by Andrew Hess
“Well I think I know why she might’ve snapped.” James and Rodney turned towards me with curious expressions. Damn, did I have to spell it out for them? “Whoever that man is,” I paused the video on a clear shot of the man that was all over Claire and pointed to him. “It looks as though he drugged her. My guess is he took her back to his place and had his way with her.” I paused to let the boys catch up. “She must’ve seen Ambrose slip something into one of the drinks and had a flashback to the night she was drugged.”
“Are we trying to make a case against her or work on her defense,” Rodney asked. “I mean, under those inferences, she could easily plead temporary insanity.”
“True, but that doesn’t explain why she went after Mr. Lee.”
“She had a mental breakdown and killed Ambrose. Then Mr. Lee got a little too touchy feely with her and she snapped again. She took him out and now she’s trying to leave town.”
“If she wanted to leave town, she would’ve left the day after killing Mr. Lee,” James said. “She stuck around for a reason.” He pointed to the screen. “I think she watched this video and found out who our mystery man is.”
“So you’re saying she has another target in mind?”
“Either he’s a target or she’s already claimed her third victim.”
“We need to figure out who this man is and find him before Claire does.” A pair of headlights hit the house illuminating the living room. I jumped to my feet. “Shit, she’s here.” There were only two options. The first was to show her the search warrant and have one of us stay outside with her while we finished conducting our search. The other was to arrest her on the spot and pray we could make the charges stick.
“Your call partner,” Rodney whispered.
“We need to get her off the streets. She’s a danger to herself and to every male she comes in contact with.”
We met her as she approached the front door which was now hanging on by a hinge. “Who the fuck are you?” Claire shouted. She was trying to be as loud as she could to draw the attention of the neighbors. “Never mind, I’m calling the cops.”
“Too late,” James shouted. “We’re already here.” He took the search warrant from his pocket and presented it to the woman while flashing his badge in the other hand.
Claire’s mouth hung open. She was unable to make a single comment in fear of saying the wrong thing. “Can I see that?” She ripped the warrant from James’s hand and scanned the document. Beads of sweat formed over her brows. She knew we were on to her and there was nothing she could do about it. “Fine, search away. But you’re not going to find anything in there.”
“We already have,” Rodney said with a grin that was ear to ear. His hand pulled the pair of handcuffs from his belt and slapped one side on Claire’s left wrist.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Doctor Claire Cain,” I said sternly. “You are under arrest for the deaths of Blake Ambrose and Tyson Lee. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.”
Claire struggled to free herself as Rodney pinned Claire’s left arm behind her back and reached for the right. “This is absurd. I’ve done nothing wrong.”
“You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you by the court.”
“Oh you bet I’m calling my attorney and your asses are in deep shit when she gets a hold of you.”
Rodney finally placed the cuffs on Dr. Cain and was not directing her into the back of Rodney’s squad car. “You wanna ride with me?”
Somehow the thought of being trapped in a car with a crazy woman that killed two men and my partner who was obviously pissed off was not something I wanted to be a part of. Unfortunately for me, it was in the best interest of Rodney, the Ulster County Police Department and the case against Dr. Cain for there to be two arresting officers in the car taking her back to the station for processing.
“I’ll be right there.” I turned to James. “Meet us at the station. It’s going to be a long night and we could use your help.”
He smiled with the porch lights shining down on us. I melted a little. The cold hearted bitch that stood up to the complete jackass when we first met was gone, and I rather enjoyed being in his company.
“So what’s in this for me?”
“Stale doughnuts and day old coffee.”
“Fine, but only if I can take you out tomorrow for some real food.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “I think I’d like that.”
Chapter 35-Claire
What was supposed to be a moment of great relief and triumph, had quickly become the worst night of Claire Cain’s life. She had never been in trouble before. Even as a kid, she had never been sent to the principal’s office. But here she was, sitting in the back of a squad car, her hands locked in place with handcuffs, and was arrested on two counts of murder.
Claire spat in defiance of the police, but kept her mouth shut for the most part. The last thing she told them was I want my lawyer, hoping Becky could get her out of this mess. She didn’t know what the police had found at her apartment or the list of evidence they had piled up against her. She was hoping it was all circumstantial at best and her defense team could destroy the prosecution’s case.
The officers that arrested Claire escorted her into the station, brought her to have her mug shot taken. It was by far the most humiliating experience of her life. She held the board with her prisoner ID number in front of her and would now be in the system. Her picture would be logged into the criminal databank along with thousands of other convicts, thugs, and felons. Then they dragged her to fingerprinting. The black ink stained her otherwise pristine hands.
“I want my lawyer,” Claire shouted at one of the officers.
A large black man pushed her towards a desk. He took a pen and paper from it. His large round eyes focused in on her. “What’s the number?”
Claire rambled off Rebecca’s number to him, but refused to make any further eye contact. The officer’s towering size intimidated her, and that intensified her anger. He folded the paper and placed it in his shirt pocket before escorting Claire to interrogation.
It was a cold room. A large metal table sat in the middle with a hook in the center to shackle the handcuffs to. An uncomfortable wooden chair sat behind the table facing a mirror that one could only assume had a bunch of cops lurking behind it. There was a tape recorder that sat on the table and video cameras setup in each corner of the room.
“What the hell am I doing here? I told you I want my lawyer.”
“Look lady,” the large arresting officer said. “You can either wait in here for your lawyer, or we can throw you in a holding cell with a bunch of criminals that would eat you alive.”
Claire knew this was just another tactic the police were using to get her to open up, to cooperate, and give up everything they wanted to know about the murders. They were trying to be nice to her in hopes that she would be nicer to them, maybe talk before her lawyer showed up. But Clair wasn’t stupid. She wasn’t going to give them anything, but she wasn’t going to sit and wait in a holding cell either.
Claire released some of the tension in her face and relaxed her shoulders while she sat in the chair. “Can I get some water,” Claire asked.
The officer knocked on the door. When it opened, a woman appeared with a small paper cup filled with water. She handed it to the arresting officer before disappearing behind the closed door.
The officer took a seat across from Claire. “So Doctor Cain, tell me a little about yourself.”
They want me to play nice. I’ll play along for now. “There’s not much to know about me. I graduated top of my class from Johns Hopkins. I’ve been working as a doctor for nine years, but working private practice for the last three.”
The officer took a seat in front of her. “That’s pretty impressive. What made you decide to become a doctor?”
“I was a scie
nce geek growing up. I loved learning how the body works and reading medical journals. So it was a no brainer for me. I just didn’t know which area to go into. During my residency, I learned more from working in the emergency room and diving into a surgical rotation than I did in pre-med and most of medical school.”
“So do you prefer working more in the medicinal field or surgical?”
This was a way of tripping Claire up and establishing her knowledge of how certain types of medicines and pills affect people. Showing that she had a working knowledge of various drugs put more of a target on her back and would surely fit her as the only possible murder suspect.
Claire decided this was the best moment to take a sip of water. “Did my lawyer say when she would be here?”
The officer eyed her up and knew she was onto his line of questioning. This was the third time she asked about her lawyer. There was a knock on the door and the curly haired woman that delivered the water poked her head inside the interrogation room.
“Detective Johnson, can I speak with you?”
The towering officer stood up from his chair and approached the woman. They conversed momentarily in a hushed tone that made it impossible for Claire to hear what they were saying. Whatever it was, caused Detective Johnson to excuse himself from the room. Claire was relieved to be alone. Getting away from the officers allowed her to focus on calming herself and a chance to come up with a plan to get out of the mess she created.
A half hour later, the door to the interrogation room opened again. This time Detective Johnson was escorting Becky in. Claire briefly smiled, but the look her friend/lawyer replied with was a stone cold look that knocked the grin off of Claire’s face.
“Detective Johnson, do you mind if I have a moment alone with my client,” Rebecca asked dryly.
“Sure thing,” he replied. “I’ll just be outside that door.” It was a reminder that even though he wasn’t in the room, he would still be watching them.
Rebecca waited until the door closed before snapping her head towards her client. “What the hell happened,” she asked in a low but harsh whisper. “I thought you were getting the hell outta town.”
“I was, but…”
“You went after him; didn’t you? You went after the man that drugged you and ra...”
“Yes,” Claire spat with venom in her eyes. “I had to. I couldn’t let him get away with it. He needed to pay for what he did to me.”
Rebecca paced around the table. Her eyes burned a hole through the floor as she thought about how to handle the murder charges and how to get Claire out of jail. “Who was it?” Claire stared at the table and kept silent. “You need to tell me everything if you want me to help you. Now tell me who raped you.”
Claire chewed the inside of her cheek. “It was my new boss,” she regretfully replied. “He saw me at some bar six months ago and drugged me. I have him on camera, and made him admit it tonight when I went to his house.”
Rebecca sunk into the chair across from Claire. “Fucking hell Claire; why couldn’t you just go to the cops about this?”
“They wouldn’t have done anything. They’d want to know how I got the tapes, and I don’t even know how they were obtained. He’d be out in a few months, my reputation and my career would be ruined, and I’d still be the prime suspect for the other two murders.”
“Do the cops know about him yet?”
“I don’t think so. They only mentioned Ambrose and Tyson.” Claire pleaded with Rebecca. “Please, get me out of here.”
“I’ll see what I can do about getting the arraignment moved up to be first on the docket tomorrow and we’ll get you out on bail. For now, let’s work on getting these cops off your ass. Just let me do all the talking” Rebecca knocked on the door and was met by Detective Johnson. “We’re all set in here.”
“Detective Johnson entered the room with two chairs in his hands. He placed one down next to Claire and the other across from her. He sat down and waited while the curly haired woman returned.
“Good evening, I’m Detective Ali Ryan.” The curly haired detective shook hands with Rebecca and sat down across from Claire. “Doctor Cain, we arrested you on two counts of homicide. This is your chance to tell us your side of the story.”
Chapter 36-Ali
Claire remained silent, but glanced at her attorney. Something in the way they looked at each other told me that Ms. Rebecca Reynolds knew exactly why her client was arrested. I jumped immediately into my line of questioning hoping to get something out them before calling it a night.
“Tell me, how did you know Blake Ambrose?”
Claire leaned in towards her attorney and whispered something to her. “I have never met Mr. Ambrose before.”
“Then why were you speaking with him and the woman he was with at the bar Whiskey J’s on the night of June thirteenth?”
Claire and Ms. Reynolds turned to each other again before responding to the question. “I was there, but did not interact with Mr. Ambrose. I merely saw a purse that I adored and wanted to know where the woman got it from.”
“And then what happened,” I asked.
“And then nothing. She informed me she received it as a gift. I walked away a minute later and finished my drink.”
“And then?”
“And then I went home. I was only there to meet up with some friends. They previously informed me they couldn’t make it, but convinced me to go anyway.” Claire gave a side eyed glare at her lawyer. “So I went for a little while. I have never been a fan of going to a bar or a club alone and refuse to pick up a guy at one. So I decided to go home for the night.”
I knew it would be hard to pin Ambrose’s murder on her. There was no real proof linking her to the crime other than her ID being registered at the bar and a video that only showed the back of her head. So I decided to change the direction of my questions and focus on the second murder.
“Doctor Cain, how do you know Tyson Lee?”
The duo huddled together again. It was starting to get on my nerves. I wanted to scream; “just answer the damn question already.” Unfortunately, that’s not something I could say, especially with a lawyer present.
“I believe he was a trainer at the gym I work out in.” Claire was playing dumb and I knew it. I nodded to Rodney and planned on nailing her to the wall with this one.
“Have you ever run into him before, worked out with him or conversed with him while at the gym?”
“I don’t recall.”
“Really? We have you on camera interacting with him the night he died. We have a log from six months ago stating you signed up for training sessions three times a week. I would think a doctor would have a better memory than that.”
“Is there a question in there or are you just going to berate my client because she simply forgot about some personal trainer,” Ms. Reynolds asked.
“Just one more,” I replied. “Who was the man in the pictures and video tape we found at your house?”
Claire’s eyes grew wide with fear. Her face turned pale white. Her attorney just looked confused. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I think you do.” I turned to Rodney. “Come on partner; I think the good doctor needs a moment to talk things over with her attorney.”
We exited the room and gave Dr. Cain and Ms. Reynolds their privacy. As we exited into the hall, James stood waiting for us. “What do you guys think?”
“I think she’s full of shit,” Rodney replied. “She flat out lied about knowing Tyson Lee, she seemed disinterested in talking about Ambrose and her jaw nearly dropped when you mentioned that video.”
“That’s all fine and everything, but we need to find a way to make this stick.” I walked over to the one way mirror and spied on our suspect. She was frantically talking to her attorney, no doubt explaining her side of things.
“You wanna go back in there and question her some more,” Rodney asked. I could see he was exhausted, and I was ready to call it a day as well.
“We’ll let the D.A. deal with her in the morning.” I walked back into the room with Rodney in tow. “Last chance for tonight.” Neither of them uttered a word in protest. “Okay, Detective Johnson, kindly escort Doctor Cain to holding.”
Tears streamed down Claire’s face as Rodney pulled her to her feet. It almost seemed like she would crack the moment we showed her what she had to look forward to by sitting in the holding cell. Lucky for her it was a slow night and there were only a few people in there.
I smiled knowing another arrest had been made and that we managed to get another killer off the street. I should’ve been happier, but I wasn’t, not until my phone rang.
I looked at the caller ID and saw Matthew’s name plastered across the screen. Damn, I felt like a school girl getting a call from her crush. I picked it up by the second ring. “Hey you,” I said with slightly higher pitched voice. “Thank you for the flowers.”
“That’s why I’m calling.” Matthew didn’t seem like himself. His voice seemed standoffish or that he was being forced to call me. “I never sent you any flowers.”
“What are you talking about?” The happy sounding school girl was now the confused school girl that felt like someone was playing a nasty little trick on her. “It was sitting in my backseat. You and my sister are the only ones with access to those keys.”
“I don’t know what to tell you Ali. It wasn’t me, maybe it was Amanda.”
“No, I texted her a little while ago. We were both under the impression it was you.” There was nothing but silence on the other end. “If it wasn’t you, then who was it.”
I went through the list of possibilities in my head. Maybe it was James, maybe it was Amanda trying to put me back with Matthew, maybe it was…All thoughts vacated my head as I saw another bouquet sitting on my desk.
“Matthew, tell me the ones sitting on my desk are from you.”
“It’s not me Ali.” I could tell the idea of another guy sending me flowers was getting under his skin. “Wait, someone sent you another bouquet? Who the fuck sent them?”
