Down the drain, p.13
Down the Drain, page 13
“What? Why? He didn’t do it.”
“I know that. Really, I do. The evidence is circumstantial at best, but he couldn’t explain it. Considering the DA stood outside the interrogation room with Jeffrey Morrau, I imagine they faced a lot of pressure to make an arrest. Officer Lindert didn’t seem happy. Of course, he wasn’t the one conducting the interview. I thought they would have seen what a disservice putting Brian Morein as lead on this would be.”
“Yeah, I’m sure he was all too happy to point the finger at Deke.”
“He’s doing his job, Lou.” He didn’t sound too sure. Maybe he was convincing himself more than me. “Please tell me you will not go down there. This is already enough of a mess.”
“I’d just add to it? Is that what you’re saying, Eli?”
“I’m saying let me do my job.”
“I should let my friend rot in jail? That won’t happen.”
Eli let out a strained laugh. “He will not rot anywhere. He’s in holding until they can process him. He’ll have an arraignment hearing Monday morning. At which time, he might get out on bail. Depends on the judge. I’m doing everything I can to make this as easy on him as possible, but if you pull some stunt, it will make that harder.”
“I don’t pull stunts,” I said, hurt he thought that of me. “Did you find out what they had on him?”
“It’s incredibly flimsy. A paper with two dates. One is the day Duncan died. Deke said he doesn’t remember writing it, but it looks like his handwriting. They claim it points to him recording his kills.”
I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at that. “That’s why they arrested him? I didn’t know it was illegal to write dates down.”
“It wasn’t only that. His alibis are shaky, or non-existent. He lied to the police once already. I still can’t believe he did that.”
“He was trying to protect Shea,” I argued.
“They were never looking at Shea.”
“He didn’t know that.”
Eli blew out a breath. “That’s not my point. Nothing they have is solid. I think the DA believes they can scare him into a confession, but that won’t happen while I’m at his side. Just... don’t do anything stupid in the meantime.”
“Glad to see you have so much faith in me.”
“Lou...”
I was already hanging up. I couldn’t wait for whatever would happen. Deke didn’t belong in jail. I would make sure Matthias understood that.
“He didn’t do it.”
Matthias glanced up even as he continued typing at the computer. Did it have something to do with Deke? Was Morein forcing him to do the grunt work though he wasn’t supposed to be on this case? Was he rubbing Matthias’s face in having taken the case from him? “I believe that,” he said, keeping his voice low. “Officer Morein, and the District Attorney, felt there was enough evidence to charge him. There wasn’t anything I could do.”
“What about the blood at the second murder scene? That wasn’t his, was it?”
“How do you know about that?”
“People talk,” I hedged.
“People,” a voice echoed from beyond Matthias. I didn’t have to look to know who it was. “More like your good buddy who works with the coroner. I should arrest both of you right now.”
Just try it, Mudbrain. No way could I let that happen. I wouldn’t let Cord get into trouble. “Going to be hard to have a book club meeting if half of us are in jail.”
“Not sure why that’s my problem.” He turned to Matthias. “Make sure they leave. And stay out of this case.”
“Then, you should find the actual killer,” I shot back.
“I did. He’s in a cell now, waiting to be processed.”
When he walked away, I looked at Matthias. “It wasn’t Deke,” I told him. “Help me prove that.”
“I wish I could.”
“Was the blood his?”
Matthias glanced around. “We don’t have the report yet,” he said, keeping his voice low. “Even when we do, I can’t just tell you what’s in it. You should go home. Play with your dog. Visit your meddling family, as you refer to them. Please don’t get any more involved.”
“I won’t let Deke be railroaded. If the department doesn’t care to figure out who really did this, I will.” I strode past the front desk.
I had to solve this before Deke paid for the crime. One I knew he wouldn’t have committed. I just needed to figure out where to go next.
“Eli,” I said when I left the station. He should be my first stop. He might not know everything about what was going on, but I was sure he had at least one piece of information that could help me. Which could help Deke.
I just didn’t know if he would give it to me.
“Seriously?” I looked at Eli. “That paper was all they had on him? I thought there had to be more you hadn’t told me.”
“The lack of an alibi doesn’t help him. Neither does the fact he’s lied to the police. They have evidence he was at the first crime scene—”
“He’s the one who found her. He didn’t kill her.”
“I believe that,” Eli assured me. “We have to prove that, or cast enough doubt the DA won’t pursue the case. Unfortunately, they are getting a lot of pressure from the Starnes and Morrau families. Your old friend Morein isn’t helping.”
I didn’t bother arguing that last part. We knew no one with the last name Morein had ever considered me a friend, or the other way around. “That’s not good enough. If they think he got off because there wasn’t enough evidence, this town will never believe he was innocent. You know how they are. They jumped at the first thought I killed Brenten. Yet some refuse to accept it was Josiah, even though he confessed.”
“It might be all we can do. I’m going to talk to him. Maybe I’ll find something else we can use. In the meantime—”
“Yeah, yeah.” I waved away the lecture. I didn’t need to hear ‘stay out of it’ any more today. “I’ll go talk to Deke’s uncle.”
Eli put a hand over his face. “How is that staying out of it, Lou?”
“How is talking to his uncle wrong? He’s probably worried about Deke, if he knows about the arrest. Albert McBryde usually knows everything that happens in this town, sometimes before it even happens. I’ll let him know Deke’s all right and you’re taking care of things. I’m sure that will ease his mind.”
“You know you’re not fooling anybody, don’t you? You’ll talk to him and put yourself right in the middle.”
I put a hand on my brother-in-law’s shoulder. “That’s where I’ve been since Deke found his ex-girlfriend in her bathtub. There isn’t any other place I can be. I’m sorry you don’t see that.”
“I don’t want anything to happen to you, Lou. You know how important you are to Ross. It would kill him if you were to get hurt. Again.”
“I won’t get hurt,” I assured him. “All I’m doing is talking to my friend’s uncle. Nothing bad will happen.”
“I hope you’re right. You should go before Ross gets home. He might actually be capable of stopping you.”
I grinned. “He only thinks so. I know how to get around him, too.”
Eli sighed. “You should stop trying to get around people and just... I don’t know. Live your life.”
“That is what I’m doing.”
“Is it, Lou? You haven’t gone on a date in... how long?”
“A couple days. I went to dinner twice with Mika this past week.”
“One was cover for investigating this case. Doesn’t count.”
I waved that away. “How did this conversation turn to my love life? Just because you and my brother are settled and starting your family doesn’t mean that’s in the cards for everyone. Not everyone wants that.”
“Are you saying you don’t? Maybe not the whole kids thing.”
“The rest of my siblings have that pretty well covered. I’m fine, Eli. I don’t need to be in a relationship to be happy.” Even if I wouldn’t mind finding someone who wanted to be around me for a long time to come. “I have work. I have friends. I have my family, who wouldn’t leave me alone even if I wanted them to. That’s enough. Or it will be once Deke is out of this mess. Okay?”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you about being in the middle of things. Talk to Deke’s uncle, but leave the rest to me. We’ll hire an investigator to dig into Mayra and Duncan and the other suspects. You don’t need to risk yourself.”
I wasn’t risking anything. “All I’ll do is talk to people.” Which was perfectly innocent.
“Yeah,” Eli said dryly. “That’s usually what gets you into trouble.”
I stood in front of Deke’s uncle, looking at the papers spread across his desk. “All of that is his?”
“Deke always wrote his notes by hand,” Albert told me. “I file them with a copy of the article once it’s printed. I keep everything for the last year. Will seeing them help him?”
“I hope so. Deke didn’t kill them. I have to prove it.”
Albert’s eyes narrowed. “You aren’t going to get yourself into trouble, are you? Deke worried about you the last time.”
I forced a smile. “That’s not my plan.” Not that I’d planned it before, either. I didn’t bother saying that. From the way Albert arched an eyebrow, he’d figured out the same thing.
“Just be careful. Deke would hate to have his freedom at the expense of your life.”
He handed over a bag of folders. “These are all Deke’s newspaper stories?”
“Not all of them,” Albert said. “Just the ones that have gone to print this year. He’s kept articles from previous years, but I never asked what he did with them. If there’s anything that will help, you’re welcome to it.”
“Thanks, Mr. McBryde.”
“Call me Albert, and do what you can to help Deke. That boy means the world to me.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“That’s all I can ask.”
When I got home, Jen looked like she was just getting ready to leave. “Got a hot date?” I teased.
Her face flushed, and she glanced away. “Is it a problem?” she asked, her voice quieter than I was used to.
“Of course not. You’re allowed to date whoever you want. I will not try to control that. Even if it was Cord.”
All the color drained from Jen’s face, and she wouldn’t meet my eyes.
“I thought something was going on.” I didn’t understand why Cord hadn’t told me. “Seriously, Jen, it’s fine. Just be careful. Cord doesn’t do serious.”
“I’m not looking for serious right now. I’m just exploring. Didn’t you say I should be able to take my time doing that?”
I nodded. “You should. I hope you have fun with it.”
Once she left, I set the file folders on the kitchen table and opened the top one, skimming Deke’s handwritten notes. That was all I could do since the writing was little more than chicken scratch. Deke would know what it meant, but I couldn’t figure out how this could help.
I’d scanned the fifth folder of notes when the realization struck me. I grabbed my phone and dialed Eli’s number. “Hi, Lou, what’s going on?”
“I might have found something. I don’t know if it’s enough.”
“Just tell me.”
I looked at the notes I’d been going through. They were on different stories, at different times of the year, different subjects. Only one thing remained the same.
“Lou?” Eli asked. “What did you find?”
“Like I said, I’m not sure it will help.”
“All we have to do is shed some doubt. That will give us time to prove he didn’t do it. So, what did you find?”
“You said the dates on that note were written all out as numbers? Dashes between them?”
“Yes,” he intoned. “What about it?”
“Deke’s uncle gave me the notes Deke wrote for his articles. Every single one is marked with the date and time.”
“Okay. How does that help us?”
“He wrote out the date, Eli. Every time. Month, day, year. Not just the number. I can call his uncle. See if he always did it that way.”
“It won’t be enough to get him released, but it can shed doubt on this so-called theory of theirs. This is wonderful, Lou. I need to get in touch with a handwriting analyzer. That note very well could have been forged.”
“His notes are chicken scratch. I’m sure anyone could copy them.”
“You’re right. I should have pushed that. I’ve got to go. We’ll have him out in no time.”
I certainly hoped so. And that no one else paid the price before this killer was caught.
Chapter Twenty
“What’s going on?” I asked when I stepped into the house. Quin hadn’t told me what he wanted, only that I should get over here. “Was Deke released? Eli had the impression what I found wouldn’t achieve that—”
“No, Lou.” Quin barely glanced up from his computer. “This isn’t about the note. Which I think is crap. If I didn’t respect Officer Lindert and how he handled things with Josiah, I’d say the paper was planted. He’s not in charge, but you said he was there.”
Which had been my first thought too, but no matter what else I thought of Matthias, most days those thoughts were a confused mishmash, I didn’t think he’d ever let something like that happen. “If it’s not about the case, then what? You seemed to believe it was important.”
“I didn’t say it wasn’t about the case. Just not the note.”
“Okay.” I drew the word out. “What is it? Did you find something in the social media accounts? Emails?”
“Slow down,” Quin said. “I’ll tell you.”
I dropped into a chair across from him. “This is me slowing down.” I looked around. “Where is everyone else?”
“I called Cord and Lucie too, but they’re both working. Amery took the day to visit their siblings.”
“Jody’s still upset about Mika.” I needed to talk to zir and make this right. I would need to make time for that. I just wasn’t sure how.
“Nah, I don’t think that’s it. But, the library’s closed today. Still, ze was busy, so it’s just us. I’ll let them know about this, too, but I figured you’d want to know right away. Since you’re the one doing the most to figure this out.”
“That’s not true. You’re here digging into this computer stuff. That’s something I could never do. I haven’t really done anything at all. Eli said to stay out of it, but I can’t do that either. I can’t let them put this on Deke. He didn’t do it. I might not know much else, but I know that.”
Quin swung his chair around, bringing the computer with him so both of us could see the screen. “I found stuff in the social media accounts, but that isn’t why I called you. I dug deeper through Mayra’s email account. She deleted a bunch of emails she’d exchanged with all three of our chief suspects.”
“Like all of them in a group?”
“I have seen no correspondence between the three suspects. Just between Mayra and each of them.”
“Okay.” I tried to make whatever connections he had. “That shouldn’t be too unusual. I mean, they all knew her. Did they know each other?”
He arched an eyebrow. “Right,” I said. “They all live here in Coalville. So, it’s likely. Not that I know everyone who lives in town, despite being a lifelong resident.”
“Even if you don’t, your family members do.”
“True. Though not everyone’s family is like mine.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” Quin said.
I squeezed his shoulder. I couldn’t relate to what he was going through with his family, his parents’ demands he change for them to even acknowledge him, and his sister harassing him because he wouldn’t. No one in my family had been judgmental about my identity since I told my parents I was genderqueer. It wasn’t the way we were. But I felt for him.
“Anyway,” Quin said after a moment, “I didn’t call you over here to discuss my family drama. This is what I found in her trash folder.” He brought up emails in several windows before returning to the first one.
Damon,
I’ve been trying to call you. I need to discuss something with you. You’re going to need to call me back. I’ll be in town for the weekend. If you don’t meet me then, you’re going to regret it.
Your Favorite Lover,
Mayra
“Despite that affectionate sign off, that sounds a good bit like a threat,” I said.
“You should see Damon’s reply to her.” He scrolled down until that came up. I laughed. There was no greeting.
Sod off. You can rampage if you wish. I’ll just be here cooking as always. Take a flying leap.
I snorted again. “Definitely no love lost there.”
“There’s more.”
There was always more. Still, I read what was on the next screen.
Damon,
I know that is not the course you wish to take with me. I have knowledge of certain truths about your family. I know you do not want the general public to know, or that rich fiancée of yours. If you don’t meet with me, I will put it in the book I’m writing. Just so you are warned.
Love Always,
Mayra
“She had a strange image of love,” I said. “What did she want from him? And who is he engaged to? Deke said something about it being a big deal.”
Quin shrugged. “Don’t know on the first question. Deke could probably tell you about the second.” He stopped. “Well, if we could talk to him. I hate this, Lou. He should be here.”
I wasn’t sure what to say. Quin was right. Deke should be here. We had to make sure he wouldn’t stay gone too long.
“His next reply to her was just as dismissive,” Quin said after a moment. “He wasn’t worried about anything she had to say. His mother is a good woman and so on. He wasn’t biting. Until she sent this.”
Damon,
I have had enough of your disrespect. Meet me tomorrow morning, and we can discuss me keeping what I know to myself. As long as you give me something in exchange. If you don’t, everybody will know what your mother did to stay here. And just what you come from. Especially that rich fiancée of yours. Does she know what you like to get up to?
