Dare to Trust (18 page)

The car door opened. “This way, Detective,” the lieutenant motioned for Jason to get out of the car. He climbed out; feeling the harsh winds off the bay hit him. They walked up the steps and into the building where Jason was led to an interrogation room. He was all too familiar with the dance that went on during an interrogation.

“For the record, are you speaking with me voluntarily?” They were sitting across from each other, on either side of an old, battered wooden table. Lt. Ross had switched on a tape recorder.

“Yes.” Jason stared down at a gauge in the table top.

“You are on administrative leave from your position as a Boston homicide detective?”

“Yes, you already knew that. And I’m sure you know why, too.”

“Tell me anyway,” Lt. Ross requested.

“I allegedly roughed up a suspect while interviewing him.”

Lt. Ross was staring directly at Jason, making Jason feel more than uncomfortable. He knew intimately how these things went---this is what he did for a living. And yet, he felt the intimidation factor of sitting on the wrong side of this interview.

“And did you?”

“I might have used some force.” Jason shifted in the uncomfortable metal chair. “I don’t see how that would involve you.”

“You recently bought a new cell phone on Sunday afternoon. What happened to your old one?”

“It broke.” Jesus, they had done their homework. They had already looked into his activity, and it scared Jason that they might not be looking for anyone else to collar for the poisoning.

“After you were put on leave, where did you go? There’s a good twenty-four plus hours between then and when you showed up here at Dr. Hitchcock’s cottage Sunday night.”

Jason’s eyes narrowed as he leaned back in the chair and folded his arms across his chest. He didn’t want to play this game anymore. “Are you asking me for an alibi?” he demanded in a rough voice.

“Yes, I am. Particularly for Sunday morning.”

“I want a lawyer.”

Lt. Ross stood and circled around the table towards his suspect. “Jason Howard, you’re under arrest----“

Jason was pulled to his feet and he felt the cool metal of the handcuffs slap around his wrists. He didn’t pay attention to his rights. He could rattle those off in his sleep. What the fuck was happening?

“We’ve impounded your car,” the lieutenant shared with him. “Is there anything you want to tell me before it’s searched? Still want a lawyer?” Jason said nothing.

After being fingerprinted, booked and processed for first degree murder, Jason was allowed his phone call before being locked in a cell. He called Mia.

“They took your car,” she told him, her voice shaky.

“I know.” Jason sighed; knowing the details of his afternoon was going to upset her even more. “Are you okay?”

“Yes.” She didn’t sound all that convincing.

“Look, baby, they arrested me. I don’t want you to worry. They’re building a circumstantial case that won’t go anywhere.” He hoped that was true.

“Arrested?” Mia felt her throat tighten. Were they crazy? There was no way Jason had been involved. “Who do you want me to call?”

“Grimes. He’ll know who to call for a lawyer.” Jason could tell she was crying and it pissed him off even more. Helplessness was not something he easily dealt with, and right now, he was about to be locked up and unable to comfort or do anything for Mia. “I love you,” Jason told her. “I promise everything will work out.”

Lt. Ross grabbed the phone from Jason and hung it up. “Time’s up.” He then led Jason to a cell and locked him in.

Jason stood in the middle of the cell dumbfounded. How had this happened? He glanced around and saw that he the lone prisoner. He blew out a deep breath and unconsciously ran a nervous hand through his hair. What if he was being set up? What if he couldn’t get out of this?

***

Keith could hear the panic in her voice as soon as he answered the phone. “Mia, he’ll be okay. Jason can sit in the cell for a few hours until we get him out.”

“How are we going to get him out?” She was overwhelmed, knee deep in this legal world she had no knowledge of.

“They have to arraign him. Set bail. We’ll pay the bail and go from there.” Grimes silently contemplated which criminal attorney to call for his partner. “You sit tight; I’ll call you back after I arrange for the lawyer.”

“He couldn’t have done it,” she whispered to Grimes. “Could he?”

“No Mia, he couldn’t have.”

It was early evening before a lawyer showed up to meet with his new client. As Jason alternated between pacing and sitting on the thin mattress in the cell, he had watched the sun dip down in the overcast, snowy sky and twilight roll in. He knew there would be no arraignment today and that at best, he’d be spending one night incarcerated.

Without a word, a deputy showed a well-dressed, short, balding man into Jason’s cell. “Mr. Howard, I am Darren Sparks, your new lawyer.” He outstretched his hand to Jason to shake. “I am sorry it has taken me so long to get here, but traffic from Portland was a nightmare and the roads are a little slick.” Jason shook his hand but said nothing. “Your partner spoke to one of my very good friends in Boston, who called me to represent you. I want you to know that I am the most successful criminal attorney in the state.” Sparks set his briefcase down on the cement floor and took off his long winter coat.

“This is a set-up,” Jason told him.

“I’ve read the indictment. There is no physical evidence. Everything they cite in the indictment against you is circumstantial.” Sparks smiled widely. “I’m sure we can have you out of here within the next twenty-four hours.”

“I didn’t do this,” Jason said quietly. Reality was starting to sink in. At first, he had been convinced that Lt. Ross had made some error and everything would be dropped. After sitting several hours in the jail cell, Jason knew there was no mistake. This was for real. His stomach was in knots.

“I wouldn’t expect a client of mine to say anything other than that.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t.” Jason shook his head, frustrated that perhaps even his lawyer didn’t seem to believe him.

“Detective Howard, listen to me. Until very recently, you have been a highly decorated police officer and detective with the Boston PD. Obviously that is in your favor. That is until you uncharacteristically lost your temper with a suspect. Why?”

“Personal.”

“Listen to me very closely. Nothing is personal anymore. They will dig and find all of your secrets so it’s best to tell it to me now.”

“I don’t want her dragged into this,” Jason muttered. “Mia, my girlfriend, had a miscarriage. We had some…issues after and she moved out.”

“I see.” Sparks took a few steps while he was processing the information. “And you didn’t refer to her as an ‘ex’ girlfriend.”

“We’ve worked it out.”

“Will she stand behind you during all of this? Or leave? If there’s a real possibility that she won’t stick around, I’ll need time to---“

Jason interrupted the lawyer, his tone openly hostile. Sparks had touched upon a touchy subject. Jason had wondered the same thing---what if Mia didn’t believe he was innocent? “Mia won’t be going anywhere. I’m sure of it.”

Sparks took notice of the silent warning to back off the girl. “So you were under stress and it bled its way into your professional life. You are only human.” He glanced around the cell and beyond the bars. “One of the pieces of circumstantial evidence they are citing is the fact that you completely shut off your cell phone for several hours and then you bought a new one. The theory is you did so to not be tracked via cell towers.”

“That’s bullshit. The battery died and I didn’t charge it for hours. When it was charged again, my house was being searched. I was a little upset and I threw it against the wall. It broke and I needed a new one.”

“Plausible,” Sparks commented. “They haven’t found anything from searching your car. Are they going to?”

“No! I told you, I have nothing to do with this.” Jason shook his head, again in disbelief of the present circumstances. “What the hell was my motive?”

Sparks stared at his client intently. He wondered if Jason could be so cold and callous to have really been responsible for the crime. The man in front of him didn’t seem capable. “After your girlfriend left you, you snapped. They can demonstrate that with the reason why you’re currently on administrative leave from your job. You acted out against her and the community she moved to.”

“Weak,” Jason angrily commented. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“Well, they’ll claim that you obviously weren’t thinking clearly and the stress of the miscarriage, break-up and whatever else they can conjure up pushed you over the edge.” Sparks picked up his briefcase and started to put his coat on. “I assume we are pleading ‘not guilty’ in the morning?” he asked his client. Jason just nodded. “If you give me her phone number, I will call your girlfriend and ask her to drop off something suitable for you to wear to the arraignment.” The faded sweatshirt and jeans Jason had on at the moment would not do. He looked Jason over again. “And perhaps a razor? You need a shave.”

After she had spoken with Sparks, Mia hung up and dialed Kate. She was grateful her friend picked up and was willing to talk. “I’m so sorry, Kate,” Mia told her. “I was horrible to you.” Her voice was shaking. She hadn’t known anyone else to call.

“Hey, it’s okay.” Kate recognized the fear in Mia’s tone. “What’s wrong?”

“Jason was just arrested for murder,” Mia said in disbelief as she said the words. And then she told her best friend what had happened.

Jason spent the entire night awake, lying on the thin mattress, staring up at the water stained ceiling. He had refused the dinner tray and wasn’t even hungry. His mind was bombarded by fears and questions, not allowing him rest. He worried about Mia and about what was going to happen. Would he be convicted? If so, what would happen with Mia? And having been a cop---Jason was sure he wouldn’t fare well in prison.

His arraignment started at nine in the morning. Press from all over New England was there to cover it. Last evening, there had been a news conference to announce the arrest of a suspect. The media had been having a field day with the story already---a mass poisoning in a rural, Maine town. Jason cringed as he was brought into the court room, knowing he would never have the same level of privacy again, even if he got out of this mess. He scanned the crowd, looking for Mia. He needed to know that she was okay. They made eye contact just before the judge entered the court room.

It was over within a few minutes. Sparks informed the judge his client pled ‘not guilty’ and asked for bail to be set. The prosecutor argued against bail, that this had been an attack on the community and so far, one had perished, more were still seriously ill. When all was said and done, bail had been set at two million dollars. Jason had looked up at his lawyer with a look of defeat. He had no idea where he was going to get two million dollars.

There was no opportunity to talk to Mia. As soon as bail was set, Jason was paraded back through the court room, in noticeable hand cuffs, with the media swarming about. The story had become more sensationalized now that a police detective had been charged. The news outlets couldn’t get enough information related to the case or to Jason.

XI.

Michael had never believed his mother had up and left him and his sister. In his spare time, he worked on her cold case. There was very little information in the case file. She had never made it to work on the day of her disappearance. Interviews with co-workers revealed nothing; no boyfriends, enemies. Michael had first thought his father had been somehow involved in his mother’s vanishing act, but he soon found that his father had been over two thousand miles away with his new girlfriend. And the particular day on question, his father had spent in jail for DUI. And Michael now realized that, when he had first realized that his mother was missing, he should have notified the authorities. They had not been contacted for several weeks after his mother disappeared; any potential evidence that may have existed was long gone.

When the remains of a female were found on the outskirts of Boston, Michael had taken an interest. Could it possibly be his mother after all these years?  The remains were bones; soft tissue had deteriorated long ago. There were strands of long, dark hair---his mother had long, dark hair. He remembered how it used to tickle his face when she would hug him close.

The coroner had an identity within a few days, after DNA had been put in a national database. The woman was Amanda Jacobs. She had been a twenty-five year old nurse who had vanished from Philadelphia several years ago.

At first, Michael had been disappointed and angry. He wanted closure regarding his mother. Then, as he dug more into Mandy Jacob’s disappearance, he learned of Tyler Daniels. Dr. Daniels had been a ‘person of interest’ in the young nurse’s disappearance but there had been no actual proof linking him to any crime. Statements from those she had worked at with at the hospital had given statements, painting a picture that the physician she had been seeing had been possessive and potentially violent. There had been no physical evidence of any struggle or violent incident. Other than the fact Mandy Jacobs had simply vanished from Philadelphia and her credit cards had been silent since she had been reported missing by co-workers, the police had nothing.