by Jaden Skye
“A witness?” her father echoed.
“I know this is difficult,” Wayne responded, “but Olivia is not free to leave right now.”
“Then I’m staying right down here with her,” her father exclaimed.
“That’s impossible, Blake.” Olivia’s mother’s words tripped over one another. “We have plans, you have meetings. The Smiths’ dinner party is tonight.”
“Life happens and upsets our plans,” her father said to her mother quietly. “We’ve discussed this before, Della.”
Olivia’s mother started wringing her hands. “But we’ve been through so much with her already, Blake. Speak about interrupted plans!”
In the past a comment like that from Olivia’s mother would have created waves of guilt and remorse. Now oddly, Olivia felt nothing at all. Her mother seemed frozen in her own world, almost like a stranger to her.
“This won’t last forever,” Olivia’s father spoke to her mother gently. “I’ll be home soon, I promise. It will be over before we know what happened.”
“No, it won’t!” Her mother looked at him strangely. “Whether or not you want to believe it, our troubles with Olivia will just go on and on and on!”
*
Olivia’s mother and sister promptly decided to take their plane home as planned. Strangely enough, as Olivia watched them walk away to board the flight, she felt relieved to see them go.
“Your mother is overwrought. Don’t pay attention to what she said,” her father commented as he watched them board the small plane. “We’ll handle this in no time.”
“It’s fine,” said Olivia calmly. Her mother’s words weren’t what was tying her up in knots. It was the idea that they had found large amounts of arsenic in Todd’s body. That was shattering, a discovery beyond her wildest dreams. Olivia was actually glad she was staying down here in Key West, felt an urgent need to find out more about it. In fact, she couldn’t rest until she did.
After her mother and sister boarded the flight Wayne and the other law enforcement officials approached to lead her and her father out of the airport into their waiting car.
As they all walked together Olivia noticed the tropical sun rising upon a new day. The smell of fresh grass and salty ocean filled the air, bolstering her. Most likely law enforcement needed her there so she could fill them in on all she knew of Todd’s personal life.
They all walked to the car briskly and in no time stepped in. Wayne sat on one side of her and Doug, looking grim, on the other. Her father sat up in front. As she sat between the detectives, Olivia wracked her mind to think if she knew anyone at all who could have possibly wanted to harm Todd.
“Are you taking my daughter to the station for more questioning now?” Olivia’s father asked authoritatively, as the car sped along on the highway amidst rows of waving palm trees.
“Not immediately,” Wayne replied. “We just need her to be available when we call upon her. And, in case you are interested, the memorial is being scheduled for tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow? So soon?” Olivia was aghast.
“The autopsy has been completed. The cremation will take place late this afternoon,” Wayne went on. “Todd’s family wanted to schedule the memorial quickly, for tomorrow, while so many of Todd’s friends and family were all still around.”
But everything was happening way too fast. Olivia couldn’t keep up with the pace. The thought of Todd being cremated in a few hours was more than she could bear. Bitter tears fell uncontrollably down her face. Thank God, she hadn’t taken that plane and left Key West today, she thought.
“Do you plan to speak at the memorial?” Wayne asked then.
“Yes, of course,” Olivia breathed. “I definitely will.”
“I’m sure that will make a difference to Todd’s family,” he said, relieved, as Doug tapped his fingers restlessly on the car seat.
*
Olivia and her father returned promptly to the hotel, where the same suite was still available for them. It struck Olivia forcibly then that, despite her father being here at the moment, once again she was basically on her own. Even though she kept expecting Todd to open the door and walk in, he never would. Olivia remembered how on the flight down Todd had told her he had wonderful surprises for her in Key West. Did he have any idea what really lay ahead for him? A strange thought struck Olivia then. Was it even possible that Todd planned every step of this?
Olivia walked outside on the open patio and finally allowed herself to think the horrible thought that had been percolating within. Could Todd have taken his own life? They’d been together every moment before he got ill. There was no one else he’d interacted with. How else could large doses of arsenic have gotten into his body? What else could explain it?
The thoughts in Olivia’s mind tumbled over one another fiercely. She remembered times in the past when Todd had acted oddly, withdrew or suddenly seemed distraught. When she’d asked him about it, he’d refused to talk. And she had just taken it as a passing part of life. Was it possible that Olivia had said or done something to cause him deep, hidden pain?
A wave of loneliness and despair flooded over her as she gazed at the sky. She wondered how much she’d really known about Todd. It had seemed exciting and romantic to get involved so quickly and not talk about their pasts. Both had wanted to move on so badly. There had to be something else lurking deep inside Todd, though, that Olivia knew nothing of. Her father was right. There could be danger lying up ahead.
As Olivia stood there musing, her father walked out on the balcony. “You must be hungry,” he said. “Should I order in food for us?”
Olivia hadn’t even thought about whether she was hungry. It seemed the furthest thing from her mind. “Actually, I am a bit hungry,” she responded, glad for the reminder. She probably wouldn’t have ordered on her own.
“What would you like to eat?” Her father took out his phone.
“You’ll have to order from the restaurant down the street,” Olivia reminded him. “The restaurant in the hotel is closed for now. A cheese omelet and coffee would be good. I haven’t eaten for a while.”
“Of course you haven’t,” her father said, as he pulled out his phone. “You’re absorbed trying to make sense of things.”
“I don’t know if I’ll ever make sense of them though,” Olivia replied as she then walked to the edge of the balcony.
From where she stood she could see a wooden plank walkway to a small, private beach that had to belong to the hotel. She could see why Todd had loved being down here so much. There seemed to be nowhere else to go, a sense that you’d reached your final destination and could finally rest.
“The food will be here in a little while,” her father called out to her then, interrupting her reveries.
Olivia wondered for a moment if she should tell her father her suspicions about the way Todd might have died. It was too soon, though, she couldn’t. And she didn’t want to upset him any more than he already was.
“Just rest out there for a while,” her father suggested, “and when you’re ready, it would be a good idea to plan what you’ll say about Todd tomorrow at the memorial. I’d think about it carefully if I were you. Everyone will be listening for your slightest slip-up.”
The thought of her speech was mildly terrifying. It was the last thing she wanted to do. This would be her introduction to the people Todd knew and loved and she had no idea how they would take her words, or react to her.
“I have no idea how I’m going to do this,” Olivia replied.
“You’ll do just fine,” her father insisted. “You always pull through, Olivia. Ever since you were little you amazed us.”
Olivia looked over at her father, startled. She’d had no idea that he thought of her that way.
“And you’ve always given your mother and I plenty of shocks as well,” he promptly continued. “You have a wild streak that comes out unexpectedly. The total opposite of your sister, Mauve.”
Olivia suddenly wanted to laugh.
Her father had never spoken to her this way before. She’d never thought of herself as having a wild streak. She just enjoyed trying new things, meeting new people, following different, unusual paths.
“I suppose that’s why you suddenly got engaged to a stranger,” her father went on. “I told your mother it’s all part of the bigger picture of who you are.”
“Todd wasn’t a stranger,” Olivia objected strenuously. “After five months of being together continuously I knew him better than most.”
“He was a stranger to us, though,” her father commented.
“That wasn’t going to last forever.” Olivia felt the hair on her neck standing up. “I told you that you were supposed to meet him soon.”
“Yes, you did, you said everything,” her father agreed, “but it still doesn’t make sense to me, none of it does. And I’m doing my best to figure it out.”
Olivia walked over to her father and spoke to him kindly. “Some things you can’t figure out, Dad,” she said in a soft tone. “You can’t explain them, they don’t compute. People come into your life and you’re blown away. You fall in love without thinking about it. You go on a journey to nowhere together.”
“I’m well aware of that,” her father replied.
“I know you are, Dad,” she said. “And I appreciate it with all my heart.”
The food arrived and Olivia and her father ate in silence out on the balcony. He then went inside to put a call in to a local lawyer who’d been recommended to him. Olivia didn’t want to lawyer up quickly; it didn’t feel right. But her father insisted he had to consult with someone who could not only guide them legally, but also keep them abreast of all the developments in the case.
While her father was inside speaking to the lawyer Olivia grew sleepy and closed her eyes for a short nap. It felt wonderful to close out the world and drift into a light sleep.
She couldn’t nap for long though. Her father walked back onto the balcony a few minutes later, stirred up.
“Wake up, Olivia,” her father said. “I just spoke to the lawyer and I want to tell you what he said.”
Olivia opened her eyes in a half daze. “What?”
“The person of interest, Tomas, has been questioned and is now actually being kept in custody by the police,” her father replied.
Olivia was startled. “They think that Tomas could have killed Todd? Why would he?”
“The lawyer told me as much as he could,” her father continued. “Apparently, Tomas’s alibi didn’t check out. He’s not a definite suspect yet, but they certainly have enough to hold him.”
Olivia was horrified. “Tell me more.”
“Tomas was the main cook at the hotel when they had all those cases of food poisoning a short while ago,” her father reported. “He actually even spent some time in jail for it.”
“I heard that. But why did they let him out?” Olivia’s dismay deepened.
“There wasn’t enough evidence to keep him for longer at that time,” her father went on. “They did have definite evidence of carelessness, though, and questionable hygienic practices. There was also evidence of using unfit food.”
“And they still kept the hotel restaurant open?” asked Olivia.
“The hotel was under careful supervision for a while, and everything was perfect when you and Todd went there for dinner,” her father assured her.
“It wasn’t perfect!” Tears filled Olivia’s eyes. “Todd died at the hotel. He’s gone now forever.”
“Yes, he’s gone,” her father said quietly. “But he didn’t die from food poisoning. Law enforcement is not even sure that he was killed at the hotel. His death may not be related to Tomas at all.”
Olivia felt her head whirling. She couldn’t dispute anything her father said. “If it’s not food poisoning, why are they holding Tomas?”
“As I said, Tomas’s alibi didn’t check out,” her father continued. “He said he was at a club downtown, Sketches, the night Todd died. But he was also spotted on the hotel surveillance video that night. He was even back in the kitchen again.”
“Oh my God.” Olivia started shaking. “He could have come in and put arsenic in Todd’s food!”
“Possible, but there’s still no direct evidence of that,” her father murmured.
“It makes sense, doesn’t it, though?” Olivia felt the blood drain from her face.
“Making sense isn’t enough, they need hard evidence,” her father quickly replied. “So far it’s all hypothetical.”
“What kind of evidence can they hope to find?” Olivia’s entire body grew taut.
“I asked the lawyer exactly that question,” her father responded. “Motive is an important part, of course. Why would Tomas have wanted Todd dead? Was there any connection between them? Did Tomas have anything to gain by his action?”
“Couldn’t he or whoever killed Todd have chosen a random victim?” Olivia jumped up suddenly and started pacing back and forth on the small balcony. “Aren’t there killers who just kill for the thrill of it?”
“I’m sure there are,” her father agreed. “But that’s what we need to find out. Frankly, I don’t care about Tomas. But I do care about you. And the only way this nightmare is ever going to end for you is when the police have found their killer, without a doubt. And that means finding out as much about this Tomas as we possibly can.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Olivia awoke early the next morning to rays of brilliant sun pouring through the window. She put her hands over her eyes and realized that today was the memorial, the time to formally say good-bye to Todd. It was still way too early to get up and she rolled over in bed, but couldn’t go back to sleep. What would happen after the ceremony was over? Would everyone disperse, return to where they came from, leaving Todd’s ashes scattered behind? She couldn’t let herself think about it now, had to stay strong, at least throughout the day.
Olivia felt she had to do a good job today, not only for Todd, but also for others, to help them feel better. Todd would have wanted her to, no question about that. Time was growing short and Olivia had to spend her time thinking about what she would say at the memorial. It was a tall order and she knew it. The service was scheduled for eleven in the morning at a local church a few blocks away. How could she capture what Todd had meant to her and share it with others? The thought of speaking in front of Todd’s family and friends was daunting. She knew they all viewed her as an intruder, wondered who she really was. Olivia was struck by the fact that not one of them had even called her to see how she was doing. How would Todd have felt about that?
Olivia finally rose and after showering put on light makeup and chose a beautiful amber silk dress, with a strand of matching beads. She brushed her long, blonde hair extra hard and let it hang loose around her shoulders. She wanted to look good today, to make Todd proud.
While her father scoured the papers and news for every detail about the case, Olivia spent some time writing notes for her speech. Strangely, there was little she felt comfortable saying publicly. The thought of his family there in the audience made her feel numb. Olivia decided that she would speak extemporaneously at the memorial, let the moment guide her, say whatever came into her heart.
Olivia’s father looked especially tired this morning. She wondered how long he would be able to stay down here with her, how long the case would go on. “How long do you plan to stay?” she asked him then.
Her father looked at her, troubled. “Good question,” he responded. “Naturally, I’m not leaving you down here alone, but I’ve also been researching and discovered that the police have no legal grounds to keep you here. You are either under arrest or not. There are very few restraints unless and until you’ve gone through a legal process.”
Olivia was relieved and surprised. “But they told me not to leave,” she said.
“When the cops tell you not to leave town, it’s a warning that you’re under suspicion, I learned,” he continued. “If you leave that would increase the suspicion.
Basically, it’s just a code for we have no evidence to charge you, but we’re going to ignore all other leads and concentrate on you.”
“They’re not concentrating on me, though,” said Olivia.
“Not now, of course not. Right now they’re holding Tomas. So, as I see it, you can give the cops time to question you after the memorial, then we’re out of here!”
“Just like that?” Olivia took a sharp breath.
“Why would you want to stay, anyway?” Her father looked confused.
“How can I leave Todd here like this?” Olivia uttered, in pain.
“Leave him like what? He’s gone, Olivia.” Her father looked disturbed.
“I mean how can I leave until I’m sure what really happened to him?” Olivia felt deep dismay.
“You have no choice,” her father responded. “It could take years until they actually find out what happened. Or it could happen just like that.”
*
The church the memorial was being held at was historic and old. The worn wood on the outside seemed to have been there for ages, weathering sun, rain, wind, and storms of all kinds. The church was tall and narrow, with vertical stained glass windows through which the sun now poured. The wooden doors were wide open, welcoming guests to the memorial.
Even though Olivia and her father arrived early the church was already filled to overflowing. Seats had been saved for them in the front rows and an usher guided them down. To Olivia’s distress, she and her father were seated right behind Todd’s family, who sat stiffly in the front row and did not turn around to greet them.
A few moments later, a middle-aged pastor stepped up on the small stage in front, raised his hands out to the crowd, and began speaking.
“I welcome each and every one of you here this morning to honor the young life of Todd Denton, who was taken from us way too early.”
Olivia heard murmuring in the background.
