Chapter 49
FORTY-NINE
Hours drag by and I finally fall asleep under the bright lights that never go out. They must be designed to drive people insane. Voices wake me and I lift my head. My neck tugs painfully as I try to sit up. It’s as if I’m frozen to the cold bench. I blink, seeing David Brunel staring down at me.
“You left her in this freezing room without a blanket?” Brunel removes his jacket and wraps it around me. “What happened to duty of care? I want hot coffee and sandwiches for my client or I’m walking out with her right now.”
“Okay.” Watkins rubs the back of his neck. “You got it. It’s protocol, I had good reason to put her down here and they get nothing in the holding cells. The DNA is a match—and she has a scratch on her arm—anyone would have done the same.”
“Does innocent until proven guilty come to mind? You had reasonable doubt, didn’t you?
” Brunel glares at him. “She shouldn’t be in a darn holding cell.
You told me she was in an interview room.
” He helps me to my feet. “Come on, they’re just waiting for a few more tests to come back and then they’ll do the paperwork and I can get you out of here. ”
I do the walk of shame again, trying desperately to avoid everyone’s gaze.
Right now, I’m just putting one foot in front of the other.
The DNA sample came back as a match to me.
I’m dizzy. I can’t believe I’ve killed someone.
I see the blood on my hands again and smell the metallic odor as if it’s stuck inside my nostrils.
The room moves in and out of focus and my knees tremble. I’m so weak, I can’t take another step.
“Alani.” Brunel gives me a little shake. “Lift your chin up and take some deep breaths. Everything is going to be all right. You need to trust me. Don’t faint on me now or the media will have a field day.” His arm tightens around my waist. “Just a few more steps, we’re almost there.”
A door opens and we walk inside. I stagger to a chair. Coffee in a paper cup arrives in front of me alongside sandwiches in plastic containers. I stare at them and then look at Brunel as he takes his jacket and exchanges it for a blanket, which he wraps around me. “What’s happening?”
“It’s a fiasco.” Brunel sits down beside me and his eyes scan my face as if looking at me for the first time.
“The DNA sample came back as a match to one of the samples taken from the people in the house. The first assumption is the samples were labeled incorrectly and yours was muddled up with someone else’s.
This is why another sample was taken. We’ve been waiting for the results, which were rushed through.
The sample they took here at the police station confirms that you are not a match with the DNA found under Allison’s nails.
” He stares at me. “Do you understand what I’m saying, Alani?
The sample they took here is not a match to you. ”
Shivering, I move my eyes to his and nod. “I didn’t kill anyone.”
“I never believed you had, and I want to get you out of here but right now, we’re waiting for other comparisons to be completed as they are still saying they’ve discovered an abnormality.
This is why they’re keeping everyone in custody.
I’m sorry, there’s nothing I can do.” He looks at me intently.
“Linc tells me you were adopted at birth. Do you know the circumstances of your birth? Where you were born, for instance?”
As this is my lawyer, I can tell him the truth as I know it.
I give him the complete story but I leave out the part where Lucas found me in a pool of blood—I don’t want him dragged into my trouble.
I mention the secret that Susan planned to tell me and arriving at her home to find the cops all over and her dead.
The missing files from my computer and the flash drive I copied but still hadn’t had the chance to read completely.
“Then there’s my brother, Damon.” A cold shiver slithers down my spine. “Barnes told me he is just like him.”
“A serial killer?” Brunel runs a hand down his face. “Okay, well, he is a possible suspect but how is he involved with the Boswells?”
Weariness drags at me as I shake my head. “I’m not sure but he commented on the ‘Black Valentine’ murder. He had a motive to kill Rachel for his father. Barnes hated her—she was the reason he went to prison. They only had circumstantial evidence on him for the other crimes and he walked on those.”
“And Rachel and Isabelle are connected by the hurricane.” Brunel makes fast notes. “You mentioned Damon commented on the ‘Black Valentine’ murder. Are you telling me you’ve been in contact with him?”
I explain how Damon found me at the mall. “The thing is, what reason would he have to murder any of the other victims?”
“What we need to discover is how Rachel, Jenny, Allison and Susan are linked.” He twirls his pen in his fingers, staring into space.
“They all involve Isabelle, don’t they? Rachel met her in the hospital, and the rest of you are involved somehow with her memoirs.
You mentioned Allison gave you a flash drive and a notebook belonging to Jenny.
Now Jenny’s been found dead as well. Isabelle must be the central figure but I’ll inform the detectives about Damon.
They might be able to track his whereabouts at the time of the crimes. ”
I shake my head. “He couldn’t get on the yacht, not without ID. It can’t be him.”
“The thing is, Alani, no one would know anything about Damon. He could have been a guest’s plus-one.
His name would have been taken before boarding and checked off when he left.
The cops have that information.” Brunel clears his throat.
“Do you believe that the secret that Susan planned to tell you was something about the night of your birth?” He stares at me.
“Something that Isabelle has been withholding for many years?”
I wrap my trembling hands around the hot paper cup and take a sip of the disgusting coffee.
As it slides down my throat, I shrug. “It’s a tangled mess.
I believe that Susan had something to tell me about Rachel, my birth mother.
I didn’t believe that Isabelle was involved.
I can’t make head nor tail of it; everything is so twisted.
All I know is that my birth mother, Rachel, was right in the middle of everything.
She gave me up for a better life but for some reason her involvement with Isabelle continued.
I believe that reason died with her and Susan. ”
“Just a minute.” Brunel stands and knocks on the door. “I need to speak to Isabelle and get to the bottom of this. Eat something. I’ll be back very shortly.”
I search his face. “Isabelle is here?”
“She’s on her way.” He slips through the door.
In the silent room all I can think of is Brunel’s words.
“You are not a match with the DNA found under Allison’s nails.
” Thank God I didn’t kill her. I stare at the pack of sandwiches and, suddenly hungry, I finally open them and take a bite.
They are certainly better than the coffee.
I chew slowly and allow everything that’s happened to percolate through my mind.
Did one of the Boswells kill Allison to keep Isabelle’s secret?
Is that why they’re checking all the tests again?
A horrible feeling creeps around me so tight, it’s like it’s strangling me.
Lucas, the person I call my friend—or is he? Is he using me to cover his own guilt?