Chapter Twenty-Five
Roy – Monday
I sat there in the interrogation room of the police precinct with my lips squeezed tightly shut. There was no way I was going to say anything, not without my lawyer, who Lewis was already arranging for me, because I didn’t want to end up convicted over some stupid slip up.
The female police officer barking in my ear kept telling me that I was being held because me reaction to the murder wasn’t “normal,” which angered and frustrated me no end. Who the hell was anyone to judge what a normal reaction to anything was, never mind something so stressful? And for me, who’d seen so much death in my life that I didn’t know how else to cope, it was just about all that I could do. I didn’t want to tell anyone that much, though, because I certainly didn’t need to be questioned about everyone else in my life who had passed away.
“Come on,” she tried again. “You’re going to have to speak eventually.”
They needed me to talk now, before any legal representation arrived, because it would complicate things when it did – which was exactly what I was hoping for. Sure, I could have just told them that I was with June when the murder was committed, but I didn’t want to do that until I’d had some serious legal advice.
Plus, I would rather have talked to her about it first. I didn’t want to do anything that would ruin her career. I knew that sleeping with me, someone she was supposed to be interviewing for the newspaper, wouldn’t look good. I didn’t want to blow that fuse if I didn’t need to.
Surely, they would eventually begin to see that I was innocent, anyway, and I wouldn’t have to spill any beans.
“I’m here,” Lewis came crashing through the door, looking more disheveled and stressed than I had ever seen him before. “I’m here; sorry I’m late.”
“Why are you here?” I hissed at him, glancing at the police officer, who did the decent thing of finally vacating the room. “I thought that you were getting me a lawyer?”
“I have a law degree; don’t you remember? You paid for me to do it while I worked? I finished it a couple of years back.”
That did sound familiar, but it didn’t fill me with any confidence. He hadn't exactly practiced any law, and what I really needed was someone with experience, but from this position, I didn’t exactly have any choice. “Right… Okay…”
“So, what have you said? I need to keep up to date on what you’ve told the police already?”
“I haven’t said anything,” I told him seriously. “I was waiting for advice.”
“Nothing at all? Not even when the arrested you?”
I recalled that moment for a second. It felt like one minute I was alone, and the next I was surrounded by people, chaos, and noise. Things were happing, stuff was moving, but I remained still, like I was in a movie and everything was just rushing past. I could hear people talking to me, asking me questions, but I didn’t know how to speak. Even as they put me in handcuffs and threw me into the car while reading me my rights, I said nothing. “I didn’t say a thing,” I confirmed.
“Okay, so now we need to work out our legal strategy,” he said, pulling out papers from his briefcase. “There has to be something we can do.”
“I didn’t do it,” I snapped quickly, as least needing him to know that part. He had a funny look in his eyes, and his choice of words left me a little bewildered. “I would never—”
“Oh, I know,” he interrupted me quickly, in a way that took me back a bit. There was something a little off in his voice. “I would never think that. I just need to find a way to get you out before they can start pressing charges. Now, where were you? When the murder happened? Were you still in St. Louis?”
I pursed my lips for a second before deciding to tell the truth. “No, I was here, but I was with a woman.”
“So, just tell them that!” His eyes lit up at that, but I shook my head before he could get too carried away.
“No, no, I can’t. We can’t let anyone know that we’re together.”
“Why not?” he gasped, looking at me in shock. “I thought Crystal’s ex knew about you? Or is it the son?”
“It’s not Crystal,” I told him firmly. “It just isn’t an option, okay?”
Before Lewis could question me more, the official interrogation began, leaving me with no other legal representation at all. All I had was him and an alibi I couldn’t prove. I didn’t feel like I stood a chance in hell.
As they asked me where I was at the time of the murder, I did my best to tell them the truth without giving a name. When the asked me about my odd reaction to seeing the dead body, I decided to be honest about my past. I felt like if that could help detract from any other line of questioning, then it had to be worth it. As the woman got angry with me and told me that I wasn’t helping myself by keeping so quiet, Lewis finally stepped in and did what needed to be done. I appreciated him being there, but in all honesty, I probably could have coped without him.
“As far as I can see, Officer,” he started, staring her down as he spoke, “you have absolutely no evidence against my client. He has already expressed that he wasn’t home at the time, and you seem to be basing everything on the fact that Mr. Larkin acted strange when he phoned the police and when you arrested him. Now you tell me how someone is supposed to act. Have you never gone into shock before?”
He stood up, growing impassioned with his speech. “Now as I understand it, there isn’t any reason at all to keep him here, and you certainly cannot arrest him without anything substantial to go off, so I am going to take Mr. Larkin away to let you do your job and find the killer. You are wasting time here; what you really need to be doing is looking elsewhere.”
I bit my tongue, trying not to tell Lewis to shut up because I had the distinct feeling that he was making everything that much worse. The police were never going to let me go, not when they didn’t have anyone else to hold in my place, but much to my surprise, they did.
“Okay, well you are within your legal rights to leave, but I would suggest that you stay.”
“Thank you very much; we shall be leaving now.”
With that, Lewis picked up his belongings and stalked from the room, leaving me with no other choice but to follow him. He walked quickly, causing me to run a little to catch up with him. “Can you do that?” I whispered into his ear. “That seemed a little…much.”
“It’s within your legal rights. They have no evidence on you, you didn’t do it – it really is as simple as that,” he stopped for a second, and stared at me. “Now, you might want to prepare yourself; it’s a media circus out there.”
“What, really?” I gasped, dreading having all eyes on me, but it was too late. He was already on the move again.
I guess it made sense. After all, nothing ever happened in this small town, not really. There was the odd big event that captured everyone’s attention: a lottery win, a health-related miracle, acts of heroism, but nothing that lasted very long. Not like this would. This was bad, and it had my name attached to it, a fact that was never going to disappear. I wasn’t going to be able to escape this for a very long time.
All of a sudden, the idea of getting the hell out of Florence didn’t seem like such a bad one, after all.
Lewis practically kicked the doors open, and the circus began. Cameras flashed, people screamed, video cameras whirred, microphones were shoved in my face. I felt a sickness building within me, an intense fear gripping at my heart, and for a split second, I feared I might pass out.
“Just keep going,” Lewis hissed at me. “And remember that you’re innocent.”
“What happened in there, Mr. Larkin?”
“Why did you kill that guy?”
“What were you doing when the victim was murdered?”
So many questions… What the hell was I going to do?
“My client isn’t taking any questions,” Lewis yelled loudly, but he didn’t manage to drown anyone out. “No comment; he is an innocent man… Just put your head down,” he whispered to me. “Don’t look at anyone and get into the car.”
But I couldn’t obey his instructions – my eyes were flickering everywhere, looking for a friendly face. I just wanted to see someone, anyone, who might believe me, but it didn’t look like anyone did. It was a witch hunt, and I was the witch. How the hell was this happening to me? What had I done to deserve it? It didn’t feel like anyone had as bad luck as me.
And then I saw her.
June.
Those familiar eyes, I would recognize them anywhere. She was here. Sure she was in the crowd of the journalists, as if looking for a story, but I could see in her eyes that she wanted to know more for herself – and that she might just trust me. I wanted to run to her side, to explain everything, but I couldn’t, not without wading through the vultures first, and I wasn’t quite ready for that. I needed to get the hell out of there.
As our eyes locked, I tried my best to communicate all that I couldn’t say aloud, hoping that at least some of it was getting across. She looked pale, bewildered, as if this was affecting her, too, which of course it was. She was involved in this as unwillingly as I was, and in a way, she had as much on the line as I did.
Her hand moved slowly to her ear, and she made the call me gesture, which I nodded along to, glad that she was actually willing to give me a chance to explain. She could have turned her back on me, assuming I was guilty, or decided she didn’t want anything to do with the situation, but she hadn't. She was here. I nodded quickly in reply and watched as she turned her back on me.
“Come on,” Lewis insisted, pushing me forwards. “Get yourself into the car, now.”
As I finally managed to slide into the car, my mind was swimming. That had to be the most intense experience I’d ever been through, which was saying a lot considering the way my life had gone, and I still felt a little frozen and numb. Maybe I was acting weird when I made that call, and maybe I still was now, but death was something that just seemed to happen all around me, in a way that I couldn’t control, and that freaked me the hell out.
“Are you okay?” Lewis finally asked me, giving me a curious glance out of the corner of his eyes. “Do you want to go home?”
“No,” I shot back quickly, already imagining the media circus that it would be there. Journalists would be camping out there already, just waiting to see what I had to say. I couldn’t face that, not a chance in hell.
“Then, where do you want to go?” Lewis asked me, a little frustrated by my lack of answers. “Where do you want to stay?”
Good question… Where would I stay now? I didn’t have anywhere in the world. Did I?