“How about you? Have you changed your mind about making a confession?” David asked.
Trevor shook his head. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m not a killer.”
“That’s becoming more difficult to believe,” David said.
Kaitlin spoke up. “Trevor is telling the truth.”
“Why should I believe either of you?” David asked. “You are clearly both hiding something from me. Now I want answers.”
Kaitlin and Trevor both looked at each other, but neither of them said a word.
David folded his arms. “I’m waiting.”
Kaitlin spoke up. “The reason I confessed yesterday, it was…”
Trevor finished his mother’s sentence. “She was just trying to protect me.”
David squinted. “From what?”
“My mother suspected that I was responsible for Jim’s murder,” Trevor said. “But she couldn’t stomach the idea of me spending the rest of my life behind bars.”
Kaitlin managed to untie her tongue. “Trevor is still so young. I didn’t want him wasting away in jail.”
David stared at Kaitlin. “So instead you decided to take the fall for a crime that you didn’t commit?”
Kaitlin nodded. “I would do anything for my son.”
“Clearly,” David said. He looked at Trevor again. “Now back to you. Are you sure you don’t have a confession to make?”
“I already told you. I didn’t kill Jim,” Trevor said.
David’s nose crinkled. “I’m confused then. Why would your mother rescind her confession unless you were going to step forward and admit to the crime?”
“Because some new information has come to my attention about my son’s whereabouts on Friday night,” Kaitlin said.
David’s eyebrows rose. “Oh really? What information is that?”
Kaitlin didn’t reply. Instead, she stared down her son.
When a few seconds went by without a response, David became impatient. “I don’t care who answers. But someone had better tell me what’s going on.”
Trevor took a deep breath and then replied, “Remember when I told you I was taking a walk on the boardwalk on Friday night?”
David nodded.
“That wasn’t true,” Trevor said.
David snickered. “What a surprise.” He narrowed his eyes at Trevor. “What were you really doing?”
“I was tagging some buildings,” Trevor said.
“Is that so?” David asked.
Trevor lowered his head. “Look. I’m not proud of my actions—”
“Good. You shouldn’t be. Because it turns out that spray painting buildings is illegal,” David said.
“I know that. Which is why I made up the story about being on the boardwalk. I didn’t want to be arrested for the graffiti,” Trevor said.
“I’ll bet you didn’t. But you aren’t going to avoid punishment. You definitely have a fine coming your way. And plenty of community service in your future. Not to mention, some possible jail time,” David said.
“I understand,” Trevor said. “Still, that’s a lot better than my mom going to jail for the rest of her life. Especially when she didn’t do anything wrong.”
David held his pointer finger up. “Actually, she isn’t without blame either.”
Trevor’s eyebrows knitted. “What are you talking about?”
“It’s a crime to lie to the police,” David said.
“You’re right,” Kaitlin said. “And I’m sorry about that. But whatever the penalty is for lying surely doesn’t compare to being locked up in here forever.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Even though both Trevor and Kaitlin were innocent when it came to Jim’s murder, it didn’t mean they were free to go. Instead, David brought them over to the district attorney’s office. Not surprisingly, the D.A. had a few choice words for them.
When all the smoke cleared, however, the district attorney decided not to bring any charges against Kaitlin for lying. Meanwhile, Trevor was not so lucky. He was slapped with a thousand dollar fine and was assigned a hundred hours of community service. In an ironic twist, the D.A. mandated that Trevor’s time serving the community had to be spent cleaning up graffiti around the city.
As for the homicide investigation, things had taken a turn for the surreal. While it was nice to see Kaitlin out of jail, it was also quite frustrating knowing that the case was far from closed.
When David returned from the district attorney’s office, he took a seat at his desk and tried to settle his thoughts. But he failed miserably. He ended up just staring out with his eyes bulging.
As I sat across from him, I knew exactly how he felt. Because no matter what I did, I couldn’t seem to find a way to stop my head from spinning.
I tried to lighten the mood with a joke. “Just another day at the office, huh?”
He played along. “Oh yeah. It’s a shame that it’s so dull around here all the time.”
I couldn’t help but break into laughter at the absurdity of his statement.
“In all seriousness, though, can you believe what just happened?” I asked.
He shook his head. “I’m trying to. But that conversation with Trevor and Kaitlin really threw me for a loop.”
“It did more than that,” I said. “It turned this case completely upside down.”
“The question is, how do we get things back on track?”
“That might take a little time.”
“Unfortunately, time is not on our side. We have been focusing on Trevor and Kaitlin so much that the real killer now has a serious jump on us.”
“I can’t argue with you there.”
“They probably believe that they are going to get away with murder.”
“That isn’t going to happen.”
“You seem pretty sure about that—”
“Of course I am. We have been in this position before and have always found a way to catch the killer.”
“True. But normally this late in a case, we aren’t back at square one.”
“I have to stop you for a second. We aren’t exactly back at square one.”
“Maybe not. But we’re awfully close.”
“I don’t agree,” I said.
David squinted. “What am I missing here?”
“Don’t get me wrong. It’s easy to get distracted by everything that just happened with Trevor and Kaitlin. But I think you have lost track of one very important point.”
“Which is?”
“Since we now know that both Trevor and Kaitlin are innocent, it means that we’re down to only two suspects.”
David’s eyes lit up. “You’re right.”
“Granted, we don’t know if Phil O’Connor is guilty or if Steve Willingham is the killer, but we can say with pretty good certainty that one of them is responsible for Jim’s death.”
David held his pointer finger up. “There’s also the possibility that they both had a hand in Jim’s murder.”
“True. And that is still yet to be determined,” I said. “But as you can see, we know where to focus our efforts.”
“That said, we can’t force them to talk.”
“No. But we can try.”
David grabbed his keys and got up from his chair. “We certainly can. Let’s see what they have to say for themselves.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
David and I did just that. We spoke with Phil first. Then we drove over to the East side and talked to Steve. Although, we ended up with negligible results from our efforts. If anything, we only succeeded in annoying both of the remaining suspects.
Perhaps that wasn’t such a bad thing. We didn’t want Steve or Phil to feel comfortable. If we kept them on their toes, there was a chance that they would stumble. And if they really felt like the pressure was on them, it wasn’t a stretch to believe they would make a desperate move.
This was all just wild speculation. But at that point in the case, we were willing to entertain all possibilities.
With only two suspects remaining, it seemed like a wise decision to assign a deputy to tail each of them. For the time being, every move they made would be scrutinized.
Like that, the waiting game began.
In addition, David and I did our best to come up with alternate ways to uncover the killer’s identity.
***
Unfortunately, our brainstorming didn’t get us very far.
Thankfully, we had much better luck when it came to tailing the suspects.
That evening, David got a call on his radio from Deputy Larson. Apparently, Steve Willingham had driven to a cheap motel just outside of town. That wasn’t all. A few minutes after Steve checked into his room, a woman arrived at his door.
That sequence of events was notable for three reasons. First, because David had warned Steve not to leave town. Second, because Steve was unemployed. So how was he able to afford a motel room? Even if it was at a dingy place like the Pine Street Cove Motel. Finally, the color of the woman’s hair really stood out to me. After all, Steve’s girlfriend, Paula Pritchard, was a redhead. So, who was this brunette who was meeting up with Steve at a motel outside of town?
Before I got too worked up, I had David radio the deputy back. I wanted a full description of this woman. There was a chance that Paula had just dyed her hair. Although, if that was the case, then why was she meeting her boyfriend at a dirty motel?
When the deputy radioed David back and described the woman from head to toe, it became clear that the brunette was not Paula. That led to the obvious question, who was she?
David and I were curious to get answers. So we drove over to the motel, determined to get to the bottom of things.
When we arrived at the motel, it became clear that Steve wasn’t going to make it easy for us. David knocked on the door to Steve’s room a number of times, but he didn’t receive an answer. While my husband became impatient, I got distracted by how rundown the place was. The wood on the motel’s sign was peeling, the entire place was in desperate need of a paint job, and there was a musty smell in the air. I could have listed off half a dozen more problems I had with the place, but they didn’t really matter.
The owner of the motel clearly had no interest in fixing up the place. And the clientele here wasn’t exactly discerning.
David knocked on the door again and became impatient when he didn’t get an answer.
It didn’t surprise me in the least that there was a full moon in the sky. I actually thought, how appropriate?
Then again, wild things happened in Treasure Cove on a regular basis, regardless of what lunar phase we happened to be experiencing. Far too many weird occurrences for a town of this size. But the universe didn’t seem to care about my opinion.
While my thoughts drifted, David became fed up.
He yelled at the door. “Steve, this is Detective Carlson. Come on out. I know you’re in there.”
It took a few seconds, but Steve swung the door open. And he was livid.
“What are you doing here?” Steve snapped.
“I would ask you the same thing, but I’m pretty sure that I already know the answer,” David said.
I looked over Steve’s shoulder and saw the brunette woman sitting on the bed. She looked terrified.
Steve snarled at David. “You have no right to—”
“To what?” David asked. “Knock on your door? I’m not breaking any laws.”
Steve pointed his finger at David. “I don’t have to talk to you.”
“You’re right. But you should speak with us,” David said.
Steve shrugged. “Why?”
“Because if you don’t, we’ll just head on over to your girlfriend’s house and tell her about this little rendezvous of yours.”
Steve looked back at the brunette for a moment. He then shot David a glare. “You wouldn’t.”
“You bet I would,” David said.
“And I’ll bet Paula would be very interested in hearing about what’s going on here,” I added.
Steve gritted his teeth. “You have a lot of nerve.”
David scoffed. “That’s a funny statement coming from a man who is cheating on his girlfriend.”
Steve was quick to change the subject. “Who I choose to spend my time with is none of your business.”
David shook his head. “I disagree.”
Steve groaned. “This has nothing to do with your investigation, so why don’t you just leave me alone?”
“It’s interesting that you would bring up my investigation, because technically, you’re disobeying a direct order.”
Steve stared blankly. “What are you talking about?”
“I told you not to leave town. And this motel is outside the city limits.”
Steve scoffed. “Give me a break.”
“Why should I?”
Steve squinted. “I’m seriously confused about why you’re hassling me. Especially when I read that Kaitlin confessed to the murder.”
“A lot has changed since then.”
“Is that so?”
David nodded. “It turns out Kaitlin is innocent.”
Steve’s eyes widened. “What?”
“You heard me,” David said.
Steve remained quiet as he processed the news.
David continued. “This case is far from closed—”
“I still had nothing to do with Jim’s death,” Steve insisted.
“Steve, we’ve already been through this. I’m not going to just take your word for it. Especially when you don’t have a verifiable alibi.”
Steve held his pointer finger up. “Actually, I do.”
David squinted. “What are you talking about?”
“My alibi,” Steve said. “I can verify it.”
David threw out his arms. “Since when?”
“Since always.”
David shook his head. “Stop trying to put one over on me.”
“I’m not,” Steve said. “The night Jim was murdered, I was here…with Amy.”
“That’s not what you told us before,” David said.
“I know.”
“You lied to me then?”
Steve nodded. “But I’m telling you the truth now.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“You don’t have to believe me. Listen to Amy. She’ll tell you.”
David focused on the brunette who was sitting on the bed. “Is that the truth? Were you with Steve that evening?”
The brunette nodded. “Uh-huh. We were here all night.”
“Would you be willing to testify to that in court under the penalty of perjury?” David asked.
Amy replied without hesitation. “Yes.”
“See,” Steve said. “I told you I didn’t kill Jim.”
David stared Steve down. “If this is all true then why didn’t you tell us about it before?”
“I didn’t want my girlfriend to find out that I was cheating on her. But since you threatened to tell Paula about Amy and me, I figure that I have nothing left to lose,” Steve said.
“Can anyone else verify that you two were together on the night that Jim was killed?” David asked.
“The front desk should be able to,” Steve said. “After all, we came to this motel.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
David and I went over to the front desk with a healthy amount of skepticism. But it didn’t take long to get the truth from the brawny clerk in the lobby. As a matter of fact, the clerk immediately verified Steve’s story. That wasn’t all, though. He was also able to provide evidence that corroborated Steve’s alibi.
I watched with great interest as the clerk pulled up security camera footage which definitively showed that Steve and Amy were at the motel during the time of the murder.
Once I saw the video, I walked out of the lobby in complete shock. How could I not? The case had taken yet another wild turn.
That said, even though I was briefly at a loss for words, one thing was quite clear in my mind. There w
as no arguing with video evidence like that. So, whether I wanted to believe it or not, Steve was innocent.
I wasn’t the only one having trouble trying to make sense of what just happened. David joined me in the parking lot, looking like he had been thrown for a complete loop.
My husband wore his emotions on his sleeve as he remarked, “That didn’t turn out the way I thought it would.”
“What else is new?” I joked.
David let out a nervous laugh. “I know, right? Just when you think this case can’t get any wilder.”
I groaned. “Things can always get crazier. I was just hoping that they wouldn’t this time around.”
“Yet here we are, staring down another dead end.”
“Don’t remind me,” I said. “I can’t remember the last time a case had this many twists and turns.”
“Neither can I.”
I took a deep breath. “I’m so glad we’ll be closing this case soon.”
David eyebrows knitted as he folded his arms. “You seem awfully confident about that.”
“Aren’t you?” I asked.
“Don’t get me wrong. When Deputy Larson radioed me earlier, I believed that this could be the break we have been looking for. But now that we know Steve isn’t the killer, I wouldn’t describe myself as confident. Instead, I’m just incredibly frustrated.”
“Maybe a little too frustrated for your own good.”
He squinted at me. “What are you talking about?”
“David, now that Steve has been eliminated as a suspect, don’t you realize what that means?” I asked.
He took a moment to process his thoughts. His eyes then widened. “That there’s only one suspect left.”
I nodded. “Exactly. So now all we have to do is get a confession out of the killer.”
“Sabrina, don’t get ahead of yourself. We both know that isn’t going to be a piece of cake.”
I smiled. “Don’t worry. I have a plan.”
Chapter Thirty
After listening to my plan, David placed a call to the media. William Brady, a reporter who worked for our local television station, was happy to take David’s call. Especially when David told William that he had an update in the case that he wanted to share.
Mysteries of Treasure Cove Cozy Mystery Boxed Set Page 54