by PJ Fernor
“No,” he said. “I don’t feel better at all.”
I touched his arm. “It’ll be okay. Just check the cameras and get back to me.”
“Will do,” he said. “Be careful.”
I nodded. “Will do.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
I met Johnny and the first thing he did was put his hands out and turn his head a little. His eyebrow lifted into the air.
He didn’t speak.
“What?” I asked.
“You look off.”
“Off?”
“That’s right. Off. Something happened to you. What happened to you?”
“Nothing. Let’s go talk to David.”
“Wait a second here. Is it Ben? Did you two break up? Whatever the cause, it was his fault. I never liked that guy anyway. He was no good for you.”
“And you are good for me?”
“Well, since you brought it up…”
“Save it, Johnny,” I said. “Nothing happened with Ben.”
“Figured as much, since you’ve got a car tailing you.”
I turned my head and saw Muldavey parked right in plain sight.”
I sighed. “I guess he has some stuff to learn still.”
“Why do you have one of your guys following you?”
“Look, we need to talk to David while he’s still ready to talk,” I said.
Johnny didn’t move when I did.
I rolled my eyes. “It’s just to be cautious. That’s all. I’m fine. You’re fine. Let’s go do this.”
“Did you just tell me I’m fine?” Johnny asked. “As in, you know, fine meaning good looking.”
That comment I ignored.
I waited at the door and Johnny caught up and opened it for me.
He led the way to a room surrounded by windows with blinds that were all open.
I saw David in the room, holding a cup of coffee, walking from corner to corner.
When he saw me, he stopped walking and frowned.
I frowned right back at him.
The poor guy…
Johnny opened the door. “David. Thanks for waiting. Allie got caught in a little traffic. But we’re here now.”
“It’s good to see you again,” I said.
“Nothing is good right now,” David said.
“I assure you, David, we are doing all we can right now,” I said.
“I’ll be a little more ignorant about things,” Johnny said. “You have both of us in here instead of out there. Why?”
“What happened with Drew and Greg. My reaction. That was not like me. At all. I promise you that. I’m not a violent man.”
“Okay,” Johnny said. “Is that relevant?”
“I don’t want you to think I could have…” David choked on his words.
“You don’t want us to look into you,” I said.
“Exactly.”
“That makes me want to look into you,” Johnny said.
“I’m here to ask if maybe it was neither of the three of us,” David said. “You can dig in my life all you want. You’d just be wasting your time. I loved my wife. And while her best friend was a pain in the neck, I would never hurt them. Ever.”
“You’re also suggesting now that maybe Drew and Greg didn’t do this either?” I asked.
“This may seem a little crazy, but I went through Claire’s phone. Before she died. She was so distant from me.” David put his coffee cup down. His hands flattened to the table. “I thought I was losing her. I thought maybe she had someone else.”
“You think your wife was having an affair?” Johnny asked.
“I thought so,” David said. “She wasn’t. Not that I could find. I hated myself for going through her phone. That’s not who I am. Okay? That’s the kind of stuff Drew and Greg would do. And they have done. Candice would get caught with stuff on her phone and then Claire would have to go over there…” David tightened his jaw. “Sorry. That doesn’t matter. I did find something in Claire’s phone. A note. To me.”
“She was planning on leaving you?” Johnny asked.
“The opposite,” David said. “She wanted me to leave. She apologized to me. She felt it was all her fault that we couldn’t get pregnant. Look, we were just two people who couldn’t have kids. Her body didn’t want it. My body didn’t do its job either. She wrote this note though and she wanted me to think about leaving her. To find a woman who could give me a baby. A family. My heart is broken all over again thinking about that letter. I didn’t want her to know I read it. So I said nothing. I waited for her to show it to me. Or print it or whatever.”
“She never did,” I said.
“She never did,” David said. “I lost my chance. What if I had told her I read the letter? What if I had written her one back? Even if she got mad at me for looking in her phone, what if that would have been the turning point? She wouldn’t have gone for that walk!”
“David, I’m sorry,” Johnny said. “We can’t go back in time. We can’t do that. We can’t create some sort of reality that isn’t there. If you do that, then the person who did this to your wife, they’ll get away for good.”
“What if they already did?” David asked.
“How so?” I asked.
“What I’m about to say… when I first met Claire, she went through a rough patch in her life. Her mother died. Then her grandmother died. I watched her slip. Finally, one night, she confessed to me she was having terrible dreams and thoughts. I helped her seek out therapy and between that and medication, she was able to battle through it. I stood by her side and I loved her for the strength to fight through it. What I’m trying to ask now… could she… could…”
“You want to know if your wife killed Candice and then herself,” Johnny said.
David shut his eyes and nodded.
My heart sank for the guy. He was looking for any answer to complete the tragic story in his head.
“David, that’s not what happened here,” I said. “The wounds…”
I looked at Johnny.
Johnny cleared his throat. “I’ll just say it. Both victims were cut along their throats and their wrists. They were cuts meant to kill. I can’t see how she would have been able to do that to herself.”
“Okay,” David said, shutting his eyes.
“That’s why you wanted to talk today?” I asked.
David nodded.
I saw Johnny rub his jaw out of frustration.
“David, I think you need to go home and try to settle. Call family or friends. Let us do our job so we can figure out what really happened that night.”
I excused myself and exited the room.
Johnny wouldn’t be far behind.
Poor David had himself filled with guilt over a letter he wasn’t supposed to read and the terrible thought that his wife murdered her best friend and killed herself.
My thoughts went back to the note left on my SUV.
If the message was a warning…
There would be more victims sooner rather than later.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Johnny stood next to me. “There’s no way that’s a murder-suicide.”
“I know that. He’s just heartbroken and looking for any kind of answer.”
“Yeah. Poor guy.”
“He needs to find a place to put the guilt of it all.”
“Guilt?” Johnny asked, lifting an eyebrow.
“A different kind of guilt, Johnny. Moral guilt. Think about what they must have been going through. You figure at least half a year or so trying to have a baby. They probably figured it would be easy. Using birth control for years and then stopping, hoping to get pregnant quick. Then it doesn’t happen. Suddenly your world is shifted. You need medical help for it to happen. Then the emotional ride of IVF. If you don’t know what that entails, look it up. Can’t imagine what Claire must have gone through. Then to have that fail? The strain on their marriage. On both ends. There’s a lot David is carrying right now. Then the simple fact that Claire was the
one who called Candice. All those times Candice initiated the contact. This time it was Claire.”
“Meaning if David was more attentive and Claire never made that call…”
“Which is what David said to us,” I said.
“Then we go back to what we know,” Johnny said.
He turned and opened the door.
I went in after him.
“David, I’m going to get right down to it,” Johnny said. “You’re focused on the wrong thing here. I know you want to help. I know you want answers. But as we’ve said, being here is wasting time. But seeing as we’re here, let me ask you something. Do you think Drew or Greg did this?”
David stared at Johnny with tired, pain-filled eyes.
Opinion really didn’t matter in this case.
If anything, Johnny could end up getting David so worked up, he’d rush out and attack Drew or Greg. Like he did at the station. Except it would be worse.
“Why don’t we just call it a day here?” I offered. “David, let us do-”
“Answer the question,” Johnny said.
“Do I think Drew or Greg could have done this?” David asked. “Of course I do. That was the first thing I assumed. Why do you think I’m here? I’m mad at myself. I want to go to jail for this. I killed my wife! Not with my hands or a knife or whatever, but I killed her by breaking the promise to always protect her. You know what? That night… I was mad at her. She said she was going to make dinner and didn’t. She just sat at the table. When I asked what was wrong, she said nothing. She stood up and walked away from me. I was tired, hungry, and alone. I started to think about things. About us not being together anymore. Okay? That’s what was happening to me. So when she said she called Candice and was meeting her for a walk… I thought to myself… Good. Go. Maybe you’ll end up at a bar with Candice and you’ll find some guy to screw. I didn’t even kiss her goodbye.”
And just like that, David lowered his head and began to weep.
Johnny glanced at me and nodded.
He then walked to David and put one arm around him and hugged him.
David fell into Johnny, crying louder than any man I ever heard cry before.
“It’s okay, my man,” Johnny said. He patted David’s back. “It will be okay. I will find out who did this to your wife and I will make sure he gets his. I promise you that, David.”
David continued to weep.
I looked around and found a tissue box and quietly placed it on the table.
“I need you to do something though,” Johnny said. “Look at me and we’ll talk.”
David broke away from Johnny and he looked at me. “I’m sorry about this.”
“No need to be sorry, David.”
“Look at me, David,” Johnny said.
David nodded at Johnny.
“You have to stop saying you’re guilty,” Johnny said. “There are a million circumstances that happen to us every single day. Forgetting your keys might delay you five seconds and in those five seconds there might have been an accident. It’s non-stop. You’ll drive yourself crazy thinking like that. But each time you say you’re guilty, it makes me want to throw you in cuffs. If I do that, it’s a waste of time. You didn’t kill Claire. Or Candice. You lost Claire. That I can’t help with. But you’re not guilty. Stop saying it. Call someone to come be with you. Understand that? This is man to man talking here.”
“You’re right,” David said. “You’re really right…”
“We’ll give you a few minutes,” I said. “Then listen to Detective Barby.”
Johnny and I exited the room together.
“How was that?” he asked. “Impressed?”
“Not sure. That was a change of heart.”
“More like a cut the crap thing without saying it that way.”
“So that was for show?”
“Does it matter, Allie?”
“The reason why I have someone with me today is I found a note under the wiper of my SUV.”
“What kind of note?”
“Something about this being the beginning.”
“Are you serious? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I wanted to hear what David had to say first,” I said. “Ben didn't want me to come here.”
“I understand that,” Johnny said. “You can’t take threats idly, Allie.”
“I’m not. That’s why Muldavey followed me.”
“The guy who can’t stay hidden,” Johnny said.
“Relax.”
“I can’t have anything happen to you.”
“I’m fine, like I said before,” I said. “It was a note. Could have been anyone.”
“Could have been the person who killed Claire and Candice. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”
“Johnny,” I said. “Right now, this whole thing is muddled up. David keeps confessing even though we know he didn’t do it. The other two guy have records and motive and the attitude that makes me want to bring them back in and push at them hard.”
“Then let’s do it,” Johnny said. He cracked his knuckles. “I’m always up for a fight.”
“It’s not that simple,” I said. “It makes sense. I keep going back to the foot in the pumpkin thing. It just…”
“Right,” Johnny said. “Now you’ve got that letter. So what does that mean?”
“It means we need to rethink everything. And make sure we’re clear on what’s what.”
“You mean we take our eyes off Drew and Greg,” Johnny said.
“That’s exactly what I mean.”
Which meant we had no suspects.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Johnny came back to Sandemor with me.
That created nothing but tension the second Ben saw Johnny at my side.
Of course, Johnny being Johnny, he decided at that exact second to place a hand to my back.
I thought for a second Ben was going to punch Johnny.
He didn’t.
I pointed up, meaning I wanted them in my office.
We had two women brutally murdered and I was going back to having zero suspects. That didn’t mean Drew and Greg were going to be let off the hook that easily. It just meant we all had to keep thinking, looking and planning.
“Did you see anything on the cameras?” I asked Ben.
“Nothing worth talking about.”
“Why’s that?” Johnny asked.
“We’re a small town,” Ben said. “Our cameras aren’t fancy. Even if they were, whoever this was, they were smart. They knew where the cameras were. The person was dressed in all black, including a hat pulled down over their face. The video shows them hurrying up to the SUV, placing the note, and then taking off out of sight.”
“We can ask around then,” I said. “I’ll have Muldavey do it.”
“What happened with David?” Ben asked.
“I had to slap him down a little,” Johnny said.
I opened my office door and we all walked inside.
Ben looked at me.
I nodded. “That’s what he did.”
“He slapped David?” Ben asked.
“Not literally,” I said. “David keeps blaming himself. We had to tell him to stop saying that. There’s no chance David did this.”
“What about the other two?” Ben asked.
“Looking more like we’re back to zero,” I said.
“Those guys have motive out the backside,” Johnny said. “But… Allie and I agree… this feels different. We’re on the same page together. Synched right up.”
“Is that so?” Ben asked, curling his lip.
“Okay,” I said. “Enough of that. We have to find a connection. A clue. Something. These two women go out for a walk. There’s a trail near where they were murdered. A lot of walkers, joggers, and runners. Right? Maybe someone saw something. We might need to spread the word a little more.”
“You know what that will do to the town,” Ben said.
I nodded.
“Well, maybe everyone shoul
d be safe,” Johnny said. “Why hide it. Right?”
The timing couldn’t have been better - or worse - because my office door opened and there was Mayor Jim’s large head, poking in with his white toothed smile.
“Bad time?” he asked.
“Yes,” Ben said.
“I’ll only be a minute,” Mayor Jim said.
He came into the office.
“This is Detective Johnny Barby,” I said to Mayor Jim. “He’s assisting.”
“Perfect,” Mayor Jim said as he ran to Johnny. They aggressively shook hands. “Now that’s a grip.”
“You’re the mayor?” Johnny asked.
“The one and only. What a tragedy here, huh?”
“Yeah,” Johnny said.
“Jim, we’re trying to have a serious talk about the case,” I said.
“Good. How’s it going?”
“Not great,” Ben said. “Our suspect list is whittling down.”
“And Allie had a threatening note on her windshield.”
“What kind of note?” Mayor Jim asked.
“The kind that has us all worried,” Johnny said.
“A note… did you check the cameras?”
Ben slapped his forehead. “Why didn’t we check the cameras?”
The sarcasm made Mayor Jim point and smile. “I deserved that one, Ben.”
“The cameras didn’t show a thing,” I said. “They’re not the best. And whoever did it knew how to be hidden.”
“Hey,” Mayor Jim said. He opened arms. “Kids. Right?”
“Kids?”
“Kids,” he repeated. “I’m sure it was just some teenagers playing a prank. We all did it, right? I remember when I was thirteen, we would ring doorbells and run off. Oh, we had so much fun doing that.”
“This is different,” Ben said.
“Is it?” Mayor Jim asked.
“Are you trying to convince us this isn’t a big deal?” Johnny asked.
“I would never do that,” Mayor Jim said. “I’m just offering another suggestion. Think about it. Some teenagers looking for fun. Looking for trouble. Hey, Allie, you’ve got a teenage niece at home.”
Now I felt the anger rise up in me. “Tell me you’re not suggesting that my niece put a note on my windshield.”