“Yeah, I did. He didn’t recognize it either, but maybe he’d recognize his face like I did.”
“Can you send him a text or something right now?” Detective Bronson asked.
I nodded my head and stepped up to the glass with my phone. Nathan Oliver looked up at that same second and it startled me, like he was looking right at me.
“He can’t see you,” Detective Bronson told me.
I believed that, but it was still creepy. However, I took the picture and sent it to Jared, along with where I realized I’d seen him. It only took a minute for him to reply, and he did it with a phone call.
“That’s Kevin Harris’s brother-in-law,” he informed me.
“Uh, you’re on speaker phone by the way. You mean Mr. Harris of Miller and Harris? That’s his brother-in-law?”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure of it. He’s his wife’s brother.”
“That never came up in the family relations report,” Detective Bronson said.
“Uh…I don’t know,” Jared said. “I’m just pretty sure he’s his brother-in-law. I just know him as Nate.”
Detective Bronson didn’t respond at first as she mulled over the idea. She motioned for another detective to check out the information and then she asked, “Are you acquaintances with him? Have you been to other functions that he’s been at?”
“No, not really. Well, maybe one other one a few years ago.”
“Did you speak to him much? Is there anything you can give me, anything at all?”
“Uh, I think I just remember him sharing my mutual dislike for those business parties. That’s all I remember talking to him about.”
“Did he know who you were?”
“Yeah, I think so. Well he knew I was John Miller’s son, but I don’t know if he knew I was a musician the first time I met him. He never mentioned it, but I guess my band wasn’t really that big back then. And at the last banquet, we really didn’t speak but a few sentences. Neither of us wanted to be there. That’s honestly all I know about him. I’m never at those things, but I do remember him.”
“Is Mrs. Harris a friendly lady?” she seemed to ask all of us. “She was very helpful and friendly to the police, but what is she like in real life?”
“I’ve never met her,” I admitted.
“I talked to her a couple times over the years,” Jared said. “Yeah, she was pretty nice I guess, but in a two-faced sort of way—if I’m being honest. I don’t really do well with people like that, so I didn’t spend much time conversing with her.”
“I didn’t like her either,” Detective Bronson divulged. “But we looked into her, along with every one associated with that company, and didn’t find anything earth shattering. But I did not know she had a brother,” she added, peering at him through the glass again.
“Half brother,” a voice corrected as Detective Ryan re-entered the room. “Jacqueline Harris’s maiden name is Sylvester, but Nathan Oliver’s father is not Jacqueline’s father. And the two are eight years apart in age, but it looks like there was a bit of infidelity on the mom’s part at the time.”
I got an uneasy feeling about that because of what kind of person my sister was. I didn’t have a chance to think about it because Detective Bronson asked me if I was ready to talk to Nathan.
I took a deep breath but nodded my head. She briefed me on a few things—what to do, what not to do—but mainly she just wanted me to get him talking. I was ready, so I followed her to the door.
She stopped my dad when he tried to follow too. “Just Taryn for now. Please. I think it will be better this way.”
He argued with her for a minute, stating his fears about me talking to a guy that may have already hurt one of his daughters. I felt bad for him, especially because I knew how much my parents loved Rachel but could never have a decent relationship with her. I knew how bad my father wanted to fix something, anything, and if he couldn’t, he wanted to at least keep the rest of his family safe.
Detective Bronson was sympathetic to his concerns, ultimately stating that it was my decision. I felt like it needed to be done alone, even though I kept my own fears to myself. He nodded his understanding and watched me go in by myself. I knew he wanted to be in there with me, but I could see how his presence might alter the outcome.
Nathan eyed me when I entered the room. He adjusted in his seat slightly, like he was surprised. He looked to the door, and then at the officer who was in the room—apparently to keep me safe if he needed to.
“Who are you?” Nathan finally asked.
I carefully sat in the chair across from him at the table. “My name is Taryn Hartford. I’m Rachel’s sister.”
I could tell that registered, or something did, and he barely nodded his head. He didn’t say anything further though and just sat there.
“Did you know Rachel?” I asked him.
He didn’t respond.
“Uh, you’re Jacqueline’s brother, right? Jacqueline Harris? I think I’ve seen you at a couple of those stupid business banquets.”
I could tell that interested him somehow but he still didn’t say anything.
“I’m a photographer,” I told him. “My sister hired me for a few of those things. They are very boring events to photograph.”
“Then why do it?” he finally spoke.
With a shrug I sighed and said, “I don’t know. She could get her way, I guess. I’ve never really been close to Rachel, so in a way I guess doing her favors was like spending time with her or something. I don’t know.”
He seemed to think for a second and then he said, “Is that your way of trying to get on my level?”
I stared at him for a moment. “What do you mean?”
With a smirk he replied, “Why are you here? I mean if you weren’t close to your sister, why come here to interrogate me. She’s dead. What are you getting out of this? They coerce you to come talk to me?” He looked past me at the glass and said, “I’m talking, see? Is that what you want?”
“Hey,” I growled, feeling really annoyed. He looked at me again and I added, “I said I wasn’t close to my sister. That doesn’t for one second mean I didn’t care about her. I want to know what happened to her. If something happened to your sister, you would feel the same way.”
He stared at me for a long time, almost to the point that I was about to look away. But he did first when he looked at the table. I waited for him to speak but he didn’t. He only looked at me again like I was wasting his time.
“Did you ever meet Rachel?” I asked.
I didn’t think he was going to answer but he did. “Yeah, I met Rachel. She was John Miller’s pride and joy. Kevin was pretty fond of her, too. She was good at her job, I hear.”
I wasn’t sure I could read him when he said that, but before I could change my mind, I took a very bold approach. “And I’m sure Jacqueline wasn’t too fond of the fact that they were sneaking around behind her back. Rachel and Kevin.”
There was no hiding his surprise that time, but it took a while before he retorted, “Well how would that make you feel?”
My heart literally fell to my stomach and I felt sick. Suddenly I remembered what Detective Bronson had said to me a couple of months ago. She had informed me that Rachel had had an abortion. I wondered then who the father could have been, but now I was wondering if it belonged to Kevin Harris or John Miller.
“My sister got around,” I said as casually as I could. “I know she weaved a very tangled web, but it doesn’t mean I agree with her lifestyle. I would just like put all of this behind me so I can move on with my own life.” That didn’t get a response from him so I added, “You know she has a daughter, right?”
He looked at me for a few seconds and then slowly nodded. “Yeah. What happened to her? She go live with her dad? Probably better off that way.”
“No, her dad died when she was a baby. Maggie lives with me now. I’m her legal guardian because her mom was murdered.”
He gave me an indifferent scoff. “Well l
ike I said… She’s better off then.”
“I agree,” I had to say. “And I’m getting married soon, so Maggie will have two people that love her and will give her a better life.” I waited for a response but there wasn’t one. “Are you familiar with John Miller’s son?” I asked, hoping that I wasn’t headed in the wrong direction.
He looked at me and raised his eyebrows. “Jared? Yeah, I’ve met Jared. What about him?”
“He’s my fiancé.”
He barely nodded. “Yeah, I think I heard that you guys were seeing each other. Or friends or something. I don’t remember what I hear.” He faked a smile and said, “Well congratulations! Whoop-de-do. What does that have to do with me?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. We were talking about Maggie so I just thought if you cared… Anyways, I won’t waste anymore of your precious time,” I said as I stood. “Thanks for answering my questions, though.”
He looked confused as he said, “I didn’t answer anything.”
I smiled and said, “Yes you did.”
I got out of there as quick as I could and took a deep breath. Detective Bronson told me I did a great job, but all I could say was, “I need to show Maggie a photo of Jacqueline Harris. How much do you want to bet that she’s the lady that confronted Rachel outside of McDonald’s that day? I bet she was warning Rachel to stay away from her husband or…or whatever! I don’t know but…”
“We’ll bring Mrs. Harris in for questioning,” Detective Bronson said. She motioned to Detective Ryan and he left the room. “Taryn, you did a great job. See, we just wanted him to talk—about anything.”
“I thought you said that you were sure she was in a relationship with someone at Miller and Harris. You didn’t consider Kevin Harris?”
I knew I came off accusatory and I felt bad about that, but thankfully Michelle was polite when she said, “We can only uncover so much at one time, Taryn. Sometimes the answers are right in front of you, but there’s just nothing that proves it. I’ve had my suspicions about everyone there, including Mr. Harris. But information is a tricky bitch, and it’s not always available when I want it.”
“I know, I’m sorry.”
“I understand. But let’s get on this new bit of information while we can. Are you staying in town tonight?”
“Yes, and for however long you need us.”
“Okay. Well, why don’t you take some time and I’ll let you know if I need anything. I’ll get a picture of Jacqueline Harris and you can send it to whoever is with Maggie. Let me know as soon as you know something.”
I nodded, and even though I was feeling unsure about almost everything, I was positive that Jacqueline Harris had confronted my sister at some point. I didn’t know what it meant—and of course the possibility that it could have been any number of angry, cheated-on wives was likely—but I at least felt that it was the most probable scenario. It was disheartening, but I no longer felt guilty about my sister’s death. I felt horrible that it happened, but I was slowly beginning to accept that it was her own poor choices that ruined her life, and there was nothing I could do about that. But the fact was…she was murdered, and somebody needed to pay for that heinous crime.
I had a long talk with my dad that afternoon. We spent several hours discussing Rachel and the case. The picture had been sent for Maggie to see and my mom casually asked her if she’d ever seen the woman before. Maggie answered yes, she thought so, but there was no mention of McDonald’s or where she may have seen her. I asked my mom not to persuade her memory in any way and she knew that, but I just didn’t want Maggie to remember something that wasn’t really true. Also it occurred to us that Maggie could very well be blocking out certain things in her life, and in a way, I hoped that was the case.
I talked to Jared for almost two hours that night. My dad and I had eaten dinner and we were in our hotel room anxiously waiting for any news from the police. I didn’t think they would contact us that night with anything substantial, so I didn’t hold my breath. But I knew it was still a possibility and I was anxious anyway.
I kind of felt bad that my dad was subjected to me talking on the phone for so long, but I was in one corner of the room and he was on one of the beds watching a basketball game. I didn’t think he was too bothered with it because he was great at tuning things out when a sporting event was on. I didn’t mind him hearing my conversation anyways, at least not until Zack called just before ten. My dad gave me a curious look as to why I didn’t answer my ringing phone, and when I said, “It’s Zack,” he only nodded his head.
I let it go to voicemail and I felt terrible about that. But I guess I kind of had that “I’m already miserable” mentality because of Rachel’s case, and I decided to just get it over with. I told my dad I was going to walk down to the lobby to call Zack, and that I would be back in twenty minutes. Again he only nodded, but I could feel him watching me when I left the room.
I took a deep breath as I made my way to the elevator and dialed his number. There were already people getting on the elevator when Zack picked up, so I decided to wait. I was glad because the first thing he said was, “Taryn, I can’t believe you’re marrying him. Tell me that’s just a rumor.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
I didn’t know what to say at first. I knew he was crushed just from the sound of his voice. I felt bad about that because I cared about him, but there wasn’t anything I would do to change things.
“It’s not a rumor,” I finally said. “We got engaged a few days ago.”
I could hear him sigh, and by then I’d made it to the laundry room on our level. It was empty and there was a chair to sit on, so I took a seat and waited for him to speak.
“So you’ve made a decision then?” he asked. “This is it? There’s nothing I can say or do to change your mind?”
I shook my head to myself. “No, I’m sorry Zack.”
Again he paused, but I was surprised when he said, “All right, Taryn, I’ll leave it alone. I still love you, and I want you to remember that, but I’ll back off. I wish you the best. Tell Jared he’s one lucky bastard.”
“Wait, Zack, don’t hang up.”
“What, I didn’t concede well enough? Am I supposed to add that I’ll be here for you if it doesn’t work out, or if you ever need anything you can count on me? Okay, fine. It’s true, Taryn. I’ll be the sucker that still waits around for you. I don’t know for how long, but the other part is true. If you ever need anything, don’t hesitate, okay? I still want to be in your life. I still care about Maggie and want to be there for her too. Please don’t cut off all ties with me, okay?”
It hurt to hear him take the loss, but I respected him for his honesty. I knew he would be okay, but it was hard for me. “I won’t cut ties,” I finally said. “I promise. Maggie needs you in her life and I would never take that away from her. You can see her whenever you want. That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about…”
I felt my emotions were about to get the better of me. It had been another rough day of dealing with some tough things, and it was getting late. Combined, those circumstances made me feel weak.
“What’s going on, Taryn?”
“Uh…it’s Rachel’s case. Um, I’m in Everett right now…”
“You are? Where? Is everything okay?”
“Everything is okay. They have a suspect in custody and… Well the police had me talk to him. Apparently he wouldn’t talk at all, but he did talk to me. He didn’t admit to killing my sister but… I just have that feeling, you know? I know that he was at least involved somehow, or knows what happened to her.”
“Jesus, Taryn. Why would they make you interrogate a suspect?”
“They didn’t make me; they asked. And I was okay with it, really. It’s just been…really hard I guess, all of this resurfacing again. It almost felt like it was going to turn into a cold case, and I was honestly ready to just let it go. And now this…”
“Is there something I can do? Who do they have in custody?”
I told him about Nathan, about my sister’s possible dirty deeds, and my speculation about what might have happened. He didn’t seem surprised by any of it, but he offered the right amount of support like I knew he would. But by then I was kind of tired of talking about it and he could sense that. The subject was left alone for the time being and he actually asked me if I was going to invite him to the wedding.
That made me laugh, and I was thankful for the light moment. “If you really want an invite, then yes, I’ll send you one.”
“I mean I’d rather there not be a wedding at all, but you know… If you’re actually going to go through with it then I want to be there for you.”
“Okay, I’ll let you know when the time comes.”
“Hmm, so you haven’t decided on a date yet?”
“Uh…no, not really. The next few months will be kind of busy, so probably sometime after that. Maybe summertime.”
He didn’t say anything for a few seconds and it made me worry what was going to come next. I realized he’d been building up to it when he said, “You never expressed any interest in getting married, Taryn. In fact, the impression I got from you was that it wasn’t something you wanted. I never brought it up because of that. I never wanted to pressure you or move too fast. But had I known it was a possibility with you… Things were so great, and then…”
“And then things changed when my sister was murdered. I feel like I changed. I just…felt so detached from everything, like I had no idea what was real. I’m sorry for shutting you out sometimes—I know I did, and you were so patient with me—but I just felt so lost…”
“Yes, and I understood that. But I felt you would get through it. I felt like we were close enough to one another, and that things would get better as time passed. But I guess if we couldn’t even tell each other how we felt…”
“I know that I loved you Zack, but at the time I couldn’t comprehend it. Not until I lost you. Then I realized what we had and it was too late.”
“Well, I honestly didn’t think I would let anything get in the way of us staying together until Jared happened. There was just something there that I couldn’t ignore, and I knew I had to let you figure it out. I’m so cautious when it comes to girls, Taryn. I didn’t want to become victim to a broken heart or someone’s relationship games. I know now that you would never do that, but back then we were just getting to know each other. I loved you, but we were just starting out. I know better now. If I were to do things over, I wouldn’t have let my insecurity get the better of me. Yeah, I had crap going on business-wise, but I look back now and realize I could have made it all work.”
Love Today Page 30