The lone room assigned to questioning suspects at the Sunset Ridge police station looked more like a break room than a place to grill someone for the truth. In one corner of two beige walls sat a table with a huge stainless steel coffee urn surrounded by sugar packets and wood stirrers someone had thrown there, probably while cleaning up after the last holiday party. In another corner stood a metal rack holding the oldest microwave I’d ever seen. Enormous, it looked like the kind my grandmother had when I was little that used to terrify me with its loud humming noise when she made popcorn for me.
Alex escorted Cherise still in handcuffs to a metal folding chair on one side of the table that sat in the middle of the room. Quietly sobbing, she begged for him to release her from the cuffs, but he said nothing, instead taking his place in another folding chair across the table from her.
Leaning down, I whispered in his ear, “Can’t we get her out of those things? I don’t think we’re in any danger.”
For a moment, he looked straight ahead and I had a feeling I had stepped over some line that hadn’t existed until this case, but then he merely nodded and handed me the keys. I unlocked the handcuffs and eased them off her wrists, earning a smile and her effusive thanks.
I returned to my position beside him in my own folding chair that pressed hard and cold against the backs of my thighs. Unlike usual, Alex had a large yellow legal pad in front of him instead of his own notepad. As he wrote down some initial notes, I studied Cherise to figure out if I was wrong about her being innocent.
The long red hair we’d seen the first time the three of us met now looked disheveled and her perfectly made up porcelain skin was blotchy and red from her crying all the way there in the backseat of the squad car. Even a mess like she was, Cherise still possessed a beauty I could appreciate. Her hands folded in front of her on the table, she quietly whimpered and shuddered every few seconds as she waited for Alex to begin the interrogation.
I just didn’t see her shooting Lee Reynolds and then drawing a bullseye on his back in chalk before returning to her home in Pennsylvania and putting the gun back in its usual spot in her bedroom nightstand. If that were the case, she was the lamest murderer ever. She hadn’t even tried to hide the weapon she was supposed to have used to kill someone, which made no sense to me. She hadn’t shown a hint of nervousness when we visited her that first time either, which made her one cool customer, but I wasn’t buying it. No matter what Jack had insinuated, I didn’t see her as his brother’s killer.
Alex cleared his throat and put the pen down next to the legal pad. “Cherise, we sent the gun to the lab, so you need to understand that if you continue to claim you didn’t shoot it, that won’t do you any good. We’re going to find out your gun has been fired recently, so it’s about time to come clean.”
She took a deep breath in, and as she let the air out of her lungs, it looked like all the fight drained out of her body. “I can’t tell you this any other way. I didn’t kill Lee. I didn’t shoot that gun either.”
“And when the report from the lab says you did?”
“It will be wrong. I didn’t shoot that gun. It’s been in my nightstand where I put it since the last time I used it.”
Alex stared across the table at her. “And when was that?”
“Months ago. During the summer. I took it to a shooting range and tried to get better at shooting so I wouldn’t end up putting a bullet into my leg if I ever had to use it.”
Clearly not getting anywhere on the gun issue, Alex switched topics and began asking her about her marriage to Lee. I wasn’t sure he’d get anything new on that either, but at least we wouldn’t hear the same answer over and over.
“Okay, Cherise. Tell me about your relationship with Lee Reynolds.”
A look of complete relief washed over her, and she even smiled. “Lee was the one man I loved. I know that sounds clichéd and silly considering how old I am, but he was that man for me. I loved him from the minute I laid eyes on him that day in Psychology class in my junior year in college. He was a senior and so sweet.”
She got a faraway look in her eyes and her smile grew bigger. “Long before he became the guy on the radio with all those bombastic ideas about everything under the sun, Lee was a wonderful college guy with a penchant for drinking cheap beer and laying out on a blanket at night to watch the stars with me.”
“How long before you married?” Alex asked matter-of-factly as he jotted down details from her answers.
“We married three years after I graduated. Lee was twenty-six and I was a year younger. Those were wonderful days. I worked in a dentist’s office in Frederick, and he wrote radio jingles for an ad agency. When we weren’t working, we spent every minute together.”
Too curious to hold back, I jumped in and asked, “Then what happened to you two to make the marriage break up? He sounds like the perfect husband.”
All the happiness left her. Hanging her head, she said quietly, “We wanted to have children. Nothing would have made me happier than to give him a baby. It just wasn’t in the cards, though. We tried everything, but nothing worked. By the time I turned thirty, it was clear we wouldn’t be blessed with any children. Looking back, I guess it was just a matter of time from that point on. We hobbled on for a few more years, but I knew we wouldn’t last. I couldn’t give him what he wanted, so he found someone who could.”
“But Lee and Jessica didn’t have children, even though they were married for a few years.”
Cherise nodded her head slowly. “Ironic, huh? Turns out that Jessica wasn’t really interested in having kids like Lee thought she was, so it didn’t happen for him with her either. At first I couldn’t help but feel a sense of glee when I realized that, but then after a while I felt bad for him. All he wanted was a child to lavish love and attention on like he’d had when he was a child, but fate had different plans.”
Alex lifted his head and squinted his eyes. “Lee has only the one brother, right?”
“Yeah. Jack. He’s night to Lee’s day. I used to think that if only their parents had stopped after Lee…”
Suddenly, Alex appeared as interested in what she was saying as I was. “What do you mean?”
Looking up toward the ceiling, she answered, “Because the age difference between them was so big, it was like they were both only children. With Lee, his parents were strict and taught him right from wrong, but with Jack, that didn’t happen. I don’t know why. Maybe they were too old when he came along. I don’t know. All I know is that Jack was a spoiled brat from the minute I met him. He wanted what he wanted, and if he didn’t get it, he’d make your life a living hell. I think Lee was happy when he announced he wanted to travel the world. I mean, he loved Jack, but a little of him goes a long way.”
Out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw Alex’s head slightly bob up and down in agreement with Cherise. He made no comment about all she’d said about Jack and moved on to a slightly different line of questioning.
“So when the man you love left you, that didn’t make you angry?”
Cherise closed her eyes for a few seconds and answered, “It made me furious.” Opening her eyes, she continued, “But I never hated him for it. I understood, even though it tore my heart out.”
“You understood that the man of your dreams who you married and planned to spend the rest of your life with left you for a younger, more beautiful woman he could have children with?” Alex asked sharply.
Tears welled in her eyes as his words did just as he intended. “You don’t have to remind me how much she had to offer compared to me, Officer Montero. I know.”
Pressing for an answer, he asked again, “But you understood all that and still didn’t hate him?”
“Haven’t you ever loved someone so much that it wouldn’t matter what they did? They could break your heart and you’d still love them? That’s how I felt about Lee.”
I watched Alex wince as she explained her feelings for our victim and wondered if he understood how much she loved Lee Reynolds. I did. With every word she spoke about their life together and losing him to another woman, I understood Cherise had never stopped loving her ex-husband.
“So you forgave him for abandoning you for Jessica, a woman who could give him children?” he asked, trying to force her to admit something I didn’t think she ever would.
“Yes,” she said quietly. “I forgave him.”
“Then why did you murder him with your gun?” he bellowed so loud the words echoed off the walls of the interrogation room.
“I didn’t!” she cried. “I wasn’t even in town when he was murdered. Check it out. I was in Fort Myers, Florida from Monday to Thursday night. I flew out of BWI on Monday morning right after eight and flew back here from Florida on Thursday night. I didn’t get home until after ten PM.”
I looked at her in shock. “Why didn’t you tell us this before?” I asked.
She hung her head and mumbled, “Because I was embarrassed. I met someone online and went to meet him. It didn’t work out.”
Alex dropped his pen onto the legal pad and asked in a voice full of frustration, “You were willing to be arrested for the murder of your ex-husband rather than admit you had a bad date with some guy in Florida?”
I knew her answer before she said a word. No woman wanted to admit that not only had she been left for someone else but now she couldn’t even meet someone online, probably some guy who wasn’t good looking and likely had the social skills of a hermit.
“I just wanted to meet someone nice, but he turned out to be a creep. I found out he lives with his mother. He’s in his forties and he still lives with his mother!”
Pinching his nose to relieve the stress of finding out our case had just fallen apart, Alex groaned. Sounding defeated, he asked, “If the date went so badly, why didn’t you return home immediately instead of staying in Florida for three more days?”
“I went to my sister’s. When I decided to meet Richard, I knew he lived in the same town as she did, so I arranged it so we could have a little holiday together. After the date, I went to stay with her for a few days to cheer myself up. Check it out. Both of them can tell you I was nowhere near Sunset Ridge the day Lee was killed.”
Alex scooped up the legal pad and pen and stood up from his seat. “Wait here. We’ll be back after we check out your story. Give Poppy the numbers for Richard and your sister and what flights you took.”
He tore off a sheet of paper and let it float down to the table before walking out without saying another word. I handed her a pen and the paper and smiled, happy she’d made it through the questioning without too much damage.
“We just need the numbers to check your story. Don’t mind him. He’s got a lot going on with this case.”
Cherise wrote out the phone numbers of her failed date and her sister and slid the paper and pen back toward me. “I understand. I wish I could help more. You can even ask his brother. I told him I’d be at my sister’s when he called last week.”
I looked up from reading what she’d written. “Jack? He knew you weren’t in town when the murder happened?”
“He had to. I spoke to him the week before and told him I’d be out of town until Thursday night. I had hoped to be gone for a reason different than the one it turned out to be, but he knew I was going away.”
I grabbed the paper and pen and left as one question plagued my mind. If Jack knew, why would he insinuate that Cherise was the killer?
Alex sat at his desk in his office leaning back against his chair and staring up at the ceiling. As I walked in, Craig followed me and announced that the voicemail transcripts from Lee Reynolds’ cell phone had finally come from the phone company.
Alex handed him the sheet of information from Cherise. “Thanks, Craig. Call these numbers to find out when Cherise Reynolds was in Florida. Then call the airline and find out if they can verify she was on those flights.”
“Will do. I’ll get them back to you ASAP.”
Giving me the transcripts of Lee Reynolds’ voicemail messages, he said in a low voice, “Tell me the bad news.”
I read a few lines on the top sheet and quietly said, “It’s the transcription of Cherise’s voicemail to him left on the day before the murder.”
The look of misery in his eyes made me wish I didn’t have to be the one to give him the bad news. With a sigh, he said, “Read it.”
“Lee, it’s Cherise. Sorry I missed your call. I’ll be home tomorrow night by ten or eleven, so feel free to stop over.”
Alex sat silently as I stood there knowing the voicemail along with her sister’s testimony would be enough to prove she wasn’t in town to kill anyone on Thursday afternoon.
“Maybe she left this message intentionally so she could have an alibi,” I offered to give him some hope that our best suspect wouldn’t turn out to be innocent.
“Yeah, I’m thinking the same thing. Craig’s checking out her alibi right now. If he finds out she wasn’t in town, that seals the deal with Cherise and back to the drawing board we go.”
I took a seat in the chair in front of his desk and wished I had better news for him, but from everything we’d found out so far, Lee’s first wife wasn’t his killer. But why had Alex thought her gun had been fired recently?
“Is it possible you were incorrect about Cherise’s gun?”
Shaking his head, he frowned. “No. That gun was fired recently. I don’t know if it’s the gun that killed our victim, but someone shot that gun in the past few days.”
“She does have a lot of workers in and out of that house. Maybe one of them used it.”
My suggestion only made Alex more miserable. “That means ten more suspects we need to look into. Two steps back again.”
We sat at his desk for a while silently commiserating over our case as it ground to a halt. Nothing either of us had to say was going to change that. Then a half hour later, Craig walked in with more bad news in his hands.
He gave Alex the two folders and shook his head. “You’re going to love this.”
Before he could explain, Craig got out of the office and left us to unravel what that comment meant. Alex opened the first folder and read aloud, “Cherise’s .38 was the gun that killed Lee Reynolds. No prints other than hers were found on the gun.”
“Then all that in there was a lie? What about her alibi of being a thousand miles away when he died?” I asked, not believing this was happening. It made no sense.
Alex opened the second folder and again read what it said. “The airline has Cherise Reynolds in seat 22C on the flight down to Ft. Myers and seat 24B on the flight back to Baltimore-Washington International. She wasn’t anywhere near Sunset Ridge when Lee Reynolds died.”
“How?” I asked, baffled at how her prints could be on the weapon that killed Lee Reynolds but she couldn’t have been the killer. Then my mind began spinning with the idea of having to investigate all those men who worked for her six days a week.
He tossed the two folders onto his desk in disgust. “I have no idea. This damn case is like a nightmare that won’t end. Now we’re going to have to look into all those workmen.”
“But did any of them even know Lee Reynolds? What kind of coincidence would that be?”
“I have no idea. I really don’t.”
I felt bad for him as we sat there grasping at straws. Nothing in this case made any sense.
“What about Jason Drake? He seemed to have a grudge against Lee. Maybe he knew Cherise and got a hold of her gun,” I said, even as my brain said the idea was ridiculous.
Like a man beaten down by circumstances, Alex slowly rose from his chair. “I guess it can’t hurt to ask her. Who knows with this case?”
I walked back to the interrogation room where we found Cherise looking much better than before. Alex placed the two folders down on the table in front of him and with a deep breath began the second part of his questioning of her.
“We got the results back from the lab. Your gun is the one that killed Lee.”
Tears filled her eyes as she shook her head back and forth in disbelief. “No! That’s not possible. Didn’t you call my sister and Richard to find out where I was? Didn’t you call the airline? They can tell you I was on those flights.”
Opening the folder with that exact information, he pointed to it and nodded. “And that’s exactly what we found out. You were in Florida when this murder occurred. Both your alibis and the airline back you up on that.”
“But my gun was used to kill Lee? I didn’t have a break in while I was gone, so there must be some mistake.”
Alex shook his head. “Ballistics doesn’t make mistakes like that. The bullet from your .38 killed Lee Reynolds. Now our job is to find out who shot that gun. Did any of the men working in your house have a grudge against Lee?”
Cherise’s face twisted with confusion. “Those workmen don’t even know Lee. At least I can’t imagine they would.”
Leaning forward, I asked, “Is it possible any of them listened to his radio show and targeted him because of what he said on it every day?”
Cherise opened her mouth but nothing came out. I couldn’t blame her. She’d hired construction workers to remodel her house, but there had never been any reason to ask them if they had any problem with her ex-husband, who she’d been divorced from for years.
Finally, she answered, “I have no idea. That wasn’t anything I thought of when I hired the company.”
“What’s the name of the company doing the work?” Alex asked as he feverishly drew arrows between words on the legal pad.
“Shaif Construction. They’re in Waynesboro.”
I jumped in and asked, “Do you know a man named Jason Drake?”
Cherise shook her head. “No. Why?”
Alex crossed out Drake’s name in his notes and stood from the table with the tablet and pen. As he walked away, he mumbled, “You’re free to go. We’ll keep the gun, but you can go home.”
I watched Cherise’s face as she wondered how she’d get home since we brought her there in the squad car. As she stood to leave, I said, “I can get my car and give you a ride home, if you need it.”
“No, that’s okay. I can get home. I’ll call Jack. He’s been very good these past few days. I think he may have actually grown up in his travels. Too bad Lee never got to see it.”
As she walked out toward the door, I thought about what she said about Jack. I’d only known him for a few days, so I’d never seen that spoiled brat she mentioned earlier. All I’d seen was the world traveler who seemed to enjoy life to the fullest, but never had I thought he was immature.
Happy to know she had a ride home, I found Alex in his office just as he was hanging up the phone. Taking my usual seat in front of his desk, I asked, “Find out anything?”
“The owner of Shaif Construction is faxing me over the names of all the workers on the crew from Cherise’s house. I’m not hopeful, though.”
I wished I could offer some magic theory that would make sense among all the odd pieces of the puzzle that this case had become. “Maybe the voicemail transcripts will give us something to go on.”
Just then my phone rang and I pulled it out of my bag to see it was my father. Showing it to Alex, I said, “I’ll just be a minute.”
He waved me off, though. “Go see your father. I’ll let you know if I find anything in the transcripts.”
“Okay. If you need me, I’ll either be at my house or McGuire’s. See you later!”
As I left to find out what my father wanted, I hoped that I’d hear from Alex that he found the missing clue in those voicemail transcripts soon. Something had to fit so this case made sense.