The Darkest Hour

by Anina Collins

  My heart sank a little more with each word that came out of her mouth. She was saying Alex had begun to see Bethany in the past few weeks, but how could that be when he spent every night with me? Even when he worked the overnight shift, we saw each other at the Madison for at least a few minutes.

  I stared at her as she spoke and knew she had to be wrong. She had to be mistaking Alex for someone else. “Are you sure it was the same man she’d been seeing before? He couldn’t just look like the same guy?”

  She shook her head. “Nope. It was the same guy. I’d remember someone like him. I thought they made a good looking couple, but from what I saw last night, they weren’t a good couple at all.”

  “What did you see?” I asked, my heart in my throat as I waited for her answer.

  “They were fighting and she was furious at him. I’d never seen them fight like that before. He grabbed her shoulders to stop her from lashing out and hitting him after he said something I couldn’t hear. I just know it was bad.”

  Derek interrupted her story and asked, “Did he hurt her as they fought?”

  I wanted to scream that Alex would never hurt anyone like he was insinuating. I didn’t know what was going on, but I knew Alex. He couldn’t have hurt Bethany like that.

  “No,” Mallory said with a shrug. “It wasn’t like that. He wasn’t trying to beat her up or anything. She was the one who was getting physical. Whatever he said to her made her angry as a hornet, and she let him know it. She got one shot in before he grabbed her shoulders to keep her from getting another one in.”

  “How did you see this?” I asked, my mind scrambling for anything that would discredit her claims. “Where were you when this was all going on?”

  Turning to look at her apartment on the first floor next to where I knew Bethany lived, she pointed and said, “Right there in my front window. They weren’t more than five feet away from me since it all happened in front of her door.”

  Disappointed, I looked at where her window was in relation to Bethany’s front door. Each apartment was set up the same—a large front window that took up the left half of each one’s façade and a front door at the right edge of it. I’d teased Bethany once when I found out she’d moved in there that the place had always reminded me of a motel on the side of the road with the way it looked.

  “Is that all? Can I go back inside and try to forget this whole night now?” Mallory asked in a pleading tone.

  Derek gave her another forced smile. “Don’t forget anything you saw, but feel free to go home for the time being. If we have any more questions, we’ll let you know.”

  She hurried off to her apartment as everything I’d heard whirled around in my brain. None of what she said was possible. It couldn’t have been Alex.

  As my world began to crumble down around me, I heard Derek ask me something and turned to see his sad eyes looking at me. “What? I didn’t hear you.”

  He struggled with his words before finally saying, “I know you’ve gotten closer to Alex lately, and I don’t want to think what Mallory said is true any more than you do. The fact is, though, that the person she described is Alex. I know this isn’t what you want to hear right now, but is it possible he started seeing Bethany again?”

  Without thinking, I answered, “No! I don’t care what she said. Alex wasn’t back to seeing Bethany. He wouldn’t do that. He’d tell me.”

  “Would he?” Derek asked, obviously skeptical that a man would tell his current girlfriend that he’d decided to go back to seeing his previous one. I didn’t blame Derek. I would have been skeptical too if it wasn’t my personal life at the center of this case.

  Then something Bethany had told me right before Christmas popped into my head. “Her sister was in town. I remember Bethany had told me that her sister was coming to stay at the beginning of January for a couple weeks. Where is she? She should still be staying with her.”

  “There’s no one in the apartment, Poppy.”

  “Then someone needs to find her sister. She’s her only relative since her mother died three years ago and I know for a fact that she said she was coming to stay with her. We need to find her. Her name is Mariah Lewis.”

  Derek whistled for Craig to come over. “Bethany’s sister was staying with her. We didn’t find any evidence of her in the apartment, so I want an APB put out for her. And ask that neighbor if she saw anyone staying with Bethany recently.”

  Craig hurried off to start the search, and I saw an even more worried expression settle into Derek’s usually appealing features.

  “What are you thinking?” I asked, afraid to hear his answer.

  He shook his head and then finally said, “I don’t know. I’m worried whoever killed Bethany did something to her sister and I can’t ignore the fact that the person Mallory Michaels described is the ex-boyfriend of the victim and one of my officers.”

  “Alex couldn’t do this. I know him better than anyone else and I’m telling you he wouldn’t do this.”

  Derek gave me one of his forced, official smiles. “I hope you’re right, but I don’t have a choice in the matter. I have to look at him as a suspect, Poppy. I hope you understand.”

  I didn’t. I couldn’t figure out what had happened to Bethany and if Alex was involved at all. My heart said he wasn’t, and my gut agreed, but my head wasn’t so sure.

  Chapter Two

  Derek stopped his squad car and shifted into park before turning to face me. His expression troubled, he opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. I’d known Derek Hampton since I was a little girl, and never once had I seen him not be able to say what was on his mind. He had become more diplomatic since becoming police chief, but that wasn’t what was going on as he stared at me saying nothing.

  “I just need to know you’re going to remember he’s innocent before being proven guilty, Derek. I know in my heart Alex would never do this, but if you have to go on facts alone and won’t allow yourself to admit you know him too, then at least give him the chance you’d give any other suspect. Don’t rush to judgment.”

  Hanging his head, he said, “I’m not a bad guy, Poppy, but I have to go where the evidence takes me. You know that. I just want you to accept the fact that the person Mallory Michaels saw fighting with Bethany last night was Alex.”

  Before Derek could go any further, I cut him off. “That doesn’t make him a murderer. I won’t believe Alex did that to her. He couldn’t. I know him better than anyone else and I know he couldn’t do that, so just remember that.”

  He nodded, but I knew he could believe Alex could do this horrible thing. What I didn’t understand was how he so easily allowed that thought to settle into his mind as a possibility. He knew the type of person Alex was. He’d seen him work with me for nearly a year. How could he believe in any way that he would ever hurt anyone, much less murder someone he once cared about?

  I didn’t ask because I didn’t want to know, to be honest. Whatever Derek had conjured up in his mind to justify even considering Alex as a suspect wouldn’t make sense to me. All I knew was he was wrong.

  Derek got out of the car and I followed him to the front door of Alex’s house, my heart pounding like a sledgehammer in my chest. Never in my worst nightmares had I ever thought I’d be standing there on his porch with one of his fellow officers to question him on a murder he was suspected of committing.

  “Let me do the talking, Poppy. I shouldn’t even have you here since he’s your partner, so I need you to promise me you’ll stay quiet.”

  I looked up at him and shook my head. I couldn’t promise that and mean it, no matter how much he wished it was so. Alex was my work partner, but he was so much more than that. How could I just sit idly by if I saw Derek do something to hurt him?

  “I won’t get in the way of your questions, but I won’t promise to stay quiet either, Derek. You knew who I was when you got into that car with me. My guess is you’re hoping I won’t keep my mouth shut and Alex may say something that will help you.”


  He banged on the door and sighed. “What I’m hoping is this is all a huge mistake and one of my best officers didn’t slit a woman’s throat.”

  As I stood there in the January cold waiting for Alex to come to the door, all I could hope was he had an airtight alibi for the hours after nine o’clock last night when he left my house. He’d said he needed to go home because he wasn’t feeling well. Had that been a lie to allow him time to go see Bethany? I didn’t want to consider that possibility because even letting that tiny question into my brain meant a legion of other questions would follow that would make me doubt everything Alex and I had become in the months since that first kiss on my couch.

  I couldn’t handle finding out it had all been a lie. No, not Alex. Not the man I knew.

  The front door opened slowly and we saw him standing in black sweatpants and a grey t-shirt, his expression one of confusion as he looked out at us. Nobody said a word for what seemed like an eternity, and then when he finally did speak, he sounded like he’d just rolled out of bed seconds earlier.

  “What’s wrong?” he groggily croaked out, his eyes squinting from the brightness of the porch light.

  “We need to speak to you, Alex. Can we come in?”

  I hated the sound of Derek’s official tone. He didn’t have to be like that with one of his officers.

  “Derek, what’s going on?” Alex asked as he scrubbed the sleep from his face.

  “Can we come in, Alex? There’s been a murder and we need to speak to you about it.”

  That time Derek dropped the veil of his position and let the real man come through his words. The real man who sounded scared to find out the truth.

  I stood there staring at Alex, looking for something to tell me he couldn’t have done this crime so I could show Derek he was wrong. I saw nothing to prove his innocence or guilt. He looked like a man who had been asleep all night, but I couldn’t use that to defend him. I knew all too well how easy it was to playact just having woken up. I’d done it many times to avoid going out with friends when all I wanted to do was stay home and curl up with a good book.

  He stepped back out of the way and opened the door to let us in. I saw the confusion in his eyes as I passed and wished I could pull him aside to say I needed him to know I didn’t believe he could ever commit such a heinous crime. I knew I couldn’t and risk being thrown off the investigation, though, so I hoped my gentle squeeze of his hand as I walked by would let him know I was in his corner and wouldn’t be leaving, no matter what happened.

  He closed the door and followed us to the living room, offering us a seat like we were friends come to visit. If only that was true. I took my place on the couch next to Derek and Alex sat down in the chair across from us, but my position felt wrong. I shouldn’t have been seated next to the person who was there to question him about committing a crime. I felt like a traitor to everything I felt for him sitting there next to Derek.

  “What’s so urgent about a murder that you need to come see me at five in the morning?” Alex asked with a smile. “This couldn’t wait until I got to the station in a couple hours? Did someone important get murdered?”

  I looked to my left to see Derek studying him just as Alex always did when he and I went to speak to murder suspects. I knew just what he was looking for. Did Alex sound guilty? Did it sound like he was forcing the calmness in his voice? Was that smile real? Had he truly been sleeping or was that all an act?

  And then Alex looked over at me, and I saw the concern in his dark eyes. “Poppy, what’s going on? Who was murdered?”

  Before I could answer him and somehow let him know that I didn’t think he could ever do this horrible crime, Derek spoke up and began his questioning. “Bethany Lewis was found murdered in the front seat of her car a few hours ago. Her throat had been slit from behind.”

  His words hung like a thousand pound weight that threatened to crush whatever friendship and love had grown between the three of us, and I watched Alex’s expression change from that playful joking look to one full of utter sadness. I couldn’t help but think that even though he could never had killed her, maybe he and Bethany had rekindled their relationship and I had been wrong about that. I didn’t want to think that, though, because if I had been wrong about him seeing her again, had I been wrong about anything else?

  Alex lowered his head and mumbled, “Jesus. Poor Bethany.”

  When he looked up again, I saw tears in his eyes. I wanted to take him in my arms and be the one who comforted him like he had been for me when I needed a shoulder to cry on. I didn’t, though, instead remaining next to Derek even as my body ached to hold him.

  He sat back in the chair and shook his head in disbelief. “How did this happen? Who would do that to her?”

  Wincing like he was in pain, Derek took a deep breath and said, “Well, that’s what we wanted to talk to you about.”

  Unlike when he announced Bethany had been murdered, this news settled in between us like some uncomfortable ugliness almost too much to acknowledge. Alex’s eyes opened wide in surprise and his mouth dropped open.

  “You think I had something to do with this?” he asked in a tone of disbelief mixed with shock and hurt as he stared at Derek, thankfully. If he had been facing me when he asked that, I wasn’t sure I would be able to handle it.

  “One of her neighbors said she saw you and Bethany fighting outside her apartment hours earlier. I’m just doing my job here.”

  “My wife was murdered, Derek. I remember the investigators coming to me first since they always look to the husband first. I also remember the pain of knowing she was never coming back again. I’d never see her smile, hear her laugh, feel her arms around me. Your job may be to ask me these questions, but I just found out someone I once cared about was murdered. I hope you’ll understand that I have no answers for you just like I had no answers for the cops in Baltimore when Helena died.”

  I’d never heard Alex so angry before. His brown eyes so caring and mysterious flashed his rage. Derek saw it too and leaned back away, surprised by his reaction.

  “I’m not saying we think you did this, Alex. I’m just saying I have to ask you some questions. I want to clear this all up as much as you do.”

  Alex stood from his chair and looked down at us as he shook his head. “You have no idea what it’s like to be questioned as a suspect in a murder, Derek. I see it in your eyes even as you sit here in my living room. You think there’s a possibility I did it. You think I could have taken a knife and slit someone’s throat.”

  Then he turned to look at me for the first time, and the agony in his expression nearly took my breath away. Searching my eyes for the truth, he asked, “Do you believe I could do this, Poppy?”

  My emotions jumbled, I just shook my head as the words got caught in my throat. No, I didn’t think he could kill Bethany! I didn’t think he could kill anyone like that. He was honorable and good. Alex wasn’t a murderer. No matter what happened, I wouldn’t be able to believe that.

  He turned back to face Derek. “My chief and my partner come here to find out if I murdered a woman I used to sleep with. Is that how it is? Well, I didn’t. I was here all night asleep.”

  “Are you saying you didn’t go to Bethany’s last night and have an argument with her outside her front door?” Derek asked sharply.

  Now it was me who looked at Alex for anything to cling to. He glanced over at me and then quickly looked away. “I did go to Bethany’s last night. I was home before ten, though.”

  His admission hit me like a punch to my chest, taking my breath away. He had gone to see Bethany last night? Why? From what he’d told me the last time I asked a few weeks ago, he and Bethany didn’t even talk much anymore since he and I had decided we wanted to see what was happening between the two of us. We were taking it slow, but we’d professed our feelings to each other and I’d believed him when he told me I was the only woman in his life.

  Had I been a fool to trust him when he said that?

&n
bsp; Derek continued with his questions as I sat next to him reeling from Alex’s first answer. “Why did you go to her apartment?”

  Taking his seat again, Alex blew the air out of his lungs and answered, “She called me and asked me to come over.”

  “I had been under the impression that you and Bethany had stopped seeing one another a while back sometime in the fall. Why would she want to see you now?”

  “Sunset Ridge really is a gossipy little town, isn’t it?” Alex snapped. Avoiding my gaze now firmly settled on him as I awaited the rest of his answer, he continued, “Your impression was correct. She and I stopped seeing each other early in the fall. As for why she wanted to see me, we’d remained friends so it isn’t so surprising she’d call me.”

  They’d stayed close enough friends that Bethany felt comfortable to call him and he responded by going to her house after claiming he was sick and leaving mine? I didn’t want to admit it, but I was beginning to doubt him. Nothing he’d ever said to me since we began seeing each other in October had given me any indication he was still speaking to her in any way, friendly or otherwise, and now I had to find out they were still close enough that if she called him he immediately went running to her?

  “And did you have an argument?” Derek asked.

  Alex shook his head and pressed his lips together before he said, “I don’t think it’s any of your business if we had an argument or not. I just told you I left her place by ten and I was home all night asleep, so I’m not your killer.”

  Turning to look at me, Derek frowned. He’d asked a simple, straightforward question and Alex had intentionally hedged answering it. The question was why, and I knew Derek wasn’t going to let it go with his evasive answer. I wanted to know what they’d fought about too, but for different reasons.

  “So are you saying you did or didn’t have an argument?” Derek pressed. “I just want to be sure I’m understanding things here.”

  Alex leveled an angry stare at him. “I didn’t say one way or the other.”