Chapter 43
Chapter Forty-Three
Colton scrubbed his fists into his eyes.
Police detectives’ handwriting was as bad as doctors’.
He’d already downed three cups of coffee and four ibuprofen in the hours he’d spent poring over printed copies of the notes from the Mulaney case investigators.
Their only break had been to grab lunch on their way to the assisted living facility where the car had been stolen.
He and John had moved from the precinct and commandeered a conference room at Petersen headquarters.
Much easier to spread out and go through the original case file without the curious stares of John’s co-workers.
The badge created a tight-knit band of brothers and sisters.
John didn’t want to burn bridges, but even he’d seen over the past two days that conclusions may have been formed much too quickly.
Watching all the body cam footage from the crime scene had been brutal. So much blood. Caitlyn’s butchered body. All the fight gone as she lay crumpled at her killer’s feet.
Lifeless eyes … staring but unseeing.
Scenes like that angered cops. No matter how neutral they tried to be, they were human. And finding her blood-covered boyfriend hovering over her added fuel to the volatile emotions of the moment. Add in the flowers and the card, her father’s ultimatum, the conveniently stolen cell phone.
For them, it all fit. Case closed.
Planting his elbows on the table, Colton rubbed his temples with his fingers.
John looked up from the trial transcript in his hand. “Hangin’ in there?”
“Barely. Y’all really need to work on your penmanship.”
“That’s a fact. I can hardly read my own notes sometimes. That’s why it took me so long to find the ones about the burned car.” He pursed his lips and shook his head. “The fact a victim had to remind me about my own lead makes me nuts.”
Colton chuckled. “Riley’s nothing if not gracious.
She told you not to worry about it. So, don’t worry about it.
” He gestured over the avalanche of paperwork, files, notebooks, and photos strewn across the table.
“This is a lot of stuff to keep track of. The fact you forgot one thing isn’t a big deal. ”
“I should’ve remembered,” John muttered.
“Regardless, I wish the HR manager at the assisted living facility could’ve told us more about Everett.”
“Other than how great he was with the residents and how much they missed him.”
“Right? Most bosses would be angry about an employee who simply quit coming to work, and she was just hoping he was okay.”
“But we also got information that adds more bricks to the case we’re building against him.”
Colton stood and stretched his arms over his head before leaning against the whiteboard on the wall where they’d scrawled their notes outlining the case.
“We know he worked there at the time the car was boosted, and he knew the owner. It was common knowledge the elderly man rarely left the facility, and his car sat there mostly unused. Would’ve been easy for Everett to lift the car keys while the guy was out of his room. ”
John dropped his pen on the table and sat back with his hands clasped behind his head. “And he stopped coming into work a month ago. The same time as Riley’s attempted kidnapping.”
“And the car was incinerated. He must’ve seen a clip on the news that it had been identified as stolen. Was aware y’all had traced the VIN.”
With a heavy sigh, John lowered his arms. “Too bad the address they had for him didn’t pan out. We have all these things pointing right to him, but he’s a ghost. Where is this guy?”
“Good question.”
Colton took his seat again and picked up the next batch of notes.
The investigator who interviewed the florist the day following the killing.
The detective had jotted down the florist’s name, the name of the shop, the time the order came in the day before, the card number it was charged to, name on the order, and time the customer walked into the shop to pick up the arrangement.
“Five-fifty-two,” he mumbled, reading through the chicken scratch on the page. “Card had already been written out. Slight of face but bulkier in build, tall, probably six-foot two or thereabouts, blue suit, sunglasses, dark hair.”
Wait a second. He read back through the description of the customer. “Blue suit.”
“What’s that?” John asked from the other end of the table, several photos spread out in front of him.
Colton’s head snapped up. “I distinctly remember Riley telling me the florist testified in court she couldn’t remember the color of the suit the customer wore. Only that it was dark. Shane was found with Caitlyn wearing a black suit.”
He popped out of his chair and carried the page over to John. “What do you see here?”
John took the sheet and read over the notes, bringing the page closer to his face. “Blue suit. She says specifically it was a blue suit.”
“She was interviewed the day after the murder. Said it was blue. Then at trial two years later, she can’t remember. I’d give more weight to the interview than the testimony.”
“A hundred percent.”
“And it’s all right here in the case file. We need to have Riley check the file she obtained from the former defense team to see if this was in there. If not—”
“That’s bad. For the prosecution, that is.”
“Exactly. Looks like Riley could get twisted up with another DA if she files for prosecutorial misconduct.”
John dropped the sheet and put his head in his hands. “This keeps getting worse. I may have to transfer to another department. In another city. Maybe another state.”
Colton grinned. “A bit dramatic, don’t you think?”
John dropped his hands and lifted his head.
“I’m pretty much playing for the other team right now.
Cops don’t work for the defense. We answer to the prosecution.
When this all comes to light, I could be shut out by my own team on any future cases.
Nobody will want to work with me. It doesn’t matter what the truth might be. I’ll be the traitor.”
His grin disappearing at his friend’s obvious apprehension, Colton took the chair adjacent to him.
“I understand. But what’s your gut telling you to do?
If you want to leave this to Riley and her investigator, then we’ll do it.
We’ll leave Shane out of it and focus on how we link Warren to Riley’s abduction attempt.
We already have a lot to go on. She can tie it back to Shane as a motive, if we can provide her with one.
She would never want to compromise your career. I can guarantee you that.”
John stared at him, then shook his head.
“My gut is telling me we need to get to the truth. If that makes me a pariah, so be it. I don’t believe God puts us in places if He doesn’t intend good to come of it.
Doesn’t mean that good is mine. Could be it’s for Shane.
” He waved his hand over the mess across the table.
“I couldn’t, in good conscience, leave this now. No, I’m in. Regardless of the stakes.”
Colton patted his arm on the table. “You’re a good guy, Stapleton. I’m sure Riley’s grateful for all your work on this, knowing what it could cost you. She’ll do her best to protect you if you stay with it, but I know she’d understand if you needed to walk away.”
John narrowed his eyes at him. “You sure seem to know a lot about her, the woman whose detail you left because you, how did you say? Blew it?”
Acid churned in Colton’s stomach. “I almost got her killed, John. So, yeah, I blew it.”
“What happened at the ball wasn’t because you were out on the dance floor with her.
In fact, if she hadn’t been on the floor, he could’ve walked right up to her and had a shot off before you knew what was going on.
She wasn’t right next to you the entire evening.
I was there, remember? You guys gave her the room to mingle, be with her friends, have a nice night out.
“It was this monster out there hunting her who blew it. Blew it by underestimating her detail. If you hadn’t been on the floor with her, could you imagine if you’d had to try to get to her in all that chaos?
Paxton followed his instincts and already had the perp in his sights before he ever got a shot off.
Working exactly as a team should. Your team.
The team you should be with right now, working with her, not me. ”
Colton stood and shook his head. “You don’t get it.”
“Oh, but I think I do. You didn’t blow it as lead man on her detail.
You think you blew it because you fell for her.
So, what happened? You couldn’t follow through?
Because of your past experience?” He leaned forward with his arms crossed on the table.
“I can’t imagine how tough that would be, losing someone like you did your wife.
But would she want you to be alone the rest of your life?
Or would she be the first to bop you upside the head for not moving on? Maybe with someone as great as Riley.”
Colton’s heart pounded. He could hear Theresa in his ear, telling him what an idiot he was to close himself off. To not find a wonderful woman to settle down with. Settle in and have babies and make a life and grow old with.
He took the chair again and matched John’s posture, arms crossed on the table. “How do you guys do it? You and Avery?”
“How do we do what?”
“Make it work. You two are on opposite ends of the social spectrum. The girl comes from money. You’re a working-class Joe.”
“Ah, I see.” John grinned. “Something happened between you and Riley, but it threw you. And now you’re using her social position as a reason not to pursue it.”
“I honestly don’t think it could work.”
“So, what happened? Between the two of you?”
Colton released a sigh and pushed his hand through his hair, wishing for three more ibuprofen. “That night, things got … intense. Some things were said … professed … however you want to put it.” He gave his head another shake. “She thinks she’s in love with me.”
“She thinks? Or she told you outright she loved you?”
“She told me. But I don’t believe she could be in love with me. More like the idea of me. The guy standing between her and the big, bad wolf.”
John laughed, taking him by surprise. “Colton, think about who we’re talking about here.
Riley Hudson is mature, generous, compassionate.
Stubborn, yes, but off-the-charts intelligent.
She’s not some wishy-washy, club-hopping, self-involved girl who goes weak in the knees at the sight of a good-looking guy who makes her feel safe.
She’s secure in who she is. Confident in her faith.
If she opened her heart and told you she was in love with you, you can take that to the bank, my friend. ”
Colton stared hard at the detective. What he said held a ring of truth. Riley was all those things. And more.
“Even if that’s true, how could I stay? It would have been tough to do my job.”
“Because you would have been distracted by your own feelings?”
“Maybe. I don’t know. I’m not even sure what I feel. Am I attracted to her? Of course. Her inner spirit is as beautiful as the outside. Am I in love with her? How could I be? It hasn’t even been six weeks since we met.”
“Same day I met Avery, if memory serves. And, pal, let me tell you, I am crazy about that girl.”
“And you think you can make it work?”
“Why wouldn’t we? We care about each other.
She’s spent time with my family, they love her, and she loves them.
I’ve been with hers and was just as comfortable.
We’re even splitting Christmas Day next week between her family and mine.
Her mother can be a little uppity, but we have a mutual respect for each other.
She knows how much I care about her daughter, and I know I have her blessing.
“The Hudsons are some of the least pretentious people I know. You don’t think her family would accept you with open arms? Do you think Riley would look down her nose at yours? If you do, then you don’t know her well enough to be in love with her.”
Colton nodded, studying his hands folded in front of him. “You’re right. I just don’t want to hurt her.”
“Then don’t. Pray about it. And if you believe God brought you two together for a reason, you need to act on it. You’ll be missing out if you don’t.”
“Yeah, I appreciate your—”
John’s phone buzzed, and he peered down at the screen before picking it up. “Her ears must’ve been burning.” He pressed the green icon. “Riley, what’s—” He sat up straight. “Seriously? Wait.” His eyes snapped to Colton. “Let me put you on speaker. I think Blankenship needs to hear this.”
He pressed the speaker button and laid the phone on the table.
Colton cleared his throat. “Hey, Riley.”
“Colton, it’s him.” The pitch of her voice, the urgency in it, had his skin erupting in gooseflesh. “He was with Caitlyn. I saw him.”
“Hold up. Who? Warren Everett?”
“Yes. At the country club. Except he was going by Jacob then.” She took a breath and released it slowly. “Okay. Sorry. My heart’s racing.”
Colton exchanged a look with John. Jacob, he mouthed. They hadn’t thought much of the fact Warren Everett’s first name was Jacob when his father mentioned it. Another brick in the wall of evidence piling up against Jacob Warren Everett.
“Remember Shane said Warren had never met Cait,” she continued, “unless they met at the country club before Shane and Cait got together?”
“Yes.”
“I saw them. He was coming on to her. I guess it had happened before. But this time, she put him in his place, and he was livid. I told her she should report him, but a few months before she died, I asked her about that, and she said she didn’t because she never saw him again.”
He sat up and grabbed the phone. “Riley, think back. Did he see you?”
“Yes. I started toward them when I saw they were arguing. He glared at me. It’s those eyes, Cole. Those same eyes. I can’t believe I’m only now remembering that.”
John leaned in. “It was a long time ago, Ri. Don’t beat yourself up.”
“Yes, but what if I’d remembered Cait had been harassed by this guy at the club? If they’d investigated and found the record of his employment, they would’ve seen he had the same last name as Shane, and probably asked the questions we’re asking now, only face-to-face. What if—”
Colton glanced at the phone as the silence lingered, wondering if they’d lost the connection. “Riley? What if what?”
“What if Shane’s in prison because of me?”