Love Today (48 page)

He argued with her for a minute, stating his fears about me talking
to
a guy that may have already hurt one of his daughters. I felt bad for him, especially because I knew how much my parents loved Rachel but could never have a
decent
relationship with her. I knew how bad my father wanted to fix something, anything, and if he couldn’t, he wanted to
at least
keep the rest of his family safe.

Detective Bronson was sympathetic to his concerns, ultimately stating that it was my decision. I felt like it needed to be done
alone
, even though
I kept my own fears to myself.
He nodded his understanding and watched me go
in by myself
. I knew he wanted to be in there with me, but I could see how his presence might alter the outcome.

Nathan
eyed me when I entered the room. He adjusted in his seat slightly, like he was surprised. He looked to the door, and then
at
the officer who was
in the room—apparently to
keep me safe if he needed to.

“Who are you?”
Nathan
finally asked.

I carefully sat in the chair across from him at the table. “My name is Taryn Hartford. I’m Rachel’s sister.”

I could tell that registered, or something did, and he barely nodded his head. He didn’t say anything further though and just sat there.

“Did you know Rachel?” I asked him.

He didn’t respond.

“Uh, you’re Jacqueline’s brother, right? Jacqueline Harris? I think I’ve seen you at a couple of those stupid business banquets.”

I could tell that interested him somehow but he still didn’t say anything.

“I’m a photographer,” I told him. “My sister hired me for a few of those things. They are
very
boring events to photograph.”

“Then why do it?” he finally spoke.

With a shrug I sighed and said, “I don’t know. She could get her way, I guess. I’ve never re
ally been close to Rachel, so
in a way I guess doing her favors was like spending time with her or something. I don’t know.”

He seemed to think for a second and then he said, “Is that your way of trying to get on my level?”

I stared
at him for a moment. “What do you mean?”

With a smirk he replied, “Why are you here? I mean if you weren’t close to your sister, why come here to interrogate me. She’s dead. What are you getting out of this? They coerce you to come talk to me?” He looked past me at the glass and said, “I’m talking, see? Is that what you want?”

“Hey,” I growled, feeling really annoyed. He looked at me again and I
added
, “I said I wasn’t close to my sister. That doesn’t for one second mean I didn’t care about her. I want to know what happened to her. If something happened to
your
sister,
you
would feel the same way.”

He stared at me for a long time, almost to the point that I was about to look away. But he did first when he looked at the table. I waited for him to speak but he didn’t. He only looked at me again like
I was wasting his time
.

“Did you ever meet Rachel?” I asked.

I didn’t think he was going to answer but he did. “Yeah, I met Rachel. She was John Mill
er’s pride and joy. Kevin was pretty
fond of her
,
too.
She was good at her job, I hear.
”

I wasn’t sure I could read him
when he said that,
but
before I could change my mind, I took a very bold approach.
“And I’m sure Jacqueline wasn’t too fond of the fact that they were sneaking around behind her back.
Rachel and Kevin.
”

There was no hiding his surprise that time, but it took a while before he retorted, “Well how would that make
you
feel?
”

My heart literally fell to my stomach and I felt sick. Suddenly I remembered what Detective Bronson had said to me a couple of months ago. She had informed me that Rachel had had an abortion. I wondered then who the father could have been, but now I was wondering if it belonged to Kevin Harris
or John Miller
. 

“My sister got around,” I said as casually as I could. “I know she weaved a very tangled web, but it doesn’t
mean I agree with her lifestyle
. I would just like put
all of this
behind me so I can move on with my own life.
” That didn’t get a response from h
im so I added, “You know she has
a daughter, right?”

He looked at me for a few seconds and then slowly nodded. “Yeah. What happened t
o her? She
go
live with her dad?
Probably better off that way.”

“No, her dad died when she was a baby. Maggie lives with me now. I’m her legal guardian because her mom was murdered.”

He gave me an indifferent scoff. “Well like I said… She’s better off then.”

“I agree,” I had to say. “And I’m getting married soon, so Maggie will have two
people
that love her and will give her a better life.” I waited for a response but there wasn’t one. “Are you familiar with John Miller’s son?” I asked, hoping that I wasn’t headed in the wrong direction.

He looked at me and raise
d his eyebrows. “Jared? Yeah, I’ve met
Jared. What about him?”

“He’s my fiancé.”

He barely nodded. “Yeah, I think I heard that you guys were seeing each other.
Or friends or something.
I don’t remember what I hear.” He faked a smile and said, “Well congratulations! Whoop-de-do. What does that have to do with me?”

I shrugged. “I don’t kno
w. We were talking about Maggie
so I just thought if you cared… Anyways, I won’t waste anymore of your
precious
time,” I said as I stood. “Thanks for answering my questions
,
though.”

He looked confused as he said, “I didn’t answer anything.”

I smiled and said, “Yes you did.”

I got out of there as quick as I could and took a deep breath. Detective Bronson told me I did a great job, but all I could say was, “I need to show Maggie a photo of Jacqueline Harris. How much do you want to bet that she’s the lady that confronted Rachel outside of McDonald’s that day? I bet she was warning Rachel to stay away from her husba
nd or…or whatever! I don’t know
but…”

“We’ll bring
Mrs. Harris
in for questioning,” Detective Bronson said. She motioned to Detective Ryan and he left the room. “Taryn, you did a great job. See, we just wanted him to talk—about anything.”

“I thought you said that you were sure she was in a relationship with someon
e at Miller and Harris. Y
ou didn’t consider Kevin Harris?”

I knew I came off accusatory and I felt bad about that, but thankfully Michelle was polite when she said, “We can only uncover so much at one time, Taryn. Sometimes the answers are right in front of you, but there’s just nothing that proves it. I’ve had my suspicions about everyone there, including Mr. Harris. But information is a tricky bitch, and it’s not always available when I want it.”

“I know, I’m sorry.”

“I understand
. But let’s get on this new bit of information while we can. Are you staying in town tonight?”

“Yes, and for however long you need us.”

“Okay. Well
,
why don’t you take some time and I’ll let you know if I need anything. I’ll get a picture of Jacqueline Harris and you can send it to whoever is with Maggie. Let me know as soon as you know something.”

I nodded, and even though I was feeling unsure about almost everything, I was positive that Jacqueline Harris had confronted my sister at some point. I didn’t know what it meant—and of course the possibility that it could have be
en any number of angry, cheated-
on wives was likely—but I at least felt that it was the most probable scenario. It was disheartening, but I no longer
felt guilty about my sister’s death. I felt horrible that it happened, but I was slowly beginning to accept that it was her own poor choices that ruined her life, and there was nothing I could do about that.
But the fact was…she was murdered, and somebody needed to pay for that heinous crime.

I had a long talk with my dad that
afternoon
. We spent several hours discussing Rachel
and the case. The picture had been sent for Maggie to see and my mom casually asked her if she’d ever seen the woman before. Maggie answered yes, she thought so, but there was no mention of McDonald’s or where she may have seen her. I asked my mom not to persuade her memory in any way and she knew that, but I just didn’t want Maggie to remember something that wasn’t really true. Also it occurred to us that Maggie could very well be blocking out certain things in her life, and in a way, I hoped that was
the case
.

I talked to Jared for almost two hours that night. My dad and I had eaten dinner and we were in our hotel room anxiously waiting for any news from the police. I didn’t think they would contact us that night with anything substantial, so I didn’t hold my breath. But I knew it was
still
a possibility and I was anxious
anyway
.

I kind of felt bad that my dad was subjected to me talking on the phone for so long, but I was in one corner of the room and he was on one of the beds watching a basketball game. I didn’t thi
nk he was too bothered with it because he was great at tuning things out when a sporting event was on. I didn’t mind him hearing my conversation anyways, at least not until Zack called just before ten. My dad gave me a curious look as to why I didn’t answer my ringing phone, and when I said, “
It’s
Zack,” he only nodded his head.

I let it go to voicemail and I felt terrible about that. But I guess I kind of had that “I’m already miserable” mentality because of Rachel’s case, and I decided to just get it over with. I told my dad I was going to walk down to the lobby to call Zack, and that I would be back in
twenty
minutes. Again he only nodded, but I could feel him watching me when I left the room.

I took a deep breath as
I
ma
de my way to the elevator and
dialed his number. There were already people getting on the elevator when Zack picked up, so I decided to wait. I was glad because the first thing he said was, “Taryn, I can’t believe you’re marrying him. Tell me that’s just a rumor.”

Chapter Thirty-Six

I didn’t know what to say at first. I knew he was crushed just from the sound of his voice. I felt bad about that because I cared about hi
m, but there wasn’t anything I w
ould do to change things.

“It’s not
a rumor,” I finally said. “W
e got engaged a few days ago.”

I could hear him sigh, and by then I’d made it to the laundry room on our level. It was empty and there was a chair to sit on, so I took a seat and waited for him to speak.

“So you’ve made a decision
then?” he asked. “This is it? There’s nothing I can say or do to change your mind?”

I shook my head to myself. “No, I’m sorry Zack.”

Again he paused, but I was surprised when he said, “All right, Taryn, I’ll leave it alone. I still love you, and I want you to remember that, but I’ll back off. I wish you the best. Tell Jared he’s one lucky bastard.”

“Wait, Zack, don’t hang up.”

“What, I didn’t concede well enough? Am I supposed to add that I’ll be here for you if it doesn’t work out, or if you ever need anything you can count on me? Okay, fine. It’s true, Taryn. I’ll be the sucker that still waits around for you. I don’t know for how long, but the other part is true. If you ever need anything, don’t hesitate, okay? I still want to be in your life. I still care about Maggie and want to be there for her too. Please don’t cut off all ties with me, okay?”

It hurt to hear him take the loss, but I respected him for his honesty. I knew he would be okay, bu
t it was hard for me. “I won’t
cut ties
,” I finally said. “
I promise. Maggie needs you in her life and I would never take that away from her. You can see
her whenever you want.
That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about…”

I felt my emotions were about to get the better of me. It had been another rough day of dealing with some tough things, and it was getting late. Combined, those circumstances made me feel weak.

“What’s going on, Taryn?”

“Uh…it’s Rachel’s case.
Um, I’m in Everett right now…”