FIRST ONE DOWN: A Paul Sutton Novel (20 page)

"Look, Mr. Carmichael-"

"It's Andrew, dammit! How many times do I have to tell you that?" Andrew yelled.

"Look Andrew, I get why you're upset, I would be too if I were in your shoes. But I assure you, I requested everything I could think of on Nate Warner, and his background. He was a minor when this incident occurred, and that's not something that would typically be uncovered by a blanket background search. There would have been no way to uncover that report unless we were specifically searching for it. I will get this guy. I need you to promise me that you are going to stay away from him. Your anger worries me. Don't make me detain you. I want your word that you will let me finish this." Sutton said, as calmly, and slowly as possible.

Andrew looked down at Sutton, the veins in his neck visibly throbbing, "If you don't get him, I will. And, that is all I can promise you," he said, turning away from Sutton, he walked to the elevator bank and punched the call button, never looking back at Sutton.

The unit floor was completely silent, which was unusual. Sutton looked at the crowd that had assembled near him, "That's all, nothing more to see here, go on and get on with your day," Sutton said, pushing past them and making his way quickly back to his desk.

Looking down at his cheap, silver plated watch he realized it was past time to go meet Ms. Hanson. He threw the report Andrew had left on his desk and the case file in his briefcase, and put the notebook he had started to draft questions for Ms. Hanson on in his front shirt pocket. Then he headed out for that meeting.

Andrew got into the rental car knowing the destination he was headed to and fully aware that it was a poor decision on his part. His anguish overshadowed his logic, and the thought of this monster having access to Kali caused a fear so great within him, that he was unable and unwilling to execute even the smallest amount of control upon himself. He reached down in the passenger seat floorboard and grabbed his briefcase. Spinning the dial lock around, attempting the combination three times before it finally popped open, he pulled his Kimber Custom .45, loaded it, and returned it to the briefcase closing but not locking it. That gun was all that was on his mind; he visualized using it over and over again, destroying forever what had taken Laura, what now threatened to take Kali. Lost in dangerous thoughts, he didn't see the green, blinking face of his phone until it displayed a missed call alert. He clicked his headset on and hit the call back option.

"Oh good, I didn't think I was going to catch you before my meeting, can we talk?" Kali asked, the sweetness of her soft voice bringing him back to reality, instantly calming him.

"Hi beautiful, of course we can talk. Where are you?" Andrew asked.

"I'm parked in front of my favorite place," Kali said, a hint of nervousness in her voice, "I'm meeting that detective you told me about, Sutton, then I think I may go for a run to clear my head. I love watching the sun set over the marina, and the course I run down here is one of my favorites."

"Please be careful, Kali. Do you have a weapon on you?" Andrew asked.

"Weapon on me?" Kali said, laughing, "no, I don't have a weapon. It's safe down here, I have run this marina hundreds of times. Why would I need a weapon?"

"Just be careful. Please. What did you want to talk about?" Andrew asked, getting anxious as he approached Nate's neighborhood and trying to keep his voice from revealing his anxiety level.

"I'm nervous about this meeting. Do you have any idea why Detective Sutton wants to talk to me? I don't have any information, I haven't been involved with Nate Warner for almost two years," she said, wishing she could take that statement back and feeling a deep sense of guilt for her dishonesty, for omitting the fact that she had seen Nate recently, and that she had been involved with him, very involved.

"I don't know Kali, but he's harmless. He's one of the good guys, and I'm sure he will go easy on you. Just answer his questions and tell him the truth. You will be fine," he said, trying to sound as warmhearted as possible under the circumstances," and Kali, please be careful if you go for that run, and call me once you make it home tonight."

"I think it's adorable that you worry about me, but I'm fine, Andrew, I will be fine," she said, her sweet voice filling his ears, "and Andrew..."

"Yes, beautiful?"

"I miss your face." She hung up before Andrew could reply.

Turning onto Nate Warner's quiet, residential street, Andrew wondered if Laura had ever driven the same path that he was driving now. Had she known this man intimately, or was it a random act, a chance meeting, that had brought Nate to the point of snuffing out the love of his life? These weren't novel thoughts for Andrew, nor were they unfamiliar emotions. Yet driving down that street, they felt new, raw and painfully abrasive. The anger within him re-ignited. By the time he parked in Nate's driveway, his hands were shaking, his breathing accelerated, any reasonable thoughts or feelings he might have had had disappeared replaced with a singular, and blatant, desire to torture another human being.

Andrew opened up the briefcase, pulled the .45 out and tucked it into the waistband of his khaki uniform bottoms. He shoved the car door open then fueled his anger more by slamming it closed. Walking up to the front door, he noticed an older woman with curlers in her hair and a flowered housecoat on watering the bushes that grew between her and Nate's property line. Paying little attention to the nosy woman, he proceeded to Nate's front door. He rapped his fist on the top, center portion of a metal, mesh security screen that separated the outside world from the white, painted wood front door. Listening fixedly for any signs of movement within the house, he was stricken with disappointment. It was the middle of the day, in the middle of the week, and the man was probably at work. With slumping shoulders, he walked back to his car, got in and sat there for several minutes. Not willing to give up so easily, he backed out of Nate's driveway, and circled the block. He quietly came back around and parked along the curb, under a tree that offered some shade across from the house. And he waited.

The air was crisp, but the full sun was shining bright in the blue skies over Seaside Village. Kali found a parking space near her favorite coffee house and began to get out of her SUV. As she reached to disconnect her iPhone from its car charger, she noticed a voicemail message that she hadn't known was waiting. Holding the phone to her ear, she heard Sutton's raspy voice telling her he was running about a half hour late, and that he would arrive closer to 2:30 p.m. Looking up at the quaint shops dotting the front of Seaside Village, she decided to stroll through some of them to pass the time while she waited for the detective.

Sutton arrived at the crowded, west side parking lot adjacent to Words By The Cup. He had never been inside the small coffee house, but it was easy to find and within walking distance from the station. If he hadn't been held up by Andrew's unscheduled visit, he might have decided to walk to the agreed upon meeting place. It was only about a mile from the station, and he knew he could use the exercise. As he was walking up the cobblestone-like pedestrian path, he noticed a strikingly beautiful, dark-haired woman standing near the entrance to the coffee house. It had to be Ms. Hanson, he thought.

When he reached the woman, he met her eyes, "Ms. Hanson?" he asked.

"Yes," her eyes dark and mysterious, she replied with a slight smirk on her face, "Detective Sutton, I presume?"

Holding out his hand to her, she offered her frail, long fingered one and shook his with a firmer grip than most men he shook hands with. It was an odd feeling, and looking at her hand, it was unexpected.

"Shall we grab a cup and find a seat?" Sutton asked.

"Yes," she smiled at him, "have you ever had a cappuccino here?" Kali asked.

"Never been here before, ma'am," Sutton said, relieved by her calm demeanor and attempting not to stare. She had a beauty that drew you in, and an energy about her that was like a magnet, able to hold a man captive. He could see why Andrew had fallen for her.

"You are in for a treat, Detective," Kali said, as they made their way to the growing line of guests waiting for their end of the workday, caffeine fueled, pick-me-ups.

Kali ordered for both of them and once they had received two large mugs of steaming cappuccino's boasting a foam top displaying the barista's artistic rendition of a pumpkin painted in cinnamon, they made their way to the upstairs seating area. They were the sole patrons on the top floor, and they chose a small, round wood table in the center of the seating area. Once seated, they both took a sip of the drinks. A tense air grew between them in that brief silence. Sutton could tell Kali Hanson was nervous and he began the interview in a quiet, unobtrusive manner.

"Can we begin with how you came to know Nate Warner?" Sutton asked.

Kali felt a sharp pain in her chest, and fighting back the flood of cutting emotion that came with the memory of the evening she had met Nate, she began to recount for the detective the short version of that night. When she finished, she searched Sutton's eyes for a sign of what would come next.

"Ma'am, you think it's safe for a beautiful woman like yourself to be out running after dark?" Sutton asked.

Kali was thrown off by his question, she blinked her dark eyes a few times, "um, I, um...I try to run during daylight, but sometimes I run at night. I guess I don't think much about it, really, and I run areas that I feel safe in."

"Can you tell me about your relationship with Olivia Foster?" Sutton asked, knowing it was risky to jump right to that road, but he wanted to establish the two relationships before he moved on to questions specific to the evidence he had.

Kali felt her throat tighten. She had hoped that he wouldn't ask her about Olivia, that part of the story was impossible for her to tell without tears and she didn't want to appear weak to the detective.

"Olivia and I met through work."

"Did you have a relationship with Ms. Foster outside of work? Were the two of you friends?" Sutton asked.

"I wouldn't say that we had a relationship outside of work. We attended the same functions frequently, but she wasn't on my speed dial. We were friendly, yes. We had lunch together sometimes, during the workday," Kali said, her tone becoming slightly strained as she spoke.

"How did you come to suspect that Ms. Foster and Nate Warner were involved?" Sutton asked.

"A woman knows, detective. Nate came to the facility to see me, often, and in the latter months of our relationship, when he would visit and Olivia was around, I could sense something between the two of them."

"Is that why you followed Ms. Foster to Nate's home the night of December 24?" Sutton asked.

"I did no such thing. I didn't follow her; I didn't even know she was there until I arrived myself. And, I didn't go there because of Olivia. I went there to check on my boyfriend, the Christmas holiday is rough on him," Kali quit talking suddenly, realizing that she was oozing with a defensive tone, and had probably said too much.

"Why is that ma'am? Why were you worried about Nate Warner that night?" Sutton asked, curious to find out how much Kali knew.

"Because he lost his mother on the Christmas holiday when he was a young child," Kali said.

"Lost ma'am? Do you know how he lost his mother?" Sutton asked.

Kali could feel tears welling in her dark eyes, "I don't know the details, I only know that she was murdered on Christmas Eve when Nate was very young."

"All right, let's move on. How long were you involved in a relationship with Nate Warner prior to December 24, 2009?" Sutton asked.

"A little over two years," Kali said.

"And, how was the relationship? Did the two of you get along well during that two year span?" Sutton asked.

"Yes," Kali said, not knowing how to answer that question truthfully. She and Nate hadn't fought, but she wasn't sure if they had gotten along. She didn't know what they had had, and she had no way of summing up the relationship in terms of getting along well, or not getting along at all. Should she tell the detective that her answers would need to be based off of whether or not the question was limited to outside of the bedroom, or inside of the bedroom? Because to lump the two together made it unlikely that she could answer the questions accurately.

"I need to ask a few questions of a personal nature, Ms. Hanson, is that okay with you?" Sutton asked.

"Everything you've asked thus far, has been personal to me, detective," Kali said, folding her hands together in front of herself, and resting them on the table, a hint of aggravation in her voice.

"I am sorry to bring up old hurts, Kali. I'm just doing my job, trying to cover all the bases." He searched her face for clues watching her body language closely and feeling sympathetic to the plight of this young woman, for he knew far more from those text conversations between her and Nate Warner than any outsider should ever know about the intimate relations between a couple.

"Can you tell me about Nate Warner's general demeanor? Was there ever a point in your relationship with him that you felt unsafe or feared for your safety?" Sutton asked.

"No," Kali answered, as she sat back in the fabric lined chair, and folded her arms over her chest.

"Did you ever feel uncomfortable around Mr. Warner?"

"No," Kali said, adding up the lies she was telling, in her head.

"I apologize for the private nature of the next series of questions I need to ask you, Ms. Hanson," he swept a hand through his thick hair, pausing briefly, "Would you describe your sexual relationship with Mr. Warner as normal?"

Kali stared into Sutton's eyes from across the table. She said nothing, the look on her face expressionless. Looking down at the floor beside her chair, she spoke so softly, Sutton could barely make out her answer, "No."

"Did Mr. Warner force you to do anything you were uncomfortable with sexually?" Sutton asked.

"Not exactly."

"Ma'am?" Sutton said, urging a more complete answer.