in a case of domestic abuse.

  Perhaps Renee White kept a diary? The thought struck her like a bolt of lightning, making her burst with energy. She kissed Lane, grateful for the inspiration.

  “What was that for?”

  “You’ve given me an idea.”

  He didn’t let her out of his grip. “That kiss has given me one too. The washing up can wait for tomorrow. What do you say?”

  “I say give me five minutes to make a phone call and I’ll meet you in the bedroom.” She waited while he considered her offer. It took him all of two seconds.

  “You’ve got one minute and no more.” He gave her another quick kiss and finally let her go.

  Amelia found her phone and dialed Leo’s number. He answered after three rings. “Amelia, is everything alright?”

  “Yeah, I just had a… flash.” She hit her forehead at the lie. “Renee White may have kept a diary. She could have put everything in it, including her secret life.”

  “That’s brilliant,” Leo exclaimed. “We’ll go to Kale tomorrow and see if he knows anything about it.”

  “She could have detailed everything. It might be exactly what we need.”

  “Good work, Amelia, really.”

  “Time’s up,” Lane called from the bedroom, momentarily distracting her.

  “Let’s cross our fingers,” she said into the phone. “See you tomorrow. Bright and early, remember.”

  She hung up and headed for the bedroom, finally feeling like things just might work out after all.

  * * *

  “I’ve never seen a diary,” Kale White said as they stood on his front stoop early the next day. It wasn’t the words they were hoping for.

  Leo looked at Amelia, trying to obtain something he could use to get through the door. She thought quickly, not ready to give up before they could even start. “Most women don’t tell anybody they keep one. That way they can be sure no-one will read it.”

  Kale seemed to buy it. “You want me to look for her diary then?”

  “We were hoping you would let us have a quick look?” Leo asked, mentally crossing his fingers.

  It took Kale several moments to think it through, weighing up the possibilities. “It could help clear her name?” He watched as they both nodded. “Fine. I have to go into work to pick up some paperwork but I won’t be long. I take it I can trust you to be here without me?”

  “You have my word,” Leo replied. “We’ll be careful while we have a quick look around.”

  Kale picked up his keys from the hook by the door and swapped places with them, heading for his car. “If it was anyone else, I wouldn’t allow it. But I trust you, Detective. I won’t be long.”

  They didn’t waste a moment before heading for the bedroom. The diary, if one existed in the first place, was most likely to be somewhere private. And you didn’t get any more private than the bedroom.

  Amelia stood by the door to the room, unsure what to do. She didn’t exactly have experience rifling through a stranger’s things. Sure, she had done it to past boyfriends, but that was different. She knew them and had suspicions about what they were hiding. Doing it to a stranger seemed wrong, somehow.

  “What’s wrong?” Leo asked, seeing her hesitation.

  “I don’t know what to do.”

  “Just pick somewhere and go through it. If you see the diary, then let me know. Oh, and try to put things back from where they came from.”

  “Don’t you feel like you’re invading their privacy?”

  Leo hadn’t thought that way since he was a rookie beat cop. Whenever he entered a scene to search it, he thought about being meticulous and comprehensive, he never let his feelings get in the way of doing his job.

  “Just remember we’re trying to help clear her name. If Renee didn’t commit suicide, she deserves to have her killer brought to justice,” he said, trying to convince her. It sounded a good enough reason to him.

  Amelia hesitated a moment longer and then started on the bureau. After all, it was her idea to search for a diary. She couldn’t stand by and let Leo do all the hard work.

  “Make sure you keep your mind open for any flashes you might have.”

  “What?”

  “You’re touching Renee’s thing,” Leo explained, as if she should already know what he was talking about. “You might pick up on her energy and get some information.”

  “Oh, right,” Amelia mumbled, remembering she was supposed to be psychic. “I’ll keep my eyes open.”

  He returned to the bedside table he was searching through. There didn’t seem to be anything out of place. A few packets of tissues, hand lotion, Mother’s Day cards, and throat lozenges. Hardly anything to indicate a secret life.

  Leo moved onto the walk-in robe, leaving Amelia to the rest of the room. If someone was going to hide something, he bet it would be in the closet. There were dozens of places to hide amongst the clothes and shoe boxes. And, better yet, her husband would never accidently stumble upon it

  Renee had a large shoe collection, Leo could never understand the attraction. Shoes were functional, they were supposed to protect feet from the ground and that was it. How women could walk around in stilettos that hurt their feet and teetered them on the edge of breaking an ankle, he would never figure out.

  He opened and closed every single shoe box in the closet, checking each on
e in turn. He went along with Amelia’s suggestion of a diary because it was a good one. But he quickly realized the side benefit – being able to search the White’s home without a warrant. He wasn’t just looking for a diary, but anything that could shed light on her shady operations.

  Buried underneath a pair of trainers at the back, Leo found something that needed further investigation. A series of bank statements were neatly collated in date order. He pulled them out for a better look.

  The owner of the account was Renee White only, it wasn’t a joint account. The bank statements started eight months ago and finished three weeks back. The more recent statement was probably in the next cycle and due in a couple of week’s time.

  He ran his finger down the pages, trying to get a feel for what she deposited and withdrew. The balance only ever went up, she rarely made withdrawals.

  “Having any luck?” Amelia called from the other room.

  “I don’t know. You?”

  She joined him, leaning against the door frame. “I’ve checked the drawers and under the bed. There isn’t really much else in here. What are those?” She pointed at the bank statements still in his hand.

  “Bank statements. It looks like Renee had a savings account in her name.”

  Amelia looked over his shoulder. “An escape fund.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Every woman has an account she keeps from her husband or boyfriend. It’s emergency money, in case she needs to leave quickly,” she explained, thinking back to her own secret bank account. Her and Lane didn’t exactly have a joint account anyway, but she made sure to keep her savings extra private. Even the bank statements only arrived online.

  This was all new to Leo, who thought he had learnt most women’s secrets. “And is this common amongst womenfolk?”

  “Smart ones.”

  He didn’t know why he would expect anything else from Amelia. Of course she thought all women had secret escape money because she always thought the worst of everyone. Still, she could have a point. “So why do women have to escape quickly?”

  “Loser boyfriends, abusive husbands, I could go on.” She shrugged.

  “I don’t see Kale being the abusive type. He doesn’t fit with any of the risk factors.”

  “I don’t get that vibe either,” she admitted. She didn’t even know Blake Turner and she knew he had the potential to be a wife beater, but Kale didn’t ring any alarm bells. “I think the bigger question is where did all that money come from? There’s tens of thousands of dollars in that account.”

  “She was stealing prescription drugs. She could have been a dealer,” Leo theorized. In his experience, drugs were the easiest get rich quick scheme in the market. The risk was high but the rewards even higher. Unfortunately too many people had done the math and came up with the same conclusion.

  Amelia nodded, she doubted whether Renee could have made those kinds of savings by working as a nurse in a public hospital. Her wage was set by the state, it didn’t exactly fund a luxurious lifestyle.

  “We should keep looking,” Leo said as he tucked the bank statements back into their place, taking a photograph with his phone first. He wasn’t even supposed to be searching the place, taking something would make the consequences a hundred times worse if he got caught.

  They spent the next three quarters of an hour searching through the house before Kale returned from work. He carried his paperwork under his arm, meeting them in the living room.

  “Find anything?” He asked tentatively, unsure if he wanted them to say yes or not. He was a man afraid of the truth, fearful of what it would reveal.

  They hadn’t found anything worth noting, especially not a diary. If Renee kept one, she made sure it was well hidden. Short of tearing up the floorboards or venturing into the roof cavity, it was unlikely they would find it.

  “I’m afraid not,” Leo answered. “It doesn’t look like she kept a diary.”

  “Did you check her computer?”

  Amelia stole a glance at Leo, he cursed himself for not thinking about that earlier. “No, we didn’t. Would you mind if we had a look?”

  “You may as well be thorough.” Kale showed them through to the study where an ancient desktop computer sat on the desk. “It’s a bit slow but gets you where you need to go eventually. Or so I’m told, I don’t use the thing. My computer at work is much faster.”

  Leo hit the on switch and waited an interminable amount of time for the dinosaur of a machine to boot up. He sat at the keyboard, fingers poised to get going.

  The log-in screen flashed up. “What’s the password?” He asked, ready to get typing.

  Kale pursed his lips in thought. “I don’t know. Renee was the one that used it. Sometimes she would let Jordan online but she always supervised. I don’t think I’ve ever used the thing.”

  “Can you think of a password she might use?”

  “Maybe Jordan?”

  Leo typed the name, it was incorrect. He tried Kale for fairness. Nothing again. He started typing random words: Renee, White, nurse, password. Everything came up with an error message. “I don’t think we’re going to guess it.”

  Amelia made a last ditch attempt, turning to Kale to speak with him directly. “Are you sure you don’t know the password?”

  He was only slightly offended. “I’m sure.”

  She waited but there was no lie. Kale really didn’t know Renee’s password. It occurred to her that he didn’t really know much about his wife at all.

  Leo shut down the computer again, giving up. He could ask one of the computer techs at the station to come over and use their software to hack into the system. But that would require an explanation and he didn’t have one yet. For now, he could only hope there was nothing pertinent on the machine.

  They headed for the living room, Leo giving up on the whole search. Before leaving, he had one last question for Kale. “Mr. White, did you notice Renee having any extra cash lately?”

  Judging by the confused look on Kale’s face, he figured he already knew the answer. “We were only just getting by. Both of us had to work just to make ends meet. When Jordan went missing, the time away from our jobs almost broke us. Neither Renee nor I had any extra cash.”

  “I’m sorry to ask difficult questions, I’m just trying to understand your wife’s state of mind,” Leo apologized, like he had done so many times for doing his job. “Did she have many friends outside of work?”

  “Not really. As I said, she was busy working and raising Jordan. If she wasn’t at the hospital, then she was home. She couldn’t get up to much between those two places.”

  Amelia knew he was telling the truth, she was starting to feel very sympathetic toward the man. It instantly made her think of Lane and how lucky she should feel to have him. She tried to push the thought away.

  Leo braved himself to ask the worst of the questions. “Did you know Renee was about to lose her job at the hospital?”

  “No, she wasn’t,” he said, his hands starting to gesture wildly. “She would have told me about that. Surely I deserved to know that?”

  “We spoke with her boss yesterday. He suspected she was stealing prescription drugs.”

  “I’ve heard enough, I think you should go.”

  “Mr. White, I’m sorry. You asked me to look into her death and I’m trying to-”

  “Please leave,” Kale muttered the words, holding open the front door. His eyes were downcast, only staring at the floor now. “I’ve lost everything. My son, my wife. I cannot lose the good memories of them I have too.”

  “I understand, I’m sorry,” Leo apologized again before leaving. He didn’t want to be told again, it seemed to be taking a toll on the grieving widower.

  They headed toward the car, feeling deflated at not finding anything and upsetting Kale in the process.

  It was Amelia that felt the worst. “This is my fault, I shouldn’t have told you about my stupid diary theory.”

  “It was a good idea, I’m glad
we looked into it,” Leo replied sincerely. “Sometimes you have to talk about things people don’t want to hear. When they’re grieving, it makes it even harder. He wasn’t angry with us, just at the situation. You have to separate the two.”

  “Sounds easier said than done.”

  “It is, trust me.”

  They climbed into the car, Leo’s key in the ignition. From across the road, a woman suddenly ran out of her front door and headed straight for them. She stood in front of the vehicle, making sure they couldn’t go anywhere.

  “What does she want?” Amelia asked, recognizing the woman from the other day. She was the nosy neighbor that had caught them there once before, Mrs. Violet Stream.

  “God only knows.” Leo rolled his window down. “Can I help you?”

  “I have information,” the woman panted out, trying to catch her breath. “You’re going to want to write this down.”

  CHAPTER 13

  Leo indulged the old woman enough to get back out of the car. He even pulled out his notebook in case the information was indeed worthy of writing down. He had his doubts but tried to not let it show.

  “What do you have for me, Mrs. Stream?” He prompted while she relished holding the cards close to her ample chest.

  She leaned in close, just in case the letterbox had ears. There certainly wasn’t anyone else around to overhear. “I saw that woman again. You know, the rich one?”

  He nodded, recalling their first discussion. A rich-looking woman had an argument with Renee White shortly before Jordan went missing. Without a name or photograph, it was difficult doing anything with the information.

  “I remember. Where did you see her?”

  “Right here.” She pointed to the ground proudly.

  “She came back?” Leo’s interest perked up instantly. Perhaps she wasn’t just wasting his time. “When?”

  “Yesterday. She brought flowers over and left them on the doorstep when nobody answered the door.”

  “Did you see what kind of flowers?” He didn’t even need to phrase it as a question, of course she would have seen the flower species. She probably even knew where they were purchased.