Two officers showed up at the jail to transport Aidan to the sit-down at the prosecutor’s office. One of them was a young woman he remembered seeing with Caroline in the police station on the night he was arrested. The other was Mike Castro. Figures. Mike had been waiting for this for years. Two things he’d always wanted in one package. To see Aidan take a fall. And to steal Tommy’s job. He must be licking his chops.
Aidan rode in the back of the patrol car, handcuffed, behind the mesh screen, looking out the side window. He’d been inside for a week, more or less, and had already forgotten the outside. The sight of it hurt his heart, because it was everything he was set to lose. The clear blue sky, the chill in the air. The leaves on the trees bright with autumn colors. Kids getting on a school bus, laughing. He didn’t want to spend the rest of his life in jail. But if it was necessary to save his brother, Aidan would learn to live with it.
They entered the office building through a loading dock in the back. Aidan was then whisked upstairs in the freight elevator to spare the general public exposure to him. The world had always treated him like he was different. Now it saw him as dangerous, which made him feel alone. But then he saw Lisa Walters waiting for him in a small conference room and his spirits lifted for a moment. Until he remembered that he was about to disappoint her.
“Thanks, guys. You can uncuff him. And we’ll need privacy,” Lisa said, as Mike and the female officer escorted Aidan into the room.
“You sure about taking off the cuffs?” Mike asked.
“A hundred percent. You can stand outside that door if you like.”
“Oh, believe me, I will.”
“No eavesdropping though.”
She winked. Aidan wanted to high-five her for taking his side, but antagonizing Mike right now, as good as it would feel, would be a mistake.
Aidan waited for the door to close. He kept his voice low, so the cops standing outside wouldn’t overhear.
“Why didn’t you tell me Tommy was under investigation?” Aidan asked.
“Because there’s nothing you can do about it. You need to focus on your own problems.”
“He is my problem. He’s my brother, and he’s in trouble because of me. Besides, there is something I can do about it.”
“What’s that?”
“I can plead guilty. Tell the prosecutor everything was my fault. Which it was. They got him on a charge of—what do you call it—obstruction? For not reporting me? But see, that was right in the middle of the hurricane. There was a state of emergency. Tom had to respond to calls. He couldn’t take me to the station right then. He told me to turn myself in, and I promised I would. But I didn’t. I went back to Caroline’s house instead.”
“That won’t work.”
“Why not? I’ll take the fall if they dismiss the charges against Tommy. That’s my deal.”
“That might help your brother, but it won’t work for you. You’ll end up spending the rest of your life in jail. You saw the prosecutor in court. He’s a real up-and-comer. Football hero back in the day, now a lawman. There’s already a Vernon Mays for Congress committee. If you plead guilty, even if you agree to testify against Caroline, Mays will still ask for a significant jail sentence for you. He can’t risk looking soft on a murderer. That’s why you need to convince him you’re innocent.”
“Where does that leave my brother?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe if Mays believes you’re innocent, he’ll believe what you said about Tommy, too.” She raised an eyebrow. “Even if it’s not true.”
“Say I do what you’re telling me and claim I’m innocent. Is Mays gonna believe that?”
“In all honesty, I don’t know.”
“Did you show him the report that proves there was Ambien in my blood?”
“I did. He asked me, where’s the proof you didn’t take the Ambien yourself? And he’s right. We can’t prove that. It’s only your word that she spiked your drink. As for her staging the crime scene, Caroline’s phony hand injury and all, Mays thinks that if it was staged, you were involved. Mays is planning to ask you about it.”
“What about Brittany’s testimony? Doesn’t she prove that Caroline set me up?”
“I told Mays about her, but he didn’t bite. He thinks it’s irrelevant when you met Caroline, whether she came after you instead of you going after her. In his mind, the only thing that matters is both of your prints on the murder weapon. That makes you coconspirators, and that’s what he wants you to admit.”
“You’re saying he’s already made up his mind that I’m guilty,” Aidan said. “So, your plan won’t work anyway.”
“Maybe it won’t. But the point of this meeting is to try to change his mind. Tell your story, Aidan. I believed you, and I’m as cynical as they come. Hopefully, Mays will believe you, too.”
Aidan sat at the conference table with Lisa beside him, and the cops and the prosecutor across from him. Vernon Mays was dead center, stone-faced as he prepared to question Aidan about the murder. Lieutenant Messina was on Mays’s right. She seemed kind and open-minded, but so young that she reminded him of the girl who babysat his niece and nephew. He doubted she would have much sway in deciding his fate. Mike Castro sat to Mays’s left. Mike’s expression didn’t give anything away, but Aidan knew that Mike wanted Aidan to fry. He always had.
Mays handed Aidan an agreement guaranteeing that what he said today wouldn’t be used against him in court, except to cross-examine him if he testified. Lisa explained it like this: If Aidan said he was guilty today, he couldn’t change his story at trial. Whatever he said today would lock him in, one way or the other. It felt so final.
Aidan knew what he had to do. His hands shook as he signed the paper.
“Mr. Callahan,” Vernon Mays said. “We’re here today because the prosecution is interested in securing your cooperation against Caroline Stark. In order to do that, I need to hear your version of events. What you would testify to if called as a witness. This is a form of truth-testing. You need to answer my questions honestly. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Very good. Now, let’s start with your relationship with Caroline Stark. From what I understand, that relationship was romantic in nature, is that correct?”
Aidan felt sweaty and tongue-tied, like he used to feel in high school when he got called on. Like everybody was going to laugh. But he had to go through with this.
“Yes, sir,” he said, in a low voice.
“Speak up, please.”
“I said yes.”
“At some point, did Mrs. Stark tell you that she wanted to kill her husband, and that she needed your help?”
“She did.”
“Did you agree to help her?”
All eyes were on him. His heart beat loudly.
“No, I did not agree. I refused.”
Mays frowned. “Mr. Callahan,” Mays said, “as the prosecutor, I have a duty to uphold the law and abide by ethical standards. When I put forth a witness at trial, I need to know that he is being truthful. Your lawyer has come to us with a story of you being drugged by Mrs. Stark prior to the murder. She claims that you’re innocent, that Mrs. Stark murdered her husband and framed you. I find this story far-fetched to say the least. Our view of the case is that the two of you were lovers, and you conspired to murder Jason Stark, in order to take whatever money was left in the couple’s bank accounts and collect on a five-million-dollar insurance policy taken out by Mrs. Stark on her husband’s life. I need to hear the truth from you today if we’re going to reach a satisfactory plea agreement.”
The truth. Right. No matter what Aidan said, Vernon Mays would never believe he was innocent. Lisa was wrong. There was no point in going through this charade. Aidan should use whatever limited leverage he had to save his brother.
“You say, a satisfactory plea agreement. But what might satisfy you is different from what would satisfy me,” Aidan said.
“If you want to know the sentence in advance, I can’t make any promises,” Mays said. “What I can do is tell you that, in similar cases, where truthful and effective testimony was rendered, defendants got somewhere between eight and ten years. That’s a ballpark. It may sound like a lot. But compare it to the twenty-five-to-life you’re facing now, and it’s pretty sweet.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Mays spread out his hands. “Okay. I’m listening.”
“I heard my brother Thomas Callahan, who’s the chief of police in—”
“Oh, come on,” Lisa said. “Aidan. Don’t do this. You’re innocent. Tell him that.”
Aidan didn’t like to ignore Lisa’s advice, but he had to. He would put Tommy first for once, the way Tommy had done for him his entire life.
“I heard that my brother is under investigation and suspended from his job because of something I did the night of the murder,” he said.
“That’s right. Because you broke into the Starks’ house. We have a witness who says she saw him let you go.”
“It wasn’t like that. I can explain what happened, and you’ll see my brother did nothing wrong.”
“Fine, but what does that have to do with your testimony against Mrs. Stark?”
“I want to make a deal. I’ll testify and say whatever you want. But my brother stays out of this. You drop his charges.”
Mays leaned forward. “Let me make one thing clear. Don’t ever tell me something because you think it’s what I want to hear. You need to tell the truth.”
“You said a minute ago that if I claim innocence, you’ll think I’m lying.”
“That’s right. Because a claim of innocence is not consistent with the evidence as we see it.”
“That’s what I thought. If I claim I’m innocent, you won’t make a deal with me.”
“Correct, because I won’t find you credible, and I can’t call a witness if I believe he’s lying.”
“All right, then. What would you think if I said I did it? If I said I helped Caroline kill Jason Stark and dispose of his body? Would you believe me then?”
“That is consistent with the evidence we have. So, yes. I would believe you.”
“What if I said I did it, and that I was willing to plead guilty, but only on the condition that you stop this investigation of my brother and drop his charges. What would you do then?”
“I would ask you to tell me truthfully exactly what Chief Callahan did that night.”
“I can tell you right now. Tommy caught me inside Caroline’s house. He was on his way to an emergency and didn’t have time to book me. I promised him I would go to the police station and wait for him there. But I lied. I didn’t go to the station. Instead, I went to Tom’s house and helped my sister-in-law prepare for the hurricane, because I wanted to make up to him for what I knew I was about to do later that night. Then I went back to the Starks’ house and helped Caroline kill her husband and dispose of his body.”
Beside him, Lisa was shaking her head in disbelief. Aidan ignored her and plowed forward.
“We left the body in the cave at Glenhampton Beach. That was my idea. I knew that place from way back. I took Caroline there. We were thinking we would come back later, when we had access to a boat, and dump him in the ocean. But the storm saved us the trouble. It washed him out to sea.”
The room was silent. He felt Lisa watching him and couldn’t turn his head. If he looked at her, he’d lose his nerve.
“What if I said all that?” Aidan asked. “What would the effect be on Tom’s case?”
“If you said all that?”
“Yes. Would it fly? I plead guilty like that, and the case against Tommy gets dropped?”
“I think so. Not as a quid pro quo, you understand. But because I would then view you as a credible witness, somebody who’s owned up to his guilt. Therefore, I would have no reason to disbelieve your testimony about your brother’s actions.”
“What would you do for his case?”
“Well. I could forward to the Internal Affairs people your account of the chief’s actions, along with my assessment that you’re credible and my recommendation that the investigation be discontinued.”
“Would you do that? Would you put it in writing?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, Mr. Mays. Then we have a deal.”