Cheryl Bradshaw - Black Diamond Death

“Nick,” I said, in a whisper. “It’s me. I’m at Parker Stanton’s house. I think he’s dead.”

CHAPTER 44

“What were you doing here?” Nick said.

I shook my head and stared at the wooden grains on the floor.

“When the chief gets here, he’ll want answers. If you talk to me, maybe I can talk to him.”

I nodded. It was all I could do at the moment and even that seemed like too much. My entire body felt like someone took a stick and smacked my funny bone over and over again.

“Sloane, listen to me. Look at me.”

I hesitated.

“Would you look at me please?”

I removed my hands from around my knees and sat up. Nick had a bewildered look on his face like he couldn’t decide whether to scold me or comfort me.

“You’re shaking.”

“I think I’m in shock,” I said.

“That’s natural.”

It didn’t feel that way. I wiped my eyes.

“I shouldn’t have come here,” I said. “I can’t believe he’s dead Nick.”

I tried my best to regain composure.

“Do you know how it happened?”

“I found him on the chair, but I don’t know how he got there or when. There was a paper on his desk with a couple words on it and a gun on the floor and he had no pulse.”

I looked down at my shoes; they had red splotches on them.

“I want to talk you about this, but the other guys are on their way and I don’t want anyone to see you like this.”

“It’s too late for that,” Coop said. “I see little miss thing messed up my crime scene.”

“Go easy on her Coop,” Nick said.

“Why should I?”

“You know what happens if you don’t,” Nick said.

Coop looked at me.

“You want to tell me what went on here?”

“Don’t say a word,” Nick said.

Coop glared at Nick and then turned toward me.

“The way I see it, you and Mr. Stanton fought, he went for his gun, and you shot him. That about right?”

“That’s enough,” Nick said.

“Son, I’ve had about enough out of you.”

I glanced at Nick whose ears were bright red and looked like the filling in a cherry pie.

“I’m not your son, and we both know she’s under no obligation to say anything to you.”

Coop made a move for Nick and they squared off. He wagged his finger at Nick and his nostrils flared.

“Now you listen here––”

I wedged myself between them.

“Enough,” I said. “I want to talk to the chief.”

CHAPTER 45

“I want to talk to her alone, Calhoun,” the chief said.

Nick acknowledged him with a nod and then turned and went.

The chief shut the office door and then his blinds and went around to his side of the desk, but he didn’t sit down. He faced me and pulled on his moustache a few times. I rested my hands in my lap. One of my fingernails was broken. I stared at it like it was an engagement ring that had just been given to me. It beat eye contact.

“Alright Sloane, out with it,” he said.

“Is this my official statement?”

“Someone else can do that later. Right now I want to know what happened.”

I filled him in about my meeting with Kristin at the airport and the comment she made about Parker at the end of our conversation.

“But she didn’t actually say he intended to leave?” he said.

I shook my head.

“It was the way she said it, like she wanted me to know he wouldn’t be around anymore.”

“Then what happened?” he said.

“I went to his house and––”

“Stop right there,” he said. “I asked you to keep your distance. Does anything I say matter to you?”

“At the time it seemed like a good idea.”

“You broke into the guy’s house. I could hold you for that,” he said.

“But you won’t.”

He seized both sides of the desk with his hands and hunched over me like a pack of football players in a huddle, but one thing was different; I had the feeling I wouldn’t be in on the next play.

“A few nights in a cell might do you some good. Maybe you’d listen to me for a change.”

I crossed a line and he wanted me to know it.

“I thought you had a tail on him, but no one was around when I got there. Where were they?”

He mulled it over for a moment.

“Don’t try to change the subject,” he said.

“At least I’m trying to catch Charlotte’s killer. Isn’t that the point of all this?”

He shook his head.

“You think that’s what you’re doing, eh?”

“I don’t have the energy to go back and forth with you on this,” I said. “Not today.”

He backed off and folded his arms.

“Alright,” he said. “Continue.”

“When I got there the lights were off but his front door was cracked open.”

“And you went in.”

I nodded.

“I thought he wasn’t there and that if I could find some evidence that proved his involvement in what happened to Charlotte we could use it to arrest him.”

“You’re so foolish sometimes kiddo,” he said. “No matter I suppose. What’s done is done. You went into his house and found him. Then what happened?”

“When I realized he was dead, I called Nick.”

“And that’s it, that’s all of it?”

“Almost. I did find a note on his desk.”

He held his hand out and motioned toward himself with his fingers.

“Lemme take a look at it,” he said.

“I don’t have it with me. I dropped it.”

“You expect me to believe you found the note and just left it there? That doesn’t sound like you at all,” he said.

“It’s still there.”

“You read it then,” he said.

“Forgive me.”

“For what?” he said.

“That’s what the note said.”

He looked toward the ceiling and uttered the words to himself a few times.

“What do you make of it?” he said.

I tried not to show my surprise that he still considered my opinion after all that had happened.

“It looks like he buckled over the guilt, wrote the note, and then offed himself.”

“That would explain a lot,” he said.

“If that’s the truth.”

“You don’t believe it?”

“I never thought Parker of all people would kill himself, it doesn’t make sense.”

“In what way?” he said.

“Parker slept with a lot of women. On the outside he was selfish and full of himself and proud. But on the inside he was an insecure coward who got his kicks when he bullied those around him. That’s not the type of person who shoots himself in the head.”

“What then?”

“Let’s say he really did want to die for what he’d done. Why not take a bunch of pills and do it the simple way?”

“You ever consider you might be over thinking it a bit,” he said.

“It wouldn’t be the first time.”

“The gun was convenient and easy. I expect that’s why he did it.”

“Maybe.”

“I guess we better notify the father,” he said. “You can imagine what he’ll do when he finds out.”

CHAPTER 46

Three days had passed since Parker’s death, and I spent the majority of it at home. I wanted to avoid any run-ins with Coop and the chief who felt I interfered in their investigation. I received no thank you for discovering the body, no words of appreciation, nothing for my efforts.

My cell phone rang. It was Audrey.

“I got your message,” she said. “I can’t believe it’s all over.”

“That’s the general consensus.”

“Parker did himself and everyone else a huge favor.”

I didn’t see any point in debating with her.

“So, what’s next for you?”

“I’m out of here,” she said.

“For how long?”