Justified

by Carolyn Arnold

“Don’t say it like I’m rarely right about things—”

  “Well…”

  Madison was tempted to hit him, but after the elastic incident and what followed, it wasn’t worth it. “So he leaves Claire’s, assuming he’s telling the truth about how early, of course, and goes over to Allison’s.”

  “I can’t help but wonder if Allison is the other woman from the cabin. Nah, that woman was a redhead,” he said, dismissing his own suggestion.

  “Women change their hair all the time, Terry. Look at Officer Ranson. Her hair’s a different color every week.”

  “Fair enough. And then when I pressed him about his flight…”

  “He had no option but to blow his timeline,” she finished his sentence. “He’d know we’d find out the minute we looked into flight logs, which I take you haven’t done yet?”

  Terry shook his head. “I didn’t get to it.”

  “We have to find out who the redhead is and why he’s protecting her. It could have been a type of conspiracy with Darren committing the murder and the women being accessories. Either way, we need his DNA. I’ll give him one more chance to volunteer it. If he doesn’t, I’ll get started on the warrant.” She took a breath. “And we need to round up Allison and Darcy and bring them in. I’ll go between the two women.”

  Terry’s eyes lit with boyish mischievousness, and she knew immediately that his mind had went to the gutter.

  “If you say one word about ménage à—”

  “Ménage à trois?”

  So much for hitting him not being worth it. She jabbed him in the shoulder. “I tried to warn you.”

  -

  Chapter 32

  “I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY I had to come down here. This is ridiculous.” Allison Minard sat in the interrogation room with her legs crossed. Her dark hair was down and flowed over her shoulders with volume and soft curls. Her makeup was applied with a light brush, disclosing her as a natural beauty.

  “I’m going to get to the point. We have Darren Taylor.” Madison watched for a reaction and got one. Allison’s crossed-over leg started swaying. “He’s in the other room,” Madison added.

  “I don’t see what that has to do with me.”

  “This is what it has to do with you, Ms. Minard. He named you as his alibi.”

  “His alibi?” She nearly choked on the word.

  “What time of day did he come to your place on Wednesday morning?”

  “This is crazy. He must have hit his head on something.” The swaying leg picked up speed, but came to a standstill when Allison’s eyes met Madison’s. “We aren’t involved.”

  “You don’t have to be involved to have sex.” Madison looked at her like a woman who knew what she was talking about. And if she gave it any more thought, she’d lose focus. She was in that type of relationship right now or at least had been up until a few days ago.

  What is the status of my whatever-it-is with Blake anyhow?

  Madison dismissed her musing and put her mind back on Allison and Darren. “Let’s go back to my question. What time did he get to your place?”

  “I don’t know. Early.”

  “WE HAVE MISS MINARD IN the other room.” Terry had opted to remain standing.

  Darren sniffled and it drew Terry’s attention to the collection of used tissues that sat all scrunched up on the table in front of him. “You ask her and she’ll tell you I was with her that day,” Darren began. “Around that time. She will.” His tone didn’t hold conviction in his words. His gaze kept flicking to the back of the closed door of the interrogation room. “Can I see her?”

  Terry shook his head. “Not going to happen. You two would just corroborate each other’s stories. Although, you probably did that when you all went on your little getaway to Natural Adventure Outfitters together.”

  “Again, implications based on nothing more than speculation,” Randal said. “Either you’re going to charge my client or let him go. Why are you dragging him through this? You have his DNA now, that, may I add, he willingly provided.”

  After some manipulation.

  It had taken Terry and Madison quite a bit to convince Darren to cooperate without forcing them to obtain a warrant for his DNA. Darren eventually consented and this was taken care of by the time Allison and Darcy got to the station.

  “Can I go?” Darren had obviously latched onto the false hope created by his attorney’s words.

  “Until forensics have confirmed for a fact that you were not involved in Claire’s murder, you will be sitting right there.” Terry added as a second thought, “Unless you’d like to go back to holding.”

  “THANK YOU FOR COMING IN.” Madison said to Darcy Simms, nearly choking on her words. She could go the rest of her lifetime not seeing the woman and be quite happy about it.

  “Whatever. What’s the point of this? Haven’t you harassed me enough? I’ve lost my best friend.” Darcy sat in the chair, her legs crossed like Allison. And while Darcy spoke of loss, her facial expression and body language didn’t indicate grief, just agitation.

  Madison slipped into a chair across from her. “You must be looking forward to that payday coming your way.”

  “Please, you insult me. One million is not—” Darcy’s eyes met Madison’s.

  “Please, continue. I’m curious what you were going to say after that. Not enough? Maybe not enough repayment for what Claire had done to you?”

  Darcy’s eyes narrowed to slits.

  Madison tossed a photo of the cabin onto the table. Darcy flinched.

  “What about it?” she asked, trying to recover from her physical reaction.

  “The cabin? I assume you recognize it.”

  “Maybe, maybe not.” Darcy’s legs bounced.

  Madison read the same body language from both women. Either they were both involved in the conspiracy or both had seriously considered taking revenge and thereby projected guilt.

  “Is that a yes or a no?”

  Darcy licked her top lip and then spoke through clenched teeth. “Yes.”

  “WHY DON’T YOU TELL ME why you went to Tahiti?”

  “You don’t have to tell him anything, Darren,” Randal spat.

  “I have nothing to hide there.”

  “There?” Terry was quick to jump on the inconsistency, as if it implied he was hiding something otherwise.

  “Poor choice of words. I have nothing to hide—period,” Darren corrected himself.

  “So tell me. Just curious.” Terry rose on his toes and then back down again, standing at the edge of the table, hands back in his pockets playing with change. He found that it could be an effective distraction for those being interrogated. It had the opposite effect on him, though. It helped him focus.

  “I had a job there, like I told you.”

  “So that part was true?” It warranted Terry a corrective glare from Randal. Terry shrugged it off. “What line of work are you in now? The same as when you met Claire or something different?”

  “What’s the point of this?” Randal asked impatiently.

  Terry ignored the lawyer. “I’m just curious.” He let the change in his pocket filter through his fingers, each coin making a jingling sound as it landed on the ones below it.

  Randal let out a deep exhale.

  “Not very good under pressure, Mr. Irving? Not a very good quality in a lawyer.”

  “You’re just wasting our time here.”

  Darren looked over at his lawyer. “Quiet, Randy.”

  Terry picked up on the fact he addressed the lawyer informally.

  “SO, YOU NEVER DID SAY what time it was when Mr. Taylor made it over to your house.” Madison was back in the room with Allison Minard. This time she remained standing.

  “Early,” Allison began. “I don’t know. About two, say.”

  “Two?” Madison repeat
ed it because Darren had been adamant about leaving Claire’s at three in the morning. “You’re certain of that?”

  “Quite. Actually, it was closer to two forty-five now that I’m thinking about it. I was wondering what was taking him so long. He was supposed to be to my place about midnight.”

  Madison wondered if Allison knew the reason for the delay was that Darren had been in bed with Claire. “Do you know where he was before he went to your place?”

  “Yes, Detective—” Allison crossed her arms “—and I know he was sleeping with that bitch.”

  “I don’t understand why you’re trying to protect him.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “He said he left Claire’s house at three o’clock.”

  Allison’s eyelashes fell slowly. “Claire’s? No, that can’t be right.”

  “One of you is lying, and we will find out who and why.”

  -

  Chapter 33

  “GLAD TO HEAR THAT YOU’RE not denying knowledge of the cabin, Ms. Simms.” Madison pulled the photo of the structure back to her side of the table. “From what I hear, woman to woman, it was a good time.”

  Looks like the hint of a smile on her lips.

  Madison picked up on the fact that Darcy never asked where she had heard about the cabin or the “good time.” And she hadn’t disclosed that Darren was in the other room to Darcy. “Why were you there?”

  “For a good time.” Darcy forced a laugh. “Just like you said.”

  Madison leaned against the wall and crossed her legs at the ankles. “I’ll tell you what I think.”

  Darcy waved her hand. “Sure. I like story time.”

  “I think you were up there scheming a way to knock off Claire.”

  “Well, you do have quite the imagination, Detective. I could tell that from our first meeting.” Darcy leaned back in her chair. “Now I’m going to ask you a question.”

  “By all means,” Madison said drily.

  “Who told you it was a good time? Darren Taylor?” She looked quite pleased with the fact she had put it together.

  Madison was surprised Darcy admitted to it, but spoke her next words with a tone of indifference, and it melted the smug look from Darcy’s face. “Now that seems quite obvious, doesn’t it?”

  TERRY’S GOAL WAS TO KEEP Darren talking. The more that he said, the greater the likelihood that inconsistencies would surface. “What job did you have in Tahiti?”

  “I was doing the same thing I did before I met Claire, after I met Claire.”

  “Her stealing your program didn’t really effect your business, then?”

  “It set me back. I had to start over.”

  “What industry were you helping out down there?”

  “Industry? Or do you mean company?”

  “Industry.”

  Darren shifted in his chair and looked over at his lawyer. “I’m going to take my counsel’s advice now: sit here and shut up.”

  “Suit yourself. I’m going to talk, though.” Terry jingled his change. “I just find it odd how what you offered would benefit them over there.” He studied Darren’s eyes and could tell he debated whether to speak. Terry poked just a little more. “Maybe I’m wrong, but I can’t see your service being useful there.”

  “My techniques can be used anywhere,” Darren spat. “For any business, for any industry.”

  Terry smiled. “I highly doubt that. The largest industries in Tahiti…do you know what they are?” Darren shrugged his shoulders. “I’m surprised a businessman like you, who was working down there, wouldn’t know.” Terry let his statement stay out there for a moment before continuing. “I looked it up online. It’s fascinating what you can find with a Google search these days. The largest industries in Tahiti, besides tourism, are coconut products, cultured pearls, fishing, and vanilla. I’m thinking that the farmer harvesting vanilla or the men toiling in the heat to catch fish wouldn’t be at all interested in your modern take on things.”

  “What is the point to all this?” Randal asked.

  “Credibility. And Mr. Taylor doesn’t have it. He didn’t go to Tahiti for business. Another lie.”

  Darren avoided eye contact and plucked another tissue from the box and pressed it to his nose.

  “SO YOU KNEW DARREN WAS sleeping with Claire?” Madison found it hard to believe Allison was fine with that.

  “I’d have to have been an idiot not to know. I cleaned for her, remember?”

  There was something else Madison remembered, too… Allison had called Claire a conniving bitch.

  Allison continued. “It’s not like I ever walked in on them…you know…doing it. And don’t look at me like I’m some cheap whore. Our relationship was open. I knew he was banging her, and it didn’t bother me. When he was with me, he was with me. He wasn’t doing me and thinking of—”

  “How do you know that?” The question came out but Madison hadn’t expected the personal repercussion. How did she know that when Blake was having sex with her, he wasn’t thinking about the young brunette that had been on his arm at Starbucks?

  “I just know,” Allison stated coolly. “I have answered your questions and cooperated. I’d like to leave now.” Allison scooped her purse from the table.

  “Soon.”

  Allison flopped against the back of her chair.

  Madison took out the photograph of the cabin. It was worth a shot if Darren had been initially trying to protect her from being identified as the third woman. “Look familiar to you?”

  She held it in her hand and shook her head.

  “So the name Natural Adventure Outfitters up in Newfoundland doesn’t ring any bells for you?” The cliché came off her lips, and she wanted to talk sternly to her mother for the corruption.

  “No. Should it?”

  “Truth of the matter is, it’s not looking good for you. You found Claire. You had reason to want her dead.”

  “Really? We’ve come around to that? I didn’t kill her.” Allison crossed her arms.

  “Maybe, maybe not. How tall are you?”

  “Why?”

  “How tall?”

  “Five eight, five nine. Why?”

  “That’s in the range of the killer’s height,” Madison said, exaggerating slightly. “Maybe you staged the discovery?”

  “I vomited at the sight of her or don’t you recall?”

  “That’s your story. Maybe you forced yourself to? Stuck a finger down your throat to force it out? Some people do that every day.”

  “I didn’t fake it.”

  -

  Chapter 34

  “DID YOU FIND OUT ABOUT Claire sleeping with Darren, and it made you jealous?” Madison searched Darcy’s eyes.

  “You insult me with your questions.” Darcy picked up her purse from the table and motioned to leave.

  “Not sure why that simple question insults you.”

  “Because I know what you’re getting at. You’re accusing me of something I didn’t do. Again.”

  “Actually, I know you didn’t commit the murder. You’re not the right height. Too short.” Madison let her words hang for a bit. “Unless you wore heeled shoes, but then there’s no evidence of heels in the snow. And I can’t imagine a woman like you wearing wedged heels.”

  One penciled brow arched. “Then what am I doing here?”

  “I believe you were involved. I think you and Darren and Allison—”

  “Allison?” Darcy laughed. “Yeah, I don’t think so.”

  “What elicited that response?”

  “For one, I don’t speak to Allison. And two, what went on in that cabin…the thought of it involving Allison? Gross, all right? Not into that.”

  “Then who was the other woman?”

  Darcy went white and stuttered her words. “I-I don’t remember her name.”r />
  “Don’t remember or you’re choosing not to tell me?”

  Darcy shot to her feet. “I’m out of here.”

  “Don’t leave town—”

  “Yeah, yeah, I get it.” Darcy left the room and slammed the door behind her.

  Madison had to let her go. She didn’t have enough to hold her, but at least this meeting had established a couple things: she had verified Darren’s story. Darcy had been with him at Natural Adventure Outfitters. If Darren was found guilty of the murder, by a stretch, it might be possible to prove she was an accessory.

  “WHY WOULD I KILL CLAIRE?” Allison asked Madison outright.

  “You had motive, like I said. She slept with the man you loved.”

  “Hold it there. Who said anything about love?” Allison shook her head. “I don’t believe in love.”

  “Glad to hear that, because that’s how Darren feels about it, too.” Madison gauged her reaction.

  Allison fought to keep her composure, but little inconsistencies belied it. The weight with which her eyelashes fell and the soft biting down on her bottom lip said she had true feelings for Darren.

  Madison added, “Not to mention what she did to you.”

  “You don’t know what she did to me.”

  Madison smiled with satisfaction. “No, but now you just confirmed she did something.”

  “You tricked me.”

  “Part of the job.”

  “Listen, I’m talking to you without a lawyer present. Believe me when I say that I didn’t kill her.”

  “I’d love to believe you, but you have to give me more than that. We hear that line a lot here.”

  Allison’s face softened a bit, but it was apparent from her eyes that she was hurt and embittered. “My husband had a company named Westmount Technologies. When he met Claire, he was so excited. He went on about how it would turn the business around. We’d be rolling in money.”

  “You’re married?”

  “Not anymore. Divorced.”

  Madison nodded, suspecting what was coming next. Claire had factored into another marriage going up in flames. “What was his name?”