28. Luke #2
“Have you reached out to I.A.?” Wyatt asked. I turned my head to face him. He was standing near the kitchen, little Veda snug against his chest in a baby carrier while Wyatt bounced in place.
“No. Calla Bay is too small for an Internal Affairs department. I could talk to Chief Williams or Captain Langston, but I think what I really need to do is go to the State.”
“Do you know if he’s working tonight?” Wes asked.
My head swiveled back to Wes. “No. He’s off tonight. He was on shift with me this morning.”
Wes locked eyes with Wyatt. A barely imperceptible nod from Wyatt was followed by an equally subtle nod from Wes. Wyatt came over to Wes, bending down to scoop Jane out of his arms .
“Come here, baby girl. Daddy’s got you.” Jane threw her little arms around Wyatt’s neck, and he settled her on his waist while Veda was still strapped to his chest.
Wes got up from the couch, thanking Sheila and my father for dinner, before settling his stare at me.
“Let’s go. No time like the present.”
My gaze went to Scarlett nestled against me. She sat up and leaned forward with a kiss. “Go. Just be careful, okay.”
“We’re just going to talk to him. I’ll be home before you know it,” I said, placing another kiss to her lips. To Wes, I said, “We’ll take your car.”
I gave Scarlett my keys so she could get home, said bye to my family, and followed Wes out the door. Apparently, we were doing this now.
“Do you know if he’s staying at his place or Juliet’s?” he asked.
“Fuck if I know. We can swing by his house first since it’s closer and go from there.”
Wes drove to Monroe’s house without asking for an address or directions. I didn’t know he knew where Monroe lived, but it didn’t surprise me either. Two cars were parked in his driveway, both his and Juliet’s, as we pulled up out front.
“Let me talk first,” I told Wes.
He opened the car door and stepped out. “We’ll see,” he said as he shut the door behind him.
I rapped my knuckles against the door and waited, Wes two steps behind me on the landing of his classic Cape-style home.
Footsteps sounded on the other side of the door.
Matt put on a show of looking unaffected by having us show up on his doorstep, but I caught the half step back as soon as he opened the door, the way his shoulders squared, already on the defense.
“Wilder. Winters. What’s up?” he said.
“I need to talk to you.”
My years of training had me honing in on his body language, his hesitation, the shifting of his eyes between me and Wes. He was nervous.
“Yeah, sure. Come in,” he said, moving aside to let us in the house.
Juliet must have been in the living room. I couldn’t see her, but the volume of the television was on blast, and I recognized the show as one she used to like.
“We’ll talk out here,” Wes said behind me.
I moved back to allow Matt some space to step out and close the door, which he did.
“What’s this about? I thought we were moving past the whole me and Jules thing?”
“This has nothing to do with Juliet,” I said.
He glanced to Wes, and I saw the moment the lightbulb clicked behind his eyes. “This is about Redmond?” He huffed with a shake of his head. “Don’t tell me you believe the kid is innocent too? You investigated the case. You saw all the evidence we had on the guy.”
“Yeah. After it was forged to show me what I wanted to see.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“What happened with the cigarette that was found at the scene?” Wes asked.
“It was sent to get tested. Came back inconclusive. But we found that same brand belonging to Redmond,” he answered.
“Why didn’t you log the return of the evidence when the lab sent it back?” I asked .
He shook his head and huffed his exasperation.
“They didn’t send anything back. It’s noted on the report that they used the entire sample during their testing.
” Monroe threw his hand around, gesturing as he spoke.
He was visibly getting frustrated by our line of questioning.
I wasn’t getting the impression that he was lying, but knowing Matt, I had no doubt that deception was part of his repertoire.
He looked between me and Wes and crossed his arms over his chest.
“This is fucking bullshit. I know you had Scarlett fucking around with the documentation. I caught her doing it one day in the evidence room. You want to accuse me of something? Tell me what the fuck she was up to because I know damn well she wasn’t looking into some bullshit claim that Rusty Burgess lost a fucking watch.
You got your girl doing some sort of dirty work for you now, Wilder? ”
“Stay the fuck away from Scarlett. She has nothing to do with this,” I sneered. Without thought, I had taken two steps closer to him. “Did you leave that message for her on her car? After you found her looking into you, you freaked and thought that threatening her would keep her at bay?”
Monroe furrowed his brow, then looked over my shoulder to Wes. I felt Wes’s fist grab the back of my jacket and tug me backward. It wasn’t enough to stop me if I wanted to go after him, but it was enough to remind me to check myself.
“We checked with the state lab. The report they sent us was different from the official one of record with the Calla Bay Police Department,” Wes said. His deep voice was calm on the surface, but an undercurrent of steel laced his words.
Monroe’s face hardened, disbelief and skepticism etched across his face .
“Different how?”
“It didn’t indicate an inconclusive result. It clearly states a non-match to Ryan Redmond and goes on to explain that the remainder of the sample was returned to the police for their investigation,” Wes explained.
“I didn’t change the document.” The urgency in Matt’s tone had me doubting his involvement.
This entire conversation did. Matt seemed entirely genuine as he defended himself against the accusations.
“This has nothing to do with me. It just as easily could have been you that faked the report. You were so fucking proud to arrest him. What’s to say you didn’t do it? ” he shot at me.
“Are you kidding me?” I yelled. “How long have you known me? When have I ever given you reason to doubt my integrity?”
“Oh, but you can throw shade at mine?” he shouted back.
“You fucked my wife.”
He threw his hands in the air, turning in a circle before facing me again.
“When are you going to get past that? Is that what this is? You’re getting back at me for having an affair with Juliet and trying to destroy my career, my reputation.”
Before I could respond, Wes stepped in, creating a buffer between us and forcing us apart.
“This isn’t going anywhere,” he rumbled.
“Stand down,” he said, turning to me. “And you—” He swiveled to Matt.
“ Your name is on the report. You were the officer to log it into the case file. This is about a man behind bars due to false evidence and a young girl who still needs justice. Fuck an affair. No one cares.”
Matt blinked back at him, the anger in his face slowly disappearing as Wes put it into perspective.
“I didn’t get the report. I thought you did,” Matt said to me.
I shook my head. “I didn’t touch that evidence.”
“Then someone else within the department has an agenda. It wasn’t me, I swear on my life.”
I scratched my hand along my jaw, trying to process this.
Fuck.
I believed him. But if it wasn’t Monroe that was dirty, then who was? And who were they covering up for?