Take Stock in Murder (21 page)

“Me!” Carrie couldn’t believe his statement.

“Carrie!” Charles choked as he said her name. “Carrie had nothing to do with Todd’s murder.”

“Is that a confession from you, Mr. Faraday?” Detective Jenco jumped immediately on Charles’s words.

“Of course not. I mean, Carrie was Todd’s victim.” Charles stopped speaking, realizing he wasn’t helping. “
I’m
the one who punched Todd.”

“You had the fight, Mr. Faraday, but Mrs. Faraday had the most to lose if her affair with the victim became public.”

“Affair. What affair? We weren’t having an affair,” Carrie snapped.

“Carrie, don’t say another word. I’ll get Hugh Simpson on the phone.”

Detective Jenco ignored Charles as he moved toward the phone. “Mrs. Faraday, I’m arresting you for the murder of Todd Barrington. You have the right to remain silent…”

Charles put down the phone as he watched Carrie stand helplessly and listen to her legal rights. McCall took out a pair of handcuffs.

Carrie spoke softly, without emotion. “Are the cuffs necessary, Detective? I’m not resisting, and I’ll go quietly.” McCall put the handcuffs away. “Do I need to take anything?”

“No, ma’am, if you’ll come this way.” McCall took a gentle hold of her elbow.

“Don’t worry, darling. I’ll be right behind you with Hugh,” Charles said.

Carrie turned back for a moment and kissed Charles on the cheek.

McCall led Carrie to the car and carefully helped her in the backseat.

Still standing inside with Jenco, Charles was trying to control his emotions. “You’re way off base, Jenco. You should be out looking for the real killers.”

“Funny you use the word killers in the plural, Mr. Faraday. Let me tell you what I think. We know the body of Todd was moved into the library.”

“Moved. Moved from where?” Charles tried to sound surprised.

“We are still checking the rooms. Would you like to save us time and tell us which room the murder occurred in?”

Charles ignored the insinuation. “Detective, how do you think my wife was able to move the body? Surely you don’t believe she dragged the body from some other room down the hallway and into the library by herself.”

“That’s why I think it’s interesting you used the plural. I think your wife returned to the Club to have it out with Todd, or maybe she really did go back to get her handbag. Whatever the reason, she ran into Todd a second time and shot
him. There was enough noise with the work crews that the shot wasn’t heard. She called you in a panic, or perhaps you followed her. When she admitted killing Barrington out of love, necessity, or both, you helped her cover up the crime. You are the one who helped your wife move the body.”

“Then why haven’t you arrested me? It’s because your theory doesn’t wash, Detective. Why would we take the time to move the body back to the very room where we had a fight with the victim?”

“Sometimes doing the obvious is a way of establishing an alibi. I believe once we have a full statement from your wife, it won’t be long before I’ll convince a judge to issue an arrest warrant for you too.”

“You’re still stretching the facts, and our lawyer won’t have any trouble with this one. And when you get our phone records, you will see that no call was made.” Charles saw that McCall was now behind the wheel as Carrie sat isolated in the back, beyond the wire-cage protection.

“Mr. Faraday, keep available. We’ve a member of the crew who saw your wife’s car at the Club early in the morning. As soon as we find a witness who saw you there, we’ll be adding you to the arrest warrant.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve a phone call to make.”

arrie sat in a locked cell room, looking at four bare walls painted in unremarkable government beige.

“What a nightmare this has turned out to be,” she said out loud. “I certainly didn’t think the little bits and pieces the police had gathered were enough to charge me.” Then she stopped when she realized she was talking out loud. She was glad the jail was almost empty, and she didn’t have to share her cell or her thoughts with anyone else.

I know Charles is doing all that he can and has no doubt dragged Hugh from his Sunday activities to come get me out of here. I hope he won’t lose his temper when he finds out there’s no judge available for a bail hearing until tomorrow
, she thought. There was no clock in the room, but she knew that time for her was going to pass very slowly.

Carrie’s day in court was very short. Even though the district attorney argued against bail, the judge felt there wasn’t sufficient evidence that Carrie was a flight risk. Bail was set at $250,000, and Charles was ready with the 10 percent requirement. Carrie was released.

Charles drove Carrie home in silence. They were back in their kitchen before either of them spoke. “Carrie, can I get you anything?” he asked softly.

She smiled weakly. “No, just being home is enough.”

“Carrie, I’m so sorry. I had no idea.” Carrie reached up and placed her forefinger across Charles’s lips.

“Darling, don’t. It’s not your fault.” She went over to the counter and took a tea bag from the canister. “Look, we’ll talk later. I’m going to fix myself a cup of tea. Then I’m going to climb into bed and get some sleep. I missed most of last night’s slumber.”

“All right, darling.” Charles kissed her and held her for a brief moment.

While Carrie fixed her tea, Charles slipped upstairs and ran a hot whirlpool bubble bath. When Carrie came up, he had drawn the window curtains and lit the room with a series of candles.

“Oh, Charles, a hot bath. Just what I need. Won’t you join me?”

“No. I didn’t do it for that reason. You enjoy. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

To think that Todd questioned why I would marry a man like Charles
, she thought as she slid farther into the bubbling pool.
Charles returned with a glass of Carrie’s favorite wine and a plate of cheese and crackers.

“I’ll be downstairs if you want me.”

“Stay for a few minutes and talk to me.” She paused as she took a sip of wine. “What do we do now?”

“Hugh feels the police have nothing more than circumstantial evidence. He feels the police jumped the gun because of pressure from the Barringtons to do something. Apparently, Edward and Brad Barrington have been calling the police every day for progress reports.”

“Speaking of the guns, what about the gun they found?”

“We know it isn’t ours, but I’m sure the tests will show it’s the murder weapon. Finding that gun is the one item that allowed the police to make you the candidate of choice for an arrest. I gave Hugh all of Dawn’s information concerning the gun.”

Charles fixed a cracker for Carrie. “However, there are facts that help us, not the police. The house was broken into. Thank God we reported it. It supports our story that the gun was planted. The gun had no fingerprints on it. It’s highly unlikely that the murderer would wipe her fingerprints from the gun and then hide the gun on a bookshelf in her house. And, of course, there’s the anonymous phone call.” Charles dashed off the facts with lightning speed.

“What about my purse being found at the Club? That adds to their case.”

“It’s still circumstantial. You and I know someone took it from the front seat of your car when you returned to the Club the second time. However, it could just as easily have been left
in the library when the altercation occurred with Todd, as we led the police to believe.”

“But Charles, at a trial we’ll have to tell the truth. We can’t rely on what we led the police to believe.” A slight desperation showed in her voice. “Even though it’s all circumstantial evidence, the police have lots of it. The issue is, we don’t have any evidence that clears me.” Carrie gave way to a huge yawn.

“Don’t worry. We still have leads to follow.”

“You’re right. In fact, I can think of one lead I want to follow. Let me get a few hours’ sleep, and then let’s go shoe shopping.”

“Oh, no you don’t. You’re off this case as of today.”

“Oh, Charles, buying shoes can’t hurt anything.”

“Carrie, you have been formally charged with murder. And while you and I know you’re innocent, if you continue to pursue leads, well…Hugh thinks you may damage your case. The police think our activities are a means of covering up, not uncovering information. I don’t want us to provide them with any additional evidence.”

“Charles, if the tables were turned and you were the one charged with murder, would you be sitting at home, waiting for events to unfold around you?” Charles didn’t respond, as he knew she had a point. “You know you wouldn’t. So don’t tell me to sit quietly.”

“Don’t forget we were a public spectacle at the Club on Saturday, when we were only suspects. Now with a formal charge, going out in public will be much worse. Your arrest was the front-page headline in the
Tri-County Gazette
this morning.
And lots of people have been calling. I stopped answering. The machine can gather the calls.”

“All the more reason for not staying cooped up in this house like I’m guilty. I’ve done nothing wrong. Besides…” Her voice faltered, as the words were difficult to say. “If things don’t work out the way we hope, I’ll have plenty of time to be cooped up.”

“Don’t even talk that way. Nothing will happen to you. I won’t let it happen.”

“I know you won’t. Now get out of here and let a girl finish her bath.”

“Don’t stay in the water too long.” Charles left, but not before he noticed a small tear rolling down her cheek. When he checked on her a half hour later, she was curled up in bed, sound asleep. Baxter had slipped onto the bed and was keeping her warm.

Charles took the opportunity to get Hugh on the phone.

“Hugh, it’s Charles Faraday. Thank you for your help today.”

“No problem. I’m glad I was there for you. How’s Carrie?”

“She seems fine.”

“Is Carrie there with you?”

“No, she’s upstairs asleep.”

“Tell her I don’t want her to worry.”

“Well, it’s easy to say, ‘Don’t worry.’ It’s a little harder to put it into practice.”

“I know, but we need to keep her spirits up so she has faith things will work out.”

“I’ll keep her spirits up, and I do have faith.”