“Why am I even here?”
“Because we have questions for
you regarding the death of your sister,” I said, as calmly as I could. Tyler
Wilson had been in this interview room with me for the last hour while I
bombarded him with questions about his relationship with Carrie. He was beginning
to get irritated and I was starting to feel frazzled.
“And you think I killed her. I
killed my baby sister?”
“She did owe you some money and
we found some rather angry sounding texts from you on her phone.”
“Yes, I was upset. I wouldn’t
kill my only sister for six hundred dollars. Are you crazy?”
“People have killed for a lot
less.”
Tyler folded his arms and glared at me.
“I am done talking. Get me a
lawyer.”
“Of course,” I said, standing up
and pushing my chair under the table. “Do you want some water or coffee?”
Tyler just stared at me and said nothing. I
nodded and left the room.
“Is he talking?” asked my
favorite officer.
“No. He asked for a lawyer,” I
answered, leaning down to get a drink from the water fountain.
“Alright, I’ll make the call,”
the officer said. “Good effort.” He patted me on the shoulder pushing my face
into the stream of water. I sputtered a little bit and stood up, wiping my face
with my long sleeve.
“I was thinking of talking to
Karen Smith again to see if she might have seen or heard anything that maybe
she forgot to tell me about the first time.”
“Good idea,” the officer agreed
with a nod. For once he did not sound patronizing.
“Hello, Detective Reynolds,”
Karen Smith greeted me as she opened the door. She was half smiling and seemed
a lot more agreeable than the last time we spoke.
“Hello, Miss Smith. I am sorry
for dropping by unexpectedly.”
“No I understand. I should not
have been so rude to you last week. I was a little emotional but I do want to
help in whatever way I can.”
“I understand,” I said, walking
into her apartment.
“Can I get you some coffee?”
Karen offered.
“That would be very nice, thank
you.” Karen went into the kitchen and I wandered around the living room.
“This is a beautiful picture.
Where is this?” I asked, pointing to one of Karen on a hike with some friends.
“Oh, that was taken in Spain,”
she answered, craning her neck to see which picture I was looking at. “I spent
a semester there in college. It was a wonderful time.”
“That sounds like a lot of fun.”
“It was,” Karen said, walking
into the living room and taking a seat in her brown armchair. I could hear the
coffee maker gurgling.
“So what did you want to talk
about?”
“I wanted to ask if you
remembered anything about the day of Ms. Wilson’s passing. Did you hear any
fighting or see anyone coming or going from her apartment?”
Karen stared down at the floor and bit her lip
thinking about my question.
“Not that I recall. But her
apartment is down the hall from me so it is possible something went on without
me hearing it.”
“Of course,” I agreed, writing
down some notes. Karen got up to pour the coffee.
“Was it not a suicide though?
That was my first thought when I found her body.”
“We have reason to suspect a
homicide. We are questioning Ms. Wilson’s brother. It seems they may have had
an ongoing argument so there could have been some resentment between them.”
Karen nodded thoughtfully as she poured
steaming coffee into two pale blue mugs.
“Come to think of it, she did
mention something the other day about them having a disagreement. I certainly
didn’t realize it was so serious.”
“Well we are not saying he is
guilty yet. Just looking into possibilities.”
“Of course,” Karen said, handing
me a mug and sitting back down. I took a sip and immediately felt my tongue
burn. I quickly swallowed the hot drink and gave Karen a smile.
“So good,” I said. “Could I use
your bathroom real quick?” I asked, setting my mug down on a coaster on the
coffee table.
“Of course. It’s right back
there,” Karen said, pointing down a short hallway. I got up off the couch and
walked to the bathroom. Shutting the door behind me, I took off my jacket and
hung it on a hook on the door. I turned on the faucet and stuck my sore tongue
under the stream of cold water. Much better.
Once my tongue had cooled off, I turned off the water and dried my face
on one of Karen’s fluffy brown hand towels. I looked in the mirror and smoothed
down my hair. This interview was definitely going better than the first.
I reached for my coat and just as I had grasped it, it caught on the
hook and fell out of my hand and the hook followed it making a loud clang on
the tile floor. I stood there in shock staring down at the mess I had just
made. Just when I thought the day was going well, this had to happen.
“Is everything ok in there?”
Karen asked, knocking gently on the door. “I heard a crash.”
I blushed deeply and opened the door.
“Yeah, I hung my jacket on the
door hook and when I reached for it, the hook fell off. I’m so sorry.”
Karen dismissed my flub with a wave of her hand.
“No big deal. I just need to
screw it in tighter.”
She leaned over and grabbed my jacket off the floor and handed it to me.
“Come finish your coffee. I’ll
fix this later.”
“Thanks, but I really should go
talk to some of the other neighbors.”
“Of course,” Karen said,
understandingly. “Let me know if there is any other way I can help.”
“I will. Goodbye,” I said,
slipping my jacket on and rushing out the door. I rolled my tongue around in my
mouth. It felt better but I could still feel where it had burned.
When I got back to the station I grabbed a bottled water from the break
room fridge and swished some around in my mouth. I couldn’t decide which was
worse, my burned tongue or breaking Karen’s bathroom door.
“Oh there you are,” my officer
friend said, sticking his head in the doorway. “Karen Smith called the
station.”
“No doubt to complain about me,” I thought, taking another long
drink of water.
“She said you left your cell
phone at her apartment.”
I felt my jacket pockets and
sighed. It must have fallen out of my jacket when it dropped to the floor.
“Tell her I will pick it up
tomorrow. I think she has had enough of me for one day.”
“Ok then,” the officer said,
tilting his head and looking somewhat confused.
“Are you ready to talk to Mr.
Wilson again? His requested lawyer just showed up.”
I sighed again.
“Sure I’m ready,” I said,
wanting nothing more than to go home and put this day out of its misery.
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