“We’ll need to look around; there has to be some sort of clue to tell us where they’ve gone,” Paige said.
“Maybe. Unless they expected us to come here, which is why they left.”
They found nothing in the bedroom; the clothes that had been left behind had been tossed in jumbled heaps across the floor, and the drawers were an absolute mess, but nothing of importance remained. Similarly, the living room had a handful of things taken from it, but they couldn’t find any clue to where they might have gone.
“Did Avery have a room here?” Paige wondered.
“There’s a spare room. He might have stayed there,” Jack said, striding to a closed door.
The spare room had been stripped of almost everything other than a bed, a desk, and a set of drawers, but there were some indications that a teenage boy had lived here. An old sneaker poked out from underneath the bed, a handful of papers that might have been homework was strewn across the bed, and the receipt for a poster was in the trash can. Other than that, they found nothing; it didn’t look as though Avery spent an awful lot of time in here, anyway.
“I wonder how often Avery came to stay with Cecilia?” Paige asked, frowning as she looked around.
“This room is highly impersonal, so I would say not very often,” Jack said. “He might have come here more following his mother’s death, though.”
To get away from his father, he left unspoken.
“Let’s keep looking,” Paige suggested.
They found a small study, but it had been turned upside down. Most of the papers on the desk were blank, and anything important was likely in the shredder, which was full to the brim. Whatever Cecilia got rid of, she had done so in a hurry.
“Too bad we can’t put that back together,” Paige said, peering at the shredded mess.
“It would take far too long, more time than we probably have,” Jack said, shaking his head. “There’s one more place we need to look.”
Paige began to despair of ever finding the evidence that they needed as they moved into the kitchen. But, the bright, yellow note stuck to the fridge instantly caught their attention, and they moved closer to it, hoping that it was what they were looking for. Jack grinned as he read it and snatched it off the fridge.
“Looks like Cecilia left a note to herself,” Jack announced. “She wasn’t so careful after all.”
Paige leaned forward to look at it. Eugene, Delta 5896, 7:30 pm.
“They’re planning to fly out,” Jack said. He glanced at the clock. “It’s still early, only three o’clock in the afternoon. We should make it to Eugene Airport with plenty of time to spare; it’s less than two hours there by car.”
With no time to waste, they dashed out of the apartment, down the stairs, and all the way to the car. Paige had no idea what was going to happen at the end of all this, or what they were going to find, but she was sure that they were close to finding the answers they sought.
To get through security, all Jack had to do was prove that he was an officer and they let him through at once, sending a few guards with them for good measure when they stated that they were looking for a murder suspect. The airport was large, but, knowing the flight number, it was easy to find the lounge.
As they suspected, Cecilia and Avery were there, but they weren’t alone. Paige frowned as she recognized Orman sitting tensely with them. Where did he fit in all this?
Unfortunately, traveling in such a large group meant that it was impossible to sneak up on them. Hearing the commotion, the three suspects looked up and paled at the group’s approach.
Cecilia moved first, fleeing instantly down the hall, pushing people out of the way as she went. Orman reacted almost in the same moment, right on her heels. With barked orders from Jack, the security guards chased after them in the next second, determined to catch them before they got too far.
Avery watched his companions flee. Stunned by his sudden abandonment, he hung back for a moment too long. When he turned to run, he found Jack blocking his way, and he froze, looking so utterly terrified that Paige’s heart went out to him. It didn’t stop her, however, from coming up behind him and putting a strong arm around his shoulders, preventing him from moving any further.
He seemed to know he was caught. He dropped his backpack, miserable and defeated, and might have fallen to the ground had it not been for Paige’s arm around him.
“Avery, I’m not sure what’s going on, but we need you to answer some questions,” Jack said gently.
As Avery looked between them, his eyes slowly filled with tears. This stunned Paige; he had so far been a rock in public, doing most of his grieving in private. To see this emotion from him now was shocking and concerning. Paige tightened her arm around him, more out of worry than to restrain him.
“Avery, please tell us what happened.”
Tears fell down Avery’s cheeks and a single sob escaped him.
“I didn’t mean to,” he choked.
“Didn’t mean to what?” Jack pressed.
“Kill her.” As Jack and Paige shared a shocked look over his head, Avery sobbed again. “I didn’t mean to kill her.”
19
Tracking the Culprit
It was not the confession Paige had been expecting to get today. She was lost for words as she stared at the sobbing Avery, .
Avery had killed Cynthia? From what he had just said, it seemed like it had been a horrible accident. But where did Cecilia and Orman fit into all this?
Cecilia, she could sort of understand. She might have been protecting her nephew from the consequences of what he had done. But Orman? If he was dating Cecilia as they earlier suspected, maybe he had done it for her, but would he really uproot his entire life just to run away with Cecilia and her nephew? Perhaps this was what they had been arguing about the other day when Paige and Jack had seen them.
It all left a bad taste in her mouth. She had been so triumphant, thinking that she had all the answers; she had thought it was the other way around, that Cecilia had killed her sister and that Avery was protecting her for some reason. To think that Avery was the killer, even if accidentally…
“We’ll need to question him, and Cecilia and Orman further, but…” Jack trailed off and shook his head. “I don’t even know what to think.”
Except that the look on his face showed resignation, not surprise. He had already suspected Avery, probably from the moment Paige had told him Cynthia had only told her son about the medication.
But… something didn’t make sense.
“Why did they run?” she asked suddenly.
Jack looked startled. “What?”
“Cecilia and Orman,” Paige said impatiently. “If they were here to protect Avery, then why did they run and leave him behind? They might have gotten a slap on the wrist for protecting Avery, but not much more than heavy fines. Why were they so quick to run away without him?”
Jack paused, looking between her and Avery. Then he leaned down and caught Avery’s eyes, his expression serious.
“Avery? Can you tell me what happened? Why are your aunt and Orman helping you run?”
“I didn’t… didn’t want to,” Avery choked out. “But… but Aunt Cecilia said that… that I had to.” He sobbed. “They helped… helped me hide her after…”
He trailed off with another sob. Paige frowned. Cecilia and Orman had been there at the time of Cynthia’s death?
“Did you go with them when they took your mother’s body?” she asked as gently as possible.
Avery shook his head with a fresh wave of tears. Troubled, Paige looked up at Jack.
“Something isn’t right, here,” she said quietly.
“I agree, but I’m not sure what,” Jack admitted. “If Avery did kill Cynthia, I can’t work out where Cecilia and Orman fit into this. If they hid the body, then they’ve become accomplices, which explains why they might have run, but…”
But they had seen the looks on both Orman’s and Cecilia’s faces before the two had fled
. Cecilia had looked terrified, but Orman had looked absolutely furious. It was clear that neither of them had expected to be chased down here. Possibly they had just reacted on instinct upon seeing so many security guards coming their way, but they had really just made things worse for themselves.
Paige wondered if they honestly expected to get away. She knew they wouldn’t; by now, the entire center would be crawling with security guards looking for them, and all flights would have been stopped on the off chance that they managed to get onto a plane.
“Come on, we need to search for them, too,” Jack said. His gaze turned serious again as he looked at Avery. “Avery, we’re going to leave you here. Will you still be here when we come back?”
“Yes,” Avery said, hunching his shoulders. “I promise. You know the truth now, anyway.” He gave them a slightly watery smile, startling them both. “It’s a bit of a relief, actually.”
Paige’s heart ached. Here was a boy who loved his mother dearly, and who had lived with the knowledge that he had killed her for weeks. It must have hurt him badly not to tell, and he had bottled it all up as his aunt tried to cast blame elsewhere.
Paige frowned, struck by that thought as Jack waved a security guard over to keep an eye on Avery while they were gone.
Cast blame elsewhere…
“Jack!” she gasped. “The bottles in Rachel’s apartment!”
“What about them?” Jack asked.
“Rachel?” Avery echoed, eyes wide. “You know about Rachel?”
Well, that answered the question of whether Avery had known.
“Why were those bottles in Rachel’s apartment?” Paige demanded. She looked at Avery. “Did you put them there?”
“No!” Avery exclaimed, shocked. “Of course not!”
“Then how did they get there?” Paige said, eyes glittering. “Cecilia or Orman could have put them there, but why go out of their way to frame someone? Honestly, if they had just thrown the bottles in the ocean, they would have disappeared and we probably would never have found them. But they specifically tried to frame another person. Why do that?”
“To protect Avery?” Jack suggested, glancing at the boy, who looked shell-shocked.
“Maybe,” Paige said, unconvinced. “But it’s not adding up. They went through all the trouble of setting someone else up to take the blame for Avery and then left him behind when trouble came calling? Come on, Jack, we need to get more answers.”
Her mind raced as they ran. Jack remained quiet, watching her closely, so he saw when her face lit up as something else hit her.
“The DNA!” she said. “Avery is Cynthia’s son… so wouldn’t we have seen a partial match to Cynthia’s DNA when her fingernails were tested?”
“We would have,” Jack said slowly. He stopped suddenly as understanding slammed into him. “That means Cynthia was still alive when Orman and Cecilia took her!”
Paige, who had also stopped, nodded grimly. If that was the case…
“It means Avery didn’t actually kill her. He might have accidentally given her medication she was allergic to, but Cecilia and Orman are the ones responsible for her death. When they took Cynthia from Avery, she was still alive.”
The pair had fled when they saw guards approaching because of their own guilt. They had lied and schemed, not out of concern for Avery, but to keep themselves out of harm’s way. It was why they had tried to pin the blame on Rachel, why Cecilia had tried to negotiate for immunity; they had needed to take the focus off Avery because, otherwise, they would also have come under scrutiny. When push came to shove, they had left Avery behind to take the fall.
Jack took the lead, obviously having been to the airport more than once. Rather than heading to the public areas, however, where the airport’s security carefully searched, he headed into the lounges, bypassing the ones close to the shops and aiming for the ones tucked away in the back. His sharp eyes took note of everything suspicious, and people moved out of his way like a parting sea as he flashed his badge.
Now that they knew the truth of the matter, they couldn’t let Cecilia and Orman get away. They had killed someone and made a boy believe he had murdered his own mother. It took someone truly awful to be able to do something like that.
A shout yanked Paige out of her thoughts, and she looked up just as Jack charged ahead, police badge held in front of him like a shield. She caught just a glimpse of Orman before Jack was on him, arms locked around his neck.
But then Cecilia appeared. Paige cursed aloud and darted forward as Cecilia dug her nails into Jack’s arms, forcing him to let go. Orman turned around, a snarl on his face, and punched the surprised Jack in the gut with all the force he could muster.
The two of them were trapped, and they knew it. Rather than come quietly, though, they would to fight their way out of the corner.
Scowling heavily, Jack threw himself into the fight, and Paige winced at each punch that connected. Orman gave as good as he got and, despite Jack’s superior height, it looked like he was winning, his desperation driving him.
It physically pained Paige to see Jack being hurt. She hovered awkwardly on the outskirts, wanting to help but knowing she couldn’t get involved; she would be more likely to get herself hurt getting between the two of them now, and she wouldn’t be strong enough to pull them away from each other.
Cecilia, on the other hand, didn’t have any such reservations. Perhaps knowing that she wouldn’t get very far on her own, she set her shoulders and charged forward. Catching the movement out of the corner of her eye, Paige moved to intercept her, catching her arm and pulling her back before she could throw herself at Jack.
Around them, Paige noticed people gawking at the spectacle. There were several camera phones out, held up to get the best angle, and she found herself cursing them all. While two criminals were trying their hardest to get away, they were standing there doing nothing. Why couldn’t someone run and get security? Or did they just assume they would be around soon? Normally, security would have been patrolling the area, but the search for Cecilia and Orman was currently keeping them occupied.
Cecilia turned, baring her teeth, hand raised. Before she could hit Paige, however, Orman stumbled back between them, forcing them both to take a step back before he ran into them. He didn’t even seem to be aware that they were there, and he threw himself at Jack once more. Jack, whose lip trickled blood, caught the punch and attempted to push Orman away again. The campaign manager, however, dug his heels in, and Paige watched, horrified, as his fist met Jack’s chin.
Cecilia took advantage of the moment of distraction. Taking her chance, she kicked out. Paige only saw the foot flying toward her before it hit her on the chin. She fell to the ground hard, more stunned than hurt.
“Over here!” someone suddenly called.
Paige looked up and, suddenly, security guards flooded the area. One of them grabbed Cecilia, pulling her away from Paige’s fallen form, and two more grabbed Orman, hauling him off Jack. The sheriff stumbled back, surprised at the sudden end to the fight, and glanced around with a slightly dazed look that made Paige worry he had hit his head one too many times.
Then his eyes fell on her and his expression sharpened. Ignoring what was going on around him, barely aware of Cecilia and Orman being led away, he strode toward Paige. There was a look in his eyes, one that she had only seen once before when he hovered over her after she collapsed, an intense look that told her he didn’t intend to lose her again. It made a shiver run down her spine, and she accepted his offered hand and let him pull her to her feet.
He didn’t stop there, though. His arms wound around her, and he pulled her close. She could feel his heart thudding in his chest.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“I should be asking you that,” she said with a weak laugh.
He pulled back and looked at her. She read his intentions moments before his head dipped down and his lips met hers. She held onto him and kissed him deeply, pouring all her concern a
nd triumph into it.
A second later, however, she pulled back suddenly.
“Ow…” she groaned, ruefully rubbing her chin. “That hurt.”
Jack stared at her for a long moment. Then, he began to laugh, his shoulders shaking. It was infectious; she began to laugh too, barely daring to believe that they had done it. She reached for him and he took her hand, squeezing it gently in promise. Everything was going to be okay now.
20
Closure
Paige would never know how she managed to make it through the rest of the day. The hours whirled by in a flurry of activity. Officers converged on her to take her statement, doctors wanted to make sure she wasn’t injured, Avery needed comforting. Through it all, Jack’s hand remained securely intertwined with hers, linking her to reality throughout the insane mess they found themselves in.
At some point, her parents turned up, although she didn’t know who had called them. Only then did Jack let go of her hand, needing to go with the police to report what had happened. She left with her parents; they ushered her back to their home and, before she knew what was happening, she had eaten a hearty dinner and hurried to bed. Her eyes felt so heavy that she obeyed without complaint, asleep before her head touched the pillow.
If she had hoped for quieter days now that the case was finally solved, she would have been sorely disappointed. When she got up the next morning, she found a police car waiting to transport her to the courthouse in Newport.
“What’s this about?” Jennifer asked suspiciously, shifting slightly so that Paige couldn’t get past her.
“Apologies for the inconvenience, ma’am,” one of the officers said respectfully. “We need Ms. Moore to clear up a few facts about her involvement in the case.”
Panic bloomed in Paige’s chest as she tugged on her jacket. The investigation… did that mean they were taking a closer look at Jack’s conduct during the case? She remembered with clarity that Jack had warned her at the beginning that her involvement wasn’t allowed, but she had been determined. Had she gotten Jack in serious trouble?
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