Chapter 41
As soon as we get out of the district attorney’s office, we hug on the street.
“Thank you so much,” I say finally when I can get the words out. I need a minute to process everything that is happening. Amaya and I have formed an unusual bond these past few days. We’ve accelerated our friendship, tested it, and somehow it has survived.
“Thank you so much,” Amaya says in response.
“What for?” I ask, confused. Asking Amaya to take a time-consuming job with no extra pay at the expense of her other cases feels more like a curse than a gift.
“For taking a chance on me. This was my first murder case. You could have left.” Amaya looks down, not meeting my eyes.
“I guess we both just believed in each other.” I realize how cheesy I sound. This feels like a direct-to-video movie from the aughts, which, while tacky, was incredibly heartwarming.
“You were a great investigator. A keen eye,” Amaya acknowledges. “There were some good questions back there. You’ve got a good instinct,” she says.
My instincts are telling me something still isn’t right.
“Do you think it’s a bit odd that Charlie, in near financial ruin, had the money to buy the Rolex?
” I ask, hoping that my continuing need to pry into the case doesn’t appear as if I am not grateful for her help.
I desperately want to move on with the rest of my life; I just can’t help feeling that this isn’t the end.
“Yes, a bit,” Amaya says. “But I don’t see any other explanation. The goal here was to get you out of jail and get the case dismissed. We’ve done that job. You’re going to let this go, right?” Amaya’s eyes narrow suspiciously.
“Right,” I say uncertainly. I understand the pain of being falsely accused.
—
Alex arrives outside the DA’s office a few minutes later. He’s fidgeting a little and running his hands repeatedly through his hair.
“How did it go?” he asks.
“Charges are getting dropped!” I practically scream.
Alex pumps his fist in the air. I haven’t seen him this happy in a long time.
He also seems relieved, the stress of the last few days melting off his face.
I didn’t appreciate how hard this has been for him.
I know our friendship has had its problems lately, but I’m determined to work on it.
This is a friendship that means everything to me.
“Congratulations. How does it feel?” Alex is beaming.
“I feel great. Truly.” I must have a slight frown on my face, because Alex looks at me with raised eyebrows.
“What are you not telling me?” Alex asks. He knows when I’m holding back.
“I just can’t help but feel like there’s more to the story.”
“Siriwathi.” He only uses my full name when he’s truly annoyed with me—so pretty often.
Alex has picked up more than a few annoying habits from my parents after years of crashing at our house.
“You need to drop this. You’re free. This was the goal.
We have other things to conquer now, like a giant sushi boat. ”
“That’s what I’ve been telling her! Well, not the sushi boat part, but…” Amaya says. Both of them are on the same page—a rarity.
“Even though the paperwork said Charlie bought the watch, is there any way to trace the wire transfer?” I ask.
“Tracing a wire transfer is police work. And it’s definitely Charlie,” Alex says with an exasperated sigh.
I can’t help thinking of true crime rule thirteen: Even if someone is the obvious suspect—which I guess was me for much of this case—continue to investigate if the evidence doesn’t line up.
“Maybe, but if he’s so broke, how could he have bought the watch?”
“You need to drop this,” Alex says through gritted teeth. Once I have my mind set on something, I can be quite persistent.
As we all begin to go our separate ways, I hear a rustle behind me, like someone tripping.
I turn around expecting that some passerby has fallen, when I see her again.
The woman following me. This time I’m really ready.
Without saying a word, I sprint and finally catch up to her.
I don’t want to tackle her so instead, I grip her arm, hopefully not too firmly.
“Why are you following me?” I am yelling by the time Amaya and Alex reach me. Once I catch my breath, I realize the woman is just as scared as me. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to scare you, I just want to know why.”
“I don’t know,” she responds.
“What’s happening?” Alex questions.
“This woman has been following me! This is the same woman from the intersection and Charlie’s house that I mentioned to Amaya…”
“Oh god, someone has been following you! I should have listened to you,” Amaya says.
“Why have you been following me? Were you at the intersection the other night? Where I almost hit you?” I release my grip on her wrist.
The woman looks at me blankly, no recognition of what I’m saying on her face. I may have been mistaken about the intersection, but I’m sure I saw her at Charlie’s.
“Please tell me who you are,” I say again, as politely as I can. I’ve backed away from her, hoping to show that I don’t want to hurt her.
She relents. “Look, I was hired from a job board for a few days for some private investigator work. I was only told to follow you and record your movements. No one said why. And I have no clue what you’re talking about…almost hitting me with your car?” She backs away a little farther.
“What’s your name?” I ask, softening my tone.
“Melissa.”
“Melissa, do you work for Charlie? You were in his house?”
“Uh…” She hesitates. “Am I going to get in trouble?”
“No,” I reply as Amaya glares at me. “I just want to know why you’ve been following me and what you were doing at Charlie’s house.”
“There’s a ton of people in that Green World house going in and out. I snuck in to hear your convo. No one seemed to care who I was.”
“Charlie didn’t hire you?” I ask now, genuinely puzzled.
“No. A woman named Shirley Lee did. She only communicated with me via email and paid me through a direct deposit from a bank account. I normally wouldn’t take such a shady job, but I really needed the money.”
Amaya, Alex, and I look at each other. Shirley Lee. James’s ex-girlfriend.
—
“So Shirley Lee is behind this?” Amaya asks.
“Why would she kill James? Why would she have her ex-boyfriend’s accused murderer followed? I know I’m cleared and my involvement in this is done…”
“But you need to find the truth. No more innocent people in jail. No more having more questions than answers.” Amaya looks at me with a true sense of understanding.
“We need more evidence to prove Shirley hired Harvey to commit the murder. Maybe she just wanted to keep tabs on you because you were accused of murdering her ex-boyfriend? We could have tried to get something more from Melissa, the amateur PI.”
Amaya eyes me with an annoyed look I know all too well.
“She was scared. And she clearly was just doing someone else’s bidding.
Besides, we got her info if we ever need the police to talk to her.
We can find something more on our own. Having someone followed and hiring a hit man are two very different things,” I retort.
One is technically legal. The other, very illegal.
“I think we’ve got this resolved. I don’t know if this has anything to do with anything,” Alex says. I’m shocked that he doesn’t find this suspicious. “Siri, looking into this…someone’s already been caught. It could be dangerous.”
“No. This clearly isn’t the end. We should look through the trash.”
“What?” Amaya asks, probably bewildered at the thought that this is some sort of weird ritual between Alex and me.
“You kept it, right?” I ask Alex, before explaining to Amaya that we, or rather Bella, took the bag from Harvey’s house.
I now doubt the plan to look through it, realizing it’ll probably show nothing and be equally disgusting.
But I’m not going to give up a potential lead no matter how minor it might be.
“Well, actually, I took it to our trash room…it was starting to smell,” Alex says with a grimace.
“Let’s go try to see if they’ve taken it down to the dumpster yet.” While Alex lives in a fancy building, the trash collectors aren’t necessarily the most efficient. “Can you call your maintenance guy? Ask him to look? To confirm the trash hasn’t been put in the dumpster?”