“All siblings had a complicated relationship with their father.”
“I have a complicated relationship with my kids. Try again, Carpenter.”
“We went over everything, his business relations, the charities, everyone who knew him loved him. He was one of the rare examples of someone highly privileged who put his money to good. The only people who didn’t profit from that, as much as they wanted to anyway, were his children. The psychiatrist confirmed that this was his main concern, that they took the wealth for granted. Now, Mrs. Santos’ niece is the first person in the circle who had access to the drug that debilitated Mr. Ashcroft. She has no motive, but she drives a company car, and she had samples in the car.”
“Did she mention that anything was missing, or stolen recently?”
“No.”
That was a detail that didn’t sit well with Jordan either. If Aleja had noticed drugs missing, but not reported them, it could mean she was trying to protect her aunt.
“Then make sure that is not the case. You said it yourself, this is the first connection to the drug. That’s not a coincidence.”
“I agree, sir, but…”
“I want you to concentrate on that angle. Thanks, Detective. That would be all.”
Jordan returned to her desk, unsure whether she should be frustrated or encouraged about this new development. Clearly, many people they had talked to had left out inconvenient parts of the truth. Did Mrs. Santos have no idea about the specifics of her niece’s job, or had she deliberately not mentioned them? And Aleja…Judging from the scene at the D&T, she could be aggressive, but, in Jordan’s opinion, that wasn’t enough to make her a good suspect. The murder of Ashcroft showed planning, very unlike punching someone in public.
Still, she couldn’t ignore that Aleja was the one who was aware of the effects the drug would have.
Either way, it wasn’t a coincidence. She called Kate to see if she had found anything in the siblings’ financial records.
* * * *
Monday morning came with unexpected tensions as Jordan’s theory became less likely. Doss had been able to ID the victim in her murder case, and she had last been seen leaving the D&T with another woman. The bartender had made a positive ID: Aleja Santos. She was brought in and waiting for Doss in an interrogation room.
Now Aleja was connected to two homicides happening within less than a month, which didn’t bode well for her.
“I’m coming with you,” Jordan declared.
Maria shrugged. “Help yourself. As my partner and every other cop is still busy on your case…”
“We don’t make the assignments, Maria.”
“I didn’t mean to suggest otherwise. Come on.”
“All right.”
Aleja breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Jordan walking into the room.
“Thank God you’re here. You’re going to tell them it’s all a misunderstanding, right? I didn’t kill anybody.”
“Detective Doss here needs to ask you a few questions, okay?”
“If it’s just a few questions, why am I here?” Aleja asked suspiciously. “Shouldn’t I call a lawyer?”
Jordan doubted that she had her own lawyer. “If you feel at any time that you did something that requires legal assistance, sure, a public defender will be here for you. For now, it’s just that—questions.”
Maria’s expression had gone from surprised to impatient.
“Can we do this now? We have witnesses that saw you leave a bar, the D&T, with Sandra Paulson. Apparently, you were the last one to see her alive.”
“Before the person who killed her, you mean.” Aleja’s eyes filled with tears. “I have no idea what happened to her. We parted ways, she said she’d call me when she got home, but she never did. I assumed she had forgotten. We didn’t really know each other all that well. That’s what it’s like with the people you meet at the D&T. You can ask your colleague here.”
“Something you want to add to that, Jordan?” Maria asked mildly.
“If you want to talk about that night, Aleja? I was there with my girlfriend, not that it’s any of your concern’s, or Detective Doss’s, for that matter. You nearly got thrown out for starting a fight.”
“I’d like to hear more of that.”
Aleja shook her head. “You’re just as bad as the Ashcrofts, not the old man, I mean, but his offspring. They always expect the worst of me and my aunt.”
“Right now, you’re the only person connecting two murder cases. This is a fact, not anybody’s expectation. It would help if you told the whole truth.”
“There is nothing else! Sandra came on to me in that bar. We had fun together. I never expected us to start dating, but I thought it was shitty that she never even called…Of course I didn’t know someone murdered her. Damn it. I went back to the bar. I hung out with another girl, and then her girlfriend showed up. You know the rest,” she said to Jordan to whom this testimony sounded oddly familiar. She had seen her fair share of relationship drama. Being with Ellie was smooth sailing in comparison, even with the obstacles thrown in their way from the start.
“We helped contain the situation,” she explained to Maria. “At that time, we didn’t know about Aleja’s job or the fact that she was connected to Paulson. Aleja, is there anything you can remember about the night you went out with her? Somebody she talked to, anything?”
“Not really. I just thought it was strange…she was very focused from the first moment. Like she came in and had it all figured out that moment. I realized it probably wasn’t the first time for her, picking up someone like that, but I didn’t mind. I believe in serial monogamy. As long as the person is not otherwise involved, it’s cool.”
Jordan uncomfortably felt like this young kid was giving her a lesson in relationship etiquette, and someone she knew would have a field day with that. Fortunately, she didn’t get to analyze Jordan’s mistakes any longer.
“Let me talk to Detective Doss for a second. Don’t worry, Aleja. We’re grateful for your help.”
“Don’t worry, Aleja?” Maria echoed once they were outside the door. “Okay, first of all, I didn’t say you could question her. Given the fact that I was going to ask those questions, oh well, I can let that go.”
“I’m sorry. Henderson never lets me be the good cop.” Jordan realized too late that this joke was seriously misplaced with Maria. “Okay. I’m really sorry. That was probably uncalled for. For the record, I didn’t approve the way my partner—”
“It’s fine. I wasn’t going to discuss this with you, now, or ever. Let’s go back to what just happened. What is your angle?”
“My angle is that she had no motive, with Ashcroft or Paulson. Her aunt, the housekeeper, was romantically involved with Mrs. Santos. He was apparently kind to her, and he invested in LGBT charities. Aleja liked him. As for Sandra Paulson, why would she want to kill a woman she had a one-night-stand with? That doesn’t make sense.”
“You think? You said it yourself, she started a fight. The situation had to be contained. It doesn’t look to me like she was planning to kill anyone, but the situation might have gotten out of hand. And she’s connected to your high profile case.”
Jordan shook her head.
“So you think she was acting impulsively? That’s not what happened with Ashcroft. No, someone wants her to look like a good suspect. I just don’t know yet, why. Mrs. Santos wants to leave the house so she doesn’t have to deal with the siblings’ antics any longer. She got some money, but not an outrageously high sum. I’m coming back to the lack of motive, for both of them.”
“If I find you that motive, will you give up on your conspiracy theory?”
“Sure. I don’t think you will, though.”
“You’re ready to let me finish this?”
“Yeah. I promise I will keep my mouth shut.”
Aleja left the department minutes later. At least she wasn’t threatening to sue. It had become an unsettlingly familiar part of the day.
&nbs
p; * * * *
To Jordan’s surprise, Craig Ashcroft came in later that day, asking to talk to her. “What can I do for you?” she asked, hoping this conversation wouldn’t end in another stern reproach from the lieutenant.
“Thanks for seeing me, Detective. I actually came here to apologize. Some of the things I said…I understand you’re doing your job. So—I’m sorry.”
“I appreciate that,” Jordan said, fairly baffled. “It’s a difficult time for your family.”
“You could say that. Dealing with my father’s death has not been easy. Dealing with my siblings…You can imagine. When you suggested that any of us could have something to do with this, I snapped. I didn’t mean to.” He hesitated long enough for the pause to become awkward, before he said, “I realize we’re family too, in a way. It’s not easy to be out at work, to everyone.”
“Mr. Ashcroft, thank you.” Jordan didn’t want to confirm nor deny anything, though she was asking herself where he could have gotten that information. “Since you’re here, can I ask you a question?”
“Of course.”
“Mrs. Santos’ niece, Aleja, do you know her? Does she come around often?”
“Oh, sure. She actually came out to me before she told her aunt. Why? Do you think she has something to do with my father’s death?”
“Just curious. If you excuse me now, I have to…”
“Yes, sure, you’re at work. We’re good?”
“Yes,” she said, giving him a polite smile. “We’re good.”
“Oh, before I forget about it. Abigail asked me to give you this.” He handed her an envelope imprinted with gold and purple. “It’s an invitation. She’s launching her cosmetics line, and she thought you might be interested. You can bring a plus one.” He laughed wistfully. “Yeah, the timing might be odd, but she wants to dedicate this to Dad. He helped her out so much, it would serve no one if she just gave it up. Can I tell her you’ll come?”
“I’ll think about it. Thanks.”
She watched him leave, then turned to the notes on her desk, containing every aspect of the “conspiracy theory.”
“What the hell was that about?”
Chapter Ten
The bad news kept coming for Aleja. She had no alibi. Her DNA was all over Sandra Paulson’s body. In a storage unit Aleja had rented, Doss and Waters had discovered rope crusted in blood, under a plastic tarp, and a set of tires which matched the tracks found in the alley where Sandra Paulson had been left.
“This is too much of a coincidence, don’t you see that?”
Jordan still believed in her theory, and she had no trouble opposing the opinion held by the lieutenant, the other detectives, and A.D.A Esposito.
“It’s all there,” Waters said. “The owner ID’d her. She doesn’t deny everything else in there belongs to her. Books, tools, some furniture. You might want to take a look too. There’s a lot of medical stuff there.”
“If she was such a clever mastermind, don’t you think she would have hidden some of it better?”
“She used an alias,” Valerie said. “Maybe she got in over her head. Paulson might have found out that she killed Ashcroft and tried to blackmail her—”
“None of which we can prove.”
“And she needed to get rid of the witness,” the A.D.A. continued, unfazed by Jordan’s interruption. “Jordan, I can understand that after all you’ve been through, you hate to see a young woman go down for this, but these are the facts. We have her on Paulson. If she didn’t act alone, we could help her somewhat if she gave up that other person.”
“You’re thinking about Mrs. Santos? That’s ridiculous.”
“Carpenter,” the lieutenant scolded. “A.D.A Esposito will go forward with the Paulson case. If there’s another charge to add, you better bring it soon.”
“There’s something else,” Valerie said. “I’m going to need you to testify what you saw that night in the bar.”
Just like that, all eyes were on her. This day was quickly heading towards bizarre, Jordan thought. Like she’d told Ashcroft junior earlier, her workplace wasn’t hostile. That didn’t mean she wanted to detail her activities after work in a courtroom.
She regretted taking Ellie there, based on a few rave reviews about the cocktails.
“If that’s what you need. I’m going to take a look at what you found in that storage unit. You think she locked her in there?”
Jordan still had a hard time believing Aleja had strangled the woman with her bare hands.
“It’s likely. We’re going to find out soon.”
* * * *
Instead of the Night Shift, she had agreed to another night at Kate and Ellie’s. It was practical, but it also meant a lot less distance from work, and not just geographically. Neither Kate nor Ellie were home yet. She found Derek enjoying a beer after his day in court. Jordan was uncomfortably reminded of Valerie’s words, and the fact that she was going to see her more often. Perhaps, at some point, she had to come clean and tell Ellie the whole story. Then again, Ellie was and had always been more oriented towards the future. She might be okay not knowing all about Jordan’s past mistakes. At the very least, she could guess.
Derek took another beer from the fridge and handed it to her.
“Okay, shoot. What did I miss?”
“Maria made an arrest. If we’re lucky, we can put the Ashcroft case to rest as well.”
She cringed at the thought.
“Good for her,” he said, his voice level. “You don’t seem too happy about it. Why is it not the big deal it should be?”
“I don’t know. If she has a good public defender, I’m afraid the case is going to fall apart. Maybe I’m afraid it’s not.”
“Why? You don’t believe she did it?”
“It’s all too easy. Maybe someone made an effort to make it that easy for us.”
“It fits though, the evidence against her, her behavior at the bar, and access to the heart medication. You think someone framed her?” Derek asked incredulously.
“I know it, but I can’t prove it. Come on, when do we ever have evidence fall into our laps like this?”
“It happens.”
“Yeah. I’m not sure it happened in this case. Are we even paying for this?” she asked, pointing to the bottle. “I’m starting to feel like we’re taking advantage.”
Derek considered the question for much longer than he needed to, in Jordan’s opinion, which told her he wasn’t just thinking about the meals and drinks they’d had here lately.
“Maria is doing okay.” It sounded like a question.
“She is. She’s still a bit pissed at you, but she’ll get over it. Look, I didn’t mean to judge. I know it’s already late to say that, but this is between you and McCarthy. I get it. Do you know where this is going?”
He laughed. “Didn’t you just say this was between me and Kate?”
“I’m your partner. I still get to ask the nosy questions.”
“To be honest? I don’t know. This, for now, it works for both of us. She doesn’t seem to want more at this point, so that’s how it’s going to be. Are we going to talk about you and Harding?”
“We had the perfect vacation together. What else do you want to know?”
“You’re going to keep the house in the woods?”
“It’s not exactly ‘in the woods,’ and yes, I plan to keep it. I love living there. It’s not like it’s haunted or anything.”
“So you plan on asking her to come live with you at some point?”
For sure, it didn’t take a detective to identify the elephant in the room.
“We’re not there yet,” she said, got up and used a magnet to stick a twenty on the fridge, before she took out another couple of beers. “Pizza is going to be on you, if they ever get here.”
“All right, I get you. Is your mother still bothering you?”
“Not at the moment. Can we talk politics or the weather now?”
They both laughed. Jordan was gra
teful that she had managed to repair friendships on the verge of breaking, but she couldn’t deny Derek had brought up some uncomfortable subjects. Finally, they heard the key in the lock. Kate and Ellie were home.
* * * *
“I don’t know what the problem is. Life is good. There was an arrest, finally, which makes the lieutenant happy. I have a feeling…but that’s not it. I could be wrong. We might have found the person to tie it all together.”
“Somehow I don’t believe that’s giving you sleepless nights,” Dr. Burns concluded correctly.
“No.” Jordan sighed and turned from where she was standing by the window, to the psychiatrist. “I set the date with Kathryn. Now I’m worried she might actually want to do this, reconciliation, redemption, whatever. And I’m worried she won’t show up, which is ridiculous. This is what I know of her—not showing up. It’s the most likely scenario.”
“And what if she does?”
“It’s why I asked her to come to my house instead of going to a public place. She might be asking for absolution, all tearful, and if there were other people around, I wouldn’t have much of a choice, would I?”
“You feel pressured?”
“Wouldn’t you?”
“I can’t speak for your birthmother,” Dr. Burns said, “but whatever the plan is, this is something she obviously needs to do for herself, whatever the outcome. You need to figure out the part that is for you, what will help you move on.”
“I know what you’re going to say. Forgiveness is not for the other person, it’s for you, and it’s vital in order to let go. I lived with a psychiatrist for a long time. I picked up some of the lines.”
If Dr. Burns was offended by this assessment of her profession, she didn’t mention it.
“Well, we don’t all have the same lines all the time. In my opinion, we don’t always have to forgive, not even our parents. The letting go only works if it’s really right for you. It is up to you, you know.”
“Would that make me a terrible person? To hold on to my side of the story for so long?”
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