Chapter 5
1286 Words
Elena
“A man named Melvin found your father in a car on the side of a dirt road while he was walking his dog. He called it in…” I take a silent deep breath at Carol’s kitchen table as I grip the side of the wooden chair. The woman with a badge continues carefully, “It appears that it was a drive-by shooting.” So that’s how they played it out. “A single shot to the back of the head from behind the car. I am so sorry for your loss.”
I can’t look at her. The dent in the table in front of me has my focus. If I see the police officer with pity in her brown eyes, I’m going to lose it again. I’ve been able to go two days without crying; I’m not sure how much longer I can go right now with all the evidence in front of me.
“Elena, I know this is hard, but I need to ask you a few questions. There are some things that aren’t adding up. Do you mind answering a few of them?” Officer Judy Malone asks.
Questions. I scan the table in front of me, pictures of my dad’s face resting on the steering wheel, the bullet hole in the back windshield, and tire tracks. I’ve seen movies where detectives interrogate family members of the deceased for hours on end until they break them down and make them believe that they were the killer – the first suspects.
It’s a mind game.
Do they think I did this? My heart is pounding, my stomach is turning, and my hands are sweating… I don’t think I can do this.
Does she see me as a suspect?
“Elena?” the officer asks for my attention again.
I slowly lift my eyes to hers and whisper, “Okay.”
She tucks a loose strand from her ponytail of dark blonde hair behind her ear then asks me when I last saw him – what am I supposed to say? I don’t know if she’s in on it, if she’s working for Marcus. How do I know she can be trusted? For all I know she’s wanting to see if I’ll c***k and rat out on what happened, then what? She’ll kill me and Carol?
I can’t let that happen.
“In the kitchen on Saturday morning when I…” I pause. “When I got back home from staying with my ex.” I swallow.
She writes a few things down. “This ex of yours, did he see your father that morning, too?”
My mouth is dry, and my pulse is racing, I wonder if she can see the thumping skin in my neck. “Y-yes.”
“What’s his name?” she asks point-blank.
I feel my eyes cut to Carol standing next to the counter behind the officer, her expression is emotionless.
Betrayal is thick as I swallow it down. “Mike… Michael Gilbert,” I say as I drop my sights to the pen the officer is scrawling on her pad of paper with.
“I know that name well,” she announces disapprovingly. “After you walked into the kitchen that morning, what happened?”
Does she know about the video? The phone in my back pocket is weighing me down. Do I show her? It really doesn’t incriminate anyone, including myself. I mean, my dad was the detective that hired Mike so, he can’t really get in trouble… can he?
What do I do? I was really mad at Dad and Mike for what they did behind my back. If I show her the video, it would give me motive. She can easily turn everything on me.
An index fingernail rips under the table as I say, “I found something out about Michael that didn’t sit well with me, so I broke up with him.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. What did he do?” she presses.
I give her a deadpan look. “He lied to me.” In the distance I watch as Carol’s sights drop to the floor with disappointment for her son.
“Hm. What did he lie to you about?” Officer Malone interrogates.
Letting out a huff, I finally say, “What does that have to do with my father’s murder?”
She sits back in her chair like I slapped her. “Elena, I know this is a difficult time, but I need to know what happened in that kitchen. It could lead us to how your father ended up dead.”
“He wasn’t who I thought he was,” I sigh.
She asks, “Who is he?”
My voice softens. “He’s just a liar.”
Officer Malone exhales. “I see.” She caps her pen and leans forward on the table to look me square in the eye. “Elena, what happened after your fight with Michael?”
“I ran out of the house.” I don’t bring Declan’s name in. How could I? According to Randall, he’s innocent in all this. It wouldn’t be fair.
Something inside me wants to protect him, but why?
“Then what happened?”
“I stayed with a friend, then I… I came back home in the morning and my dad was gone.” I feel heat rise up my neck.
“Why did you stay at a friend’s house instead of kicking your ex out of your house? Knowing Elijah, he would have been able to remove Michael if necessary.”
Because Dad broke my heart, too.
“I don’t know,” I snap out the lie. “I just wanted to leave. That’s all.”
Officer Malone leans back in the wooden chair slowly, making it croak. She reaches for something in her front breast pocket of the blue uniform. “I think that’s enough questions for today.” She hands me a card. “If you remember anything else or just want to talk, do not hesitate to call me.” I take the card from her and examine the cell phone number. “I knew Detective Elijah well enough. He was a good man and he loved you very much. He deserves justice and I plan on doing all I can to make that happen.”
I nod slightly while she stands from the table to thank Carol for our time. A soft click of the front door later, Carol takes the seat in front of me where Officer Malone sat moments ago.
She fiddles with the collar of her shirt as she nervously asks, “What did my son lie to you about?”
My eyes cut to her. “You don’t know?” I figured she knew, that’s why I’m here at her house. What did Mike tell her exactly? I just know he was in on this arrangement – it’s a hunch that I can’t put away.
“All he told me was, that you went through something terrible and that you needed to be with someone right now. He told me that your dad was in an accident and that he didn’t make it…” her soft voice trails off as she tries to connect the dots.
There it is. Mike was in on this and he lied to her, too. Should I tell her? I need to tell someone, or I will go crazy, if I’m not already there.
I stare at the card in my hand and the words pour out before they can be stopped. “My dad was not in an accident. He was murdered.”
- Writer
