Chapter 20
“Look, whatever Julie told you, she probably took it out of context, all right?” Those were the first words out of Tim’s mouth, uttered before Sean could even ask his first question, but it revealed something about the best man: he was nervous.
Now, Sean only had to figure out what he was nervous about.
“You seem upset,” Sean said, and then he took a gamble. “Were you this upset last night when you saw Karla after Julie went to sleep?”
Sean had no idea whether Tim had seen the bride, but either way, this would give him some information. It was a tactic he had used before, a way to set up a trap, but it could only be used a handful of times before it wasn’t useful anymore.
“Is that what she said?” Tim asked. “Well, she’s a liar, and I don’t know what the hell she’s talking about. She was the last one to see her sister alive, not me. I was with Ben; you can ask him.”
“I will,” Sean said.
Tim kept fidgeting, nervous under the spotlight, and Sean remained silent. Sometimes the best interrogation technique was to let the suspect talk himself in circles.
“Look, I saw her in the hallway, leaving her room, but she was with her sister, all right?” Tim eventually said. “They said they were going to the kitchen. That’s the last time I saw Karla.”
Sean jotted that down. At least Julie was telling the truth. Unless this was all part of the story they had cooked up. But Sean was under the impression that the best man and the maid of honor didn’t particularly like one another.
Still, the enemy of my enemy was my friend. Wasn’t that how the saying goes?
“I need to see your phone,” Sean said.
“What? Why?” Tim asked.
“I want to check your messages and calls and confirm the last conversation where you spoke with the bride,” Sean answered.
Tim froze like a deer in headlights, but he managed to clear his throat. “Do you have a warrant?”
“Are you telling me that you’re refusing to cooperate?” Sean asked.
Tim stuttered, and then he crossed his arms. “I just—I know that—I don’t think that it’s a good idea. What if you plant evidence?”
Tim’s lack of cooperation didn’t mean that he was guilty. But it did mean he was hiding something he didn’t want Sean to see.
“Look, until I see a warrant, I’m not giving you anything,” Tim said.
“All right then,” Sean replied.
Again, Sean waited, and then Tim glanced to the door, then back to Sean. “Can I go?”
“Can you?” Sean asked, repeating the question.
Tim didn’t reply and eventually walked out.
It was clear to Sean that Tim and Julie were at odds about something, which meant that whatever secret they shared might not have been about the bride’s disappearance…but it was most likely about the bride herself.
Sean’s phone buzzed. It was Rivers. Hopefully she had some information on the background checks. He was curious to see who might have had a criminal record, and what else people have been hiding.