Scott gritted his teeth. “How many times do I have to tell you that I’m innocent?”
“You can keep repeating yourself all day. In the end, evidence is what speaks the loudest.”
“In that case, you need to let me go. After all, you have no proof that I’ve done anything wrong. Besides, we both know that you can’t hold me here indefinitely.”
“True,” David said. “I can hold you here a little longer, though.”
“Fine. You want to waste your time? Go ahead. But I’m not going to say another word,” Scott replied.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Scott followed through on his statement. David asked the suspect a number of other questions, but Scott didn’t answer any of them. Finally, when it became clear that Mr. Hatcher wasn’t going to give David anything to work with, my husband had a decision to make.
David left the interrogation room. From there, he walked back to his desk to talk to me.
Once he spotted me, my husband let out a groan and then spoke his mind. “Scott is certainly a frustrating person to talk to, isn’t he?”
“Are you kidding?” I replied. “He’s an absolute nightmare.”
“It’s so infuriating how tight lipped he’s being.”
I nodded. “Especially since I get the sense that he’s hiding something.”
“I know what you mean. There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s withholding information from us.”
“The question becomes, what is he being so secretive about?”
David held his finger up. “And how can we uncover the truth?”
I scratched my chin. “Actually, I have an idea about how to get to the bottom of that.”
“Really?
“Absolutely.”
“Would you mind sharing this idea of yours?”
“Before I do, I want you to know that it’s important to hear me out.”
“Just tell me what you’re thinking.”
“I will. I just wanted you to know that it might sound crazy at first.”
“Let’s be honest. This entire situation is pretty nutty to begin with. Right now, nothing would surprise me.”
“All right. Here we go.” I took a deep breath before continuing. “I think you should let him go.”
David’s nose scrunched.
I waited a few moments for my husband to respond. When he didn’t speak up, I opened my mouth again.
“Honey, what are you thinking?” I asked.
“That I was expecting you to say something different.”
“Here’s my rationale,” I said. “It’s pretty clear that Scott isn’t going to reveal any secrets to you.”
“I agree.”
“In addition, since you don’t have any concrete evidence against him, you can’t hold him much longer.”
“Even though you’re absolutely correct, I still don’t feel good about letting him go.”
“Neither do I. But as far as I can tell, this is the best option we have.”
David put his hands on his hips. “Say I do let him go. What then?”
I smiled. “Don’t worry. I have a plan.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Even though my instincts were usually spot-on, there were occasions when I misread a situation. Or got things entirely wrong. It didn’t happen often, but when it did, there were disastrous results.
With that in mind, I said a quick little prayer before David let Scott go. I had a pretty good feeling about where Scott was headed, but there was a chance that he could surprise me.
Ultimately, there was only one way to know for sure if I was right. The plan was to tail Scott. David and I weren’t about to follow him in a squad car, though. That would be too obvious. After all, if Scott suspected that we were shadowing him, he could easily change course to try and throw us off his scent.
As David and I left the police station, we opted to use an unmarked car. In addition, David stayed a safe distance behind Scott’s vehicle to avoid being detected.
After shadowing Scott for a few blocks, it became clear that the suspect had a different itinerary than I thought he would. Much to my surprise, Scott headed straight home.
Once he pulled his car into his driveway, he got out of the driver’s seat and went up his walkway. From there, he entered his apartment. At that moment, I began to question my instincts. Had I been completely wrong about Scott? It certainly looked like it.
I groaned as I stared at the suspect’s front door.
“This definitely isn’t part of the plan,” I said.
“It sure isn’t,” David said. “So much for your instincts telling you that Scott would head over to Nicole’s house.”
I grimaced. “I was so sure that Scott would confront Nicole again. If only to find out exactly what she revealed to you in the interrogation room.”
“It sounded like a plausible theory. But hey, we’re all wrong sometimes.”
“I realize that. This bad break just came at a particularly lousy time.”
“I agree,” he said. “Even so, it’s not going to do any good to wallow. The real question is, what should we do now?”
I stared at Scott’s front door again. “I actually think we should stay here a little longer.”
“How long are we talking?”
“Just a few minutes.”
“Are your instincts telling you that? Or do you just want to see if we’ll get lucky?”
“I’m not ready to give up on my gut quite yet.”
“All right. We’ll keep watch for a little while longer.”
***
I was glad that I stuck to my guns. Less than three minutes later, Scott came out of his apartment and got back into his car. He then headed west.
As Scott drove toward Nicole’s house, I realized that my instincts had been correct all along. Scott had just decided to stop at home briefly. That said, I couldn’t help but wonder why. He was only inside his place for a few minutes. What had he done when he was in there?
Finding out the answer to that question would have to wait. When Scott’s car pulled up in front of Nicole’s house a few minutes later, David and I focused all of our attention on what the suspect would do next.
Scott parked his car, walked up to Nicole’s door, and rang her bell a few times. Not surprisingly, when Nicole opened her front door and saw Scott, she looked like she was ready to tell him off. She wouldn’t get a chance to, however.
Before Nicole could utter a single word, Scott reached into his coat and pulled a gun on her. He then grabbed her arm and forced her back inside her house. As Scott entered the foyer of Nicole’s home, he closed the front door behind him.
So much for sitting back and observing. At that point, David knew that he had to take action. He rushed up to the front of the house. As he reached for the doorknob, he prayed that Scott had not locked the door.
Even though David could kick the door down if he had to, that would cause a huge ruckus. In the process, David would become a target as well. The most likely result would be a standoff at gunpoint.
Thankfully, the door ended up being unlocked. David twisted the knob slowly and opened the front door as quietly as possible.
My husband then took a few steps, trying to remain as quiet as possible. As David peered into the dining room, he saw Nicole sitting down at a table. A pen and a piece of paper was in front of her.
Scott was standing on the other side of the table. He continued pointing his gun at her.
In a great twist of luck, Scott was standing with his back turned to David.
That meant David could listen in on Scott’s conversation with Nicole while maintaining the element of surprise.
Normally, David would have crept up behind Scott and placed the barrel of his police pistol against the back of Mr. Hatcher’s head.
Scott didn’t look like he was in a hurry to shoot Nicole, however. Instead, he had instructions for her.
“Pick up the pen,” Scott said.
“Scott, please
put the gun down. I’m begging you—”
“Don’t waste your breath. There’s nothing you can say that will change my mind.”
“You don’t have to do this.”
“You’ve given me no other choice.”
“Me?” Nicole replied. “You’re the one with the gun.”
“Hey, I didn’t want things to end this way. I just wanted to be with you. I even gave you one last chance to take me back. But you shot me down,” Scott said. “The way I see it, you only have yourself to blame for this situation.”
“Wait a minute. You’re behaving like a psycho, and yet I’m the one who is to blame for this situation?” She shook her head in disbelief. “You’re even nuttier than I thought.”
He narrowed his eyes. “I’d watch your words if I were you. Otherwise, you’ll find out really fast just how crazy I really am.”
Nicole began to tremble.
“Pick up the pen,” Scott demanded.
She followed his orders. “All right. Now what?”
“You’re going to write a note for me.”
“What kind of a note?”
“A suicide note,” Scott said. “One where you confess to murdering Walter.”
She opened her mouth to reply, but Scott didn’t let her get a word out. He continued with his directions.
“You are then going to declare that you are overwhelmed with guilt. That you can’t live with yourself after what you’ve done. That killing yourself is the only answer.”
Nicole put the pen down. “I’m not writing that.”
“I don’t know why you think you have a choice in the matter.”
“Scott, I didn’t kill Walter.”
“I know you didn’t. But the police don’t realize that. Which is why you’re the perfect person to take the fall for this. In fact, if things go as planned, this suicide note of yours is going to allow me to get away with two different murders.”
Nicole’s face filled with disgust. “You’re completely psychotic. Do you know that?”
“That’s what you say. I wasn’t always this way, though,” Scott said. “Honestly, I was just a normal guy until you broke up with me. After you broke my heart, everything changed. And I haven’t been the same since.”
“Are you really blaming this all on me?”
“Why wouldn’t I? If you had just stayed with me, we wouldn’t be in this position right now.”
She shook her head. “You’re deluding yourself. The reason we’re in this position is because you lost your mind. You’re the one holding me at gunpoint. No matter how you try and spin this, it’s all on you.”
Scott snarled at Nicole. “Enough talking. It’s time for you to start writing.”
Nicole didn’t pick up the pen. “Why would I write this note for you? The minute I finish, you’re just going to kill me. That’s why I’m not going to write a single word.”
“Fine. Then I’ll just shoot you right now and forge a note in your handwriting before I leave,” Scott said.
Nicole took a deep breath as her face went completely pale.
“Do you have any last words?” Scott asked.
Suddenly, the moment of truth was upon David. If he was going to act, there was no time to delay. He immediately sprang into action.
David crept up behind Scott and placed the barrel of his police pistol against the back of the suspect’s head.
“I have a few choice words for you,” David said. “Put your gun down.”
Scott’s muscles tensed up as David spoke. It was clear that David had taken Scott completely by surprise. As Scott processed this new development, his mouth hung open, but he didn’t say a word.
When a few seconds went by without Scott following David’s orders, my husband became impatient.
“I said, put the gun down,” David remarked. “Don’t make me shoot you.”
Scott took a deep breath and reluctantly lowered his pistol.
David then grabbed Scott’s gun and put it on the table. From there, David reached for the pair of handcuffs that were in his pocket.
After cuffing Scott, David radioed for back up. A few minutes later, a slew of squad cars arrived. David loaded Scott into the back of one of the vehicles.
By that point, Nicole was able to catch her breath. Of all the ways the confrontation could have ended, this was the best-case scenario. Before David took action, Nicole was absolutely convinced that she was going to die. So, for her to be able to walk away from this incident without any physical harm done to her was pretty incredible.
Once Nicole’s nerves settled down a little, she thanked David profusely for saving her life. It was so nice to see my husband get the appreciation that he deserved.
That said, the biggest relief of all was knowing that the case was finally closed.
Epilogue
A week later, I paid a visit to Treasure Cove Cemetery. My father’s body had been buried a few days earlier, but I was still wrestling with a slew of different emotions. In truth, it would probably be a few months before I was really able to sort my feelings out.
Hopefully, this trip to my father’s grave would help me piece my life back together. As I stared at Walter’s headstone, I couldn’t help but ask myself a series of what if questions. For example, what if he had been a better father to me? What if he hadn’t skipped town? What if he had really gotten sober? How different would his life have turned out? Would he still be alive today?
Ultimately, I didn’t have any answers. I knew that those mysteries would remain unsolved. For a sleuth like me, that was a hard reality to stomach.
On the flip side, even though it was only a small consolation, it was a relief to know that the maniac responsible for Walter’s death was behind bars. Justice had been served. And not a moment too soon. This case had really taken its toll on me.
It should come as no surprise to you then that I didn’t stay in the cemetery for very long. In fact, after a few minutes of quiet reflection, I walked back to the parking lot and got into the passenger-side of my husband’s car. David then leaned over and gave me a big hug.
From there, my husband and I carried on with our day, hoping that trouble wouldn’t find us again anytime soon. After all, with everything that we had been through, we certainly deserved a break.
The End.
Did you know that there are even more adventures featuring Sabrina and her Treasure Cove friends and family?
If you haven’t read the Daley Buzz series, you should buy those books right now!
https://www.amazon.com/Meredith-Potts/e/B01GH44H6A/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_9?qid=1529325337&sr=8-9
Books in the Daley Buzz series
Book 1 – Chocolate with a Side of Murder
Book 2 – Caramels with a Side of Murder
Book 3 – Apple Pie with a Side of Murder
Book 4 – Lemon Bars with a Side of Murder
Book 5 – Cookies with a Side of Murder
Book 6 – Halloween Candy with a Side of Murder
Book 7 – Christmas Cookies with a Side of Murder
Book 8 – Gelato with a Side of Murder
Book 9 – Chocolate Cake with a Side of Murder
Book 10 – Cupcakes with a Side of Murder
Other books by Meredith Potts:
Hope Hadley Series
Fame is a Killer
Fishing For Murder
Murder of a Yoga Instructor
Drowning In Deceit
A Not So Merry Christmas Murder
Killer Injustice
Murder of a Restaurant Critic
Murder of a Movie Producer
The Killer Holiday Office Party
Murder Hits Close To Home
Meredith Potts Cozy Mystery Anthology (featuring Deadpan Murder, Killer Amnesia, College Can Be Murder, The Last Frontier of Murder, and Murder in Happy Creek)
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Ice Cream with a Side of Danger Page 7
