Heart Lies & Alibis (14 page)

When I felt like no more tears could possibly fall, I pulled away and rummaged in my purse for a tissue. Wiping my eyes I looked in the mirror of the car. Yep, it was ugly cry face that looked back at me. I was a mess in more ways than one. But I also vowed that was the last time I would break down. I had never given in to my emotions before and I wasn't going to start now. Once was enough.

"And now you have had the pleasure of watching me have an emotional breakdown. Hot." I kidded him, my voice scratchy from crying so hard. I gave him a half smile but his face remained serious. "Thanks for being here Declan."

"Reagan, you can cry in front of me. Its okay. I know how strong you are but you can let your guard down too and I won't think any less of you. I promise."

I knew he meant what he said but I was still not used to letting someone get this close to me. "I appreciate what you are saying. It's just, I have never been big on emotional outbursts in front of others and I don't see that changing now. I think Thad saw me cry a total of three times in our life together. Women crying made him uncomfortable so I had always kept my emotions in check. The truth of the matter was I was preferred keeping that part of me hidden anyway. I naively thought it would somehow protect me from getting hurt. Ha, I guess the joke was on me. But I also know from experience, tears have never helped me fix my life so let's let this be the last breakdown for the foreseeable future. Deal?" I furrowed my brow at him.

Declan ignored my feeble attempts at humor. "I understand what you are saying Reagan and I think you are one of the strongest women I have ever met. But I'm not Thad and I think anyone who had been through what you have been through in the last few weeks would be justified in shedding a few tears. Give yourself a break, okay?"

I looked at him for a second. "You are pretty wonderful, you know that?" I smiled again.

He smiled back, finally. "And here I thought you just liked me for my 'nice ass' as Grace called it." So he had heard us at the cafe. His sexy eyebrow wiggle made me laugh and the intense moment was finally broken. We climbed out of the car and walked inside arm in arm.

I wasn't exactly sure when the police would arrive and I wanted to be prepared. I called Astrid and filled her in on what I knew. She told me that although she didn't specialize in criminal defense, if I needed that kind of lawyer, she had some good recommendations and would make sure I was in good hands. I hoped things would never come to that but I knew I was automatically the number one suspect as the bitter soon-to-be ex-wife. Astrid asked if I wanted her to come by so I could have legal counsel present while the police talked to me.

"I think I will be fine without you today Astrid. Thanks for the offer. I do appreciate it. The detective would only say they had a few questions for me so I think I will wait and see what they need to know before I get you involved. I'll call you if something comes up and I need your help." That was a call I hoped I wouldn't need to make.

"I agree that sounds like the best approach at this point Reagan. But if anything gets weird or if they start pushing you about anything, you call me immediately. Now, is lover boy going to be with you during the interview at least?" Astrid and Declan had met at one of our meetings earlier in the week and even the cynical litigator approved of him though she insisted on referring to him as Lover Boy.

I smiled. "Yes, he'll be here. We're just going to refer to him as my friend, though. Try to keep things as uncomplicated as we can." Whatever that meant right now. My life was the exact opposite of complicated.

"Good plan. Keep me posted and if we need to bring in some other council, I'll take care of it. Chin up, Reagan. You'll make it through this, I promise. And sorry about your loss." It was the nicest I heard Astrid sound in all the years I had known her. I felt better having talked to her.

"Thanks Astrid. I will talk to you soon." I hung up and suddenly felt all of my forty years of living. I was tired to my very core – emotionally and physically, and this new nightmare had just begun.

Declan brewed a fresh pot of coffee while I tried to repair the damage crying had inflicted on my makeup. I was just finishing making myself more presentable when I heard the doorbell ring.

I could hear strange voices as I came down the stairs. Declan was explaining who he was to the two detectives.

He sounded very young as he spoke. "I'm a friend of Reagan's, err, Mrs. McCallister's. She asked me to be here for some moral support." He smiled but they didn't smile back. This was not a good sign.

I noticed the detectives exchanged an interesting look but before they could inquire of Declan any further they turned at my approach. The younger of the two, a handsome black man with a shaved head and a well fitted gray suit spoke first. Extending his hand to me he said "Mrs. McCallister? I'm Detective Davis. We spoke on the phone." He stood about six foot tall so we nearly looked each other in the eye. His dark chocolate eyes were kind and I immediately liked him.

I took his hand and gave it a firm, short shake. "Yes. Hello Detective. Thank you for coming to my house for this meeting."

He nodded before gesturing to the woman who stood slightly behind him. "And this is my partner, Detective Perretti." I nodded to the woman and gave her smile which she did not return. She was petite, maybe 5'4 but she had a commanding presence in the room, her face stoic and flat while her eyes moved quickly around the space, accessing and judging everything and everyone she saw. Her dark hair was cut in a blunt bob and she wore a black jacket over black slacks and she appeared to be about my age. Her dark brown eyes looked me up and down briefly with no emotion before they moved to Declan to do the same thing. Then her gaze returned to me and remained fixed while she remained quiet. She clearly thought Declan was more than a 'supportive friend' in my life and she did not appear to approve. I had a feeling she was going to make this situation harder than it had to be.

I gestured to the room off the foyer. "Please come into the family room and have a seat. May I get you some coffee?" I asked as I led the way.

Detective Perretti chose one of the two chairs that flanked the sofa while Davis took the other, forcing Declan and I to take a seat on the sofa directly between them.

"Yes, thank you. I take it black." Perretti spoke for the first time, her tone clipped and professional.

"Two sugars for me, thanks." Davis said with a smile. So it was going to be 'good cop, bad cop' with these two? I could handle that.

"I'll get them Reagan." Declan said excusing himself from the room.

He returned quickly with a tray holding the coffees. He set the tray on the table in front of me before handing the detectives their coffees. He finished by handing me a mug and then settling himself on the couch next to me with his own cup. I noticed he kept a respectable distance between us though so he must have also noticed Perretti's disapproving looks in the foyer.

Davis took a drink of the coffee and then set it on a coaster in front of him. Leaning forward he pulled a small notepad and pen from his coat pocket. "Mrs. McCallister, I know this is a difficult time for you but we need to ask a few questions to help with our investigation of your husband's murder."

I felt the color drain from my face. "So you really do think Thad was murdered?" It still was so hard to comprehend.

"They don't usually assign homicide detectives to a natural death." Perretti snarled her eyes narrowed in irritation. She was going to be a joy.

I flushed a bit. "No of course not. I just thought, maybe, I don't know that Thad had died a different way. It is just so hard to believe."

Davis shot Perretti a dark look before continuing, a silent command to back off a bit. She gave a slight shrug and took another drink of coffee. "Yes ma'am. Your husband was found with extensive knife wounds to his torso. The Medical Examiner believes the murder weapon may be a" he consulted his notes before adding "butterfly knife with a 4-inch blade. It is known to be a fairly common weapon among some of the local street gangs for some reason. Unfortunately for us, that makes it pretty easy to obtain so finding our murder weapon may take some luck."

I felt all the color drain from my face again. A butterfly knife, he said. But it couldn't be.

I saw Davis's eyes narrow in question. "Are you okay, ma'am?" He asked while Perretti glowered at me from her chair.

"Reagan, do you need a moment?" Declan asked his hand on my arm.

I tried to pull myself together. I couldn't raise their suspicions any more than I already had. "No...no. I'm... umm ...fine. Please go on. What's a butterfly knife exactly?" I asked, trying to feign ignorance though I knew exactly what he was going to describe.

Perretti spoke before Davis could answer. "You know, one of those knives you flick open, bringing the handles together." She demonstrated in the air. "Very scary when opened quickly or used to kill someone."

Yes, they could be very scary in the right hands for sure, I thought. "Oh, yes I see. I believe I know what you are talking about. Thanks. Anything else you can tell me?"

"Well, we don't know much more right now. The Medical Examiner places the time of death somewhere between 10:30 and 12:30 last night." Davis consulted his notes again before continuing. "Now you told me on the phone earlier, you and Mr. McCallister were in the process of getting a divorce? How long have you been separated?"

"Yes we were. It has been about two weeks. We started divorce proceedings officially just last week." I watched as Davis nodded and scribbled more notes.

"Well, I guess you don't need to worry about that now." Perretti added before Davis spoke again, her comment causing his head to snap towards her with another dirty look. She kinda shrugged as if to say, "Sorry" but I knew she wasn't. Two could play this game lady.

I turned my best icy glare on her, the one I saved for attorneys I faced in court. "Yes Detective, I believe you are correct. Divorce is suddenly a moot point for me. Now I'll just be a widow instead I guess." I continued to glare at her but she just met my eyes with stony indifference.

Finally I looked back at Davis. His face was set in a grim line. He apparently did not appreciate his partner's lack of tact any more than I did. "On the phone you mentioned the body was identified by Thad's assistant? Would that be an Amberly Jones by any chance?" I asked the question already knowing the answer.

Davis consulted his notes, nodding. "Yes. That's correct."

I almost smiled. "And did Ms. Jones happen to mention to you that in addition to being Thad's assistant, she was also his mistress and a reason for our previously pending divorce?" I looked back smugly at Perretti and though she didn't look chastised for her earlier rudeness, her eyes seemed slightly less cold when the met mine. Pity was better than detest, I reasoned.

Davis looked slightly uncomfortable and I was glad. "Umm, no. She failed to mention that bit of information."

"I see. Well perhaps she could provide you more information about Thad's activities over the last few weeks than I could, considering everything." I took a drink of coffee.

He cleared his throat again. "We will definitely be following up with Ms. Jones. Do you have any idea how long the affair had been going on between your late husband and Ms. Jones, Mrs. McCallister?"

I turned back to look at him. "Call me Reagan, please. And no, I'm not exactly sure of the start date as I guess would be common with an affair. However, I did catch them in a compromising position on the sofa in his office about two weeks ago so I know its been going at least that long but my guess would be much longer. Our firm hired Ms. Jones about six-months ago."

Detective Davis reddened a bit at the bluntness of my statement and I could feel Perretti watching me. When I turned to look at her she had a small smirk on her face. Yep, its exactly what you are thinking, you bitch. I caught them fucking, which is as awesomely horrible as you are imagining it was right now.

Davis scribbled some more notes and nodded again. "Umm, I see. Well thank you for the information. As I said, we will be following up with Ms. Jones about this new development." He consulted his notes once more. "I need to ask one final question Reagan, before we leave you. Where you were last night between 10:00pm and 1:00am?" His pen poised to record my answer, his face void of all emotion.

I froze at the question. I couldn't tell them where I had been last night. I hadn't even told Declan, who was now watching me with growing concern, where I had gone.

So, instead I lied. Again. "I was here all night. Oh, except for when I took a drive to go to the park for a run but I came back almost immediately from that." I took a drink of coffee trying to steady my nerves and figure out what I was going to say next. Things were getting complicated very quickly.

Davis didn't acknowledge my nervousness but I knew he noticed it. "And what park would that be that you went for a run?" He asked, his eyes studying my face closely as he waited for my answer.

I could lie again or I could admit to being where I was but offer a good reason as to why I had been there instead. I knew from my own experience with clients, the police could get a warrant to check the GPS system in my car without a problem and it would show exactly where I was last night. I chose to be honest, about this at least. "Umm..... I went to Riverside Park on Grant Avenue. I run there often actually." Which was the truth. "But as I said before, I was only there a few minutes before I changed my mind and came back home. I never actually went for a run last night." I looked from one detective to the other.