Madison looked at Terry, wondering if he had any doubts about the man. Aaron talked affectionately about Claire and seemed to respect her. But maybe he wasn’t completely honest when he said he’d paid no attention to the rumors about Claire’s business dealings.
-
Chapter 39
MADISON COULDN’T SHAKE THE FEELING that Claire’s past business dealings affected Aaron more than he was letting on. “So you really don’t believe anyone had a reason to want her dead? Or at least anyone you know.”
Aaron remained silent and still enough that she could barely see his chest rising as he breathed.
There was something underlying that he wasn’t telling them, something substantial. “If you have something to say, now would be the time.”
He shook his head, his gaze falling to the desk before rising back up to meet her eyes.
“You said you heard the rumors. What rumors exactly?” She was trying to feel him out. Did he know what Claire had done to so many before him? Did he know that she likely planned to do the same to him?
“I know she had prior business partners.”
“Then you know that she used those people to get what she wanted,” Madison countered.
“What I know, Detective, is she was a smart business woman.” His voice rose, exposing an underlying rage.
Was she so blind that she hadn’t noticed any earlier projection of it? Or had he been good at concealing it until now? Her thoughts went back to Darcy Simms and the two-faced person she was, how she pretended to be Claire’s best friend, and how she had presented herself as right-handed instead of left. Madison’s gut tightened and she turned to Terry. “Can I talk to you for a moment? In the hall?”
“We’ll be just a moment,” Terry said to Aaron. In the hallway, he turned to Madison. “What is it? Couldn’t this have waited?”
“Darcy’s involved.”
“We’ve been over that. She’s not the right height, she had an alibi.”
“But how did she know about the killer being left-handed?”
“Huh?” He was agitated. “Why are we discussing this again? You thought she picked up her pen with her left hand.”
She gestured toward Aaron’s office door. “He’s hiding something. Darcy is hiding something. Both of them pretend to be who they’re not.”
“I don’t see it.”
“Okay. Aaron acts like he’s concerned, affected by Claire’s death. Maybe his fidgeting, his twirling thumbs, has more to do with guilty energy and him being uncomfortable.” Terry’s mouth opened and Madison held a hand up. “He has rage under the surface. I really think that Aaron knew what Claire was going to do to him.”
“Fine. What about Darcy, though? How does she fit into this?”
“She’s the same way. She pretends to be what she isn’t starting with being Claire’s best friend and ending with being right-handed.” Madison attributed finger quotes to right-handed. “And why do that if she wasn’t involved in some way? She had to have known that the killer was left-handed.”
The door opened beside them and Aaron stood in the doorway. “Are you going to be much longer? I should be heading home.”
At that moment, the man from the front popped his head around the corner and said good night.
She pulled out her phone to look at the time. 5:10. Through the windows, Madison could see that it was already dark outside. You had to love winter.
“We won’t be much longer.” Madison stepped toward Aaron, hoping that he’d go back into his office.
Aaron did, but remained standing near the door and put his hands in his pockets.
“Do you know a woman named Darcy Simms?” Madison asked.
“Of course I do. She was Claire’s best friend.” Saying her name caught in his throat.
“Your relationship with Claire, it was more than just business, wasn’t it?”
Now Aaron walked to his desk and took a seat. “I’m a married man.”
Madison slipped back into the chair she had been in before. Terry sat beside her. “That doesn’t stop a lot of people. It’s quite common for a partner to be unfaithful these days.”
“I would never do that to my wife.”
Madison’s eyes went to his wedding finger. No ring but there was an indication that one belonged there. “You’re tanned, Mr. Best. Where have you been?”
He pulled his hand in and tucked it out of view.
“It seems you wore your ring while you were away.”
“Listen, this has nothing to do with Claire—”
“I believe it does.”
Aaron crossed his arms in front of his chest and took a deep breath. “I was away on business two weekends ago now.”
That would make it just days before Claire was murdered. Assuming Aaron took her with him, maybe something happened while they were away. “Where did you go?”
“Tahiti.”
Madison resisted the urge to give Terry an I-told-you-so look. Tahiti had been Darcy’s alibi and had also come up with Darren.
“Nice place to go for business,” Madison began. “Did you go with Claire or someone else?”
“With Claire,” he answered eventually. “It would make sense seeing as we are, were, partners in business.”
“So you weren’t attracted to her at all?”
“She was a beautiful woman. I think I mentioned that.”
“You never thought of her that way, then? Strictly business? Even though she was going to turn your world around and make you rich?”
“Even though,” Aaron said coolly.
“I wonder if she didn’t tell you she wanted out when you were in Tahiti. The contract you signed gave her the right to opt out at any time. You would have been forced to buy her share.”
“I didn’t kill her.” He rose to his feet. “I think it’s time for you to go.”
“Maybe we should go talk to Mrs. Best.”
“I don’t know what you want from me.”
“We want the truth. Were you having an affair with Claire Reeves?”
Aaron flung his arms in the air. “Yes. Is that what you want to hear? Oh—” he wiped a hand down his face “—my wife can’t find out about this.”
“You don’t think she’s aware of the affair already?”
“I’m certain.”
“Women can be pretty astute when it comes to things like this,” Madison pressed.
“I don’t know for sure. I suppose. Maybe she does.” He ran a hand along the back of his neck.
“Where were you on December twenty-fourth between two and four in the morning?”
“Are you being serious?”
Madison’s lips settled into a flat line, communicating her seriousness without a word.
“I would never raise a hand to her, let alone kill her.” His cheeks got a shot of color.
Terry leaned forward. “Then you shouldn’t have a problem telling us where you were.”
Aaron closed his eyes briefly and said, “I was there.”
Madison looked at Terry then back to Aaron. “Where is there?”
“At Claire’s house.”
“What were you doing there?”
“I have to spell that out for you?” he spat.
Madison disregarded his temper. Darren hadn’t matched the DNA from the vaginal swab; it likely belonged to Aaron. “So you had sex, then you killed—”
“Crazy. No way.”
“Which hand do you write with, Mr. Best?”
He contorted his face; his brow forming a vee. “What does this have to do—”
“Answer the question,” Terry said.
“Left. Why?”
“We’ll need you to come downtown.”
“What? Why? There was someone else there.”
“You’re going to ne
ed to come up with something better than that.” Madison went up to him on the right and Terry on the left.
“You don’t even want to hear me out on this.” Aaron slammed his hands on the desk.
“We know there was someone else there, but we’re glad you did, too.” Madison paused a moment. “Just gives you more motive.”
-
Chapter 40
AARON BEST SLOUCHED IN HIS CHAIR, and Madison was seated across from him while Terry stood behind her. They were in interrogation room one back at the station, and so far, Aaron hadn’t requested a lawyer.
“You believe that I killed Claire simply because I knew someone else was there?” Aaron asked.
“Sure. Why not?” Madison asked.
“Why would I kill her if I knew someone was there? They’d find out, stop me, call the cops, something.”
“Assuming they were still there when you committed the murder. Maybe you came back once they had left.” Madison tossed a photo of Claire’s lifeless body across the table. “You realized she had someone else there, got jealous. That was all it took after she told you her intentions while vacationing in Tahiti. You snapped.” She drew out the last word.
Aaron turned away from the photo. “I’m going to need to call my—” His cell phone rang, interrupting him. “Probably my wife now. She’s going to kill me.”
Nice choice of words. And speaking of killing, Aaron was in the right height range for the murderer.
Aaron looked at his phone. “It is her. Can I get it?” The ring kept on, getting increasingly louder.
“Go ahead. Answer it,” Madison said.
“It’s okay?”
She nodded. She wanted to keep him talking and sometimes that involved extending niceties.
“I’ll be home soon,” Aaron said. “Yes…I know. I’m sorry. … Go ahead without me. ... Not long, see you—” Aaron pulled the phone from his ear, a rapid pulse tapping in his cheek. “She hung up on me. She can’t find out about me and Claire. She’d never forgive me, probably kill me.”
Madison couldn’t care less about his relationship with his wife. He had betrayed her trust and failed to honor his commitment to her. He deserved what was coming his way. Of course, not to be literally murdered.
“Describe the other person that was at Claire’s that night,” Terry said, his pen poised over a notepad.
He looked at them sheepishly. “I didn’t see him.”
“You didn’t see him?” Madison stated incredulously.
“You sound like you don’t believe me.” Aaron put his hands on the table, clasped them and twirled his thumbs. “I guess maybe I wouldn’t, either. But Claire told me someone was there.”
“Claire told you?”
“Uh-huh.”
Madison recalled the palm print on the front living room window. “So you didn’t watch Claire having sex on the couch with this other person before coming in?” Of course she was stretching things here; she didn’t know Claire had sex with anyone on the couch that night.
The thumbs stopped. “No. Like I said, I didn’t see this other person. She told me about him,” he repeated.
Building on her fabrication, she said, “It was you and Claire on the couch.”
Aaron crossed his arms and then uncrossed them, resuming his annoying habit with the twirling thumbs.
Madison took his response as admission and pointed at his hands. “My uncle used to always do that, twiddle his thumbs. Every time he had to concentrate or display patience.”
Aaron put his hands under the table.
“What are you concentrating on, Mr. Best? A good defense?”
“Why must I defend myself? I’m innocent.” He raised his voice.
“Well, answer this question, how involved was the affair?”
“I don’t want to discuss this.”
“Because of your wife?”
“She can’t find out.”
“She might not have to, but we need your full cooperation.” If he killed Claire, that would be a different story; then his secret life with Claire would be exposed.
“You know I’ve been speaking with you guys for the better part of—” he looked at his watch “—two hours. I have cooperated. You have nothing on me. Nothing but your speculations and theories. Just tell me what makes you think I did it.” Madison was going to speak, but he continued. “Based on reality.”
If he wanted to play things this way, it was fine with her. She preferred the direct route. “The murder weapon was a Bowie knife. They are used for hunting, although I don’t need to point that out to you.”
He swallowed deeply and his face paled.
“Do you have one of those?” she asked, fully aware of what his answer would be.
“You know I do.”
“You have access to the type of murder weapon, and you had good motives, whether it be jealousy or Claire wanting out of her partnership agreement. Either way life as you knew it would be over.”
“Claire would never do that…to me.” He splayed a hand over his chest for dramatic effect but dropped it quickly.
“You don’t seem convinced of that, Mr. Best.”
There were a few seconds of tangible silence. “She never would have gone through with it.”
“She was planning to get out?”
“I never said that—”
“You pretty much did.” She kept her eyes on him, but his gaze fell to his hands. “Don’t take it personally, Mr. Best. That’s how she made her living. She destroyed a lot of marriages along the way, too. You were nothing special to her.”
“What the hell would you know about that?” Spittle flew from his mouth. “She wouldn’t have done that to me. We loved each other.”
Madison remembered Darren’s words. “Claire didn’t believe in love,” she said.
“Well, she did with me.”
“She was sleeping with other people. That makes it conceivable that you killed out of jealousy and to prevent her from bankrupting your company, possibly yourself personally.”
“I was still having sex with my wife, Detective. Just because you love someone, it doesn’t mean you must be with them all the time, exclusively, and with no one else.” More spittle managed to come through clenched teeth. “I asked her to marry me.”
“Marry you? You’re already married.”
“Of course I’d divorce my current wife. Claire was worth it to me. She was smart, savvy.”
“All right, let me get this straight. You don’t want your wife to know about the affair but were going to divorce her? She’d find out why.”
Aaron exhaled loudly. “You still don’t get it. Claire gave me an ultimatum. Leave my wife and keep the business or lose the business, her, and she’d expose the affair. That’s why I was at her house that night. I was trying to talk her out of it, trying to make her see things clearly. I care for my wife, but Claire…” His words dissipated.
“So for the sake of your business and your penis, you were willing to sacrifice your wife?” Madison sensed Terry’s eyes on her, but sometimes she had to speak her mind.
“You make it sound cold and calculated. It wasn’t how I planned it. I didn’t see this beautiful woman and think, ‘Geez, I wanna fuck up my life.’ She improved my life and made it worth living.”
“So now you don’t have any purpose in living? That’s what you want us to believe? You want us to dismiss the motives you would have just because you wouldn’t want our investigation into you to expose the affair to your wife? Now that Claire’s gone, you don’t have her to fall back on. Your concern isn’t over your wife and never was. It’s only about what suits Mr. Best. And to us—” she gestured toward Terry “—that speaks to a man who only looks out for himself. It looks like a man who would be willing to do anything to ensure that things work according to his plan. This soft spot Claire
had for you could all be a lie. Maybe she was going to go through with forcing you to buy her share and expose the affair.”
Aaron crossed his arms. “I want a lawyer.”
-
Chapter 41
IT WAS EIGHT O’CLOCK AT night and Aaron Best’s lawyer wouldn’t be making it in until morning. Madison and Terry were back at their desks.
“No one could blame him for requesting a lawyer. You went down his throat and out his—” Terry stopped speaking when her eyes narrowed.
“We’re getting close on this one. He’s not going to willingly hand over his DNA and calling for a lawyer was just a matter of time. Everything seems to line up with him: means, motive, and opportunity.”
“I have to agree. Claire would have opened the door to him and thought nothing of doing so.”
Madison nodded. “She wouldn’t have thought twice about him wrapping an arm around her from behind.”
“Tomorrow’s going to be an interesting day.” Terry pulled his keys out of his pocket. “See you in the morning.”
“Hum, wait a minute, aren’t you forgetting something?” Madison held out her hand flexing it opened and closed.
“Don’t think so.”
“Hand it over.”
“Oh, your money?”
“Yeah. Oh.” She smiled at him as he opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a thick envelope. Her eyes bulged. “How much—”
“Probably just shy of…” He winced, handed her the envelope and backed away. “Probably a few grand.”
“A few grand? That’s a felony.” She thumbed through the wad of cash, and when she looked up, Terry’s back was to her and he was a good twenty feet away. “You’ll have to come back sometime.” The words came out even though he wouldn’t have heard them. What a little shit!
With Terry gone and nothing more that needed doing tonight, she decided to head home, too. Stepping outside, the cold air felt like spikes and daggers to her lungs; her car couldn’t warm up fast enough. As she drove home she thought about Hershey and all those business cards Terry had given her for canine training. Maybe she’d research them online when she got home.
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