The Best of Us (14 page)

Chapter Four

Det. Wright called Daniel, looking for Carly, at three that afternoon. “We caught a break. Do you mind if we come talk to you and Carly?”

“
Of course not, come on over.”

The time it took the detectives to get there seemed to take forever, but in reality was less than thirty minutes. The two detectives got right down to business.

“
We have a positive ID on one of the prints we lifted from the fire escape. It has been identified as Trevor Baskins. I have that name down as the ex-fiancé, is that correct?” Det. Stone asked.

“
That son of a….” Daniel paused for a moment then went ahead and let out a long stream of expletives. No one blamed him or tried to curb the burst of anger.

“
Have you got him in custody yet?” Carly asked.

“
We are looking for him but he’s not been seen since yesterday.” Det. Stone turned to Daniel, and then looked back at Carly, “Could he have been the one you saw?”

Carly thought back to last night and tried to conjure up the shadow she had seen. “It could have been. I never saw his face.”

“
Well, with him having been an ex, he can explain his fingerprints being at the apartment, so it isn’t enough to arrest him for; at most, we could bring him in for questioning.”

“
That’s not true!”

“
What do you mean? He has been to the apartment before and you can’t give me a positive ID.”

“
You said you got his prints off the fire escape.” Carly was getting excited.

Daniel caught on, “That’s right. His prints would never have been on the fire escape. Jenna had the door allowing access to it blocked off. No one but immediate family even knew it was there. He would never have had a reason to be out there.”

Det. Wright and Det. Stone shared a look that spoke volumes. “Thank you, this is exactly what we needed. We have probable cause to get a search warrant for his place and his phone records.”

“
I need to go home.” Carly said that evening.

“
Why? I want you to stay here for a while. I don’t like the idea of you being alone.” Daniel had an uneasy feeling that whatever was going on wasn’t over.

“
I need to take a shower, change clothes, and do some laundry. You know, normal things people do to keep their lives going.” Carly was getting around a little better on her ankle, but it still hurt like the dickens. “Can you take me home?”

“
Why don’t I take you home and wait while you pack some stuff up? Then you can stay here for a few days.”

“
Daniel, I can’t hide out here.”

“
Please, just one more night. I will take you home tomorrow in time to open the store and make sure there is always someone around.”

Carly could tell he was really intent on keeping an eye on her and was afraid if she said no that he would sleep in his car outside her place.

“
Fine, but just tonight.”

Daniel gave her a big smile, “Great, let’s go get your things.”

Everything seemed to be going well today after the horror of last night. She felt that her life just might be taking a turn for the good. She just wished that she could call Jenna and tell her about her and Daniel.

They reached the apartment and they both got out of the car. Daniel walked around the front of the car and laid a hand on Carly’s arm. She looked up to see why he had stopped her and he surprised her with a warm kiss. All she could do was smile at him. It was enough.

Carly unlocked the door and let out a startled gasp. Daniel pulled her behind him when he heard her. He let out a string of cuss words that his mom would have understood where they came from at this moment in time.

Treasures was destroyed. Everything that could be broken was. It looked like the aftermath of an earthquake. But it was more disturbing because the damage had been intentional.

“
Why would he risk coming back here and doing this?” Carly asked. “I don’t know what he was looking for upstairs, but this is destruction, not searching.”

Daniel ushered Carly back to his car and dialed nine one one. While they waited for the police, Daniel couldn’t help but wonder, “What is the point of risking the police catching you to come back and destroy the store. This is stupid. Even Trevor isn’t that stupid. If he’s lying low, what could possibly make him come back to a crime scene and destroy the store?”

He spent a few minutes explaining to the officer what they had done when they saw the damage and reassured the officer that they hadn’t gone inside. The officer waited for back up and then they went in to check the store out.

Daniel got back in the car, making sure to stay out of the way of the police.

“
Why?” Daniel was startled by the thin sounding question coming from Carly. She turned her head to look at him and repeated, “Why?”

“
I don’t know baby, but we are going to find out.”

A knock at the window temporarily ended their brief conversation. An officer was standing there. Daniel got out and after a brief conversation he turned around and opened the door. Leaning in he said, “They want me to go in and take a look around. I’ll be right back. One of the officers will stay outside to make sure you are okay. I won’t be long.”

Carly just nodded, lost in her own thoughts.

The store was destroyed. Not a thing seemed to have been spared. If an item could be, it was now broken, torn, ripped, upside down, shattered, gouged and ruined. It seemed the only things that weren’t touched were pictures on the wall. But not much else would survive. As they walked through the store, Daniel answered all the officers’ questions.

When they came out of the store, Daniel saw someone squatting in the open passenger door of his car talking to Carly. He hurried over to make sure she was alright. Det. Stone was there asking Carly questions.

“
Excuse me…” Daniel made his presence known.

“
Mr. Wayne, sorry I can’t say it is good to see you again, maybe if it were under different circumstances.” Daniel noticed the worry lines around the detective’s eyes.

“
It’s good to have you here on this. We’d like to get this settled. Any luck finding Trevor.”

“
No, not yet. But we have a lead on a possible location. Det. Wright is on his way there now.”

“
That’s good news.”

“
I was just telling Carly that she would need to find another place to stay for a few days. But I will need to be able to contact her if I should need to.” Det. Stone looked down and smiled at Carly.

“
She will be with me at my house, you can reach her there.”

Det. Stone nodded and headed into the store.

“
Let’s get you home. You won’t be coming back here until we figure out what is going on. I also don’t want you alone until this maniac is caught.”

Carly had no arguments. She knew she didn’t want to be left alone. That’s when the fear snaked into her thoughts.

A call later that night, just after dinner brought good news; Trevor had been picked up at his fiancé’s house. After talking with him for about ten minutes at the station, they went back for the fiancé, Stefanie Lynn, whom Trevor indicated was the one responsible for everything.

They hadn’t finished their interrogation with Trevor yet and hadn’t started with Miss. Lynn, but they believed they had their culprits. Carly slept soundly for the first time in weeks.

“
Harm and I will try to be with you at all times. When neither of us can, some of the guys at the station have offered to help. They are all spitting mad that this is happening. They all loved Jenna and, it seems, they are all rather fond of you.” Daniel said with chagrin. He knew Carly was attractive, sweet and quite a catch. He couldn’t believe that she had stayed single this long. He was thankful that he had come to his sense before it was too late, otherwise she may have moved on without him.

“
I feel terrible putting all of you guys to so much trouble.” She could see that Daniel was getting ready to argue and before he could speak she said, “But I’m not stupid, and, even though they have Trevor in custody, I’m still scared! Daniel, I don’t know why this is happening…” Carly shook her head almost violently. “I want this to be over but how can it be when we don’t even know what it is about? I mean, what’s going on? Why is all this happening? Jenna is killed, the shop is ransacked, the apartment is broken into and I’m chased into the alley. Why? To what end? I just don’t get it. Was Jenna just in the way? I mean, they are breaking in and ransacking like they are looking for something. They apparently didn’t know I was in the apartment when they broke in. They were looking for something. No one was there when they broke into to store. The storeroom was trashed when Jenna…” Carly pulled her strength together. “When they killed Jenna. So what is it that they want? Why does it keep happening? They don’t have what they want or need…But what can it be?”

Daniel took Carly into his arms, “I don’t know honey, but we will figure it out. Hopefully once they are done with Trevor, it’ll all be over and we will know why.” They stood there quietly for a minute just holding each other.

“
Let’s just hope it’s all over. Trevor is behind it all and once the police are done, we will know why.”

If only things really worked that way. Det. Stone was fed up. He and Wright had taken turns with Trevor and Stefanie Lynn long into the night. They’d gotten a confession out of both of them for the break in; even though they were both saying the other was the driving force behind it. Apparently Stefanie was obsessed with getting the ring that Jenna had. She had severe jealousy issues and felt that the ring should have been hers to begin with and would stop at nothing to get it. Even though Jenna had claimed to have gotten rid of the ring, they both knew she was lying. Stefanie didn’t plan on wearing the ring herself, but she didn’t want Jenna to have it. She planned on putting it in a box, never letting it see the light of day and enjoying the fact that she had it and Jenna didn’t. Trevor didn’t know that, he thought she wanted it for herself, but she planned on making Trevor buy her one ‘she’ picked out once they got the one Jenna had.

Even though Stefanie didn’t confess, Stone and Wright knew that she was behind it all. Trevor was too weak to be the one doing it. They knew by the interviews that Stefanie was the overbearing, dominate one in the relationship. If it had been in normal circumstances, Stone would almost feel sorry for Trevor.

The one thing they did find out that didn’t go as planned was that Trevor and Stefanie both had alibis for the store break in and destruction. They were at Stefanie’s apartment, which happened to be the place to hang and get drunk. They had about six witnesses that would corroborate their alibis. Stone knew that six drunks could be a weak defense, but the fact that they’d admitted to the break in of the apartment and chasing Carly, it just didn’t fit that they’d deny the rest…They also had airtight alibi’s for Jenna’s murder.

They had them both on B&E and the attack on Carly, along with a few additional, minor charges, but not on the rest. Stone was ready to spit nails. Why couldn’t he get a grasp on this? It seemed that the only suspect they really had was no longer a suspect for the murder. That meant that there was someone else out there and Carly was still in serious danger.

Stone needed to step back and get some prospective. “I’m going to head to Rissa’s for a bit, clear my head.” Rissa was Stone’s fiancé and she had a calming effect on him. He grabbed his jacket and headed out.

He couldn’t help but think he was missing something. He knew they had Trevor and Stefanie on the B&E, but he didn’t believe they did the rest. He just wasn’t sure why he felt that way. His gut was telling him he was missing something.

Stone pulled into Rissa’s driveway and couldn’t help but smile when he saw her silhouette in the door. She must have been watching for him. Getting out of the truck, he felt older than his years. This job was aging him faster then he’d like to admit. He loved the job, but it got tough.

But if it wasn’t for the job, he’d never have met Rissa. He couldn’t believe she’d only been in his life less than a year. In a few more months, they’d be married. He’d almost lost her just when he’d found her. He’d been brought in on her case when someone was terrorizing her with the end game resulting in her death, but he was able to keep that from happening, barely! It was too close and he could feel the anger rising in him as it did every time he thought about it.

“
Hey babe,” Rissa said as she held the door open for him. “I wasn’t expecting you this evening.”

“
Really? Then who were you waiting for?” Stone joked.