by Jamie Carie
“I know you didn’t, honey. But I’m afraid they won’t believe it. They want someone to blame. Maddie, how can you be so calm? You could be going to jail like that Sabrina woman!”
“No. That’s not going to happen.” She didn’t tell Gloria that she wasn’t calm on the inside, that she was afraid she just might be going to jail today. “I need to go. I’ll call you soon.”
She hung up and walked back toward the men, offering coffee from her freshly brewed pot that she had programmed to have ready when she walked through the door. The men declined.
They sat down, which Maddie thought must be a good sign. If they were going to arrest her, they would have done so already, in front of everyone, wouldn’t they?
“I heard about the investigation. On the news on the way over,” she blurted out. “That was my mother on the phone. She saw the morning news and called to tell me. I think I need to call an attorney before I answer any questions, gentlemen.”
One of the officers nodded. “We’re not here to arrest you, Mrs. Goode, but that might be wise.”
“If you’re not here to arrest me then what do you want?”
“We’d like you to come down to the police station. Just answer some questions, make a formal statement, perhaps take the polygraph test that you agreed to. We are prosecuting Sabrina Bridgestone and need your side of the story.”
“So I’m not under investigation? I’m not a suspect?”
“We’re not at liberty to comment on that, ma’am. But we’re not here to arrest you, only request your presence for some questioning.”
“Do I have to leave now?”
The other policemen nodded. “That would be best, ma’am.”
“But I need some time. I need to find an attorney.”
Jordan spoke up. “I know of someone, Maddie. First-rate in criminal law. A friend of mine.” He turned to the policemen. “This woman couldn’t possibly be guilty of any crime. In the time I’ve known her, she is the most honest, dependable person I know. She has a sterling character. She is one of the best people I have ever had the privilege of working with. I would be happy to be a character witness in her defense if it comes to that.”
“That will be something to discuss with her attorney, Mr. Tyler.” The policemen stood. “We really need you to come with us now, ma’am. But we’ll give you a few minutes to call someone.”
Jake burst into the room.
“What’s going on? Maddie, are you okay?”
“Who are you?” asked one of the officers.
“I’m her husband. Anything that has to do with her has to do with me.”
Jordan turned to Maddie. “You’re married?” The shock on his face took her aback. Nodding her head, Maddie gave him a pleading look. “Just recently. We haven’t told anyone yet.”
Jake looked ready to throttle someone.
Maddie spoke in a calm voice. “These men are here about the embezzlement case concerning Brandon. They want me to go to the police station and answer some questions.”
Jordan quickly added, “They are giving her a few minutes to call an attorney. I’ve recommended a friend of mine, Reginald Walters. I’ll just go into my office and get his number.”
Jake turned to the police. “She doesn’t have to go with you if you aren’t placing her under arrest, does she?”
One of the men shook his head. “But it will go better for her if she cooperates. Are you Jake Hart, a player for the Racers?”
“Yes.” Jake sounded short and irritated, looking ready to slug him if he gushed about being a fan, or asked for an autograph. The man backed down. “We’ll just give you two a minute.” He gestured to the other officers and the three left to wait in the lobby.
“I saw it on the news and came as quick as I could.”
Maddie let herself be gathered up into his arms. “I’m scared,” she whispered. “What if they don’t believe me?”
“They will. There is no evidence that you knew anything about this. You’re doing great. Just stay calm and confident.”
Maddie took a deep breath, nodded and pulled back to look into his eyes. “I hate to get you involved in this, but I’m so glad you came.”
“I’m your husband, remember.”
“Jake, we can’t tell anyone that. I want to keep your name out of this. What if it gets in the news…it will sully your career, your name.”
“We share the same name. The sooner we get that out there, the better.”
Maddie shook her head. “No,” she stated with quiet force, “we have to keep you out of this.”
“Maddie, listen to me. Your problems are now my problems. I will stand by you in this. That’s all that matters.”
Jordan entered the office. “Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt. Congratulations, you two. I had no idea…”
The shock on his face made Maddie’s face heat. “We only just got married over the weekend. Please, Jordan, don’t tell anyone just yet. I want to keep this quiet until this mess is over. We were planning a wedding for family and friends in a few weeks to make it public but now,” she looked at Jake, “we have to wait until this is over.”
Jordan nodded, his lips pressed into a grim line. “Jake, she’s right. This could have ripple effects on your career. Let’s keep this under wraps until the case is over and Maddie’s name is cleared.”
It was the wrong thing to say. Jake walked over and leaned into Jordan’s face. “She is my wife and she is innocent. Nothing is going to change that.”
Jordan took a step back, hands raised. “Okay, okay.” He shrugged. “We’ll just do the best we can with it then.”
“I’ll convince him,” Maddie insisted. This wasn’t how she’d imagined starting their lives together.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Maddie sat in the passenger seat, watching the buildings go by in a blur, clutching her handbag in her lap, sending up silent prayers, prayers that made no sense but in every sentence contained the phrase, help me, please God, help me get through this.
Jake reached over and took her hand. “You okay?” He had insisted on driving her even though both she and Jordan had tried to talk him out of it.
She looked over at him, feeling a rush of love and gratitude. “I’ll just be glad when it’s over.”
She’d called her mom when they first got into the car and learned that the agents searching her room had taken only her diary as evidence. Her diary. She felt a hot blush wash over her face, thinking of her private thoughts written on those pages. This was getting more awful by the moment. “I wonder what evidence they have. I mean, against Sabrina. They must have found something pretty substantial to arrest her like they have.”
“He had an apartment, right?”
Maddie nodded. “I don’t know what happened to it after he died, though. Sabrina must have packed up his things, taken them to her house or destroyed them.” She remembered her own time of packing up their small apartment, going through his things, cherishing them, not wanted to get rid of it all, saving things for Max. Anger filled her. She would have to go to the storage unit she was renting and go through it all again, look for clues that her life was not as it seemed. How was she to reconcile all of this with her son when he got older and started asking questions? He barely remembered Brandon, a fact that Maddie had been determined to change as Max grew older. She had wanted Max to remember his dad, now she didn’t know. Maybe he shouldn’t know much beyond staring at a picture. But someday he would ask, someday she would have to explain all of this to her son.
“I’m really nervous about the polygraph. What if it’s inaccurate? What if I’m one of the those people that it can’t read correctly?”
“It won’t be. Just be as calm as possible and answer the questions. Maddie, it’s obvious you didn’t know anything, they’ll see that.”
Maddie sighed as they pulled into the little cement block police station. “I hope you’re right.”
The place was quiet, not like on television where it was full of
people being arrested and officers busy solving crimes. She could hear the loud click-clack of her high-heels as they followed Officer St. Morgan into a small office. He spoke with someone, made a quick phone call, all in a blur of action that Maddie barely noticed, and then nodded. “Follow me, Mrs. Goode.” Looking to Jake, he said, “You’ll have to wait here, or in the lobby.” He looked distractedly around. “There’s coffee around here somewhere, just help yourself.”
Maddie followed him down a long hall with a shiny linoleum floor that reminded her of her grade school into what could only be an interrogation room. This, she thought in a moment of hysteria, looked like TV.
There were two cheap metal chairs and a long, narrow table. The officer motioned to a chair. “If you’ll have a seat, Mrs. Goode, someone is coming to hook up the polygraph.”
“Has my attorney arrived yet?”
The man shook his head. “Not to my knowledge.”
“I would like to wait until he gets here.”
“Just don’t let him talk you out of doing this test. If you pass, this process should go much easier for you.”
Maddie thought that he was probably right. What harm could it do to take the test anyway? She wasn’t guilty of anything.
A woman in uniform came in. She was stern faced and big, her gun belt so tight that Maddie wondered how she was able to sit down. The woman saw Maddie look at it, stared at Maddie’s pearl pink suit and curled her top lip to one side, smacking on a piece of chewing gum.
Maddie felt her heart speed up. Was this the person who was going to administer the test?
It looked like it. The officers said something quietly to each other that Maddie couldn’t quite make out and then the woman said, “I’m Officer Lambert. If you’ll hold your arms out I will strap this on you.”
Maddie shrugged out of her jacket, her white blouse feeling too thin, and held out her arms. She roughly wrapped two rubber tubes around Maddie’s chest. “That’s a little too tight,” Maddie stated helplessly.
“Oh, well, we wouldn’t want that, now would we?” Great. The woman hated her.
She loosened it, just barely. Maddie took a deep breath and grimaced.
Next the officer strapped on a blood-pressure cuff, also tight, but Maddie resisted the urge to comment, and attached two metal plates with wires to her fingers. Maddie sat down, feeling like a science experiment.
Officer Lambert plopped down on the chair opposite Maddie, her thighs squeezing between the armrests. She squirmed in the chair to get comfortable, making it squeak in protest.
Maddie kept her eyes on the woman’s face and started praying her please help me litany again.
“We’ll start with some questions to gauge your normal readings. Just answer yes or no.”
Maddie nodded, taking a deep breath, pretending she was in a play and just acting a part.
“Is your name Madeline Faith Goode?”
“Yes.” The woman stared at the laptop screen, jotting down notes on a pad of paper.
“Were you married to Brandon Andrew Goode for six years?”
“Yes.”
“Have you ever stolen anything in your life?”
The question jolted her. Had she? Her mind raced back to the time when as a teenager she took twenty dollars from her dad’s dresser, but she’d paid it right back. Did that count?
“Have you ever stolen anything, Mrs. Goode?”
“Ah. Yes,” she answered, wanting more than anything to be honest. The woman didn’t look too pleased with that answer, but Maddie tried to ignore her.
“Did your husband die in a car accident?”
Were these trick questions? Did anyone know if it was an accident or a suicide? “Yes,” she said, sinking inside. It was hard to tell how these results were going to be with such questions.
“Did you know your husband was having an affair with Sabrina Bridgestone?”
Maddie got mad. This was not a yes or no question. “I found out a few weeks ago,” she stated, feeling the blood pressure cuff grip her.
“Please, keep your answers to yes or no, ma’am.”
“How am I supposed to do that with these questions? I didn’t know during our marriage, which would be a no. But I do know now and learned about it about a little while ago, which would be a yes. Please, be more specific.”
The woman pressed her lips together and scribbled something cryptic on her notepad. Maddie tried to calm down.
“Did you know that your husband was embezzling money from the bank during your marriage?”
Maddie shook her head. “No.”
The door suddenly burst open and an older man, glasses askew, looking like he’d just run a marathon in a three-piece suit, rushed into the room. “She doesn’t have to answer that,” he bellowed. “I’m her attorney and I want a stop to this test immediately.”
He turned to Maddie and thrust out his hand. “Sorry to be late. I was in court. I’m Reginald Walters, your attorney. Whatever you do, don’t answer any more questions! Get this apparatus off of her.”
Officer Lambert smiled at the man. “She assented to it and we got what we needed, anyway.” She walked over and stripped Maddie of the gear while her attorney looked on, mad and flustered.
“I would like a moment alone with my client before any more of this investigation takes place.”
The officer rolled her eyes as she snapped closed the computer and left the room saying, “Of course you would.”
Reginald walked over to Maddie and shook her hand. “Okay, Mrs. Goode, let’s get the story. The real story.”
He sat down across from her, dug into his attaché case for a notebook, pen poised over it.
Maddie looked at him in a daze, not knowing where to begin or what this stranger wanted. She didn’t even know if she liked him.
“Just a quick version of events as you know them,” he encouraged.
“I was married to Brandon for six years. We had just celebrated our anniversary when he died. About two years ago Brandon took a job at First Old Bank of Indiana. He was very excited. We both were. He seemed to be doing well there. Then, he had a car accident and died very suddenly. I was shocked…devastated. I moved back to Indianapolis with my son to live with my parents.”
“Looking back on it, did you see any signs that would point you to Brandon’s double life?”
Maddie shook her head. “I’ve thought and thought about this. He went on lots of business trips, over-the-weekend kinds of trips, but it was a new job. I didn’t know what to expect and so I just thought that was a normal part of the job.”
“So there weren’t any new purchases—clothes, cars, gifts for you and Max?”
A new suit flashed in Maddie’s mind. “He wore a lot of nice business clothes. I thought they must be expensive but Brandon said his parents bought them for him, for his new job.”
“Nothing else? No big-ticket items?”
Maddie shook her head. “We were working hard to get out of debt, our student loans and car bills, so that we could save for a house. We were very careful with our money. We spent only what we had to on necessities.”
“Okay,” Mr. Walters finished. “When did you learn of the embezzlement?”
“Sabrina Bridgestone called me a few weeks ago. She wouldn’t say what it was she wanted on the phone so I agreed to meet with her. We met at LoLa’s and I had my best friend with me, Sasha Lang. She can testify to any of this. Sabrina walked in and told us that she had been Brandon’s mistress, that they’d had an apartment together and that the bank suspected Brandon had been embezzling over a half a million dollars.”
“Did she mention that she was also under investigation?”
“Yes, I think so. She mentioned that she was Brandon’s boss and that some of the larger loans had required her signature.”
“Do you believe she didn’t know?”
Maddie shrugged, shaking her head slowly back and forth. “I don’t know,” she said in a small voice. “She was in the right position to
know a lot more than I did. They worked together and shared an apartment, she…she said Brandon told her everything…” Her voice cracked and she cleared her throat, taking a quivering breath. “I thought the same thing. I thought we were perfectly happy. If he could deceive me then I think he could deceive her.”
The attorney stood. “Thank you, Mrs. Goode. I’m going to find out the results of the polygraph and we’ll take it from there. Just wait here.”
Maddie stopped him, touching his arm. “Do you believe me? Do you think I’m innocent?”
“Of course.” He didn’t even blink.
Maddie took a deep breath. “Thank you.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Maddie finally came into the office, where Jake had been waiting for nearly two hours, the corners of her mouth quivering, her face devoid of color. As soon as she opened the door, Jake knew something was terribly wrong. “What is it?” He hung up his cell phone and went over to her, grasping her upper arms.
Maddie turned her face up and choked up. “I failed the polygraph. I think they might arrest me. They’re talking to my attorney now. Oh Jake, I can’t breathe.”
Jake guided her to a chair then filled a Styrofoam cup with water from the water cooler and took it over to her. With a hand firmly on her hands he sat beside her. “What do you think happened? Did you have trouble with the test?”
Maddie shook her head. “The questions were so strange. I couldn’t answer just yes or no to a couple of the important ones. And the examiner hated me. I could tell. She wanted me to fail.”
Jake found that hard to believe. Why would anyone want this sweet woman to fail a polygraph? But he didn’t say that. “What is your attorney saying?”
“He said the test wouldn’t be admissible in court, that I was coerced to take it before he could arrive, and told me that it is a false positive. He gave the police a formal statement and told them to make their decision. If they arrest me, I may have to stay here awhile before I can arrange bail.”
