The Betrayal of Lies

by Debra Burroughs

  “Young man,” the nurse said, addressing the officer, “do you know this woman?”

  Emily’s attention returned to the nurse and the uniformed man before her. Unfortunately, it was a Sheriff’s deputy Emily did not recognize. When the small Paradise Valley Police Department was short-handed, resources from the Sheriff’s office stepped in. That must have happened here.

  “Sorry, no, ma’am.”

  “I’m Emily Parker, a consultant for the Paradise Valley Police. I work with Detective Andrews on certain cases.”

  “Andrews I know, but sorry, ma’am, I don’t know you.”

  “Emily, is there a problem?”

  Emily swung around at the female voice. It was Dr. Barbour, wearing a white coat over her blue scrubs. Emily had met the doctor during several different cases, including her own auto accident a few months prior.

  “This young lady would like to see Jake Mitchell,” the nurse said. “I was trying to make sure she is who she says she is, since she’s not family.”

  “I’ll vouch for her, Betty,” the doctor said.

  “All righty then,” the nurse said as she shuffled down the hall in the direction of the nurses’ station.

  The officer retook his post.

  “However,” the doctor continued, “as for Mr. Mitchell, I’m afraid he’s still unconscious from the surgery. The best thing for him is to sleep and let his body heal. The bullet did a lot of damage to his internal organs and he lost a lot of blood. The man barely had a pulse when they brought him in last night. Such a shame about Elise Murphy.”

  “Did you know her?”

  “Not well. We’d met at a few social events. She was on a committee to raise money for the hospital. She was a go-getter, but sweet, you know.”

  Emily nodded. She was only beginning to know Elise, but she saw potential in what would have been their budding friendship.

  “Do you think Mitchell will pull through?” Emily asked, glancing at him through the window. He had to—he was the key to this case.

  “It’s too early to tell,” the doctor replied, crossing her arms as she turned toward the large windows, gazing at her patient. “The next couple of days are critical. All we can do is keep a close eye on him. Only time will tell.”

  “It’s imperative that I talk to him. I’d appreciate it if you’d call me when he wakes up and he’s up to talking.” Emily handed the doctor a business card. “No matter what time it is.”

  “That’s the same thing Detective Andrews said.”

  “He was here?” Emily asked.

  “Yes, late last night, way after midnight.”

  ~*~

  Colin had been up late the night before, making sure Patrick Murphy was being held at the county jail for questioning after the shootings at the mountain cabin. He had tried to question Murphy, but Patrick had asked for his lawyer again and continued to refuse to say another word.

  He had been allowed to make his phone call, but his attorney, Russell Gray, had been unavailable during the night, not responding to the call until morning, so Patrick spent the night in a holding cell.

  When all efforts to pull anything out of Patrick Murphy were exhausted, Colin had gone to the hospital to check on Jake Mitchell. He waited hours for him to come out of surgery, to see if he had survived it, and to find out when the suspect would be up to questions.

  The doctor urged him to go home and get some sleep, there was nothing he could do there until the next day, at the earliest. Exhausted, he followed the doctor’s advice and dragged himself back to his apartment.

  Even though Colin was worn out from the late work, he had a hard time going to sleep, knowing what was ahead of him the next morning and thinking of how he had to leave Emily alone when she was so upset over Elise’s murder. Tossing and turning, he managed to get a few hours of sleep before his alarm went off at six am.

  It was too early to call Emily and check on her. When it was a decent hour, he would fill her in on what had happened the night before.

  He showered, dressed and was out the door before his hair was dry. He wanted to get down to the jail before Murphy’s attorney showed up and got him out. Maybe he could convince Mr. Gray to urge his client to tell his side of the story, if he really was innocent. It was worth a shot, anyway.

  Colin arrived at the jail around eight am. Officer Ernie Kaufmann was already there waiting for him.

  “Ernie, I’d like to have Patrick Murphy put in an interrogation room.”

  “I’ll see what I can do. We heard from his attorney a little bit ago. He said he’s on his way in.”

  “I figured as much,” Colin replied.

  “He’ll be angry as a hornet’s nest if he thinks you’re trying to question his client without him.”

  “I don’t plan to question him, Ernie. Trust me.”

  When the suspect was brought into the stark, barren room, Colin was seated at the table waiting for him. “I’m sure your lawyer is on his way, that is if he got the message,” Colin said, hoping for a few minutes with Murphy before his attorney arrived.

  “He’ll be here,” Patrick assured him. “You’re wasting your time if you think I’m going to say another word.”

  Colin leaned forward and crossed his arms on the table, staring directly into Patrick’s steely blue eyes. “I’m not here to question you, I know you asked for your lawyer, but why don’t you just sit back and listen?”

  Patrick furrowed his brows, shooting Colin a suspicious glare.

  “I thought you’d like to know that Jake Mitchell is out of surgery. Yes, it looks like he’s going to make it after all,” at least, Colin hoped the man would pull through, “so you don’t have to worry yourself about being charged with his murder—just attempted murder. I’m going back to the hospital later today to question him, get his side of the story. I wonder what he’ll have to say.”

  Patrick leaned back against his chair and crossed his arms, silently glowering at Colin.

  “Have it your way, Mr. Murphy, but the one who talks first will get the best deal. I’m sure you know how that works.”

  The door opened and Patrick’s attorney stepped in. “You know better than to question my client without his attorney.”

  “I wasn’t questioning him, Mr. Gray. I was enlightening him.”

  The attorney took a seat beside his client. “You haven’t said anything, have you?”

  “Not a word,” Patrick responded, continuing his defiant stare.

  “Are you arresting my client, Detective?”

  “Not yet, but we are still gathering evidence.” With Mitchell coming out of surgery, Colin hoped for more evidence. Right now there was little more to go on than the fact Murphy was at the cabin at the time the gun went off, when the men struggled over it, if Murphy’s story is to be believed. Without more, Colin was afraid the charges wouldn’t stick, especially with the man having friends in very high places. All he would accomplish by arresting Patrick Murphy at this moment was killing his career.

  “When can I get back into my house, Detective?” Patrick asked.

  “The CSI unit released it last night, so you’re free to go back now,” Colin said.

  “Let’s go, Patrick.” Mr. Gray stood and motioned toward the door.

  Colin rose too. “Remember what I said, Mr. Murphy.”

  Chapter 15

  While Colin was in talking to Patrick Murphy, Emily showed up at the jail and connected with Ernie. As they stood in the hallway, he filled her in on what was happening.

  “I noticed a few reporters and their satellite vans gathering out front,” Emily said. “This is going to be all over the television and internet in less than an hour, I’ll bet.”

  “Reporters?” Ernie growled. “That’s all we need.”

  As the door to the interrogation room opened, the conversation spilling out drew Emily and Ernie’s attention. Patrick walked out first, looking none too happy in his rumpled navy designer suit, followed by his smug well-dressed attorney. Colin brought
up the rear, his expression telling Emily that he hadn’t accomplished what he had hoped.

  Murphy and Gray blew past Emily and Ernie and headed straight to the double glass doors at the front of the building, leading out to the landing and the wide steps to the street. As they pushed the doors open, the frenzy of reporters blasted a rush of questions that could be heard until the doors swung shut.

  Emily hurried to the doors to watch the show, wondering if the lawyer had called the press before he headed to the jail. Murphy and Gray had walked to the edge of the granite steps, where a mass of reporters shoved their microphones toward them. Ernie and Colin reluctantly followed Emily outside to hear what propaganda the well-known attorney and his powerful client would spout.

  “My client, Patrick Murphy, is a pillar in this community,” the attorney began in an authoritative and booming voice. “His wife was savagely taken from her home, against her will, by a man wanting to extract a hefty ransom from my client.”

  Emily, Colin, and Ernie strategically positioned themselves to the side of the reporters, so as not to be picked up on the cameras. The last thing they would want was a camera and microphone shoved in their face asking why Colin had dragged Paradise Valley’s leading citizen into the jail, accusing him of the brutal murder of his loving wife.

  Patrick stood beside his lawyer, his face awash with an expression that spoke of love and loss. Emily wondered if it was real or if he was putting on a mask of sadness for the cameras.

  “Mr. Murphy learned where the man was holding her,” the lawyer continued, “and raced to her rescue with no thought for his own safety. After finding his wife brutally murdered, this brave man struggled with the kidnapper to get his gun away and the other man was accidentally shot when the gun went off.”

  Patrick nodded his head sadly, as if on cue.

  “It easily could have been Patrick Murphy who was shot. Instead of hailing him as the hero he is, the authorities haul him to jail and interrogate him as a suspect,” Mr. Gray said, motioning toward Patrick, “this man, this grieving hero, who has just lost his wife.”

  “Can you believe that?” Ernie said to Colin and Emily, as they stood to the side, watching the media circus congregated on the steps.

  Emily looked up at him. “The sad thing is, Ernie, we don’t really know if it’s true or not. It could be, couldn’t it?”

  Colin turned his head to her. “I thought you were the one who had the gut feeling the husband did it.”

  Emily gave a weak smile. “Guts can be wrong, you know.” It would sure help their case if Jake woke up and answered some questions, assuming he wouldn’t lie to save his own skin. “What we need is hard evidence.”

  After the attorney gave his flowery speech, he took Patrick by the arm and pressed through the crowd to his car, whisking him away from the reporters’ questions.

  Colin’s phone dinged that he had a text. “There’s a message here from the ME. He wants to see us.”

  ~*~

  Colin and Emily rushed to the medical examiner’s lab, hoping for something concrete to point to the killer.

  “What’s up, Doc?” Colin asked as they entered the lab.

  Dr. Walters rolled his eyes. “It’s not like I haven’t heard that a thousand times.”

  “Sorry, Dr. Walters,” Emily said. “Do you have something for us?”

  Elise’s corpse was on one of the steel tables, and the doctor moved to cover her with a white sheet. “As you know, the victim sustained a gunshot to the temporal lobe,” he said. “I estimate she was shot from less than three feet away.”

  But by whom? Emily ran a hand through her hair. Not an easy question to answer under the circumstances.

  “I removed the bullet and sent it to the CSI lab to have it tested,” Dr. Walters said.

  “Time of death, Doc?” Colin asked.

  “Less than two hours before I arrived, but I can’t pinpoint it any closer than that.”

  “Anything else?” Colin stepped forward.

  “As a matter of fact, yes.” Dr. Walters pulled the sheet down, exposing Elise’s dead body down to her chest, then he pushed her auburn tresses back, exposing the side of her neck.

  At the sight of Elise’s pale, cold body, Emily’s heart leapt into her throat and her knees went weak for a quick second. She grabbed Colin’s arm to steady herself.

  “You okay?” he whispered.

  Emily took a deep breath and collected herself, nodding at him. She wasn’t expecting such a visceral reaction to seeing Elise’s lifeless corpse. She’d seen dead bodies before. Why did seeing Elise’s affect her so?

  “What is that?” she asked, as they all looked at the thin abrasion along the side of Elise’s neck.

  “I believe something was pulled against it, like a fine rope burn,” Dr. Walters replied.

  Emily looked up at the white-haired doctor. “The chain of a necklace, maybe?”

  “Possibly,” he nodded, “like from someone yanking it off her neck.”

  “Let’s keep that detail under wraps,” Colin said. “Okay, Doc?”

  ~*~

  Colin and Emily left Dr. Walters and headed to the CSI lab to see Nelly.

  “Hello, Nelly,” Colin greeted as they stood in the doorway of her lab. He knew better than to walk in uninvited.

  She was perched on a stool in front of her computer and turned at his voice. “Hey, guys, come on in.”

  “Anything new to show us?” Emily asked.

  “Yeah.” Nelly held up a small tracking device. “During a search of the vehicles, we found this tracker on the underside of Mr. Murphy’s Audi, but I didn’t find any prints on it.”

  “That’s odd,” Colin said, shooting Emily a sideways glance. “I wonder who put it there.”

  Her eyes widened as she pressed her lips together.

  “I wonder too,” Nelly said, laying the device down on her counter. “Another thing, Doc Walters gave me a couple of bullets, one from the deceased, Elise Murphy, and one from the suspected shooter, Jake Mitchell. I tested them and found they’re from the same gun.”

  “The one in Murphy’s hand?” Colin asked.

  “Yeah, that’s the one.” Nelly slid off of her stool and walked over to her desk. She picked up a sheet of paper. “Because of the struggle over the gun, there was gunshot residue on both Patrick Murphy’s hand as well as on Jake Mitchell’s.”

  “So that doesn’t tell us who shot Elise,” Emily said, looking to Colin.

  “Hey, Nell,” Colin said, “what about the gun I pulled off Patrick Murphy?”

  “I checked it too,” Nelly said, “but it hadn’t even been fired recently.”

  That didn’t help. One of those two men shot Elise Murphy, but nothing was pointing to which one, or why.

  Chapter 16

  “I’d better head over to Camille’s house,” Emily said as she and Colin left the county forensics lab. “I need to break the bad news to her before she hears about Elise on the television.”

  “If she hasn’t already,” Colin remarked as they walked back to his Jeep. “It’s going on nine thirty.”

  The horrific news was going to break Camille’s heart, but there was no way to keep it from her. She was going to find out eventually, so it might as well be sooner rather than later.

  “While I’m over there,” Emily said, “why don’t you check with your guy Ben on the CSI team and see if they found the necklace at the cabin?”

  “What does it look like?” Colin asked.

  Leave it to a woman to pay attention to the jewelry. He had seen the security video from the ATM the same as she had. Men just didn’t notice these things the way a woman did. Emily resisted the urge to roll her eyes at him.

  “You’re lucky to have me, you know.” She patted him on the shoulder. “It’s a rather large red garnet, oval shaped.” Emily made an outline of the stone with her thumb and index finger to demonstrate the size. “It had small diamonds all around it, and it was suspended on a thin silver chain.”

/>   “Huh. I recall she had a necklace on, but the video footage was so grainy I didn’t notice the details of it.” He stopped at his vehicle, opening the passenger door for her.

  Emily shrugged. Perhaps she remembered the detail of it because she had seen it in person, when Elise wore it to their appointment. “Anyway, trust me, that’s what she was wearing in the ATM footage,” Emily said, climbing into the Jeep, “but she wasn’t wearing any necklace when we found her.”

  Colin came around and slid behind the wheel.

  “So if it wasn’t discovered at the crime scene or in one of Jake’s pockets,” Emily continued, “I think we can safely assume the murderer is the one who ripped it off her neck.”

  He started the engine and put the vehicle in reverse, backing out of the parking space. “I patted Patrick Murphy down after I put the cuffs on him, but I was looking more for a weapon than a piece of jewelry.”

  “Wouldn’t he have had to surrender all of his possessions when he was put in a holding cell?”

  Colin pulled out of the parking lot and onto the main street. “Yes…so how would he have gotten it out of the cabin and hidden it from the police?”

  “Maybe he slipped it into a hidden pocket in his jacket.”

  “Now you’re just reaching, Babe.”

  “Just check with Ben. Please.” Emily ran her hand up his arm and over his shoulder. She leaned over and batted her eyes up at him. “Then if they don’t have it, you can get a warrant to search the Murphy house—his office too.”

  He swerved to the right and brought the Jeep to a quick stop at the curb. “Are you nuts?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “If they didn’t find the necklace at the cabin, it doesn’t mean Murphy has it. Going after that man without concrete evidence will backfire for sure and end both of our careers. Is that what you want, Emily?”

  “Of course not.” She hadn’t expected such an explosive reaction from him. “But I don’t want him getting away with murder either.”

  “I think it’s more likely that Jake is our guy. And I still can’t help but wonder if Maggie had anything to do with it, given her financial problems and her history for getting involved with losers. I know she says she didn’t, but—”