by Jaden Skye
“The circumstantial evidence is overwhelming.” Wayne’s voice rose. “And the fact that you knew that Tyron cut you out of the will makes things seem incontrovertible.”
“Seem is the operative word,” Megan muttered, looking pleadingly at Olivia. “The world is not what it seems. It seems like I killed him, but I didn’t.”
Olivia couldn’t help but believe Megan, though she had no sure reason to feel that way.
“The stars are against me.” Megan began unraveling. “My destiny is closing in.”
“Tell us the full truth, Megan, and we’ll do our best,” Wayne pleaded.
“What happens next?” was all Megan could reply, crestfallen. “Are the police going to take me in for questioning again?”
“I don’t see how they can do otherwise,” said Wayne. “Think about a plea deal, please!”
“I don’t want a plea deal. I didn’t do anything. I’m innocent!” Megan exclaimed.
Olivia and Wayne glanced at each other quickly.
“What about you, Olivia?” Megan turned to Olivia. “You’ve come through for others at the last minute before! You always find the real killer. Are you going to come through for me as well?”
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
After Olivia and Wayne returned to their hotel, the call from the police came promptly. Megan was going to be taken in for further questioning first thing in the morning. Bella would be at the station then as well. The police were hoping to wrap up the case fairly soon after that. It was imperative that both Olivia and Wayne be present.
Naturally, Olivia and Wayne agreed. Before they parted for the night, Olivia and Wayne grabbed a quick cup of coffee in the lobby of the hotel.
“Megan looks guilty as hell,” Wayne said as he raised his coffee cup to his lips.
“It’s too soon to say that,” Olivia objected. “I’m still not sure.”
Wayne shook his head. “I think you’re wrong on this one. Sometimes things go fast and there’s no doubt.”
“I have doubt, though,” Olivia murmured as she sipped her coffee slowly.
“That’s your MO, Olivia,” Wayne replied. “I’m not saying doubt isn’t good, but you can go overboard. Too much doubt can work in the opposite way and blind you to the truth.”
“It can,” Olivia agreed, “but we have to be positive before we can say that Megan’s guilty. And there are plenty of other suspects floating around who haven’t been explored.”
“Like who?” Wayne seemed annoyed.
“A few,” said Olivia. “For starters, what about the people involved in Tyron’s shady business dealings?”
“Tyron’s business contacts have all been thoroughly investigated by the police and cleared,” Wayne replied.
“Okay, so how about his daughters, then?” True to form, Olivia would not let go.
“What about his daughters?” Wayne looked put off. “It’s a big stretch to say that they’d kill their father. Nothing between Tyron and the girls had changed recently. And his daughters weren’t the ones he was cutting out of his will. Megan was!”
“So, how about the father of Megan’s unborn baby? The one she’s protecting with her very life.” Olivia couldn’t stop now even though she knew she was on a fishing expedition.
“That’s a long shot,” said Wayne. “We don’t even know who the father was.”
“It seems pretty obvious it was Clay, doesn’t it?”
“So, are you suggesting that Clay needs to be investigated?” Wayne was definitely piqued.
“No, not really.” Olivia liked Clay and had no sense that he would be involved in a murder. Clay’s life was on the upswing now too, and he didn’t need Tyron’s money. Olivia pulled out the last possibility then. “But I’m not sure why Bella’s been let off the hook so easily either,” she said.
“Bella’s been interviewed numerous times,” Wayne said forcefully. “Everyone who knew her said that she meant Tyron only good.”
Olivia felt momentarily defeated. She’d been hanging onto the idea that Bella was somehow involved. She hoped that more would come out tomorrow at the station about that. It was at least still a possibility.
“Let’s see what happens at the station tomorrow,” Wayne said slowly, putting his coffee cup down. “Get ready. I have a feeling that there are surprises waiting and that things will get wrapped up quickly. Right now we both need a good night’s sleep.”
“We definitely do,” Olivia agreed as they walked to the elevator, took it to the same floor, and then, with a brief smile, quickly parted ways.
*
First thing in the morning after breakfast, Olivia and Wayne arrived at the police station. When they walked in both Megan and Bella were already in the interrogation room along with a group of investigators and police.
The moment Olivia entered the room Megan looked up at her tearfully.
“They’re all trying to trap me,” Megan called to Olivia pleadingly. “They’re building a coffin for me that I’ll never climb out of.”
Bella scoffed at that. “They’re not building a coffin,” she interrupted, “the truth is speaking for itself.”
“What do you know about the truth?” Megan lashed out at Bella fiercely. “You had a job at my home and you did it. You didn’t know all that was going on in my life.”
“Oh no?” Bella’s face suddenly became distorted.
“And I didn’t know all that was going on in your life either. Who knows how much money Tyron gave you on the side?” Megan had suddenly found her stride. “Who knows how much you were even stealing from him?”
“Me, stealing?” Bella’s eyes opened wide as she turned to Chief of Police Gallant. “She’s turning everything against me now to save herself. I never stole a thing in my life.”
Furious, Megan wouldn’t let go. “Who knows what the escort service slipped you on the side?” she added. “Bella was the one who hired those girls for Tyron. Every single one of them!”
Everyone stopped then and stared at Bella.
“I had to, I had no choice about it.” Bella’s voice rippled through the stiffening atmosphere. “Megan wasn’t there for Tyron! It made him crazy, too. How could she have left her husband alone?”
“Shut up!” Megan lashed out.
“The poor guy needed something, didn’t he?” Bella continued.
“He had what he needed,” Megan slapped back.
“No, he didn’t,” Bella insisted. “Why did his wife disappear on him like that? In the beginning it was only once in a while that I needed a girl to fill in for Megan. After that it was more and more. The past few months she wasn’t anywhere around! Why not? Did she have someone else she was seeing?”
“She’s blaming me to take attention away from herself,” Megan shouted. “Bella was the one downstairs with Tyron when he fell to his death.”
At that Gallant stepped forward strongly and confronted Megan. “Bella didn’t do it, we’re positive of that,” he announced.
Megan flinched. “Positive?”
“We have more information,” Gallant said, a small smile forming around the edges of his mouth.
“What?” Megan asked, shaken.
“We just found the surveillance video of Bella that had been placed in the front of the house. Someone had taken it down and buried it.”
“Buried it? Where?” Megan was aghast.
“It doesn’t matter where.” Gallant’s voice grew threatening. “Where we found the video is beside the point. The point is that the video placed Bella in the kitchen, cooking, during the time Tyron was killed!”
Both Olivia and Megan grew silent at the same time. The field of suspects had now greatly narrowed, Olivia realized. Megan was standing alone. All eyes in the room turned to Megan.
“Now, answer me straight,” Gallant continued, “and stop putting the blame on Bella. Did Tyron find out you were seeing someone? Is that why he was cutting you out of his will?”
Megan simply stood silently, staring, unable to respond
for the moment.
“No, that’s not why he tried to cut me out of the will,” Megan suddenly burst out. “He did it because he’d hated me for a long time! He was desperate to get rid of me any way he could.”
Olivia’s thoughts started racing. Tyron had even offered Bella money to have Megan disappear. Olivia wondered if she should mention that now, but didn’t know how the police would respond. Would it add to suspicion of Megan? Olivia didn’t want to be part of that. This case was a tapestry with many strands woven together. Olivia wanted more time and space to pull the strands apart, one after another.
“Your husband was desperate to get rid of you and you stayed with him anyway?” Gallant’s voice dropped as he continued pushing Megan.
“Where was I going to go?” Megan’s voice cracked then; she was on the verge of tears.
“There were plenty of places you went to,” Bella chimed in, victorious now. “Why didn’t you go and stay there forever?”
“Where did you go when you were away so long?” Gallant stepped forward angrily.
“I don’t know where I went.” Megan began sobbing.
“Of course you know.” Gallant looked at her oddly.
“Let her cry all she wants.” Bella burst into the conversation. “She knows where she went, just doesn’t want to tell you. She went away partying with some guy.”
“Is that true?” Gallant turned to Bella then. “Who did she go partying with?”
At that question Bella came up cold. “I don’t know who.”
“You have no idea?” Gallant pursued it.
“None at all,” Bella exclaimed. “But she was gone, wasn’t she? Where else would she go?”
“That’s an open question.” Olivia stepped forward then. “We need time to explore the answers. We need time to find out who Megan was with and what their stake was in seeing Tyron gone!”
“But time is running out fast!” Marcus, another officer there, stepped forward. “Megan obviously knows where she went. There’s a reason she’s not telling us. Where did you go, Megan?”
Megan looked at him sadly. “I drifted around, went to see this one and that one. There wasn’t one place I stayed at. Nobody really wanted me for very long.”
Gallant threw Wayne a searching glance. “Did you mention the plea deal I offered to her lawyer?” Gallant asked.
“I did,” Wayne replied. “She has no interest in taking it.”
“Too bad,” muttered Gallant. “We’ve also been playing around with the original surveillance video of Tyron on the patio. You know, the one that was hard to see, that was tampered with.”
“What about it?” Megan spun toward Gallant, now suddenly alarmed.
“We’ve brought in top experts at reconstruction and are getting much closer to finding out who tampered with it!” Gallant challenged Megan.
“There’s no way to find that out.” Megan started trembling.
“There definitely is,” Gallant answered smugly. “Ever hear about the cutting-edge advances in technology?”
Olivia wasn’t sure that was true. Gallant was probably lying to Megan, pressing her, in order to get the whole truth. Whatever he was doing, it was working.
“Okay, okay!” Megan suddenly held her hand up in front of her face. “I can’t take it another minute. It’s enough, stop it. I did it. I tampered with the video.”
“You did it?” Gallant shot back as the entire room froze.
“I did it because I didn’t want you to see Tyron screaming at me like he did. He screamed all the time. It was humiliating.” Megan was crumbling in front of their eyes.
Gallant shook his head. “It’s all over now, Megan,” he said.
“But if you look carefully, the video I tampered with was filmed earlier in the day,” Megan went on breathlessly. “It was hours before Tyron was pushed down on the sand. Hours! Check it out, please!”
“We still can’t see the exact time of day the video was recorded,” Gallant replied. “What we do know is that it was definitely filmed the day Tyron died. And that he was screaming at you. And now you say you’re the one who tampered with it.”
“But I didn’t kill him! I didn’t, I didn’t!” Megan started to shriek.
Chief Gallant nodded to other officers there. “Okay, book her and arrest her. We’ve got what we’ve been looking for.”
The other officers in the room closed in then, pulling Megan’s arms behind her.
“Believe me, someone, believe me!” screamed Megan.
Olivia and Wayne looked at each other, stunned. “She never told us she meddled with the surveillance video,” Wayne murmured to Olivia. “She tried to dupe us, too.”
“Why would she do that?” Olivia was breathless.
“It was a scam. Megan wanted us to cover for her to take away the heat,” Wayne replied. “Cameron was too smart to go for it, though. We should have realized something was wrong when Cameron left the case.”
Olivia felt stung. “Well, maybe Cameron’s smarter than both of us, but I’m still not entirely sure Megan’s guilty.”
As the cops dragged Megan away, Olivia saw her turn and throw Olivia a pleading glance over her shoulder.
“I didn’t do it,” Megan called out again, hoping that just one person would hear her.
*
Olivia and Wayne left the police station soon after.
“So, are we off the case officially now?” Olivia asked as they walked down the long avenue in the balmy summer air.
“In a little while,” Wayne answered. “The police will first have to file charges and take care of other details.”
“But we’re not off the case until Megan says so, are we?” Olivia insisted.
“Not officially, no,” said Wayne. “Why?”
“Just wondering,” Olivia mused.
“Well, let’s do our wondering down near the beach right now,” Wayne suggested, running his long fingers through his hair. “It’s a beautiful day and we could use some downtime.”
“We certainly could,” said Olivia, upset by the developments and eager to be near the sky and water with Wayne.
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
Olivia and Wayne arrived at the beach in what seemed like no time at all. From the police’s point of view, the case seemed to be closed and the day could be thought of as an unexpected holiday.
“This is the last place I expected to be this morning,” said Olivia as slipped out of her shoes.
“It’s great, isn’t it?” said Wayne, doing the same. “We both can sure use some downtime at this point.”
That couldn’t be disputed, thought Olivia as they walked barefooted along the warm sand to the edge of the water. When they got to the shore Olivia watched the waves roll in and slide between her toes. Thankfully, it relaxed her. The tension in the case had been relentless and no matter what the others said, it wasn’t over for Olivia yet.
“I love it here,” Olivia said, as the breezes washed over.
“I do too!” Wayne agreed.
“I’m still uneasy though,” said Olivia, reaching down into the ocean and splashing it on her face.
“I told you this case could finish up quickly,” Wayne said as he sat down on the sand and stretched his feet into the waves. Then he turned and with both hands began digging and piling up sand.
Olivia smiled a bit as she watched him. “Are you actually making a sandcastle?” she asked. Wayne had so many sides to him. At times she could see him as a young boy, relaxed and playful. Other times he was completely take charge, focused. A still point in the storm.
Olivia sat down on the sand beside him and began scooping the sand up with her hands as well.
“Looks like we’re both building sandcastles,” Wayne laughed.
“Guess so,” said Olivia. It seemed okay for the moment to take a little break. “But sandcastles get pulled out into the ocean pretty fast,” Olivia suddenly added, thinking about the case. They’d all built a sandcastle about Megan’s complicity, but how strong
was the foundation? Could the case easily crumble and roll away like sand?
“I get what you’re saying,” said Wayne. “You’re referring to Megan.”
“I am,” Olivia agreed.
“Well, from everything we’ve seen and heard, it’s obvious that she’s guilty, isn’t it?” he replied, digging more intensely.
Olivia flinched. “I wouldn’t say obvious.”
Olivia leaned over and quickly pulled up more damp sand. “I’d say it’s possible she’s guilty, but maybe not?”
Wayne stopped digging abruptly. “Well, that’s a big step for you at least, to say that it’s possible.”
“It is possible, likely even,” Olivia added. “But is it obvious? No, not to me. I’m still troubled by Alice and Clay’s relationship and how Clay’s friend Hank gave Alice that photo. Why would he do that?”
“There’s a time when questions like that are over,” Wayne spoke forcefully then. “Megan lied to us, Olivia. I can’t get past that. Lying is always a sign that’s something’s terribly wrong.”
“She didn’t lie to us, exactly.” Olivia felt compelled to defend Megan. There was no one else around who seemed to want to.
“Megan withheld important information,” Wayne continued vigorously. “That’s the same as lying. She never told us that she’d tampered with the original surveillance video.”
“You’re right.” Olivia had to concede that point.
“If Megan was innocent,” Wayne continued, “she would have let us know about the video up front and told us why she did it. Instead she purposely kept us in the shadows. That’s not good.”
“Megan definitely broke trust,” Olivia replied softly. “I was surprised to learn that as well.”
Wayne stopped and turned completely to Olivia. “Once trust is broken, there’s no going back.”
Olivia was struck by the intensity of Wayne’s feeling. He must have had been through a painful loss of trust himself, she thought. It was interesting how similar they were, Olivia realized. She, too, had no tolerance for breaking trust.