Chapter 38
The holding cell was small and cold with just a single steel bench attached to one wall and a stainless-steel urinal behind a half wall made of concrete block. The dull white paint that covered everything made it especially cold and lifeless. He made his one phone call to his lawyer and stood in that cell with hopes that he was on his way as he had promised. Edward had no idea how long they planned on keeping him there before he was able to talk to someone, but the place made him crazy and he knew he needed to get out of there soon.
He paced the floor in front of two other guys who looked more at home where they sat. He couldn’t stop his mind from turning. Did Gracie’s brother die at the fate of Edward’s hands? How did Gracie die? Was it suicide? What about Eva? Was she okay? Did she know?
“I have to get out of here,” he mumbled, wrapping his hands around the cold steel bars in front of him.
“Good luck with that,” chuckled the burly bearded man in the corner. He had his leg propped up on the bench, his arm resting on it as he leaned over toward the wall.
“I need answers.” Edward looked out through the bars, trying to get someone’s attention. “Hello? I need to speak to Officer Sheldon or Officer Wheeler. It’s urgent.”
No one seemed to care about Edward’s needs except for the burly man.
“Let me guess.” He put his leg down and stood tall. “You didn’t do it. You were framed. You need to explain.”
The guy’s words dripped with sarcasm and Edward knew that unless he made friends with the guy or at least leveled the playing field, he was going to have to deal with trouble of his own.
“Hey man.” Edward turned toward the man and nodded. “No, I won’t deny that I had something to do with why I am in here. But I’m not going down without a fight.”
“What the hell did you do anyway?”
“They are saying I killed a woman and her brother.”
“What do you say?”
“I might have killed him.” His words struck him as he said them out loud and he realized he might have actually taken someone’s life. “Jesus.”
“So, you’re a killer.”
“No! No, man. I’m not. I… I don’t even know what happened, but I didn’t kill Gracie.”
“Gracie?” The man’s face distorted upon hearing the name.
Edward straightened up and feared that the man might know her.
“Gracie Honor?”
Edward’s heart pressed against his chest. He didn’t dare answer the large man.
“That’s the bitch who put me in here. You kill her?”
“I… don’t know how she died.”
“She fuckin’ set me up. Convinced me to hide some shit for her then ratted me out. I got busted with a quarter pound of meth and as soon as I mentioned that bitches name, they threw me against the fuckin’ wall and cuffed me.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. She has an odd way of working her way into and out of some pretty messed up situations.”
“How do you know her?”
Edward was more than happy to chat over coffee with the man, but he turned toward the bars and looked down the hallway again.
“Hello? Can I get someone in here please?” He let out an exasperated breath when he wasn’t able to get anywhere and leaned against the bars. “This is not happening.”
“’fraid so. You have been conned by a con, my friend. She is just as evil even after death, but thanks to you she can’t do it to anyone again.”
“I wouldn’t put it past her.” Edward looked at the man and his curiosity got the best of him. “You seem to have known her pretty well.”
“Yeah. I met Gracie a couple of summers ago. Got to know her pretty well, if ya know what I mean.” The guy smiled. “Felt bad because of the abuse she got from her dad.”
“She was abused?”
The man nodded. “I wanted to find the asshole and kill him with my bare hands. He messed her up bad. I helped her out best I could but kept taking the fall for her.”
“Why did you keep going back?”
“Her sweet ass. She had a way of doing things to me I never felt before.”
“Okay,” Edward interrupted, putting his hand up. “You don’t have to go into detail.”
“Just sayin’.”
“I understand. She could be quite manipulative.”
“Did you get her in the sack?”
Edward shook his head and closed his eyes. “No,” he lied. “Not by choice.”
“Not by choice?”
“Never mind.”
“Anyway, I told her, this last time was it. I told her I was done with her. Who’d have thought it was the truth?”
“I guess.”
“So, you didn’t kill her?”
“No. I didn’t.”
“How’d she die then?”
“I have no idea. That is what I am trying to find out.”
As if on cue, a guard clinked his key into the holding cell door and slid it open.
“Caldwell.” He nodded toward the open hallway and Edward got up.
“Thanks for the chat,” Edward said.
“I’ll be seein’ ya.”
“Hopefully you won’t.”
Edward followed the guard out of the room, down the long hallway and into an interrogation room where he was met with his lawyer.
“Bernard. It’s so good to see you.” Edward shook the man’s hand heartily before he sat down across from him. “You’ve got to get me out of here.”
“I’ll do the best I can, but a double homicide does not look good on you Edward. What the hell are you doing here anyway?”
“It’s a long story.”
“I’m all ears, and don’t leave anything out,” he warned.
“I need you to do me a favor.”
“Anything. What is it?”
“Call Eva Brooks, or go and see her. I need to be sure she is okay.”
“Why wouldn’t she be?”
“I don’t trust Gracie. I don’t know how she died, but I want to be sure she didn’t involve Eva in any way. Please?”
“Of course.”
He gave him her number and sat back.
“Why the hell am I being charged with a double homicide anyway? When I left there, Gracie was very much alive. She was on the phone with emergency when I left her.”
“According to the police report there was no phone call made.”
“What? Yes, there was. I stood in her doorway and watched her call them. She was talking to them when I left.”
Bernard shook his head.
“What do you mean no? She did! It’s 999. How hard is that? She couldn’t have misdialed.”
“There was no call made from her phone at all that night.”
“What?”
“And another thing… there was a gun on the scene, Edward.”
Edward looked up at Bernard.
“It had your prints all over it.”
“Fuck,” he said as he buried his head in his arms.
“So, as you can see, I need something to work with here. I need you to start from the beginning and tell me everything that happened.”
“Wait a minute.” Edward stood up, his face brightening. “You said the gun was found with my prints on it.”
“Yes. That’s what the police report said.”
“So, she was shot?”
“Yes. What are you getting at?”
“How was her brother killed?”
“He was shot also.”
“Ha!” Edward spun around. “I didn’t do it! I hit him in the face with my hand!” He held up his hand to show Bernard the palm of his hand where he contacted John’s nose. “I drove his nose into his head and made him bleed but I did not shoot him.”
“How do I explain the gunshot wounds with the gun you had in your hands?”
“I found it when I was rummaging through Gracie’s desk. I used it to defend myself against him when he came at me, but it wasn’t loaded! I chucked it at him. At… at… at his forehead.” Edward was getting worked up with what really happened. “He was bleeding when he came at me. Check the gun for blood!”
Bernard made a note. “I’ll do that.”
For the next hour, Edward told his lawyer everything he could think of from the moment he laid eyes on Eva in Paris to when the police were pulling him out of his flat in cuffs. He told him all about Gracie and her threats, the rumors about her and why he thought she kept getting cleared on the charges she was up against. He told him about Gracie’s sexual advances on him and about the pictures he found in her office.
“When I left her house, she was next to her brother, crying on the phone. As soon as I heard her telling them… or someone… what happened I left.”
“Why didn’t you call them yourself?”
“I needed to get out of there. She was crazy and I didn’t know what she was capable of. I didn’t know how to handle it so I went back home and called Joseph.”
“What did you tell him?”
“Not much. I left a voice mail. Just told him I was in a situation that I needed to talk my way through.”
“Anything else?”
“Yes. Question the bearded guy in the holding cell. He has had to deal with Gracie too. In fact, she is the reason he is in here too. He says she set him up and let him take the fall for her.”
“What’s his name?”
“I didn’t get his name, but he was just talking to me about it.”
“Okay,” said Bernard as he quickly wrote while Edward was talking. “Anything else?” He looked up from his note pad.
“Not that I can remember. I think that is everything.”
“Sounds to me like you are in a sticky situation,” said Bernard. “But it’s nothing I can’t fix.”
“That is good news.”
“I’m going to need some time.”
“Can you get me out of here in the meantime?”
“I don’t know.” He pulled a piece of paper and set it on the desk. “According to your charge sheet, they have stated they want to keep you detained until your court date.”
“No. Absolutely not. I have to get out of here. I can’t stay here.”
“Edward. I will work on getting you out, but I can’t guarantee anything.”
“Listen, money is no object. You know that.”
“It’s not up to me. I can’t excuse you for work because of the time you have already spent here. You don’t have any family you need to….”
“I don’t care what it takes!” he yelled. “Get me the fuck out of here!” He closed his eyes and took a big breath. “Sorry.” He looked into Bernard’s eyes and pleaded with him. “My life is a mess because of that woman. I need to get out of here. I need to fix it. Please, do what you have to do to make it happen.”
“I will see what I can do.”
Edward stayed seated and watched Bernard get up out of his chair, gather his things and leave out the door, leaving Edward alone for a brief moment until the guard entered and escorted him back to his cell.
His new cell buddy was still sitting in the corner, but he was alone this time.
“Where did he go?” asked Edward, pointing toward where the guy previously sat.
“This is a holding cell. It’s temporary. He went to something a little more permanent.”
Edward looked at the burly man. That very well could happen to him. He took a breath and tried to keep his faith that his lawyer would get him out of there.
“My lawyer will want to talk to you.”
“About what?”
“About Gracie, and why you are in here. He might be able to help get you out of here.”
“Where is your lawyer, then?”
“He left to work on my case.”
“He better get his ass back here. My court date is on about an hour. If they convict me, I’m done. I’m in here for a couple of years at least.”
“So why are you here? Didn’t you say you were busted for drugs, how long ago?”
“Few months ago.”
Edward paced the cell floor as he let everything go through his mind.
A couple of months before possible court date if Bernard can’t get me out of here? What the hell am I going to do with a prison sentence? A record? It will ruin me. Eva. Please be okay.
He slammed himself up against the bars, desperately trying to look down the hallway.
“Come on, Bernard,” he whispered. “You’ve got to help me.”