The Eligible Suspect

by Jennifer Morey

  Korbin was all of those things. If he didn’t pursue her, it wouldn’t be because he hadn’t been honest. That made falling for him that much more complicated. Dangerous. And irresistible.

  Chapter 13

  Demarco went back into the hospital room to the chair he’d occupied for hours. Damen was still unconscious. When he’d first seen him the sight had shocked him. One of his eyes was purple and swollen shut. Cuts were all over his face. He looked like a torture victim. Bullied and beaten. It filled him with rage and reminded him of a time in high school.

  The quarterback for the school team had it out for Damen after he stole his girlfriend’s wallet. He’d stolen the wallet because she’d ridiculed him for asking her out. Back then, Damen had believed anything was possible, that he was capable of doing anything he set his mind to. That he was worthy, even though he was picked on in school.

  The girl had laughed and said, “Why would I want to go out with you?”

  The kids around had all laughed and then the quarterback had appeared, slipping his arm around her waist while everyone snickered and called him names. Damen never knew it, but Demarco had witnessed the whole thing.

  The incident had so humiliated Damen, he’d retaliated by stealing the girl’s wallet and spending her money on hemorrhoid cream, which he’d put in her locker along with her empty wallet. Everyone had known Damen was the one to put it there.

  The quarterback had followed Damen home from school one night, and before Damen reached their place, jumped him and beat him up. Their mom had taken him to the doctor and Damen had refused to press charges. So Demarco had taken matters into his own hands.

  He’d followed the quarterback home with two of his biggest friends and they’d beaten him up. Before leaving him, Demarco whispered into the quarterback’s ear, “If I see you within ten feet of my brother ever again, I’ll kill you.”

  He’d been alarmed that he’d possessed the darkness to say those words, and had not said them since. But the quarterback had not bothered Damen again.

  His brother began to stir on the bed.

  Demarco rushed over to the side of the bed. Damen blinked the one eye groggily. He was slowly coming to.

  Demarco waited for him to look at him and for him to focus.

  “Where am I?” Damen asked in a raspy voice.

  “Pagosa Springs hospital. Do you remember why?”

  His brother screwed up his brow, and that turned into a wince. “Maguire.”

  Demarco felt a strong impulse to retaliate against Korbin. His love for his brother compelled him. Or was it a conditioned instinct? He’d protected Damen for so long he couldn’t react in any other way. He could almost forget about Collette.

  “I told you not to cause trouble with him, Damen.”

  His brother managed a weak laugh that made him wince. “Demarco. Always looking out for me.”

  Demarco put his hand on his shoulder briefly. “You’re my brother.”

  His one good eye blinked. “Even after I punch you, you come here for me?”

  “I’m trying to help you.”

  “Haven’t you been listening? It’s time for you to stop protecting me.”

  Frustration and sadness pushed tears into his eyes. “I don’t want to see you get hurt. I’ve always hated that, Damen. I only wanted you to be happy.”

  “I was happy before Korbin did this to me.” His cut and bruised mouth curved into a swollen smile.

  Demarco laughed. “Stop joking about this. I want my brother back.”

  “I never left you, Demarco.” He lifted his hand and put it on Demarco’s. “It’s going to be okay.”

  No, it wasn’t. Didn’t he see that? How could he think anything would be okay after he killed someone?

  “Why did you go after Korbin?” he asked. “He’s going to be arrested. Isn’t that enough for revenge?” He didn’t let on what he knew.

  Damen’s smile faded.

  “Did he discover something about your drug dealing?”

  Damen stared at him, his hand sliding off his chest and coming to rest on the bedside.

  “You can tell me. I’m your twin brother.”

  “No, Demarco. Some things I can’t tell you. You should just go back to your perfect life with your perfect business and perfect wife. Let me take care of my own affairs. I’m better at it than you think.”

  Is that how he saw him now? Was he envious? Of him?

  “Like murder?”

  Damen’s expression froze. For a long moment he studied him. “What?”

  “I saw you that morning,” Demarco said.

  Still, his expression didn’t change, not that there was much going on there due to a lot of skin damage. “What morning?”

  He’d had plenty of time to think on the way here. The detective. His wife. Damen. All of it. As torn as he was over what he saw, he had to at least let his brother in on the fact that he knew. Deciding what to do about it may depend on how his brother reacted.

  “The morning after you killed Collette,” he said.

  Rapid blinks of Damen’s eye were all that gave away his surprise. “What?”

  “I saw you leave your house with a gun and I saw what you did with it.”

  For a long time Damen stared up at him from the hospital bed, no doubt deciding how to respond. Deny or tell the truth? “What were you doing there?”

  “I’ve noticed a change in you. You’re secretive and you avoid me. I needed to talk to you. I went to your house and you were just leaving. You looked strange and I saw you put a gun in your pants. I followed you.”

  He pinned him with another long look. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I didn’t have the chance. You left for Wolf Creek.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me when you came to Julio’s cabin?”

  “I didn’t want to believe you did it.”

  Demarco felt the bond they had still gripping him.

  “I didn’t. Korbin did.”

  His lie was a betrayal. “Don’t lie to me, Damen. I’ve been in denial over this. After I saw what you did, I was worried about why you had a gun and why you disposed of it. And then I just didn’t want to accept what it must mean. And then I saw the news. You said you saw Korbin Maguire leave Collette’s house at the time of the murder.”

  Damen said nothing.

  “You lied,” Demarco said, the hurt deeper now. Saying it out loud, confronting him, made it real. His brother’s betrayal cut him to the bone. He didn’t want to lose him. But he was. And he was furious with him for doing that to him. To them.

  “I can explain,” Damen said.

  “Really?” How had his twin veered into such serious trouble? “You can explain why you’re justified in framing another man for your crimes?”

  “Demarco—”

  “Too bad his stepdaughter came forward and cleared him of the hit-and-run.”

  “What?”

  “Oh.” He feigned sympathy. “You didn’t know?” He leaned over the bed, bracing his hands on the thin mattress. “She must have arrived just after you stole his car. Yeah. She was parked out front for a couple of hours. Long enough to thwart your plan.”

  Damen eyed his face. “What’s gotten into you?”

  “Did you plan to kill Collette after that?” He had to hear him say it. To confirm it. That it hadn’t been planned. That it had been a crime of passion.

  “No. Demarco. I saw her meet Korbin. I went to her house after that and we talked. She said she did meet Korbin but she lied about why. I was so angry. After I ran that man over, I had an idea.”

  “To frame Korbin. Revenge.”

  “Did you plan to kill Collette?”

  Damen shook his head, rolling it slightly on the pillow. “No. After I ran that
man over, I went to her house. I needed an alibi . We argued...”

  And then he’d killed her. It hadn’t been planned. Only the hit-and-run had been planned. Damen had seen what he wanted to see, what his weak ego had seen. “So you decided to kill her?”

  “He was going to take her away from me.”

  And there it was. The truth. An awful truth. “Was he, Damen? Was he going to take her away from you? Or was Collette tired of being treated like a dog? Wasn’t it she who was going away from you? It was her choice, not Korbin’s. Am I right?”

  “Stop it.”

  “You had it all figured out in your mind, didn’t you? Everyone’s out to get you. The world against Damen. So Damen fought back.”

  Damen shook his head. “No.”

  His anger reached a boiling point. How could Damen have done this? How could he be so stupid? Did he actually think he could get away with it? “You always had it in you. You always fought and bullied your way to respect. When in fact you’re just a puny man shaking a big fist.”

  “Why did you come here if that’s how you feel?”

  He hadn’t felt this way until now. Right now. “I wasn’t sure how I felt. But now I am. My own twin brother...a murderer. You repulse me.”

  Damen blanched at first. Finally, something he said penetrated. But it was short-lived. Then grim resolve settled in. “What are you going to do?”

  Demarco’s opinion of him had mattered for a few seconds and then Damen was back to fighting the world. “You’d rather kill Collette than let her go?” Demarco shook his head in disgust. “What happened to you?” He was so angry on so many levels he could barely see straight. He felt like a fool for enabling his brother for so many years. And yet he felt a horrible, gaping hole opening up in his chest.

  As Damen continued to look at him impassively, Demarco’s fury and pain mounted. “I asked you a question.”

  Damen merely blinked. Absolute on his path of destruction. He believed no one could help him. Even Demarco. He had stepped in too many times. When Damen had begun to falter, Demarco should have let him find his own way. How different would things be today if he had let the bullies run their course?

  The sound of a knock on the hospital room door tabled Demarco’s next attack. One last attempt to talk sense into his brother. He was slipping further and further away and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He’d lost Damen years ago. When? He could not say exactly, only knew he should have distanced himself. Twin or not, Damen was right about one thing. He had to find his own way.

  “Ah. He awakens,” the doctor said as he entered the room.

  Demarco stepped back and watched as the man checked Damen and half listened as he asked several questions. How would this change things between them? Damen had committed murder. What would he do knowing he’d seen him throw the murder weapon away?

  He caught Damen’s glance and saw the threatened look in his eyes. Demarco met it with indifference and a curse that resonated inside his head. A curse to his brother for causing this tragedy.

  What are you going to do? his brother mouthed as the doctor turned his back to write a few notes.

  Demarco met his paranoid eye and didn’t respond, sickened that he still didn’t have an answer to that.

  “When can I leave this place?” Damen asked the doctor.

  “Let’s see how you do today.” The doctor wouldn’t give an exact time or day of his release and Demarco was glad. The longer Damen was in here the better.

  “There’s a policeman waiting to have a word with you,” the doctor said. “Two of them.”

  “Here?” Damen seemed surprised that the police were here. And then the confusion cleared. They were here to talk to him about his condition and what had caused it. “Right. Send them in.”

  Demarco stepped back farther as the doctor left and the first police detective entered. While he introduced himself, the second one entered and gave Demarco a jolt. It was Gunderman. He stayed back and leaned against the wall, glancing at him with a nod of greeting.

  The other detective had finished up small talk with Damen and now asked about how he ended up in the hospital. Demarco began to listen.

  “How did you know Mr. Maguire would be at Julio Chavis’s cabin?” the detective asked.

  “They’re friends,” Damen said. “It was a guess.” He struggled to sit up.

  Demarco stepped forward to help him, an automatic impulse. His brother looked at him in surprise. He adjusted the pillows behind his back, catching the way Gunderman noticed.

  “Why did you try to find him?” the detective asked.

  “He killed my girlfriend.” Damen slid a glance up to Demarco, silently daring him to intervene.

  “So you planned to...what...?”

  “Make sure he was arrested.” Damen’s sarcasm revealed the lie. He’d gone to kill Korbin.

  “Why didn’t you call police and inform them of this cabin?”

  Damen didn’t answer right away. “Maybe I needed to talk to him first.”

  His belligerence shouldn’t come as a shock to Demarco. His brother had never been a sharp cheese.

  Gunderman moved forward then, standing beside the other detective. Damen looked at him with his one eye.

  “I’ll take it from here,” he said to the other detective. That one nodded and left the room.

  “I’m Detective Gunderman from the Denver Police Department.” He showed him his badge.

  “Are you aware that Mr. Maguire now has an alibi for the hit-and-run?” At Damen’s silence, Gunderman said, “That means Mr. Maguire’s car was stolen.”

  Damen stared at the man a few seconds. “Okay...?”

  “Did you steal it?”

  “Me?”

  The cops were onto him. They suspected he may have stolen Korbin’s car. But why? What had made them think that was a possibility?

  Gunderman was still waiting for a response.

  “No,” Damen said.

  “Where were you that night?”

  “You asked me that already. I was working at home until late and then went over to Collette’s. After seeing Korbin leave her house, I found her dead.”

  “Can anyone verify you were at home?”

  Damen smirked. “I live alone.”

  “Mr. Maguire told us he met this woman at the Laughing Grass Pizzeria. The day before her murder. Were you aware of that?”

  “No.”

  Demarco saw how Gunderman remained calm but Demarco sensed he knew Damen was lying. “Here’s the problem I have, Mr. Ricchetti. Mr. Maguire’s car was found abandoned after a fatal hit-and-run, and then your girlfriend turns up murdered. All in the same night. How does that happen?”

  Damen stared at him. He was beginning to realize he might be in trouble. Real trouble.

  “I don’t know,” Damen finally said.

  “Mr. Maguire said your girlfriend was afraid you’d hurt her. Her sister and a close friend said the same thing.”

  “I never would have hurt Collette. I loved her. Korbin is lying.”

  Demarco found it remarkable that his brother had said “loved” instead of “love.” And it wasn’t because she was dead. He’d loved her until he thought that she wanted another man and that she was going to leave him.

  After a moment watching Damen, Gunderman nodded a few times, noncommittal, disbelieving.

  “Are you planning to return to Denver when you’re released?” he finally asked.

  “Yes.”

  Once more, he nodded. Then he turned to Demarco. “Can I have a word with you outside?”

  Demarco glanced at his brother and then said, “Sure.”

  He followed the detective into the hallway, where they faced each other.

  “Have you given this some thought sinc
e we last talked?” Gunderman asked.

  He’d thought of nothing else. His life had pretty much come to a screeching halt ever since he’d seen Damen toss that gun.

  Gunderman put his hands on his hips with a frustrated sigh. “I’m going to get down to the truth one way or the other.”

  He wasn’t ready to throw his brother to the wolves. Not when he was just inside the hospital room.

  “Do you think my brother killed his girlfriend, Detective?” he asked.

  “We’re looking at every possibility. At this point he’s a person of interest.”

  Demarco was tempted to blurt out what he saw, and mortified that he’d even consider doing so. His own brother. Except his brother wasn’t his brother anymore. He wasn’t the boy from his childhood. The defenseless brother. He was a criminal.

  “I understand the position you’re in,” Gunderman said. “He’s your twin brother. You have an instinct to protect him. But if you’re hiding something crucial to this case, you can be prosecuted right along with him.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t want that to happen,” he said with a note of lightness. Inside, he thought of his wife and what prosecution would do to her.

  “You have my card,” Gunderman said, then gave him a wave in farewell and started down the hall. Demarco watched him go and then intended to go back into the hospital room, but nausea took him to the bathroom before he could go in and face his brother again.

  Splashing cold water on his face, he stared at himself in the mirror, eyes round and shadowed with dark circles, his face gaunt.

  When Demarco was ready to leave the restroom, he went out into the hall. Standing outside Damen’s room, he didn’t go inside. His brother was someone else now and it was too late to save him.