Ready, Aim, Under Fire (Lexi Graves Mysteries, 10)

by Camilla Chafer

  “That was nice of her.”

  “I thought so too but looking back now, I’m not so sure. Debby had a lot of friends but they never lasted very long. She often joined groups and dropped out only to join another group. I thought we were best friends but during college, I realized we weren’t. I think she liked me at first because I was new and lonely and shy. I didn’t have a lot of confidence so Debby called all the shots in our friendship. She decided where we went and what we did. If I didn’t please her, she’d freeze me out and later, warm up to me again. I wanted her to like me. I wanted her to be my friend.”

  “You kept in touch during college?” I asked.

  “Yeah, but I called her more often than she called me. We would visit each other and hang out but she was always so critical. Everything had to be how she liked it. I was studying a lot and doing well and my parents were getting sick. She wasn’t very supportive.”

  “How so?”

  “She couldn’t understand why I wasn’t available for her all the time. She wanted my attention and I couldn’t give it and that’s when I started to realize how self-centered she really was. I needed her support and she froze me out. I graduated college, then my mom died. Debby was wonderful. She called me every day and patiently listened to me talk and cry. Then she took off one day and I didn’t hear from her for two weeks. She went back to being the old Debby and when we did speak, all she wanted to do was tell me all the fun she was having and her great new job. My dad died and she didn’t even call me. Not even a card.”

  “Is that why you killed her?” asked Garrett. “Did she screw you around one too many times?”

  “No!”

  “Then tell us where she is?”

  “Tell them,” said Stanley. He waved a hand from Marley to us. “Make this easier on yourself.”

  “If you tell us where we can find the body, I’ll put in a good word to the DA. We can give the body to her family so they can plan a decent funeral. It’s still a charge of murder one but we can work something out. Maybe make your time inside a little easier.”

  “It’s a good deal,” said Stanley, nodding as he rubbed his chin pensively. “What about the other charge? The Queller case?”

  “We’re looking at premeditation. Taking a gun to a crime scene proves there was intent to cause harm,” said Garrett. “We have the weapon. We don’t think you committed the murder but it’s my belief now that you must have an accomplice. I want a name.”

  “I can’t give you a name!” Marley looked at her lawyer, desperation filling her eyes with tears as she turned to me. “I told you where I was. You can check!”

  “I have checked it out already and your alibi stands up,” I told the room. “Maybe it stands up a little too well.”

  “Do you think I paid someone to hurt Fiona?”

  “You tell me.”

  “She was a nice lady. I didn’t kill her. I don’t even have the money to hire someone. I’m living strictly on my savings.”

  “If you give us the name of the person who killed Fiona Queller, I’ll drop the charge to second-degree murder for your role in inciting the crime.”

  “But I didn’t kill her!”

  “I want it on record that I’m advising my client to take a deal,” said Stanley.

  “I’m not taking any deal! I’m not,” she said, breathing hard as she stared down her lawyer. “I am not admitting to a murder I didn’t commit. I am Marley McFadden. That’s all I can confess to.”

  “Tell us something we don’t know,” said Garrett. “We already know who you are whether you admit it or not and I will have a warrant for your DNA in the next hour to prove it. Unless you can tell us something good, something useful, you’re still on the hook for two murders.”

  “I swear I didn’t do it! I didn’t even see Fiona on the day she died but I know what happened to Debby. I can tell you that. Will that help?”

  “Did you kill her?” asked Garrett.

  “No!”

  “Is she dead?” I asked.

  Marley stopped, a tear slipped from her eye. Finally, she nodded.

  “When?” I asked. “Did she die abroad?

  “Anything my client says from here on is purely hypothetical,” butted in the lawyer.

  “I want to tell them,” said Marley.

  “Tell them hypothetically. I’m trying to help you here. Please allow me to do that,” he said, sounding exasperated.

  Marley nodded. “No, I didn’t kill Debby. She died ten years ago, before she was even reported missing. She never even left Montgomery.”

  “Start talking,” said Garrett.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “I hadn’t seen Debby in two months,” Marley began, “and I missed her. Then she called out of the blue and said she’d been really busy and we should hang out. I wasn’t doing anything so I said sure, I’ll come over now. I got into my car and drove over there. I remember it was a really beautiful day and we decided to take a walk near my old house. We used to hang out there when we were teenagers. It was kind of nerdy but we once made a fort and wanted to see if it was still there.”

  “That your idea or Debby’s?” asked Garrett.

  “I don’t know. I can’t remember.”

  “Go on.”

  “We were walking for about half an hour when we realized we lost our sense of direction and Debby started to get mad. She said she had other things to do and was calling it a waste of time to be coming out there. She said it was stupid kids’ stuff looking for the fort and she was a grown-up now. I laughed and told her it was just some fun and we’d find our way back but it began to get dark. Debby only got madder and madder. She started yelling at me. Kept saying she was going places and I was holding her back and that’s why she never returned my phone calls. She said I was a loser.”

  “That must have hurt,” I said.

  Marley nodded. “It did. It was like being in high school all over again, only this time, my best friend was calling me names. I told her she was self-centered and horrible and she would never get far in life because she didn’t care about anyone except herself. She told me to shut up. We started yelling at each other until I saw the road and realized in all our stumbling around we had actually found our way back! I tried to tell her that but she wouldn’t listen.” Marley stopped, straining to compose herself. Her eyes seemed out of focus, like she’d physically returned to that day. Where I saw gray walls, she probably saw trees and leaves. I smelled fresh coffee, while she was reliving the rich scent of damp earth. “I told her to stop whining,” continued Marley, “and she turned on me. She started yelling again and then she just stopped. She was gurgling gibberish and her eyes were rolling around. She slumped to the ground. I tried to wake her up. I even tried CPR but I couldn’t find a pulse. She died. She just died!”

  “You could see the road. You knew houses were nearby. Why didn’t you call for help?” asked Garrett.

  “I panicked. Who would believe that Debby just dropped dead? There was no one I could turn to, and no one I could call. I thought about phoning the police but worried I’d be arrested and go to jail. Who would defend me? Who would stand up for me and say I wouldn’t hurt anyone? Debby was right. I was doing nothing with my life. I didn’t have a good job like she did, or even a family anymore. All I wanted to do was pretend it never happened, so I did.”

  “What did you do with Debby’s body?” asked Garrett.

  Marley stared at the table. “Nothing,” she said in a quiet voice. “It had been raining the day before so the ground was still soft. I dug it out with my bare hands and scraped and scooped until I had a hole and then I… I just pushed her in it.” Marley broke off, her breath coming in harsh sobs. “I covered her up with leaves and stones and branches on top before I left. I just walked away. I returned to my car and I drove home. When I got back, I realized what I’d done. I buried her in the woods where no one could ever find her. There was nothing I could do now. It was bad enough when I realized she was dead, but now I had bur
ied her. I couldn’t tell the police. I couldn’t tell anyone. I buried her!”

  “That’s not exactly nothing,” I pointed out. “That’s really something.”

  “But I didn’t kill her.” Marley stopped and rested back in her chair, looking defeated as she heaved a long breath. Garrett, meanwhile, just looked confused. I guessed he was probably trying to work out what to charge her with. I figured his number one suggestion was still murder.

  “Why did you take over Debby’s life?” I asked.

  “I didn’t mean to. I went home and cried and cried. I didn’t know what to do. I kept thinking I had to tell someone but I didn’t know whom to tell. I thought about sending an anonymous note to the police, then I thought I shouldn’t tell anyone anything. When I started thinking about her family, I knew if I didn’t tell them, no one else ever would. Debby’s disappearance would have hurt them so much. They were nice people and Debby was their only child. I knew how bad the pain of losing someone you loved felt after I lost my parents. I figured it would be so hard for her parents to lose a child so…”

  “So you took over her life,” I finished for her.

  She nodded. “Yeah, I did. I’m not proud of it but it was easy. We looked like each other. People used to think we were sisters! I went to Debby’s apartment. I knew where she kept her spare key so I picked up her passport and a few other things and walked out. I booked a ticket in her name and I started traveling and I didn’t stop. I knew no one would miss me here. My lease was due to end on my apartment and I hadn’t gotten a job yet. Everything of my parents was gone. It was easy to let Marley slip away. No one cared about Marley. I was the one to send Marley emails from Debby after we were both gone. Except, Debby got to live a second life.”

  “Did you send the emails to the Pattersons?” asked Garrett.

  “All of them. I guessed Debby’s password and I read a lot of her emails so I could get her writing style and when I was gone a good while, and far enough away, I wrote to them. I wanted to tell them Debby was okay, and that she was happy.”

  “But Debby wasn’t,” I pointed out. “Didn’t they deserve to know their daughter was dead?”

  “They didn’t deserve to endure that kind of pain. They got to live out their lives without suffering from unparalleled grief and they were happy. They were happy for me. They told me so!”

  “They never got to grieve when they should have,” said Garrett. “Don’t you feel at all bad about that?”

  “No, you see, they never had to grieve! They never had to know she died. They liked thinking I… Debby… was traveling, and seeing all kinds of new places and wonderful things, and learning about and experiencing life. Mom said she loved getting my emails and Dad wanted to know all about the things I saw. They liked everything about me.”

  “But they weren’t your parents.”

  “I know. Mine were gone and so was their daughter. It seemed too perfect for a while. I know we couldn’t be a real family, but we could still be a family.”

  “But they loved Debby and you took her life,” I pressed.

  “I did everything I could to make them happy. I sent them postcards and gifts and I never forgot their birthdays or Christmas, not like Debby did. I tried to be a really good daughter. I wasn’t selfish or self-absorbed. I never said anything nasty and I never asked them for anything in return. I made them both happy.”

  “Did you envy Debby?” I wondered.

  Marley paused and glanced toward her lawyer. He inclined his head, indicating she should reply. “Why do you ask that?”

  “You seemed to enjoy living her life.”

  “I just enjoyed being free and Debby gave me the freedom to do that. Being her changed my life.”

  “What about before you became Debby? Did you envy her then?”

  “A little bit maybe. She had parents and a lovely house and college was so easy for her. Plus, she walked straight into a job after graduating. She had so much but she was never grateful for any of it. She took it all for granted. She had no idea what it was like to have all those things ripped away.”

  “If your life was so great while traveling, why did you bother to come back?” asked Garrett. “Why not stay away forever? What’s here for you to come back to?”

  “There’s never been anything here for me…” Marley started.

  “New life, travel, adventure, freedom.” I counted “what was here” out on my fingers, leaving the most important one for last. If Marley had called the police, Debby’s body could have been examined; and if she had simply dropped dead, they might have detected why. I wasn’t sure if that were possible after ten years. The ME could have verified any bone injuries or trauma but the kind of incident Marley described would have been even rarer. If Debby had a heart condition or an aneurysm, I wasn’t sure it could be proven after a whole decade. It was possible it also couldn’t be disproven. I glanced at Garrett and saw the heaviness of his eyes, which made me realize he was coming to the same conclusion. Debby’s death was going to be a messy one to decipher.

  “That’s not what I meant! I mean, I’m not after anything. I don’t want to take anything from my mom... or from the Pattersons.”

  “What about an inheritance?” I asked, a new thought occurring to me. The Pattersons weren’t Debby’s only living relatives, she had an ailing grandmother too. Walnut View didn’t look like a cheap sort of establishment. It was the kind of place relatives chose only if there was a lot of money available for support. I thought back to the interview Garrett and I had with Debby, and recalled that she said her grandparents were well off. That meant the elderly Grandma Patterson must have paid for her own care. If she were doing that, then she must have made sure her legal affairs were in order before her health began to decline.

  “No, I…”

  “Debby’s grandma isn’t looking too good,” I told Garrett. “Debby could be named in her will. She’s the only grandchild, you know.”

  “Maybe you came back to help her along?” suggested Garrett.

  “No, no, I would never do that! I keep telling you, I’m not a killer.”

  “Maybe you needed more money to sustain your fantasy life and thought Grandma could fund that.”

  “I wouldn’t, plus, I only saw her once since I came back when I was with my mom. I was never alone with her. There’s no way I could have hurt her even if I wanted to.”

  “Let’s stop right there,” said Stanley, apparently coming back to life. “There’s nothing to suggest that my client harbored any ill will towards the old lady. Let’s keep this on track.”

  “We’ll verify everything you told us,” said Garrett. “Let’s say you’re right, tell me why you came back.”

  “My mom, Debby’s mom, emailed me and said she was sick and—” Marley sighed. “Also, something happened overseas and I knew I couldn’t be Debby anymore. I came back to see Mrs. P. one last time. She said she couldn’t die without seeing me so I prepared to come home.”

  “Do you know anything about this?” Garrett asked me.

  I shook my head. If I’d known about an illness, I would have mentioned it before now but I couldn’t since I’d never heard of it until now. “No.”

  Garrett turned to Marley. “Prove it.”

  “Ask Dr. P.” she said. “We spoke by phone a couple months ago. Debby and I sounded alike too and we hadn’t spoken in so long that he never suspected I wasn’t Debby. He told me how sick Mrs. P. was. He said he didn’t know how much longer she had.”

  “We’ll need to verify that too.”

  “I am not lying, I swear.”

  Garrett made a displeased noise but something in Marley’s voice made me think she was telling the truth. “What about the other thing?” I asked. “You said there was something else that meant you couldn’t be Debby anymore.”

  For the first time since Garrett brought her into the station, she smiled. “I met someone.”

  “A man?” I asked.

  “Yes. I met him in Athens. I just wa
lked around the corner and smack! I plowed right into him. Then he called me by my name. My real name. I hadn’t heard my name in so long, I almost didn’t know what to say to him. He had no idea I had gone away or was missing. He moved to Maine in our junior year of high school and didn’t keep touch with anyone but he remembered me. We got coffee and talked for so long. He told me he had a crush on me. He was staying in the city too and we started hanging out. After we kissed, I knew I couldn’t be Debby anymore.”

  “You find any sign of a guy?” Garrett asked me.

  “No, none. No phone calls, texts, or emails.”

  “So, you have some mystery guy that you’ve known five minutes and you decide to unravel a ten-year lie?” asked Garrett, his tone of disbelief lacing his words.

  “It wasn’t just five minutes! It’s much more. It’s not a fling. We’re in regular contact. I call him every day and right now he’s waiting for me to come back. We’re getting married.”

  “You got any way of proving this right now?” asked Garrett.

  “If you were poking around in Debby’s emails, there’s a reason you wouldn’t find any messages to him.”

  I clicked, realizing just as she said it, why there wasn’t any proof. “You wouldn’t email him as Debby since he knows you as Marley. You must have another account,” I deduced aloud.

  Marley nodded. “It’s a free one with an online email provider and it isn’t registered in my name so it’s completely untraceable. I have a disposable cell phone too. It’s in my purse and I can give you the PIN. You can access my email from my phone and read everything. I’m not lying about him.” She reached into her purse and pulled out a phone, placing it on the table between us. The screen was black and I suspected she switched it off until she needed it so she didn’t have to explain what the phone was for. Once it was turned on, I was pretty sure we’d find everything we needed and a way to contact the mystery man. Hearing the way she spoke about her man made me believe her. Another thought occurred to me. “Were you on the phone to him the night Fiona died?”