Tampered

by Stella Bixby

  “He didn’t kill her,” the man blurted out.

  “I never said he did,” I replied. “What was your name?”

  “Cedric. I’m Mr. Marquez’s head of security.”

  “I’m Rylie,” I said, shaking his hand.

  “Everyone thinks he killed her, but he didn’t.”

  “How do you know for certain?” I was bordering very closely on investigating, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to hear what Cedric had to say.

  “He may be a lot of things, but he’s not a murderer.”

  “It’s nice that you believe the best in him. He’s lucky to have a friend like you.”

  “He’s not my friend,” Cedric said. “I despise him.”

  Was he openly admitting he hated his employer?

  “Don’t worry. He knows I hate him.”

  “I would think he’d want the head of his security to like him. Or at least respect him.”

  “I do respect him. But liking him is not necessary. I can’t let anything happen to him. If I do, my neck is on the line.”

  My suspicions turned. “Do you know what happened to Selena?”

  He flinched slightly at her name. “No.”

  “Do you think she’s dead?” I asked.

  “She has to be. Why else would they have found her arm?”

  “If you think she’s dead, who do you think killed her?” I had blown up the line I’d been walking. I was now wholly into investigation territory.

  His gaze trailed off to the reservoir behind me. “I’d put my money on the brother.”

  “Desmond? You think Desmond killed her?”

  “She hated him,” Cedric said. “He tried to see her hundreds of times. Every time she declined.”

  “And you think that made him kill her?”

  “He’s nuts. Doesn’t seem like it, but he is.” Cedric shrugged. “Anyway, if you see Mr. Marquez, can you tell him he needs to get back here?”

  And just like that, the conversation was over.

  “I will,” I said.

  He turned and walked back to his SUV.

  As I made my way around the reservoir, I considered what he’d said about Desmond. Something felt off. Like he had intentionally thrown Desmond under the bus to take some of the suspicion off Jacob.

  But if he hated Jacob, why would he care if Jacob was convicted of murder.

  Then his words came back to me. His neck was on the line if anything happened to Jacob. And I would venture to guess anything included going to jail.

  I turned a corner toward where we’d found Selena’s arm, fully expecting Jacob to be there. He wasn’t.

  I slowed for a minute to examine the scene. Behind me, the reservoir glistened in the sunlight. Was Selena’s body—minus an arm—somewhere beneath the blue mirrored surface?

  As I started back around the trail, I caught a glimpse of something—or someone—hiding behind a group of trees just beyond the arm.

  “Hey,” I yelled out. “Who’s there?”

  The person didn’t move.

  I pulled the pepper spray from my belt and held it down by my side. “Come out before I call in backup.”

  “Okay,” a voice said. “I’m coming out.”

  From behind the trees, Jacob Marquez appeared, his face red and splotchy, his hands covered in mud.

  8

  “Mr. Marquez?” I said from the safety of my ATV. “What are you doing out here?”

  “It’s not how it looks,” he said, wiping his hands on his black running tights.

  “It looks like you’re tampering with a potential crime scene.” I didn’t get any closer. He could easily have a weapon in his loosely fitted jacket.

  “I dropped my phone. I’m nothing without my phone. My entire life is on that phone.”

  He was easily fifty feet off the trail. “And you just happened to drop it in the exact location where your missing wife’s arm was found?”

  He took a step toward me. “Do you have a phone on you? Maybe if you call it, we’ll be able to hear it vibrate. I know it’s close. My Bluetooth headphones are still connected.”

  “Cedric said you need to get back to the car. You have a meeting or something.”

  “See? If I had my phone, I’d have known that.”

  “How long have you been looking for your phone?” He’d been here since the gates opened at sunrise. Now the sun was climbing in the sky.

  “How am I supposed to know? It’s my clock too.” His eyes were pleading now. “Please just call it.”

  “Fine, what’s the number?” I replaced the pepper spray and pulled out my phone.

  I punched the number into my phone, then we both listened.

  One ring.

  Nothing.

  Two rings.

  Nothing.

  Three rings.

  “Here!” he brushed away a couple of leaves and picked up his phone. “Oh, thank goodness. I don’t know how to thank you.”

  I hung up before it went to voicemail. “You can tell me what you were really doing out there.”

  His eyes narrowed. “I was looking for my phone. It must have slipped out of my pocket as I was running by.”

  “You were running back there? Fifty feet off the trail?”

  He ignored my questions. “Looks like Cedric tried to call a few times.”

  “Mr. Marquez?”

  The air was still. The only sound was of birds chirping.

  “I was curious,” he finally said. “This is the first shred of evidence we’ve found related to Selena in years. I just wanted to check out the area myself.”

  “Did you find anything else?”

  “No.” Either he was a good actor, or he really felt defeated. “I don’t know what I’d hoped to find, but—”

  His phone vibrated in his hand, and he raised it to his ear. “Yes, yes. I know, Cedric. I’ll be there shortly.”

  He deposited the phone back into his pocket.

  “Sounds like the two of you have a rocky relationship.”

  “Did he tell you that?” Anger flashed over his features. “What else did he say?”

  “Nothing.” I held my hands up, motioning for him to stay back. “It was just the way you talked to him on the phone.”

  “He’s my employee. I can speak to him however I wish. Especially when he forgets that I pay his salary.”

  “I’ll let you get back,” I said, not wanting to be around this man any longer than I had to.

  Jacob closed his eyes as if he was counting to ten. “You won’t tell the police I was out here, will you?”

  I considered this. “Why wouldn’t I?”

  Anger flashed on his face again, but he took a breath and regained his composure. “I can make it worth your while. How much?”

  He was going to pay me? To keep quiet? “I can’t take your money.”

  “Sure you can.”

  “I won’t cover for you. I’m not like everyone else.” It felt both brave and dumb to stand up for what I believed. My chest constricted, and my heart raced.

  “What do you mean, you’re not like everyone else?” He smirked. “Everyone has a price. Name it. Ten thousand? One hundred thousand?”

  He was willing to pay me $100,000 to keep my mouth shut? “The more you talk, the more guilty you sound.”

  “Look, I need to keep my name clean. I was already drug through the mud when Selena went missing. My company nearly folded. If I have to pay someone a hundred grand to save myself millions in lost revenue, I’d happily do so.” He glanced at his phone. “I really have to go. My checkbook is in the car. You can just wait for me there. I’ll run back.”

  He took off as I stood stunned. He couldn’t possibly be offering me $100,000 just to keep my mouth shut, could he?

  Jacob beat me back to the parking lot and didn’t look pleased that I’d kept him waiting.

  “I’ll be quick,” I said, shutting the ATV off so he could hear me. “I won’t take your money.” It pained me to turn it down, but it was the
right thing to do. “But I won’t say anything. Not yet, anyway.”

  “I feel like there’s a catch,” he said.

  “No catch. But if a time comes that I need information, I’ll call you. I do have your number, after all.”

  “Deal.” He smiled then pushed the check into my hand. “But keep this anyway. Just in case you change your mind.”

  Cedric nearly closed Jacob in the door when he slammed it shut.

  “You better be careful with that one,” I said to Cedric.

  “He knows better than to mess with me,” Cedric said. “There’s a reason he keeps me as head of his security.”

  As they drove away, I shoved the check deep into my pocket, parked the ATV outside the office, and smoothed down my hair from the helmet.

  This day could not get any weirder.

  9

  Okay, maybe it could get weirder.

  “Did you get my text last night?” Desmond barged into the office the minute I’d taken a bite of the leftover spaghetti I’d brought for lunch. He looked harried, his eyes shifty and almost scared.

  I nodded my head yes.

  “Why didn’t you respond?”

  I swallowed and wiped my mouth before speaking. “First of all, my fiancé was not thrilled about some random guy texting me. And second, I was not going to put in writing that I would help you.”

  “I didn’t ask you to help me in the text. I just said we needed to talk.”

  “What we need to talk about is how you got my cell phone number.”

  “That’s the last thing we need to talk about,” he said. “Did you see the bruises on Elodie’s wrists yesterday?”

  She had been wearing a maternity dress with a big jacket and leggings. “I didn’t see any bruises.”

  “There were bruises,” he said. “I was standing right behind her. And did you see how he yanked her around? He always used to do that with Selena too.”

  “You don’t have to convince me that the most likely suspect in this investigation is the husband,” I said, thinking back to this morning.

  “Don’t you think we should warn Elodie?” Desmond asked.

  “Warn her about what? I’m sure he won’t kill twice.” If he’d even killed the first time. “Plus, she’s carrying his son. I doubt he would do anything to her, especially while she’s pregnant.”

  “But what about afterward?”

  I thought about it for a minute. “I don’t know.” I took another bite of my spaghetti. “Maybe he’s changed.”

  “A leopard can’t change their spots.”

  I shrugged. “Maybe not.”

  “I know you want to help me.” His face twisted into what I assumed was his best pleading expression. “I need to know what happened to my sister.”

  “From what I hear, the two of you weren’t as close as you pretended to be.”

  For the first time since he’d barged in, he seemed taken aback. “Who have you been talking to?”

  “Doesn’t matter,” I said. “But if you weren’t close, it makes me wonder why you care so much about this investigation.”

  “I’m not a suspect, if that’s what you’re implying.”

  “I’m not implying anything.” I took another bite. I wouldn’t let this guy get the upper hand in this conversation.

  “The police cleared me. I had a verifiable alibi.”

  “Why would the police have looked into you in the first place?”

  “I’m her brother. And yes, we were estranged. Our childhood wasn’t great. Our dad was abusive, and I—” he stopped.

  “You what?”

  He looked like he might cry. “I left her there. I went to college and left her with that monster. I never thought he’d hurt her. She was his little girl. I was his annoying nothing of a son. But I guess without me to beat on, he needed someone else.”

  My stomach twisted. Selena had been through a lot.

  “When Jacob showed up, she thought he was her hero taking her away from that place. And she never wanted to speak to me again.”

  “She blamed you.”

  “Of course she did. And she had every right to.” He dabbed at the corner of his eyes. “And then she married a man just like our father. I thought it was my second chance to help her. Protect her. But she turned me away every time I tried.”

  “How do you know Jacob abused her?” I asked. His temper was evident that morning, but just because he had a temper, didn’t mean he was abusive.

  “I know the signs. I saw them with our mother before she died.” He steadied his voice. “Jacob is the reason Selena is missing. I’m sure of it.”

  I wanted to ask how his mother died but didn’t want to make things worse.

  “Please help me. I know you want to.”

  I finished chewing and swallowed. “You’re right. I do want to help. But I also want to keep my job and my friends and not end up behind bars.”

  “They can’t put you behind bars for asking some questions,” Desmond said.

  Shayla’s words echoed in my mind. “The police seem to have it under control.” Betraying Shayla would be way worse than betraying Luke. Heck Luke would be gone in a matter of days. I lived with Shayla.

  “The police have nothing under control. They’re in Jacob’s pocket. He throws money around like candy at a Fourth of July parade.”

  I knew this was true first-hand.

  “The minute they stopped investigating the officers had new uniforms. That had to have cost a small fortune. And I know it didn’t come from taxpayer money.”

  “What exactly do you want me to do?”

  “I know you’ve helped with cases in the past. You seem to have the tenacity to get things done. I want to know you’re on my side. Helping find Selena. We can share information and solve this case together.”

  “Information? What information?”

  “You have contacts in the police department. You can get information I can’t. And visa versa. Remember, you owe me one.”

  “After you practically told Detective Bryant that I told you about the shoe? I don’t think I owe you anything.”

  He threw his arms in the air. “Fine, you don’t owe me one. I’ll keep your secrets. Just please, help me.”

  “What information can you provide me?” I asked.

  “I don’t have much yet.”

  I shook my head. This guy was impossible.

  “But I’m talking to someone tonight. He says he has information about what happened.”

  “Who is this guy?”

  “He’s a private investigator. I hired him to look into Jacob and Elodie.”

  “And you think he found out who killed Selena?”

  Desmond thought a moment. “I don’t think Selena’s dead.”

  Wishful thinking. No one wanted to believe their missing loved one to be dead.

  “But I think he figured something out about her disappearance,” Desmond continued. “I’ll talk to him this afternoon. Maybe we can meet back here tonight, and I can tell you about it.”

  “Why here?” I asked.

  But before he could respond, Luke walked in the door.

  “Hello, Desmond.” Luke peered down his nose at the man who looked like he might poop himself.

  “Officer,” Desmond said, unsuccessfully trying to push past Luke. “I was leaving.”

  “I think you should stay,” Luke said. He wore jeans that showed off his toned thighs and a long sleeve t-shirt that was half a size too small.

  I averted my eyes.

  I was taken, and he was leaving.

  Desmond huffed and walked back into the office.

  “I’ll tell you the same thing I told Rylie—this case needs to be left to the professionals—the police.”

  “The same police who failed to solve the case the first time?” Desmond crossed his arms over his chest.

  Luke kept a friendly but serious expression on his face. “We did everything we could. And we will do everything we can this time too.”

  �
��We?” I couldn’t keep my mouth closed any longer. “Aren’t you leaving the country in a few days?”

  Desmond scowled at Luke. “You won’t even be here to work on the case? Who are you to tell us to stay out of it?”

  “Someone who won’t be here to cover for the two of you if you decide to go ahead with this rogue investigation.”

  I don’t know what infuriated me more—Luke acting like he was doing something to protect me or the fact that he was acting like a pompous jerk. I’d helped him with three other cases, but I wasn’t qualified to do anything on this one?

  “I don’t know what threats you’ve made against her,” Desmond said. “But I’m not backing down, regardless of how much you threaten me.”

  “I didn’t threaten anyone.” Luke turned to me. “Is someone threatening you?”

  “No,” I said. It was pointless telling him what Detective Bryant said, especially since he seemed to have some sort of love affair with the guy.

  “Any more words of warning? Or am I free to leave?” Desmond asked.

  “Go ahead.” Luke stepped away from the door and further into the office. “But keep your nose out of this. It will only end badly.”

  “I don’t know if there’s anything worse than not knowing what happened to my sister,” Desmond said then turned to me. “I’ll text you.”

  As Luke and I watched him leave, something stirred inside me. I didn’t care how badly Luke and Shayla wanted to keep me out of this. It wasn’t fair. They were pushing this guy out when all he wanted to do was find his sister. If my sister went missing, I sure as hell wouldn’t let some cops intimidate me. I’d do everything I could to find out what happened to her.

  “Please don’t tell me you’re considering working this case with that guy?” Luke said.

  I snapped the lid on my empty spaghetti container. “So what if I am?”

  Luke tipped his head back and studied the ceiling of the office. “You’re impossible.”

  “Yep. Unprofessional too, apparently.”

  “I wasn’t trying to say you’re unprofessional. You’re just not trained as a police officer.”

  “That didn’t stop me from helping on the last three cases.”