Conviction: Book 3 of the Detective Ryan Series (13 page)

Chapter 24-Ali

I spent several days cooped up inside the house Matthew was murdered in. Arrangements had been made to take my things back to my old house. I had a week to get everything together. Although stepping into Amanda’s room was the hardest part of packing. The blood from the shooting still stained the carpet. I tried to clean the floor several times, but nothing did the trick. It was almost as if it lingered in an attempt to tell me something.

I called in to the lieutenant to let him know where I was and what I was doing. He didn’t seem too pleased about my decision, but then again, when was he ever happy with something I did? I managed to get most of the house packed up by the second day, but decided to let Amanda pack up her own stuff.

When the doorbell rang, it took me by surprise, stealing my attention away from the file I held in my hand. Answering it, I saw Amanda on the doorstep with boxes in hand.

“So this is where you’ve been hiding out?” It sounded more like an accusation instead of a question.

“Here and my old house. I decided it was time to start putting my life back together.”

“Don’t you think you should’ve started that with us?”

“What are you talking about?”

Amanda threw the flattened out boxes down on the floor near her old bedroom. “I mean you, me, and James. Don’t you think you should’ve told us what you were planning or where you’ve been?”

“It’s not like I planned this. When I left, I had a meeting with the D.A. and then needed some time alone. I found myself back at my old house and spent the night there. I’ve been back here with the Lieutenant and a few analysts to see if there was something the original team missed.”

“And?”

“I’m hoping to hear back from them soon. Last time we spoke, they were running simulations based on the original data and on my theories.”

She looked around the house and saw all the boxes piled up in the dining room area. “So what are you doing with all of your stuff?”

“Moving it back to the old house. There’s an extra room there if you want to move in again.”

“Have you talked to James at all about this?”

“We haven’t spoken since I walked out the other night.”

“Maybe you should. He’s been a mess at the house without you there. He hounds me to find out how you’re doing and where you are every day.”

“He doesn’t understand. There’s so much riding on these cases. Rodney’s life has been devastated since this whole mess started. He’s in danger of losing his badge and going to prison for a long time unless I can help prove he was framed. His wife already has one kid and has another on the way. She doesn’t need this stress hanging over her head.”

“Ali, I get it.”

“But James doesn’t,” I snapped.

“How do you know?”

“Because he wants me to step away from the case. He wants me to sit around like a good girl, while he and everyone else tries to figure this out.”

“Because you’re driving yourself nuts trying to do it all yourself.” Amanda walked up to me and grabbed me above my elbows tightly. “You’ve been so focused on this case; you haven’t taken the time to breathe. We haven’t spent any time together since you’ve been back on active duty, and you definitely haven’t sorted out whatever’s going on between you and James.”

“For the last time, there’s nothing going on between James and I. We are friends, colleagues, and partners, but that’s it.”

“Then why do I keep finding you sleeping in his arms?” I tried to recall the times she referred to, remembering one morning when she came home and found us in bed together. Then I remembered the other night when I fell asleep on the floor. My eyes lit up. “Yeah, I saw you guys cuddling on the floor together.”

“It was nothing. We fell asleep while looking over the case files. Nothing happened.”

“The living room is pretty big. You mean to tell me there was nowhere else to sleep except for on top of each other?”

She had me there. I saw James had fallen asleep and made the conscious decision to lay on his chest. “What do you want me to say? I had a moment of weakness and felt safe with him.”

“At least you finally admitted it. Now if you could only admit how you really feel about him, we can actually move on with our lives.”

“I don’t want him like that.”

Amanda patted my arms condescendingly. “You keep telling yourself that. Maybe one day you’ll actually believe it.”

I followed her down the hall to her room. “What makes you think that’s not how I really feel?”

“Because I know you, Ali. I saw how you looked at Matthew and knew you loved him. You look at James the same way, only I can see you’re holding back. You need to stop hiding how you feel.”

“I don’t know if I can.”

“Is this about Matthew?”

“Yes…no…I don’t know.” The mere mention of his name and my love for Matthew was enough to crack the wall I had been building since returning to active duty. “I loved him. I mean I truly loved him. He was the first guy I ever saw a future with.”

“But he wasn’t the one, Ali. I know he loved you too, but he couldn’t deal with the police lifestyle.”

“I know, but a part of me always thought he would come around to my way of thinking, or that I would finally decide to choose him over the job.”

“Ali, we both know that wasn’t going to happen. You love being a cop. It’s all you talked about when we were growing up.”

“People change, Amanda. I could’ve changed.”

“Did you really want to?”

“For him; yes.”

“And you would’ve been miserable. You would hate whatever job you had because it didn’t entail you hunting down criminals, and it would cause more problems for you both down the line.” She paced the floor of her room while shaking her head. “With James, you don’t have to worry about that. He likes you the way you are; although I don’t know why.” I raised an eyebrow in protest. “What? Let’s be honest; you’re not the easiest person to get along with.”

“Dully noted,” I replied. “I just don’t think it’s a good idea to get involved with someone you work with.”

“Well, good news; you don’t work with him. He works for the Dutchess County Police Department and you work for Ulster County. The only reason you two have been partnered up was because your crime scenes have taken place in both counties, and because you’re both the best.”

“Maybe you’re right, but I can’t deal with that now. There’s too much at stake with these cases.”

“Fuck the cases, Ali. You need to figure out how you feel and do something about it, before it’s too late.”

“If I come home tonight, will you get off my back?”

“I’ll make sure I stay at a friend’s house tonight.”

“Will you stop? Nothing’s gonna happen.”

“Sure it won’t. I’ll just make sure I stay out just in case.”

For the rest of the afternoon, Amanda and I packed up the rest of the house including her room. All the furniture was moved into the living room for the movers to take. They were scheduled to come in two days, but I was ready to get out of that house as soon as I could.

“What time you planning on coming over tonight?” Amanda asked. It was her way of asking what time should I get out of your way tonight.

Before I could answer her, my cell rang loudly from pile of boxes next to the kitchen. Seeing the name Fred displayed on the screen, I knew it had to be something important.

“Dr. Woo, what a surprise.”

“Hello, Ali. Your lieutenant said I should give you a call.”

“Is everything all right?”

“Yes, your lieutenant asked me to assist with some simulations and I was hoping we could discuss my findings in person.”

“Sure, just let me know when.”

“Be at my office in two hours.”

He hung up before I could respond, which was odd. I turned to Amanda biting my lip. “Let me guess,” she said cutting me off before I could get a word out. “Something came up and you gotta run?”

“I think the results of the simulations came in. I have to go, but I’ll stop by and talk to James when I’m done.”

“You better.”

I showered and got dressed before heading out to Kingston. I arrived at the large white building and called Dr. Fred Woo to let him know I was out front. He met me at the door and escorted me to his lab.

“So you mind telling me how you found out about the simulations,” I inquired. “I mean, Esposito brought in a bunch of specialists to look over the crime scene with me. Why aren’t they here?”

Fred pulled me into another room that I had never been in before. “Look Ali, your lieutenant asked me to look into everything. He knew you wanted someone you could trust on the team and I was the lucky winner.”

“So what did you find out?”

“Out of the simulations the team ran, none seemed to match the placement of the victim’s body.”

“None of them?”

“No, not even the initial theory. Neither our victim or our shooter was standing.”

“Was there a simulation run with the shooter firing while falling to the ground?”

“Yes, and it did not match up to any blood spatter patterns or placement of the victim’s body.”

“Any way I can get you to come with me tomorrow and explain this to the D.A.? I think this might help get my partner off the hook.”

“Yes, I can set some time aside tomorrow afternoon.”

“Perfect, then let’s get dinner to celebrate.”

Chapter 25-Ali

The lights were off at James’ house. His car was nowhere to be found, and I refused to wait inside like some sort of ambush. Thankfully, I took some of the files from Claire’s case to keep me occupied. Reclining in the driver’s seat, I started flipping through the information until my eyes got too heavy to keep open.

I woke the next morning to the sound of knocking on my window. I sat up and turned the car on, seeing Amanda standing next to my car.

“Morning, sunshine,” she grunted before letting out a big yawn. “Why’d you sleep in your car last night?”

“I was waiting for James to get home so we could talk.” I looked around, noticing his car was still missing. “I guess he never came home last night.”

Amanda had a look of unsteadiness about her as she shuffled from side to side. “Um, he came home, but I don’t know when.”

Opening the door, I jumped out and searched for any sign of him. “Where’s his car?”

“He already took off.”

“Screw it; I might as well go in and get changed then. I have a meeting in a few hours.” I noticed Amanda wasn’t following me toward the house. “What’s the matter?”

“There’s something I need to tell you.”

It was never a good thing when Amanda felt compelled to confess something to me. “Should I be sitting down for this?”

“Maybe.” She looked down at the ground. “I stayed at my friend’s house like I said I would, but realized I needed my clothes for work. I came back to the house and found him in the bedroom with someone. I thought it was you, so I tried to be quiet and took my clothes out to the living room.”

“So James came home with another woman?’

“Ali, I’m so sorry.”

“For what? It’s not like James and I were dating or anything. I just wish he would’ve thought twice before bringing some random woman home knowing you lived here.”

“It’s not a big deal. I lived in the dorms; I’m used to stuff like that happening. My old roommate used to come back every weekend with some guy she met.”

I wasn’t happy that Amanda’s former roommate had strange men traipsing through their dorm room at all hours of the night while my sister slept in the next bed. Although I was sure Amanda wasn’t alone either.

“Whatever, I don’t have time to deal with this right now.” I barged into the house and grabbed my bags, stuffing them with the clothes and everything else I left behind.

“What are you doing?”

“I told you, I’m moving back to my old house. There’s no need for me to keep all this stuff here.” Slinging the bags over my shoulder, I exited the room. “After tomorrow, you won’t have to worry about walking in on him and another woman again either.”

I could see she wanted to say something else, but opted not to as I stormed out of the house. I packed my bags into the trunk and told her to bring her stuff over when she was ready.

I texted James from the road to tell him I was at the house and that we needed to talk. He agreed to meet me for coffee, but didn’t seem too eager about it. I drove to the coffee shop and waited in my car for him to show.

When he pulled up, he swerved into the parking spot like he did when we first met. He stepped out of his car wearing khaki pants, polished dress shoes, a button down shirt with the first two buttons open, and a pair of sunglasses that reflected the word douchebag in my mind. He didn’t say hello or acknowledge me in any way. He just walked towards the door and grabbed the handle.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” I shouted.

“To get coffee. I believe that was part of the deal. I came here, we got coffee, and you flip out about whatever it is that’s got you pissed off this time.”

After realizing I slept in a car all night for nothing, and what Amanda walked in on, I was already heated to a point where I wanted to slap the shit out of James Thornton. Hearing him talk to me like he was, made my blood reach a boiling point where there was no turning back.

“First off, I came to tell you I came to the house and packed up all my shit and took it with me.”

“No surprise there. You’ve been saying you were going to leave. I figured when you stormed out the other night, you weren’t coming back.”

“I almost did. I actually came back last night. I sat in my car waiting for you to get home so we could talk, but things didn’t quite work out like I planned.”

“What do you mean?” The cockiness in his demeanor shifted and I could see the look of concern hiding behind his expensive sunglasses as he let go of the door handle.

“I came there last night looking to see what there was between us, if anything at all. I happened to wake up to my sister knocking on my car window telling me she walked in on you and some other woman.”

I waited for him to tell me it wasn’t what I thought or try to come up with some excuse for what he did. Instead, he shrugged it off as if it didn’t bother him.

“I didn’t know I needed permission to bring a woman back to my house for the night.”

“I don’t care what you do in your own house, but I’d appreciate you not doing it in front of my sister. At least lock your door.”

“I’ll keep that in mind for the next time. Anything else you want to yell at me for or want to know?”

“Where are we with the flower shop lead, their driver’s accident, or the Sheila Nichols case?” I had been so busy trying to prove Rodney’s innocence that I hadn’t checked up on any of those cases in several days.

“None of those are any of your concern, Ali. Those cases belong to the Dutchess County Police Department.”

“Bullshit! Those were my cases too. We were working them together to track down their killer, the same one that was hunting me.”

“Well, you’re not on them anymore. Other than the roses, we haven’t found anything linking the man who left you the flowers to either crime scene. We haven’t found anything that supports DeFalco had help of any kind other than Dr. Cain’s word, and she hasn’t said anything since then.”

“We both know the same guy that attacked me and left me roses did the same to Sheila. And they torched the flower shop to hide where they got the flowers from.”

“I don’t need this shit,” he spat as he walked back to his car. He opened the door and climbed inside. “Unlike you, I have some real cases to investigate, not some bullshit you made up in your head.”

Seeing the sunroof open on his car, I dug out the key he gave me to his house. “Fuck you,” I screamed as I pelted him in the side of the face with the key.

He sped off, leaving me behind. There were no tears in my eyes this time. There was just fury and determination, exactly what I needed before going to my meeting with the D.A.

The meeting with Richard Garrett went smoothly. Dr. Woo presented his findings to the D.A. who smiled and nodded along. I was convinced Rodney would be cleared of all charges by the end of the day, but fate had other plans.

“Detective Ryan and Dr. Woo, I appreciate you both coming out here today and presenting this evidence. However, I feel that I will need to spend some time looking it over and consulting with my team and other analysts as well before making my decision.”

All the energy, rage, passion, and hope I had, deflated in an instant. Hearing I had to wait was the polite way of saying there’s not enough evidence to support your theory. I didn’t know why he just didn’t come out and say it. He’s never been one to pull punches in the courtroom before.

“Of course,” Dr. Woo said as he said goodbye and exited.

Richard Garrett came around his desk and sat next to me. His cologne was strong and off-putting like someone who took a bath in scented hand sanitizer.

“So Ali, would you care to join me for dinner tonight?”

“I’m guessing you’re not dropping the charges against Rodney. That was the deal right?”

“Ali, his case has nothing to do with us having dinner. I meant what I said a few minutes ago. I do need to look everything over and have it run by other analysts for verification. I couldn’t just make a snap decision for a case this sensitive.”

“I understand.”

“I would still like it very much if you joined me.”

“Sure,” I replied. I figured why the hell not. It wasn’t like I had anything to do. My plans consisted of going home to a boxed up house with nothing to do except stare at the ceiling. “Where do you want to meet?”

“I’ll pick you up at your house.”

“I’m actually in the process of moving.”

“I’m not looking for an invitation to make myself at home. It’ll just be easier for us to decide where to go if I picked you up, as in a proper date.”

I had reservations about making this a date. I was hoping it would be a dinner between two colleagues and hope I could talk him into dropping Rodney’s case.

“Sure, pick me up at eight.” I jotted down the address for the house I rented and walked back to my car feeling a bit guilty for going on a date so soon.