22. Michael
Chapter 22
Michael
“ Y ou sent for me?” Peter says as he walks into my office.
“Yes,” I nod. “Please take a seat.”
He does, and I close my laptop, placing both hands on the desk. “For the first time, I am stumped,” I say.
“Oh? What happened?”
I don’t know where to begin. I watched it over and over, reading each second of the time frame to make sure it wasn’t a glitch caused by tampering with the footage.
“Michael?”
“This morning, Brenda handed me an envelope as soon as I walked into the office. In the envelope was a flash drive and a piece of paper. On the paper, there were instructions to watch the video alone as it could taint the case.”
Peter looks visibly concerned. “What’s on it?”
The last thing I expected to see. “A video of Savannah in Brandon’s apartment an hour before the estimated time of death.”
His mouth falls open.
“A video?”
I nod. “I think it might be doctored, but I don’t know yet. I sent it to my tech team after my initial shock had passed, but I think you should take a look at it.”
He all but grabs the laptop when I hand it to him, and I watch the look of disbelief that clouds his face when he watches. The video, which shows Savannah in the living room and is ten seconds long, plays on a loop as Peter keeps hitting the replay button.
In the end, he pushes the laptop back to me.
“No,” he says.
“No?” I ask.
“Yeah,” he nods, voice ringing with conviction. “That’s not Savannah. I mean, it looks like her, but it’s not her. I bet you’ll find out that someone doctored the video.”
It was the same thing I was thinking because I couldn’t wrap my head around why Savannah would leave out a detail like this.
“Okay. That’s good, then. I just thought you needed to know because things are about to unravel.”
“What do you mean?”
I exhale. “We already know that Eric has been eliminated as a suspect because he exited the building where there were no cameras, and only one person saw him come out of Brandon’s house,” I continue.
“And when you look at things, if he was in the house, there should be a video of him in the house. Yet, when we checked through the evidence, there are no security cameras.”
Peter gets the direction of my explanation, nodding intently.
“That means that whoever killed Brandon wants her, not even some other person, but Savannah framed for the murder. They must have installed a camera to catch her on tape and then took it down before killing Brandon. That is why we didn’t find any cameras, and why Eric wasn’t caught on tape,” Peter finishes the story.
I snap my fingers, pleased at his ability to quickly connect the dots. “Yes. So, who? That is the question.”
“Beats me, but I know time is running out,” his face shows concern. “Maybe I should look into more people Brandon and Savannah knew that might have had a grudge against her.”
“Or someone Brandon knew but might have been jealous that he was engaged to Savannah.”
I see the wheels in his head turning, so I let him come to a conclusion before speaking.
“Alice!” Peter blurts out.
“What?” I ask him.
“The person Brandon cheated on her with? The best friend? You don’t know Alice?” Peter looks at me.
I shake my head. “Am I supposed to know her?”
“I guess? She and Savannah might have made up because I have run into her in this building, and she said she was going to see my sister,” Peter explains.
I consider the angle he is proposing. “Are you saying that Alice might be the person behind this?”
“I don’t know,” Peter says, his face unsure. “I think what she did to Savannah was terrible, but I am not sure she is a killer. We’ve met a couple of times, and she always comes off as a sweet and somewhat gullible person.”
“If anything, the bastard might have played her. That’s why she slept with him,” Peter adds.
I feel no sympathy for the woman he is speaking of after seeing what Savannah went through because of her. If anything, I want her to pay for hurting Savannah.
“When did they become friends again?” I ask.
Peter tries to recall. “Uhm, I think it happened sometime after my sister was arrested. I think it was days before you told me about everything.”
Everything in me immediately goes on alert at his words, and my eyes narrow suspiciously. I have a list of people I have my private investigators keeping an eye on, and I will add Alice to the list.
If she is or isn’t an accomplice, time will tell, but we don’t have much time.
“In the meantime,” I say to Peter, “say nothing to Savannah. I need to keep the fact that I have an incriminating video of her under wraps until I can get some answers.”
“An incriminating video??”
Peter and I turn in the direction of the high-pitched questioning voice, which turns out to be Savannah standing by the open door with her hands on her hips and her eyes wide like saucers.
Shit.
When did she get here? How did she get in without either of us noticing?
Peter and I exchange glances, silently communicating not to say anything to her.
“What video?” She asks, walking up to my desk.
“What are you talking about?” I ask acting aloof.
She rolls her eyes, not buying my play of ignorance. “I heard enough to know that you’re lying. There is an incriminating video of me, you said it. What is it? A sex tape?”
“Why would I keep a sex tape of you on my laptop?” I retort sharply.
I don’t realize that I’ve given out the information until she snatches the laptop off my desk, and Peter curses.
“The video is here, isn’t it?”
I exhale loudly, getting to my feet. “You don’t want to see it, Savannah.”
She shakes her head, tucking the laptop under her arm. “Yes, I do. It’s going to be the last straw, isn’t it? Someone is bound to present this at the trial, and then it’s off to prison I go.”
I admit that the thought crossed my mind.
This tape was sent to me either to give me a heads-up or warn me that they also sent the tape to the prosecution, and it’s the nail in the coffin.
“No,” I shake my head.
“Let me see it, please?”
Seeing no other choice besides tackling her to the ground to retrieve the laptop, I reluctantly give her the go-ahead. For me, it was a shock. For Peter, it was outright disbelief.
Savannah, after watching the clip, lets my laptop fall to the floor. It lands on the screen first, and I wince as I hear it shatter. She looks up at me, and I see the terror in her eyes.
“What is this?”
“It’s fake,” I respond.
“I know it is, but that wasn’t what I was asking. What is that? Who sent it to you?” She asks in a hushed tone.
“Someone,” I say, throwing up my hands in frustration. “I don’t know who it is, but I assure you that we have sent the clip off to my tech team for analysis,” I say trying to give her hope.
“What about the people who get their hands on another copy? Do you think they will care that the video was doctored? You know what I am, Michael,” Savannah’s voice rings hollow. “The woman who killed her fiancé after calling off the wedding.”
I don’t know what to tell her to make it better. It reminds me of how helpless I felt at the last court hearing. When I wanted to pull her into my arms, I couldn’t because I wasn’t sure if it was the help she wanted or needed.
“When were you going to tell me?” she pins me with an accusing glare. “In court? When I’m on the witness stand, is that when you were going to tell me that someone fabricated a piece of evidence that might damn me?”
I turn to Peter for help, but he looks at a loss for words also. Trying to pull myself together, I reach for my laptop, giving my mind time to come up with an answer that will not provoke her any further.
“When Michael?” Her voice rises.
“This is why I was going to wait until later. I knew you were going to think the worst about your case.”
Her eyebrows climb as she looks taken aback. “I think the worst? Me, who is currently on trial for my life, I’m thinking the worst about a situation that has hit rock bottom?”
When I don’t respond, she scoffs. “Okay. I’ll do what you want. Forget I heard anything. I’ll wait for the right time.”
Then she turns on her heels and storms out of the office, slamming the door in her wake. I turn to Peter, who stands up and comes over to pat me on the shoulder.
“You did your best,” he says. “I will speak to her so she doesn’t do anything rash like find another lawyer.”
“No,” I stop him as he walks away.
Peter turns. “Look, I know you want the best for her, but Savannah might do something rash. I would, too, if I were in her shoes. Someone has to do this—take the heat until everything is resolved.”
I shake my head. “Don’t. I have a plan.”
“That involves leaving her like this?” Peter asks.
I nod. “Yup. I can’t tell you what it is, but I am almost certain it will help us find the culprit.”
Peter seems slightly unhappy at being left out, but he doesn’t protest, nodding after several seconds. “Okay. I trust you. But if you need me—”
“I’ll call on you. I know. But I have to do this on my own.”