by Gina LaManna
“Yeah. I don’t think we found our murderers, but we did find some conflicting information,” I said. “Travis wasn’t with Greg and Joey when he’d told Tammy that was where he’d be. Then, the guys were saying things that didn’t quite match up with what the secretary was saying. Things like—”
Jimmy held up a hand to stop me. “I know. I already got the rundown from Chloe.”
I glanced over at Chloe. She was still typing furiously, but the tips of her ears were red, as if she was a tiny bit sheepish.
“That’s great,” I said. “What are you up to?”
“Trying to see if I can pull any footage from traffic cameras in the area where the body was dumped,” Jimmy said. “It’s an obscure section of the road, but there are a few parking lots nearby. I’m seeing if there’s anything I can grab from one of the surrounding businesses that Asha could use to get us some images.”
“Good idea.” I turned to Chloe. “What about you?”
“I found Darla.”
For a moment, I was stumped. Then it clicked. “The woman Greg claimed to have spent the night with? She actually exists?”
“Sure does, and her name’s really Darla. She’s a dealer for the casino and confirmed Greg’s story. Then I talked to security at Mystic Lake and got a sneak peek of their security footage. Greg and Joey were seen leaving the premises at five twenty in the morning. They’re going to send the tapes over to Asha to confirm, but I got a good look at it, and it’s them. I don’t think there’ll be any surprises.”
“Well, that just about eliminates them as murder suspects, pending Melinda’s official findings during the autopsy.”
She nodded. “I know you said it was extra credit, but I had a little time this morning, so I hope you don’t mind I went ahead with it.”
“Gold star.” I gave her a small smile. “Good work, Officer Marks.”
I sat at my desk and thumbed through a few of the papers on top. It was another brief from Chloe detailing her recent findings, a photo of Darla, her contact information, as well as the phone numbers and names of the security team she’d talked to at Mystic Lake.
“Today, I was thinking—” I swiveled around to face Jimmy and stopped myself. I swiveled a little bit more in my chair so that it was clear I was also including Chloe in the conversation. “What do you think we should do?”
“Me?” Chloe pointed to herself. “Oh, well, I think we should go back to the girlfriend.”
“Tammy?”
“Yeah,” Chloe said, looking sheepish. “I don’t mean we, we—just collectively. You get the idea.”
“Right. Why?”
“We have to consider the possibility that Tammy’s lying. What if she lied to you about where Travis said he was going? What if he was home with her, and she killed him, and she told you the first thing she could think of when you showed up at her door?”
“That wouldn’t have been very smart seeing as we easily confirmed he wasn’t with Greg and Joey. Though I do agree we need to consider the fact that she was lying.”
Chloe looked pleased. “Then I’d press her about the fact that Travis was having an affair. See if she cracks.”
“We don’t know he was having an affair,” I countered.
“No, but she doesn’t know that.” Chloe shrugged. “Something’s not adding up in this story, and the only way we’ll figure it out is by pushing on all the fissures until we get a crack.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “That’s exactly what I would do too.”
“T-that’s great,” Chloe said. “Is there anything else I can do while you and Detective Jones are out interviewing Tammy?”
“I’ve got hours ahead of me with this traffic-cam stuff,” Jimmy said, waving to his desk. “Plus, they took blood yesterday. I’m still light headed. Rosetti, why don’t you take Officer Marks with you?”
I felt my shoulders stiffen. I didn’t want to argue in front of Chloe, but I also didn’t like how quickly it seemed the newcomer was stepping into my partner’s shoes.
“I’ll be done this afternoon,” Jimmy added. “We can interview the family together. Plus, I’m waiting on a breakfast delivery.”
“That’s the sound of the other shoe dropping.” I stood and grabbed my bag. “Officer Marks, are you ready to go?”
Chapter 10
“SO IS IT TRUE ABOUT you and Gem?”
I glanced over at Chloe as we made the short drive to Tammy’s house. I’d called ahead and given her a warning that we were on our way. I turned back to face the road.
“What are you talking about?” I asked. “Is what true?”
“That you’re, like, friends with him?” she asked, looking a bit flustered. “I mean, I know as well as anyone that reporters can blow things out of proportion.”
“Why do you ask?”
Chloe looked mystified at my question. “I don’t know. I’m just curious.”
“Do you know him?”
She balked. “Me, know Alastair Gem? Yeah, right. In some fantasy universe, maybe. I’m not exactly in his league.”
“What makes you think I am?”
“I’ve seen pictures of the two of you together.”
“Do you stalk him?”
“No, but I pay attention to the news. And I’ve read your friend’s blog.”
“Lassie?”
“Yeah. I like her writing style.”
I wrinkled my nose. “I know him. Only because we’ve worked on a couple of cases together.”
“That’s it? Business friends?”
I considered. Then I wondered why I was considering. “What’s with the interrogation?”
“Sorry. I was just trying to carry on a conversation.”
“Let’s leave our personal lives out of this for now. Anyway, we’re here.”
“Sorry,” Chloe said again quickly. “I didn’t mean anything by it. It’s just that he’s so freaking rich. I can’t imagine having that much money. I can’t even imagine meeting him, to be honest.”
“You and me both. About the money.” I shrugged. “You work here long enough, you’ll probably meet him. He tends to pop up.”
Chloe’s face looked like it was a shade paler when she got out of the car than when she’d gotten into it. It was hard to know if she was completely smitten by the idea of meeting Alastair Gem or downright terrified. I decided not to ask.
I knocked on Tammy’s door, and she opened it a minute later. She was dressed in gray joggers and a matching sweatshirt. Her face was free of makeup.
“Hey, come on in,” she said. “Sorry about the mess. It’s been a rough couple of days.”
As Chloe and I made our way into the room, I glanced around, noting that aside from a wineglass sitting out on the coffee table and one paper plate next to it, a few crumbs lingering from a slice of pizza, the house was no messier than it had been the day before. It was neat, sparse, and still felt like a bachelor pad—minus the lipstick-stained wineglass.
The three of us sat. Tammy took the couch; I took the chair I’d sat in the last time we were here, and I tried to ignore the fact that Chloe was sitting in the spot where Jimmy should be sitting.
“How are you doing?” I asked once we were all settled. “I’m sorry we’re back so soon, but time is of the essence in situations like this.”
“You mean in murder cases.”
“Yes,” I said. “I’m going to be honest with you, Tammy. The faster we can follow up on our leads, the faster we hope to find your fiancé’s killer. The more time passes, the faster those leads go cold.”
“It’s fine,” Tammy said. “I already told you I’d do whatever I could to help. Do you have any news? Do you have any suspects?”
“We’re working on it,” I said. “We’ll give you more information as soon as we can.”
“If you didn’t come to tell me what you’ve found on Travis’s killer, then why are you here?”
I felt Chloe’s eyes watching me carefully to see how I navigated these next, potentia
lly treacherous, steps. The steps where I went from being a sympathetic, friendly face for a grieving girlfriend to the step where I became the bad guy asking about her alibi.
“We’re just here to clarify a few points in your statement,” I said. “We’re still working on nailing down the timeline to figure out how Travis ended up where he did.”
“I told you everything I know,” she said, glancing over at Chloe, then back to me. “I thought you were going to talk to his buddies and see what they knew.”
“That’s the problem. We did. They said they hadn’t seen him at all that night.”
Tammy froze for a moment, her arms mid-fold. She looked directly into my eyes, then sank back against the couch. Her arms rested against her chest, squeezed tightly together.
“What are you talking about?” she asked quietly. “He told me he was going out with the guys.”
“I’m not saying I don’t believe you,” I said. “I’m just telling you what we learned.”
“Maybe they’re lying.”
“It’s possible. However, we do have the guys from the office on security footage at the Mystic Lake Casino at the hours you stated. It’s obvious they went, but Travis wasn’t with them.” Without looking at Chloe, I added, “So far, we have no evidence that Travis was ever with them on the night he died. We haven’t found record of any footage of him at the casino at all. And if you’ve ever seen a heist movie, you know that casinos have cameras everywhere.”
It was a bit of a white lie, but it seemed to work. Tammy deflated, loosening her arms. Her gaze went off into the distance as she thought.
“He was lying to me,” she murmured. “I should have seen it coming.”
“Seen what coming?”
“I wondered if he’d been telling the truth. I just didn’t want to be that girlfriend.” Tammy flashed her gaze at me. “You know, the jealous, snippety type. He let me have a lot of freedom, and I didn’t want to nag.”
I didn’t think expecting her fiancé to be honest with her was considered nagging, but I kept my personal thoughts to myself. I couldn’t help but wonder, however, if he had given Tammy so much freedom because he was feeling guilty himself.
“How long have you been wondering this?” I asked. “Had he changed his patterns of behavior lately?”
“You think he was having an affair.”
I spread my hands. “You have to admit, it’s the next logical question. Why else would he be lying about his whereabouts to you?”
“Maybe he was dealing drugs.” She scoffed, ran a hand through her hair, and gave a dark laugh as she stared beyond me. “There are other reasons.”
“I can’t think of any good ones at that hour of the night.”
Tammy turned her gaze on me. Her eyes had gone sort of empty, emotionless. As if the sadness had been sucked right out of her, and she’d been left completely bare inside.
“I wondered if he was having an affair. The thought sort of hovered in the back of my mind.”
“Women’s intuition?” Chloe interrupted. She looked at me apologetically, then turned back to Tammy. “Sorry to jump in, but I’ve been there. It sucks. I’m sorry. I found out my boyfriend—at the time—was seeing someone else, a few years ago, so I know how you feel.”
“Who’s she?” Tammy spoke to me. “What happened to the other guy? How come you have the interns working my Travis’s case? I want the experienced detectives, not the rookies.”
I felt my back straighten automatically. Somehow, in the space of a day and a half, Chloe had wormed her way into the small circle of people who I was willing to protect—at least on the job.
“This is Officer Marks, and she’s one of the brightest minds on the local police force. That’s why she’s here. She’s not an intern,” I said. “Detective Jones, the ‘other guy,’ is currently back at the office scraping through security tapes trying to find footage of your fiancé's killer.”
“I’m sorry,” Tammy said. “I’m just upset.”
“It’s okay,” Chloe said softly.
I cleared my throat and focused on Tammy. “We are good at what we do at the TC Task Force. We have the best people on your case.”
“I understand. Sorry.” Tammy shifted on the couch. “Like I said, I’m just in shock. First I find out the man I was supposed to marry is dead, and then I find out he’s been lying to me and possibly having an affair? It’s a lot all at once.”
“How long do you think this lying has been going on?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t suspect anything at first when he started going out with the people from the office. I thought it was just a polite bonding thing so he’d fit in at the firm.”
I nodded, thinking that matched up with the story we’d heard from Greg and Joey.
“I’d seen pictures of them all out and about together. I’d even joined in at a few company happy hours,” Tammy said. “Then I stopped getting invited out for happy hour a few months ago. About the same time, he started going out with the guys a little more. It used to be a rare thing. Once a month at most. Then it became more frequent.”
Again, this matched up with the story I’d heard from the people we’d interviewed at Travis’s work. I considered my next line of questioning and, realizing there was no easy way to broach the topic, decided to dive right in.
“Do you have any idea what he could have been doing?” I asked. “Or who he was meeting up with?”
“I guess it could’ve been someone from work. Someone I didn’t know,” Tammy said. “I guess it could’ve been the secretary. Or a client. He worked with a lot of fresh divorcées. Maybe he gave one of them a little too much sympathy.”
“Is there any reason you mentioned the secretary?”
“Not really,” she said. “I think she’s the only woman in the office. It’s not like I know her well or anything.”
“Okay,” I said, thinking we’d need to follow up and get an alibi from the secretary, just in case. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Chloe making a note and was willing to bet she’d had the same thought. “You don’t have any other names you think might have insights as to where he was going on his nights out?”
She shook her head. “Sorry. Have you talked to his family yet?”
“No, I haven’t personally. Why? Is there something we should be asking them?”
“No. I was just curious.”
“Are you close with his family?”
“Not particularly,” she said. “I mean, it’s not like I dislike them. But they’re in-laws. Or they were about to be. I guess I’m not sure what they are now. You know how in-laws work.”
“Understood,” I said. “Thanks. Before we go, I just have one more question for you. I’m sorry to have to ask this, but I need to know where you were from three to seven a.m. on the night Travis was murdered.”
“You think I killed him?” Tammy swallowed hard, glancing between me and Chloe as if we were nuts. “Why would I kill my fiancé?”
Silence hung in the air for a moment afterward. Watching Tammy’s expression change was like watching gears shift into place. Slowly, surely, they clicked their way toward understanding until she gave a sharp gasp.
“You think I found out about the affair and killed Travis? No. Absolutely not.” She gave a hard shake of her head. “That’s insane. First, I didn’t know he was having an affair. Even if I suspected, I wouldn’t kill him without hard proof.”
Chloe made a noise in her throat.
“I wouldn’t kill him at all,” Tammy corrected, shooting a scathing glare at Chloe. “All I was saying was that I wasn’t even aware he was having an affair until right now. Had I found out, I would have suggested counselling. I wouldn’t have broken up with him, let alone killed him. I loved him.”
“All that may be true,” I said, “but we’re still going to need to know your whereabouts during those hours. Best-case scenario, it’ll prove you didn’t do anything, and we won’t waste our time looking into you. We’ll be able to focus on the
leads that matter.”
“Don’t hold your breath,” she said. “I was here. Alone. Sleeping. Like most people would be between those hours. Nobody can vouch for me.”
“Thank you. We appreciate your understanding and will be in touch as soon as we find out more.”
Tammy walked us out, but she didn’t offer another word. She just shut the door behind us the second we’d stepped onto her outdoor welcome mat.
Chloe waited to speak until we got to the car. “Sorry.”
“For what?”
I set my phone in the center console and started the car, preparing to take us back to the precinct.
“I shouldn’t have interrupted,” she said. “I know it wasn’t my place to chime in.”
“If you’re going to be part of this team, then you’re allowed to be a full part of the team.”
She glanced at me, the slightest smile turning her lips upward. “Thanks, Kate.”
“It’s still Detective Rosetti.”
“Right.” She cleared her throat nervously as my phone jingled on the center console.
Almost on impulse it seemed, Chloe reached for it and handed it my way. But not before she’d glanced at the name on the screen. I peeked over and saw Gem’s name.
“You can silence it,” I said. “I don’t need to take it.”
“But...” Her eyes grew wide. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t say anything. But did you see the name?”
“Yes,” I said. “I don’t want to talk to him right now. Thank you.”
Chloe gingerly set the phone down. “What’s he like?”
“I’m sure you’ll meet him sometime, and then you can find out for yourself. Right now, the only thing I’m concerned with is getting back to the lab to see if Melinda’s turned up anything in the autopsy.”
“RULE NUMBER ONE,” I said as we entered the precinct, holding a couple of coffees, “always bring Dr. Brooks a flat white when you’re hoping for autopsy results.”
Chloe glanced at me. “Is that part of the autopsy protocol?”
“Sure is if you want a more cooperative doctor.”
We made our way through the precinct and downstairs to the lab. Melinda was still gloved up and standing over the body. I knocked on the door, showed her the coffee, and dropped it on her desk. On the way, we had picked up Jimmy from behind his desk and filled him in on the interview earlier that morning.
