Lena Diaz - Conflicting Evidence

Peyton stiffened.

“You should consider him armed and dangerous. Approach with extreme caution. And be aware that if cornered, he could resort to setting a fire in order to escape. Now, Chief Landry, I believe you had some questions for Miss Sterling that might assist your teams in narrowing the search area?”

Landry seemed to take Colin’s interruption in stride and readily moved on to discuss her brother’s escape, along with three other convicts, grilling her with questions as he did so. At one point, he announced that marshals had questioned her father at his Memphis home, immediately after the escape, due to his close proximity to the site. Benjamin Sterling had denied any involvement, not that Peyton would have expected otherwise. Her father had always been one of Brian’s harshest critics. It was always she, and her mom, who stood up for him. The fact that the marshals had even considered that her father would help Brian was ludicrous.

“Your father claimed not to know where you were or how to contact you,” the chief said. “Do you know why he’d do that? He didn’t tell the marshals that you’d moved back to Gatlinburg.”

She clutched the edge of her seat beneath the table. “I imagine he thought he was protecting me. Having police at my business or home would have stirred up all the old gossip. It could hurt my café, the life I’m trying to build here.” And more important to her father, smear the precious Sterling name once again. Reputation was everything to her dad, far more important than his family.

The chief gave her a skeptical look then studied the notes in front of him. “Says here your mother passed away several months ago.”

She could feel Colin’s stare beside her. He’d seemed surprised to hear that she owned a café. And at the mention of her mom’s death, he seemed genuinely shocked. She regretted that he’d found out this way. But that didn’t mean that she was prepared to discuss the details. She was barely holding herself together. Discussing her mom right now would destroy her.

“My mother’s death has nothing to do with what’s going on with Brian. I’m not going to talk about her.”

To her surprise, Landry nodded and moved to other questions. She began to wonder whether talking about her mom would have been easier than hearing the details of her brother’s escape. Landry’s account of what had happened had nausea coiling in her stomach.

Brian was being transported along with three other convicts to the courthouse in downtown Memphis. Apparently, his lawyer had gotten him a hearing about alleged inhumane conditions at the prison. Since Peyton was well versed in the lawyer’s tactics, having worked many an odd job to help her parents pay for all those billable hours, she highly doubted that Brian was being treated unfairly. This latest complaint was likely based on Brian’s desire to get some time out of his cell. And he’d apparently taken advantage of the situation by escaping from the prison transport van.

“—and you claim you didn’t know anything about your brother’s plan?”

She clasped her hands in her lap. “Again, no, Chief Landry. As I’ve said repeatedly, I didn’t even know that he was out of prison until I saw him in my kitchen. Even then, it didn’t quite register. I thought his lawyer must have finally managed to get his sentence shortened and Brian wanted to surprise me. Before today, I hadn’t seen him in a little over three months.”

“Then you didn’t know that shortly after he and three other men got away, they were confronted by Memphis police officer Owen Jennings and one of them shot and killed him?”

She drew a shaky breath. “My heart goes out to Officer Jennings and his family. But, no, I didn’t know anything about it. I still don’t. How did they escape? How did the man who shot Officer Jennings get a gun?”

“You mean how did your brother get the gun? Deputy Marshal McKenzie has told me he used to take you and your brother target practicing when you were teenagers. So we know your brother’s more than capable of handling a weapon.”

She glanced at Colin, then back at Landry. “Are you saying that you know that Brian is the one who shot Officer Jennings? Not one of the others?”

“No. He’s not.” Colin sat forward in his chair, his gaze riveted on the police chief. “Dash cam video from the officer’s patrol car shows him getting shot and the four prisoners running from the scene. Which man shot him is still to be determined.”

The chief sighed. “Marshal McKenzie, you’re here as a courtesy due to your close ties to the original arson case, and because you located Mr. Sterling earlier today in an unfortunately failed attempt to apprehend him. I’d appreciate you not interfering in my questioning of Miss Sterling.”

“Stick to what’s relevant and I won’t interfere.”

The chief smiled, seeming to shrug off Colin’s admonition. Peyton figured the two must have a solid friendship, or at least mutual respect, for Landry not to be upset.

“I’m okay moving on to the question of an alibi. Miss Sterling, where were you yesterday morning between the hours of ten and eleven?”

“Alibi? For what?”

“We need to know who might have, and might still be, helping the four convicts who escaped during transport from the Federal Correctional Institution in Memphis yesterday morning. So, again, can you please account for your whereabouts?”

“You seriously think I would have helped them?”

“Peyton.” Colin spoke softly beside her. “Just answer the question.”

“No,” she said. “No, I wasn’t six hours away in Memphis while simultaneously at my shop here in Gatlinburg.”

“Your shop? I believe you mentioned a café earlier?” Landry asked.

“Yes. I own a café and gift shop combination called Peyton’s Place. It’s in The Village, off Parkway. It’s new, not far from The Hofbrauhaus restaurant.”

“Can someone there vouch for where you were yesterday?”

“Joan—she works for me—she can tell you I was there all day, as I am most days. But she’s not there right now. The shop closed at six. It will open again in the morning, at nine.”

“I’m sure you understand the urgency of verifying your alibi as quickly as possible. Waiting until morning isn’t an option. Joan’s last name? Her address?”

“Fairmont, Joan Fairmont. I should call her first and let her know that—”

“If you do, that will destroy the credibility of her as an alibi witness. One of my men will head over there now and speak to her. The address?”

She hesitated. “I don’t want them frightened by a policeman knocking on their door.”

“Them?”

“I have two employees. Joan is full-time, Melissa’s part-time. They’re roommates.”

He motioned to one of the detectives who then wrote something down on the legal pad in front of him. Apparently he was making notes about her alibi.

“And why would they be frightened if a detective knocks on their door? Do they have something to hide?”

Her face heated. “Of course not. But they...they both have criminal records.” She could practically feel Colin’s gaze burning into her. “Nothing dangerous or anything. They were both homeless and became friends while trying to survive on the streets. They were hungry and got caught shoplifting at a grocery store. Both did a few months in the local jail.”

“Are there any other criminals working at your shop that we need to know about?”

She had to count to ten before she could speak without yelling. “I don’t consider Joan and Melissa to be criminals . Being poor and hungry are hardly crimes. They made restitution for what little food they took when they were practically starving. And they’re working hard to turn their lives around.”