Suspicions with Murder (A Rilynne Evans Mystery, Book Four)

by Vakey, Jenn

  “Or her husband,” Rilynne stated. Danny laughed and nodded. “I don’t think going off on him in front of the police really helped her case. If anything, it made her look like she has a short fuse. I wonder why she did it?”

  Danny shrugged and leaned against the doorframe, his arms folded in front of him. “I really couldn’t even begin to speculate. I’m intrigued now, though, so I hope they release her motive when they find out.”

  “I’m sure they will,” she replied. “As long as she gives a reason. Some people don’t.”

  He was just about to speak again when Rilynne heard Mr. Lewis calling down the hall for him. After giving her a quick little smile, he started off toward him. Rilynne pulled herself up and walked to the door. After making sure no one else was on the way to see her, she shut the door and retreated to the chair in the corner.

  “Don’t listen to what you’re told,” she said aloud to herself. “Open your eyes and see it.” She closed her eyes and thought hard about the words, and what they could mean.

  “See it,” she said again, and she did.

  Brittney was standing at the top of the stairs, wiping the banister with the rag in her left hand. She looked over her shoulder and laughed. She was talking to someone behind her, but Rilynne couldn’t see who else was in the room. She appeared to be speaking loudly, but no sound could be heard.

  Brittney turned back to the work in front of her, still laughing. She took a step down and had just reached out toward the railing when a sharp pain spread through her back.

  Her legs gave out beneath her and she fell forward down the stairs. The pain spread through her body with every tumble she took. She could feel the bones breaking as her body slammed against the hard steps.

  She let out a painful moan as she neared the bottom of the steps. The pain was too much to handle. She felt herself drifting away as the blackness closed in around her. When her body finally came to a rest on the floor below, she was met with a hopeful sight.

  Just before the blackness overcame her, she saw Cyndi Lewis rushing into the room toward her. She couldn’t remember ever being so happy to see anyone.

  Rilynne opened her eyes and reached for her phone, but hesitated. She could just call in the situation and let them know what she had discovered, but she knew that wouldn’t be enough. She wouldn’t be able to put it all together unless she could speak to Cyndi Lewis herself. If she called it into the station first, she knew she would be ordered to stay put.

  She didn’t even bother changing out of her uniform before rushing toward her door. Rilynne glanced up and down the hall to make sure no one was around before sneaking out the backdoor. She looked around the corner and saw two of the security guards standing under a large shade tree, deep in conversation. When she was sure they weren’t looking, she rushed toward the tree line. She was on the opposite side of the house from the path that Danny had taken her down, but she knew it would be easier to stay hidden if she walked through the trees. She kept the house in view, so she knew when she had made it to the right spot. When she had, she turned and stepped deeper into the woods. After close to fifteen minutes, she arrived at the base of the stone wall.

  The hole was right where she remembered it. She slipped through easily, and began running down the hill. She only made it a few feet before the woods vanished around her.

  The passenger door of the black car opened and Cyndi Lewis stepped out. After looking up and down the dark alleyway they had pulled into, she reached in the back seat and pulled something out.

  Just visible as she held it out under the flickering light, she could see it was a baseball bat. She checked up and down the alley again before tossing the bat into the dumpster and quickly climbing back into the car.

  The scene changed around her again and it was suddenly light outside. A young boy, no older than sixteen or seventeen, walked out of the back door a few feet from the dumpster. He sat the three large bags of garbage he was carrying down and pushed open the lid. The dumpster was filled to the top, with almost no room for the bags he had. He leaned forward toward the dumpster as something appeared to have caught his eye. He reached in and when he pulled his hand back, it held the bat. He tossed the bags into the dumpster and used the bat to push them down. Before walking back in, he propped the bat up against the wall. Just before he stepped back into the door, she saw it. The logo on his dark green apron read ‘Market Café’.

  The woods cleared in front of her just in time for her to see the tree she was about to run into. She held her hands out to help her stop, and reached for her phone.

  “I wasn’t expecting to hear from you just yet,” Ben said when he answered. “Aren’t you supposed to be maintaining your cover?”

  “I need you to do something for me,” she said with a huff as she pushed off the tree and started again down the hill.

  “What are you doing?” he interrupted. “Are you running?”

  “A bit,” she replied. “I just sneaked through the hole in the exterior wall, and I’m making my way back to the station. It was the only way I could get out undetected.”

  She could hear the amusement in his voice as he said, “Do you need me to come pick you up?”

  “No, I need you to do something much more important,” she replied as she began moving faster through the trees. “I need you to stop by Market Café and look in and around the dumpster for a baseball bat. I know the trash has already been picked up since the murder, but I’m hoping it’s still there.”

  “A baseball bat would be consistent with the bruise pattern. What makes you think it’s there?” There was a note in his voice that she tried to ignore, but it still made her stomach turn. It was beyond just simple curiosity.

  When Rilynne tracked down her husband in a small Colorado town, they had a heated discussion about her visions. She didn’t realize until later that while she was tied to a pipe trying to keep Christopher distracted until her backup arrived, Ben was waiting just outside the window. She was still unsure how much of the conversation he had heard, but since that day she had gotten a strange vibe from him anytime something happened that she couldn’t explain. She didn’t know if it was just her own emotions toying with her, or if he really was probing her to see just how much she would tell him.

  “It’s on the way from the front gate to the entrance to the path leading to the lake. They would have wanted to dispose of it somewhere it wouldn’t be found. What better place than a restaurant dumpster?” she said. She held her breath until he responded, hoping he wouldn’t push. To her relief, he didn’t.

  “I’ll head out right now. Are you sure you don’t want me to send someone to pick you up?” he asked.

  She thought about it for a minute before replying, “No. I don’t want to risk anyone seeing me being picked up by the police. If the case isn’t able to be completely closed today, I may have to remain undercover for a bit longer.”

  The sigh he let out told her he wasn’t entirely thrilled by that prospect. “I’ll text you as soon as I have anything,” he replied.

  It took another fifteen minutes before she reached the entrance to the trail and stepped out onto the street. She looked at the businesses surrounding her, trying to figure out exactly where she had emerged. Luckily, she was only about a mile from her house.

  She ran as fast as her feet would carry her, and reached her front door in just over ten minutes. After grabbing the spare key to her car from the fake rock Ben had insisted she place in her yard, she climbed into her car and drove the rest of the way to the station.

  Her maid uniform drew a lot of attention from the officers when she walked in, especially the men. Ignoring the looks, she rushed through the lobby and climbed into the already open elevator.

  The moment the elevator doors closed, she got the text she had been hoping for.

  When she walked into the homicide office, silence quickly filled the room as everyone turned toward her.

  “Yeah, yeah,” she said when Jerkins and LaShad began
snickering. “Where’s Matthews?”

  LaShad pointed to the interrogation rooms in the back and she walked toward them without another word. She found Matthews standing with Detective Wilcome in the observation room.

  “What are you doing here, Evans?” Wilcome asked with an obvious tone of annoyance. “You were supposed to stay at the manor to maintain your cover until the case is closed.”

  “No one saw me leave,” she replied, looking at Cyndi Lewis through the glass. “But it’s important. I need to talk to her.”

  “Absolutely not,” Wilcome said firmly. “It’s against protocol and I’m not willing to risk your cover. If you insist on being here, you’ll have to remain behind the glass and out of sight.”

  Rilynne felt the frustration building, but didn’t know how to get her point across without raising questions she wasn’t prepared to answer. She thought for several before finally saying, “She didn’t do it.”

  They both turned to her with puzzled expressions.

  “She just admitted to it,” Matthews said.

  “She wasn’t on the stairs when Brittney Price was killed,” she said, hoping they wouldn’t push her to find how she had gotten the information. “She’s covering for someone, and I know who it is. Just give me a few minutes with her and I can close the case.”

  Wilcome looked like he wanted to argue with her, but instead he just nodded and motioned toward the room.

  “Where’s her attorney?” Rilynne asked.

  Matthews shrugged. “She waived her right. As soon as Steele showed her the picture of the earring, she just started talking. She said she wanted to get the entire matter resolved as quickly as possible.”

  Steele looked completely baffled when Rilynne walked into the room, but didn’t argue when she asked for a moment alone with Cyndi. It wasn’t until she sat down in the chair that she looked up at Rilynne.

  “You?” she asked. Fury flashed again through her eyes. “You’re a police officer?”

  “My name’s Detective Rilynne Evans,” she replied calmly. “I’m a homicide detective working with Detectives Steele and Tylers. I understand that you admitted to murdering your maid, Brittney Price.”

  “That’s right,” she stated. Rilynne could see the panic hidden just below the courage on her face. “I already gave my statement. I’d rather not have to do it again.”

  “Don’t worry, Mrs. Lewis. I’m not interested in the statement you made to my colleagues. I’m more interested in what actually happened that night,” Rilynne said with an air of confidence. She folded her arms and leaned back in the chair, watching the expressions change on Cyndi’s face.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, stumbling over her words. “I already told you what happened. I told you the truth. I caught the girl stealing, and hit her. I didn’t mean for her to fall down the stairs, it just happened. That’s the truth.”

  “Let me tell you a few things I know,” Rilynne said. “First, if someone’s overemphasizing that they’re telling the truth, they’re lying. Second, if the police tell a guilty person they are believed to be innocent, they’re going to take advantage of the situation and agree.” Cyndi looked as if she wanted to step in, but Rilynne stopped her. “The last thing I know is the baseball bat you tossed into a dumpster behind Market Café-the one used to kill Brittney Price-was just recovered by our forensic team.”

  She could almost hear the jaws drop in the next room. She had to struggle to keep the satisfactory grin off of her face.

  “What?” she stammered. “How did you…?”

  “I can continue telling you what I know, or you can finish the story yourself,” she stated.

  Tears began rolling down Cyndi’s perfect face as she quickly nodded. “It was just an accident, you have to know that. She was just playing around and never meant to actually hurt her.” She let out a deep, shaky breath before continuing. “I was standing just outside of the room when it happened. I heard her scream and tried to catch her, but I was too late. The sound was awful; I’ve never heard a crack like that. I swear I tried to help her, but she was already dead. I knew what everyone would say. The stigma of killing someone-even accidentally-always hangs around. I couldn’t risk anyone finding out.”

  Rilynne just nodded and waited for her to continue.

  “I pulled her out the back door and called Rick. He helped me put her into the trunk while I grabbed a bag of cement from the gardening shed. Mr. Hicks left the doors open during a rainstorm a few months back, and the one closest to the door got wet. After scolding him for his mistake, I informed him to keep it in the back of the shed incase it was ever needed,” she explained. “Rick drove us out to the path, and then helped me get her body out to the lake. We tied her to the cement and carried her in as far as we could. We threw the bat in the dumpster on the way back. Rick was on duty at the gate, so we didn’t have to worry about anyone seeing the car coming and going. All we had to do was turn off the cameras. We then cleaned out her room and he buried her belongings in the woods. When the police started to put pressure on us, I had him take them into town and discard them in dumpsters.”

  “Did you tell anyone else in the house?” Rilynne asked. Cyndi quickly shook her head. “Not even your husband?”

  “In case you haven’t notice, Jared and I aren’t exactly close. Besides, with as crazy as he is, it would have only been a matter of time before he blurted it out,” she said harshly. “I had to keep her safe.”

  Rilynne took in a deep, satisfying breath before asking her next question. “Mrs. Lewis, who hit Brittney Price, causing her to fall down the stairs?”

  Cyndi looked both shocked and confused, as she realized Rilynne had not yet put the entire story together. She closed her eyes and let out a resigned sigh.

  “Lorraine.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  It all made perfect sense now. Cyndi would never have involved herself in anything that could tarnish her name unless for someone she truly loved. That left only her children. Rilynne didn’t know how she hadn’t seen it before.

  “Why didn’t you call for help?” Rilynne asked.

  The tears rolled down her cheeks. “She was already dead,” she stated again, her expression cold and hard. “There wasn’t anything that could have been done for the girl. The only thing I’m guilty of is protecting my child.”

  Rilynne leaned back in the chair. Though her expression was stiff and she showed very little remorse, she seemed to be telling the truth.

  “Brittney Price died due to internal injuries she suffered from the fall. When her head struck the steps, she was knocked out. She then regained consciousness after you placed her in the trunk of the car,” she stated, examining Cyndi’s face carefully. It didn’t take long for her statements to register.

  “No,” she exclaimed. “I heard it. I heard her neck break as she fell. I checked for a pulse. She was already dead.”

  “Where did you check her?” Rilynne asked.

  “What?” Cyndi seemed to have been caught off guard by the question.

  “Where did you check for the pulse?”

  She looked confused but responded. “Her wrist.”

  “On the right side?” she asked. Cyndi thought about it for a moment before nodding. “You see, Mrs. Lewis, it wasn’t Miss Price’s neck that you heard break. It was her right arm. When she sustained the break, the blood flow to the arm was cut off. That prevented you from being able to detect her pulse. The truth is, Mrs. Lewis, Brittney Price might still be alive today if you had just called an ambulance that night.”

  “You can’t know that,” she stated, panic now clearly visible on her face. “She was dead. I know she was already dead.”

  For an instant, Rilynne almost felt sorry for her. She pulled a picture out of the folder on the table and slid it across to Cyndi. She looked down at it and instantly broke down, apparently knowing exactly what it meant.

  “You see, Mrs. Lewis, when Brittney Price woke up in that trunk, she k
new her chances of making it out alive were slim,” Rilynne stated. “She somehow had the composure to pull the panel over the tail light open and leave her bloody fingerprint behind so we would know she was there. If I had to guess, I’d say she also tucked the earring you lost down into the well with the spare tire so we would know who had put her there.”

  Cyndi seemed to completely shut down. Rilynne considered leaving it at that, but she knew it would be far more difficult to get the rest of the information if she waited until after Mrs. Lewis had regained her composure. She wanted the case closed as quickly as possible.

  “Tell me about the items that have been removed from the house,” Rilynne said. “Tell me about the jewelry and other valuables.”

  Cyndi’s jaw dropped as she looked at Rilynne in complete disbelief. “How did you…” she trailed off. Rilynne didn’t respond, but instead stared intently at her. Cyndi’s expression was panicked and confused. She shuddered as she drew a breath and she continued. “I came to the realization last year that my only hope of getting out of my marriage with anything was if I took what I could with me when I left.”

  “So you started stealing from your own household,” Rilynne stated.

  “I was only taking what was rightfully mine,” she said defensively.

  “Did you really think that your husband wouldn’t notice if you left with armfuls of valuables? Even he isn’t that oblivious,” Rilynne said.

  Cyndi laughed and folded her arms in front of her. “Even if I’d wanted to take such blunt steps in leaving with what was mine, I assure you Jared wouldn’t have taken notice,” she replied. “But as it is, I never took anything he would ever notice was gone.”

  “I’m sure he would have noticed that all of the stones in your jewelry had been swapped for fakes.” Cyndi just stared at her, as the last glimmer of hope seemed to leave her eyes. “What about the drugs?” she asked abruptly, remembering the conversation she had seen between Olsen and Cyndi.