Christy Barritt - Shadow Of Suspicion

Someone tapped on the one-way glass that composed half a wall. The detective excused himself and stepped out of the room.

She sucked in some deep breaths. Detective James had perceptive eyes. He was watching her every move, just waiting for her to mess up. But she had no reason to walk on eggshells, she reminded herself. She’d done nothing wrong.

Would he ever believe her? She wasn’t sure.

When he came back into the room a few minutes later, his face looked grimmer than before. The lines on his forehead had tightened. His eyes cooled. His shoulders were rigid. Something was in his hand.

He sat across from her and held up a device. Her phone, she realized. How had he gotten her phone? Had they gotten her computer, as well? She hoped not, although the classified projects she was working on should be safeguarded by the measures she’d put in place.

“Do you recognize this?” he asked.

She nodded stiffly. “Of course I do. It’s mine.”

His eyes flickered. “Do you recognize the message on the screen?”

She peered closer and sucked in a breath as she read the text message.

Meet me at 11:30. It’s urgent.

Those were Laney’s words. Written from her phone. Listed as coming from her. And the message was being sent to Sarah. She recognized her number.

Sarah replied:

I have school.

The person pretending to be Laney had written:

It’s urgent.

Laney backed harder into her chair and shook her head. Someone was framing her—and they were doing a good job at it.

“I didn’t send that,” she muttered, knowing she was wasting her breath.

The detective’s blue eyes were unyielding. “So you’re saying someone took your phone and sent this for you?”

“I know it sounds far-fetched. But yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.” But, in her gut, she knew this was far worse than she’d ever imagined.

* * *

Mark met his police captain in the hallway outside the interrogation room an hour later. Captain Hendricks was a stoic man who was twenty years Mark’s senior, putting him at around fifty years old. The man had a light brown mustache and thick hair that matched. He was well respected in the department and was known as a man who could get the job done.

In the hours since her arrest and the interrogation, Laney hadn’t caved in the least. If anything, she seemed even firmer in her insistence of her innocence. Honestly, he felt a little sorry for her. It was his job to get answers, but the woman seemed downright frightened.

“Let her go,” Captain Hendricks said, staring through the glass at Laney.

Mark followed his gaze. She looked so innocent and unassuming. Like a computer geek—the cutest computer geek Mark had ever laid eyes on. But beneath all of that, who was hiding? Someone manipulative? Out for herself? Drowning in her own delusions?

“Let her go?” Mark asked, certain he hadn’t heard correctly.

The captain put his hands on his hips and frowned—though the man always looked like he was frowning. “We don’t have enough evidence to hold her.”

Mark thought back to his sister. If the police had stayed on top of the case, she would still be alive right now. He never wanted that to be the case for one of his investigations. He’d vowed to be better than that.

“What about the phone call Mr. Novak got?” Mark reminded him. “The neighbor across the street who saw Sarah go into her house?”

The captain’s gaze flickered to Mark, a touch of annoyance there. The captain didn’t take kindly to being questioned. “It’s all circumstantial. Keeping her here won’t help us find the girl.”

Mark drew in a deep breath, trying to pace his thoughts and remain respectful. “What are you thinking?”

The captain continued to stare at Laney, his eyes narrowing with thought. He was calculating something, Mark realized. But what?

“I want you to keep an eye on her, stick by her side,” he finally said. “Hopefully she’ll slip up and lead us right to Sarah.”

“Did you check the records? Did Sol call her?” Many times in situations like these, the parents were the first suspect. Even though Sol’s coworkers had verified he’d been at work all day, the detectives still needed to follow up.

“We confirmed he called her house phone.”

“Her house phone? She said she was out walking. Why didn’t he call her cell?”

“He claims he couldn’t find the number. Anyway, we’re going to focus on Laney in this case. There’s more evidence against her.”

Mark didn’t like the way this was playing out. Though he was reserving his judgment on Laney’s guilt, everything was pointing to her. Still, he had to follow the evidence. The team had just finished up at her house, but processing everything would take longer.

However, he’d been pressing her hard for answers. She hadn’t once asked for a lawyer. She hadn’t broken under the pressure.

That took a lot of strength.

Mark shifted, grateful he could speak openly to his captain. “What if she’s not guilty, Captain?”

He raised a shaggy eyebrow. “Everything is pointing to the fact that she is guilty. The text message. The money. An eyewitness. If you weren’t able to break her, I doubt she’s going to at all.”

Mark wasn’t ready to let this drop. “Maybe she didn’t break because she’s innocent. She has no motive.”

The captain’s jaw flexed. “Her motive is there. Maybe it’s buried down deep. But it’s there. We’re going to figure out what it is. Drive her home. See what you can get out of her. Play the good cop for once. See if she’ll open up.”

The problem was that Mark wasn’t one for being fake. But he knew better than to argue with the captain. He nodded instead. “Yes, sir.”

As he walked back toward the interrogation room, his shoulders felt heavier. Feeling even more brisk than before, he threw the door open and charged into the room. Laney jerked her head up from where it had been buried in her hands. Her eyes were red rimmed, as if she’d been crying. He inwardly flinched at the despair on her face.

“You’re free to go,” he announced.

Laney blinked. “What?”

“You heard me. You’re free to go.”

She stared at him a moment before quickly standing, almost as if she feared he’d change his mind. “Okay, then.”

“I’ll drive you home,” Mark said.

“That won’t be necessary. I can—”

“I insist,” Mark said. “It’s for your safety.”

“My safety?” She blinked again. “You think I’m in danger?”

“People don’t take kindly to child abductors. We need to take every precaution possible.”

She stared at him another moment before nodding. “I see. That’s fine, then.”

Mark escorted her outside and into his car. Awkward tension crackled between them as he started down the road. Laney crossed her arms and stared out the window. She was obviously uncomfortable. So was he, for that matter. But he would do whatever it took to find the missing girl.

Rush hour traffic was in full swing, and the sun was already sinking low enough to cause a blinding winter glare as he headed west.

What if Laney was innocent? Allegations like these could turn her life upside down in a way that was hard to recover from.

Then he remembered the text message. He couldn’t overlook that.

“Tell me again what you do for a living, Ms. Ryan.”

She continued to stare out the window. “I work for a company called CybCorp.”

“What exactly do you do for them?” They’d been over some of that already, but it seemed like a safer—friendlier—conversation than bringing up Sarah again.

Build trust. That was what he needed to do if he wanted to find answers. He’d had the opportunity to do that very thing with the man who’d killed his sister. If he could go back, he would go through whatever means necessary to make the man open up. Maybe Lauren would still be alive if he’d tried a little harder, if he’d pressed a little deeper, if he hadn’t given people the benefit of the doubt. He hadn’t been a cop back then, but he’d been in contact with the perp all along; he just hadn’t realized it.