The Betrayal of Lies (14 page)

As the door to the interrogation room opened, the conversation spilling out drew Emily and Ernie’s attention. Patrick walked out first, looking none too happy in his rumpled navy designer suit, followed by his smug well-dressed attorney. Colin brought up the rear, his expression telling Emily that he hadn’t accomplished what he had hoped.

Murphy and Gray blew past Emily and Ernie and headed straight to the double glass doors at the front of the building, leading out to the landing and the wide steps to the street. As they pushed the doors open, the frenzy of reporters blasted a rush of questions that could be heard until the doors swung shut.

Emily hurried to the doors to watch the show, wondering if the lawyer had called the press before he headed to the jail. Murphy and Gray had walked to the edge of the granite steps, where a mass of reporters shoved their microphones toward them. Ernie and Colin reluctantly followed Emily outside to hear what propaganda the well-known attorney and his powerful client would spout.

“My client, Patrick Murphy, is a pillar in this community,” the attorney began in an authoritative and booming voice. “His wife was savagely taken from her home, against her will, by a man wanting to extract a hefty ransom from my client.”

Emily, Colin, and Ernie strategically positioned themselves to the side of the reporters, so as not to be picked up on the cameras. The last thing they would want was a camera and microphone shoved in their face asking why Colin had dragged Paradise Valley’s leading citizen into the jail, accusing him of the brutal murder of his loving wife.

Patrick stood beside his lawyer, his face awash with an expression that spoke of love and loss. Emily wondered if it was real or if he was putting on a mask of sadness for the cameras.

“Mr. Murphy learned where the man was holding her,” the lawyer continued, “and raced to her rescue with no thought for his own safety. After finding his wife brutally murdered, this brave man struggled with the kidnapper to get his gun away and the other man was accidentally shot when the gun went off.”

Patrick nodded his head sadly, as if on cue.

“It easily could have been Patrick Murphy who was shot. Instead of hailing him as the hero he is, the authorities haul him to jail and interrogate him as a suspect,” Mr. Gray said, motioning toward Patrick, “this man, this grieving hero, who has just lost his wife.”

“Can you believe that?” Ernie said to Colin and Emily, as they stood to the side, watching the media circus congregated on the steps.

Emily looked up at him. “The sad thing is, Ernie, we don’t really know if it’s true or not. It could be, couldn’t it?”

Colin turned his head to her. “I thought you were the one who had the gut feeling the husband did it.”

Emily gave a weak smile. “Guts can be wrong, you know.” It would sure help their case if Jake woke up and answered some questions, assuming he wouldn’t lie to save his own skin. “What we need is hard evidence.”

After the attorney gave his flowery speech, he took Patrick by the arm and pressed through the crowd to his car, whisking him away from the reporters’ questions.

Colin’s phone dinged that he had a text. “There’s a message here from the ME. He wants to see us.”

~*~

Colin and Emily rushed to the medical examiner’s lab, hoping for something concrete to point to the killer.

“What’s up, Doc?” Colin asked as they entered the lab.

Dr. Walters rolled his eyes. “It’s not like I haven’t heard
that
a thousand times.”

“Sorry, Dr. Walters,” Emily said. “Do you have something for us?”

Elise’s corpse was on one of the steel tables, and the doctor moved to cover her with a white sheet. “As you know, the victim sustained a gunshot to the temporal lobe,” he said. “I estimate she was shot from less than three feet away.”

But by whom?
Emily ran a hand through her hair. Not an easy question to answer under the circumstances.

“I removed the bullet and sent it to the CSI lab to have it tested,” Dr. Walters said.

“Time of death, Doc?” Colin asked.

“Less than two hours before I arrived, but I can’t pinpoint it any closer than that.”

“Anything else?” Colin stepped forward.

“As a matter of fact, yes.” Dr. Walters pulled the sheet down, exposing Elise’s dead body down to her chest, then he pushed her auburn tresses back, exposing the side of her neck.

At the sight of Elise’s pale, cold body, Emily’s heart leapt into her throat and her knees went weak for a quick second. She grabbed Colin’s arm to steady herself.

“You okay?” he whispered.

Emily took a deep breath and collected herself, nodding at him. She wasn’t expecting such a visceral reaction to seeing Elise’s lifeless corpse. She’d seen dead bodies before. Why did seeing Elise’s affect her so?

“What is that?” she asked, as they all looked at the thin abrasion along the side of Elise’s neck.

“I believe something was pulled against it, like a fine rope burn,” Dr. Walters replied.

Emily looked up at the white-haired doctor. “The chain of a necklace, maybe?”

“Possibly,” he nodded, “like from someone yanking it off her neck.”

“Let’s keep that detail under wraps,” Colin said. “Okay, Doc?”

~*~

Colin and Emily left Dr. Walters and headed to the CSI lab to see Nelly.

“Hello, Nelly,” Colin greeted as they stood in the doorway of her lab. He knew better than to walk in uninvited.

She was perched on a stool in front of her computer and turned at his voice. “Hey, guys, come on in.”

“Anything new to show us?” Emily asked.

“Yeah.” Nelly held up a small tracking device. “During a search of the vehicles, we found this tracker on the underside of Mr. Murphy’s Audi, but I didn’t find any prints on it.”

“That’s odd,” Colin said, shooting Emily a sideways glance. “I wonder who put it there.”

Her eyes widened as she pressed her lips together.

“I wonder too,” Nelly said, laying the device down on her counter. “Another thing, Doc Walters gave me a couple of bullets, one from the deceased, Elise Murphy, and one from the suspected shooter, Jake Mitchell. I tested them and found they’re from the same gun.”

“The one in Murphy’s hand?” Colin asked.

“Yeah, that’s the one.” Nelly slid off of her stool and walked over to her desk. She picked up a sheet of paper. “Because of the struggle over the gun, there was gunshot residue on both Patrick Murphy’s hand as well as on Jake Mitchell’s.”

“So that doesn’t tell us who shot Elise,” Emily said, looking to Colin.

“Hey, Nell,” Colin said, “what about the gun I pulled off Patrick Murphy?”

“I checked it too,” Nelly said, “but it hadn’t even been fired recently.”

That didn’t help. One of those two men shot Elise Murphy, but nothing was pointing to which one, or why.

Chapter 16

“I’d better head over to Camille’s house,” Emily said as she and Colin left the county forensics lab. “I need to break the bad news to her before she hears about Elise on the television.”

“If she hasn’t already,” Colin remarked as they walked back to his Jeep. “It’s going on nine thirty.”

The horrific news was going to break Camille’s heart, but there was no way to keep it from her. She was going to find out eventually, so it might as well be sooner rather than later.

“While I’m over there,” Emily said, “why don’t you check with your guy Ben on the CSI team and see if they found the necklace at the cabin?”

“What does it look like?” Colin asked.

Leave it to a woman to pay attention to the jewelry. He had seen the security video from the ATM the same as she had. Men just didn’t notice these things the way a woman did. Emily resisted the urge to roll her eyes at him.

“You’re lucky to have me, you know.” She patted him on the shoulder. “It’s a rather large red garnet, oval shaped.” Emily made an outline of the stone with her thumb and index finger to demonstrate the size. “It had small diamonds all around it, and it was suspended on a thin silver chain.”

“Huh. I recall she had a necklace on, but the video footage was so grainy I didn’t notice the details of it.” He stopped at his vehicle, opening the passenger door for her.

Emily shrugged. Perhaps she remembered the detail of it because she had seen it in person, when Elise wore it to their appointment. “Anyway, trust me, that’s what she was wearing in the ATM footage,” Emily said, climbing into the Jeep, “but she wasn’t wearing any necklace when we found her.”

Colin came around and slid behind the wheel.

“So if it wasn’t discovered at the crime scene or in one of Jake’s pockets,” Emily continued, “I think we can safely assume the murderer is the one who ripped it off her neck.”

He started the engine and put the vehicle in reverse, backing out of the parking space. “I patted Patrick Murphy down after I put the cuffs on him, but I was looking more for a weapon than a piece of jewelry.”

“Wouldn’t he have had to surrender all of his possessions when he was put in a holding cell?”

Colin pulled out of the parking lot and onto the main street. “Yes…so how would he have gotten it out of the cabin and hidden it from the police?”

“Maybe he slipped it into a hidden pocket in his jacket.”

“Now you’re just reaching, Babe.”

“Just check with Ben. Please.” Emily ran her hand up his arm and over his shoulder. She leaned over and batted her eyes up at him. “Then if they don’t have it, you can get a warrant to search the Murphy house—his office too.”

He swerved to the right and brought the Jeep to a quick stop at the curb. “Are you nuts?”

“What do you mean?”

“If they didn’t find the necklace at the cabin, it doesn’t mean Murphy has it. Going after that man without concrete evidence will backfire for sure and end both of our careers. Is that what you want, Emily?”

“Of course not.” She hadn’t expected such an explosive reaction from him. “But I don’t want him getting away with murder either.”

“I think it’s more likely that Jake is our guy. And I still can’t help but wonder if Maggie had anything to do with it, given her financial problems and her history for getting involved with losers. I know she says she didn’t, but—”

“No.” Emily shook her head adamantly. “I’d never believe Maggie could be involved in something like this.” Emily would never stake her life on it, of course, but seeing Maggie as a criminal was unfathomable.

“I know she’s your friend, Babe, but you have to look at the facts. From what we found in the cabin, we’re pretty sure Elise was involved. Maggie was at Elise’s house right before she disappeared, and her blood was found at the scene, not to mention the fact that she had been involved with Jake.”

“She explained all of that to you,” Emily said.

“If it was the truth. We just don’t know at this point, so we can’t rule her out.”

“I know it looks bad—I’ll give you that. But come on, Colin.” Emily leaned toward him, staring into his eyes, intent on making her point. “This is Maggie we’re talking about.”

“I have to look at the facts,” he said, not flinching, not backing off of his stance. “I can’t let my emotions blind my judgment.”

“You mean like a hormonal, emotional woman.”

“Your words, not mine.”

~*~

Emily drove to Camille’s house, leaving Colin to figure out the next step on his own. Had she convinced him enough to ask a judge to sign a search warrant? Or was he right? Would they be committing professional suicide?

She would have to find out later. Right now, she had to deliver heartbreaking news to one of her best friends.

Emily stepped onto the porch and rang the doorbell. She heard the sound of feet pattering toward the door, then it opened. Instead of Camille, Maggie greeted her.

“Oh, Em,” Maggie gushed, drawing Emily into a hug. “Isn’t it just awful?”

At that instant, Emily knew Camille had already heard about Elise’s death. “Yes, it is.” She returned Maggie’s embrace. “That’s why I’m here.”

“Camille will be happy to see you. She’s in the family room.” Maggie linked arms with Emily and escorted her back.

“Look who’s here, Cam,” Maggie said.

Camille looked up from the sofa where she was dabbing her eyes with a handful of tissues. “I’m so glad you’re here,” Camille said, opening her arms to Emily.

With the sound of the television newscaster in the background, Emily took a seat beside her friend and put her arms around her. She held her for a long time as Camille sobbed into her shoulder. Emily raised her gaze to Maggie, seeing tears forming in her friend’s big blue eyes.

Maggie picked up the television remote and flicked the TV off before sliding onto the sofa on the other side of Camille and draping her arm around her as well.

Eventually, Camille’s sobs subsided and she sat back against the sofa. “Thank you both for coming.”

Emily was about to speak when the doorbell rang. “Stay here, I’ll answer it,” she said, rushing to the door.

It was Isabel. “I just heard,” she said, stepping over the threshold, giving Emily a quick hug. “How is Camille taking it?”

Emily glanced down the hallway, in the direction of the family room. “She’s broken up, but I think once she gets over the initial shock of it, she’ll be fine.”

“She knew Elise a lot better than the rest of us,” Isabel said.

“Maggie too, it would seem.”

“Why do you say it like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like an accusation, Em, don’t play innocent with me. You’re acting as if there’s something wrong with Maggie’s relationship with Elise.”

Emily noticed Maggie approaching. “I can’t talk about it here. I’ll tell you later.”

“Isabel,” Maggie called out. “I’m glad you made it.” Maggie drew Isabel into a hug. “It’s awful, just so awful.”

Isabel looked over her shoulder at Emily, her eyes questioning. From her expression, Emily knew Isabel wasn’t going to let that comment go. She just hoped Isabel wouldn’t press the issue in front of Maggie and Camille.

The three made their way back to Camille. Isabel sat next to her and gave her a hug. “Is Jonathan in town?”

Camille blew her nose and shook her head, her eyes becoming as red as her hair. “He’s flying in tonight.”